Russia, 2003

 

The top picture is Sharon White on her cruise on the Volga River. The second photo was taken in front of the home of Sharon's Kisling ancestors in Warenburg.

Additional Resources Available for Chapter Member Use

Dee Hert has the following new resources:

Maps: 1-70, (exceptions are the color maps)

Books:

A Century of Russian Mennonite History in America, Harley J. Stucky

The Heritage of the Swiss Volhynia Mennonites, Solomon Stucky

The Pioneer Hymnal

Dorf Buch, Landes- und Kulturgeschichte, Sudkicher Vogelsberg

The German Research Companian, Riemer, Minert, and Anderson

(Just for your information, Dee has agreed to be the village coordinator for Alexanderdorf.)

Annette Reynolds has the following new resources:

Census:

1857 of Warenburg

Books:

German Food & Folkways, R M H Gueldner

Paradise on the Steppe, Joseph S. Height

The Czar's Germans, Hattie Plum Williams

Deciphering Gothic Records, Fay S. Dearden

The German Research Companion, Riemer, Minert, Anderson

Finding Your German Ancestors, Kevan M. Hansen

Memories of Kazakhstan, Berta Bachman

from Catherine to Khrushchev, Giesinger

Handbook for Researching Family Roots, Diane J. Wandler

Map Guide to German Parish Registers, Kevan M. Hansen, for the following areas:
Sachsen III,Bavaria I, Hessen, Hessen- Nassau I, Hessen- Nassau II


Both Dee and Annette are willing to bring their resources to Chapter meetings.

October Meeting

This is just a reminder that the next Intermountain chapter meeting will be October 22nd. It will be held at the home of Shawnette Malan and Carol Harless, 10001 Hook Drive, South Jordan. We will start the meeting at 12:00 noon. Everyone will bring food to share. We will eat during the meeting.

Shawnette Malan will be the hostess. Annette Reynolds won the raffle basket at the last meeting and will provide the basket for this meeting. Bill and Karen will be attending the National Board meeting in Lincoln next week and will give us more information about the convention. Sharon White will give a presentation about her trip to Russia in 2003. She was in Moscow, Saratov, the Engels Archive, and five of her Volga Villages: Laub, Kukkus, Warenburg, Straub and Dinkel.

September Plans

In September we will go to the Oktoberfest at Snowbird for our chapter meeting. We enjoyed this last year. We will go as a group on September 17. If you want to carpool, we will meet at the home of Sharon White, 3285 E. Ruskin Court, Sandy, at 12noon. If you are not able to join us, Oktoberfest will start the weekend of August 20 and end October 9. The Alphorns perform at Hidden Peak each weekend at 3:15 P. M. The last tram is at 3:00 P. M. Entering Oktoberfest is free, but you have to pay to ride the tram.

Hope to see everyone!

AHSGR Convention Youth Activities

 

 

 

August Meeting

The next AHSGR Intermountain Chapter meeting will be August 27th. We will meet at 1:00 P.M. at the home of Shawnette Malan and Carol Harless, 10001 Hook Drive, South Jordan. Everyone will bring food to share and we will eat during the meeting. Shawnette will be the hostess.

Sausage Demonstration

 

 

 

 

Brett Reynolds instructed participants on the art of sausage making. His demonstration was both informative and delicious as he had many samples there for people to enjoy. All of the cooking demonstrations were held at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Other cooking classes were given on making kuchen and German noodles.

Polka Time and Dance

 

 

 

 

 

All who attended enjoyed themselves either listening to the music or dancing to the Polkatonics on Friday night. There was a large youth group there as well as other attendees, and they enjoyed learning some of the dances from those who knew them. What a great evening!

Welcome Night

 

 

 

 

 

The Lt. Governor of Utah welcomed everyone to Utah with his introduction in our German language. He shared his feelings on the importance of remembering our heritage and how great a sacrifice our ancestors made to ensure we could enjoy the blessings of being in the best country in the world. Mark Seely and Mel Bashore shared the historical significance of the handcart and other means of transportation in Utah's history. They shared stories about the challenges and the rewards of perseverance of reaching our goals. The last half of the welcome night entertainment was offered by Kerry Christensen who shared his talents on the accordion and Zither. His world-class singing and yodeling voice richly blessed us in a lot of our favorite songs. His talents covered many of our favorite songs of past and present.

