History Repeats Itself

Yesterday I was on Facebook looking at the Volga German page.  One of the members had posted an interesting story about his grandfather, who was a victim of the 1918 Pandemic. As I looked at the comments I realized how many of us with that ancestry had similar experiences in our family history.  Some of the followers told about losing both grandparents.

This is a picture of my grandmother, Katharina Elisabeth Klamm Burghardt, born in Warenburg, Russia. The family was living in the Denver area at the time of her death in October of 1918. Her death was a result of the pandemic. It was during the second wave, between September and November of that year.  It proved to be highly fatal in the United States, with  195,000 deaths in October alone. My father was only two years old, and she left behind her husband and ten children.  As I've followed my family's story through the years, it is apparent how much that changed the world for them and their descendants.  That's just one family out of the millions of deaths.

The pandemic we are now experiencing has made me desire collecting the stories of my family.  I'd be happy to post any stories you'd like to share as well.  If you'd like to submit, please, send them to me.

Russian Empire Genealogy Research — Camille Andrus

How do I write an effective research query?

Genealogy is really just detective work. Clues lead to more information. When asking a research question, please include as much of the following information as possible:

• Full name of the ancestor (FamilySearch ID number [example: L7J4-V81])
• birth date, even if approximate, and place [as much as is known]
• residence(s) in the US or other country of immigration
• any details you have on parents, spouse, children, and where they lived
• known emigration and naturalization details
• religion
• anything else that might be helpful, like a known name change
• which records you have already searched and the results

How Are You Spending Your Time?

Life has changed so much over the past two months.  Of course we have plenty to do, but it seems to me there is ample time without the spring sports and school extra curricular activities.  Churches and other venues closed... so, what are you doing to be productive?  I have done SO MUCH research!  I am pouring over my Pleve Charts, Censuses, Church Records, family documents, keeping in touch with distant family.  I'm appreciating the time I never seem to find in other circumstances.  I decided to share my latest project, and I'm pretty proud of it. This is a huge chart that I purchased at Roots Tech.  It shows seven generations of our family, starting with our children.  Let's make the most of this strange situation we find ourselves experiencing. 

April Chapter Meeting

Changing times required adaptation, but it was a successful meeting of our Utah Intermountain Chapter of AHSGR.  Annette Adams gave a wonderful presentation to help us use the resources at Family Search. Even those who have used the different features benefited from the overview and reminder.  We are so lucky to have these great resources to use from home.  Thanks to Annette Adams, Cory Heizenrader, and our chapter leaders and their skills which made this possible. Not to mention, it was fun to see your faces and hear your voices.  What an awesome group of people!

Annenfeld, Elisathabethpol, Sud-Kaukauis

As the Village Coordinator for Annenfeld I am asking for your assistance with this Caucasus village and others; please share your finds, your family movement, immigration, any data.  My goal is to gather and share this challenging research project.

 

I set up a database and am entering information as it is received. 

I recently aquired a few records which were originally housed at the Stuttgart, Germany Archives.

I have located a few new sources of information which deal with the history of this village; often with the mention of movement from the Volga. Annenfeld was a farmstead founded by Volga German colonists before 1889.  Looking for a list of these resettles and more specific information.

Annenfeld is located in the Gandsha district, in the South Caucasus of Russia. Latitude and Longitude is 40.8294, 46.0167; founded in the year 1818.

Annenfeld was a mother colony of Protestant faith. 

The current Russian names are Shamkir, Samkir, Azerbaijan.

Wikipedia: Samkir is a city in and the capital of Shamkir District in western Azerbaijan, located in the northern foothills of the Lesser Caucasus, on the coast of the Chagirchay River on Tbilisi-Yevlakh highway, about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from Dollar railway station.

In 1817-1818, a colony of Germans resettled from Wurttemberg, was established on the site of Shamkir under the name Annenfeld. In 1915 Assyrians from Turkey and Iran were resettled at this site.

Look-ups:  If you are curious if your family was among these Germans who resettled from the Volga or Wurttemberg I am willing to look for your names. Perhaps those family members whom you are unable to track are part of this history.

Thanks for the support.

Dee Hert

VC: 30 Caucasus Villages