There's an English expression that says, "may you live in interesting times.". Perhaps it's a Chinese curse, meant to communicate the notion that, if your life has been interesting, it's probably also been full of hardships.
I think my 6th great grandfather, Jeorgen Ratzlaff, probably lived an interesting life. Of all my ancestors down to my great grandfather in the latter half of the 19th century, Jeorgen is the most well-documented.
Jeorgen, according to the Przechówko church records, was born in September, 1693. We don't know for sure if he was born in the village of Przechówko or in Konopat. Jeorgen's father, Hans Ratzlaff, was born in 1661 almost certainly in Przechówko. Hans' father's lease at Przechówko likely expired c1680 but we don't know when he died. Did Hans inherit his father's farm in Przechówko? The next lease would have run until c1720. By 1715, Hans was living in the household of his second son, Ohm Peter, at Przechówko #9. His oldest son, Hans, lived at #8. Was Przechówko #8 the original Ratzlaff farm?
Jeorgen's first wife died young, and then he was married to his second wife, Katherine Schmidt, probably shortly before 1717. They had three children: Berent, Peter, and Katherine. Jeorgen, born in 1693, was a great grandson to the first Mennonite Ratzlaff of Przechówko who, according to legend, deserted from the Swedish military to join the Mennonites, probably sometime around 1630. Jeorgen did not know his great grandfather who had apparently passed away already by the year 1662 (he is not listed in Regestrum subsidii g[ener]alis palatinatus Pomeranie cum sius dismetibus, 1662. Sygnatura 1/7/0/3/147. Archiwum Główne Akt Dawnych w Warszawie, Archiwum Skarbu Koronnego).
We have lists of residents of the Przechówko villages compiled by Hendrik Berents Hulshoff and Alle Derks for the years 1715, 1719, and 1733. Hulshoff and Derks were Groningen Old Flemish Mennonite elders in the Dutch lowlands, visiting the Przechówko area to serve the congregants there (see: https://mla.bethelks.edu/archives/cong_15/hulshoff.pdf) and from these lists we can reconstruct the villages during these years (https://mennonitegenealogy.com/prussia/Prezechowka_Gemeinde_Households_1715_and_1719.pdf). I worked with John D Richert as he compiled this record. We concluded that these Dutch elders likely started listing residents as they traveled east to west through Przechówko and Konopat. Therefore, we can see that Jeorgen lived at Konopat 1, the eastern-most lot in Konopat, in 1715, 1719, and perhaps in 1733. (Note: I do not agree with Richert's assessment of the lots in Przechówko. At the link above, he lists 13 lots in the village. However, at this time there were only 12 lots and a church lot. Therefore, my conclusion is that, in addition to the 12 farms, there was an einwohner family living in the church. This equaled the 13 families listed by Richert). In any case, we find Jeorgen with his wife Katherine, at Konopat 1 from at least 1715. Based on the birthdate of their oldest child, Jeorgen and Katherine were probably very newly married - maybe even in their first year of marriage - in 1715. We can also note that, during the time these elders made their lists, we find Jeorgen's father, Hans, living at Przechówko #9, as well as Jeorgen's siblings, Hans, Peter, Berent, and Anna, living at other lots in both Przechówko and Konopat.
Schroetter 1796: Marienwerder (cropped)
Jeorgen himself was born in the shadow of the Swedish Deluge, a period of war between Sweden and Poland which lasted from 1655-1660. We see above in the 1662 tax register that only 6 families lived in Przechówko on 3 farms. After the repercussions of the war began to fade, the village began to re-populate and by 1715, there were 18 families in the village. The next time of war, however, was the Great Northern War. This time, the Swedes, under King Charles XII, set up local headquarters at nearby Topolno. We know for a fact that Przechówko villagers had interaction with the Swedes so we can be confident that this military action had direct affect on Jeorgen and his family.
The next place we find Jeorgen listed is in the land contract for the village of Jeziorki, dated 1 May 1727. Jeorgen was a charter villager at Jeziorki, starting in 1727 when he was 34 years old (and thus we know that by 1733, he should not have been included in Derks' list of Konopat). So, Jeorgen had moved to Jeziorki, likely along with his wife and oldest sons Berent (age 10 yrs) and Peter (age 8 yrs) Jeziorki was located a dozen or so miles northwest from Przechówko, up and out of the Vistula River valley lowlands. 13 Mennonite families signed a 40-year lease in Jeziorki and these were joined in 1732 by 12 additional families who moved to the village from the Culm area (right-bank Vistula, probably congregants from Schonsee) [Klassen, Peter J. 2009. Mennonites in Early Modern Poland and Prussia. Young Center Books in Anabaptist and Pietist Studies. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p86].
We don't know where Jeorgen lived in Jeziorki beginning in 1727. The village grew from 13 to 25 farms (indeed, in the 1772 census we find 17 full farms with 15 tenant farms). A church was established in the village in 1743. But the village didn't prosper. The soil was overly sandy and wet and the villagers did not get along with the landowner who expected scutage from the Hollander Mennonites [Klassen 2009, 86–87]. We don't know where the Mennonite church was located. Today, the cemetery still exists and a small village church is at the extreme southeastern edge of the village. Jeorgen spent what were probably his best years in Jeziorki, from age 34 until age 72.
In 1764, Jeziorki villagers began to explore new options toward finding a new place to live. And in 1765, 16 families/95 persons settled in Brenkenhofswalde while 19 families/97 persons settled in Franzthal, two newly established Mennonite villages in the Netzebruch in Brandenburg. Elderly Jeorgen was one of these original settlers, living initially in Franzthal. His younger son, Peter (age 46), also moved to Franzthal at this time (his older son, Old Berent, stayed in Jeziorki). In 1767, we find Jeorgen living in Franzthal at lot #9, and in 1778 we find him on lot #5 and in 1792 we find his widow at lot #5. [John D Richert, Neumark Families] He likely died about 1782 and was probably buried in the Mennonite cemetery in Franzthal, which occupied the space where the current Głęboczek church stands. Jeorgen lived a full life, right up until his late 90s, living among the Old Flemish Mennonites in Przechówko, Konopat, Jeziorki, and Franzthal.
[Special Karte von der Neumark, Simon Schropp, Berlin, 1811]
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