Joe Gertge

AHSGR Convention in SLC

Wow! It is day three of the convention and great things are happening. The Intermountain Chapter is working hard along with many other great volunteers. Browse through the pictures and see how things are going with registration, book store, library, vendors, and Heritage Hall. There is a raffle for the beautiful quilts. There's still time, so buy some tickets!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mystery Solved

Of course there is still much I'd like to know, but my brother had an amazing find this week. For years we've both been trying to find out more about the event that lead to our uncle's death. My uncle, Albert Burghardt, died in San Diego, California, piloting an aircraft in 1933. He was a first generation American, born to German Russian immigrants. I knew that he was in the Navy and what his injuries were, but that was all. While searching on the Internet, my brother finally solved the mystery.

Keep in mind that in 1933, an enlisted man who learned to fly could become a pilot, regardless of his original M.O.S. Also, wrecks were were so common from failures, that dying in a plane crash really spoke little to a pilot's competence.

James Herman Banning was the first licensed African American male pilot in the nation. He and another African American pilot, Thomas C. Allen, became the first African American pilots to fly coast-to-coast from Los Angeles to Long Island, NY, in 1932. Using a plane pieced together from junkyard parts, they made the 3,300 mile trip. The pilots had to raise money each time they stopped.

Banning was refused the use of an airplane by the Airtech Flying school in San Diego because he was an African American man and not believed to be a capable pilot. My uncle, who was a Navy pilot, took the plane up with Banning as a passenger in the biplane. Banning was sitting in the front open cockpit during a San Diego air show at Camp Kearney. The plane stalled and fell into a fatal spin in front of 2,000 people who witnessed the plane hurtle to the earth and crackup. Banning died an hour after the crash, and was hailed as a martyr who made the supreme sacrifice.

My uncle died three days later. I feel sad that the newspaper article I read maligned him as an incompetent and gave him no credit for his contribution considering that time in history. Banning was significant in early aviation, but as a family, we are proud of my uncle and the his determination as well.

Footsteps From the Past To the Future

Don't forget the International AHSGR Convention being held August 1- August 7 at Little America in Salt Lake City. There will be many genealogy workshops and great speakers. Along with that, there's the bookstore, youth activities, vendors, village displays, and more! Hope to see you there.

Post Convention Classes

Monday, August 8

7:30 AM - Meet Shawnette Malan in the Little America Hotel lobby for a guided tour (via TRAX) to the Family History Library.

8:00-9:00 AM - Library Orientation (meet in the main floor classroom of the Family History Library). The library staff will welcome us and give us a multi-media presentation/orientation of the library. German-Russian research helps (specific to the library) will be given.

12:00-1:00 PM - Free Class "What's New in German Research on the Internet" (Baerbel Johnson, instructor. Meet in the B-1 classroom)

Tuesday, August 9

12:00-1:30 PM - Free Class "Reading and Evaluating German Documents" (Barbara Bell, CG, AG, instructor. Meet in the B-1 classroom)

Wednesday, August 10

12:00-1:00 PM - Free Class "German Jurisdictions" (Barbara Bell, CG, AG, instructor. Meet in the B-1 classroom)

Saturday, July 9th

The chapter meeting will be at 12:00 noon at the home of Shawnette Malan and Carol Harless, 10001 Hook Drive, South Jordan. Bring an appetizer to share. The basket raffle will be provided by Gwen Oryall. Suzanne Heinitz-Dodge will be the hostess.

Happy Birthday

Our fabulous and energetic Suzanne Heinitz-Dodge is celebrating her 70th birthday this week. She is an active member of the Intermountain Chapter AHSGR, and does so much to serve our chapter. Just wanted to let you all know that we love Suzanne and appreciate all her hard work! Wishing you a fantastic birthday Suzanne.