Ratzlaff Family in Przechówko Village, 1715

Elder Hendrik Berents Hulshoff visited Przechówko in 1719.  Hulshoff lived at "het Paschen" at Zenderen near Borne in the district of Twenthe in the Dutch province of Overijssel and visited the Polish congregation, preaching and baptizing.  He left us with a valuable record of the villagers in Przechówko, and Deutsch Konopat, as well as several villages on the right bank including Dorposch, Schoensee, and Horst (probably equivalent to Podwitz).  We can see the translated document here: https://mla.bethelks.edu/archives/cong_15/hulshoff.pdf.

We can go through these lists and compile a census of the villages very easily.  The late John D Richert did so a couple years ago and it's very interesting to see how Ratzlaff family members populated especially Przechówko, and Deutsch Konopat based on the 1715 record.

Note: I do disagree with Richert's overall assessment of these villagers.  He lists 13 farms at Przechówko and in my opinion, there were only 12.  I would opine that one of the families Richert assigns to a farm was an einwohner family living at the church building.  Unfortunately, we cannot know which family that was because we don't know for sure where the church fell in the order of houses, 1 through 12.  Richert and I visited about this many times and we both felt that the order likely began with 1 on the east end of the village and 12 at the west end.  Richert's list can be found here: https://mgr.mennonitegenealogy.com/prussia/Prezechowka_Gemeinde_Households_1715_and_1719.pdf.

From the above tree we can see the Ratzlaffs occupying lots in the villages.  The oldest was Hans (Przechówko Church Record #25).  In 1715, he was the oldest living member of the Ratzlaff clan, his older brother Berent passing away perhaps only earlier that year.  Hans at this time was living in his son Peter's household.

Hans' younger siblings Tobias, Katherine (Mrs. Tobias Sparling), Sarah (Mrs. Benjamin Wedel), Adam (a bachelor in 1715) lived in other Przechówko lots.  Still more Przechówko lots were occupied by his nephew Berent and son Hans.  We could also find two other sisters: Anna (Mrs. Peter Tesmer) in Deutsch Konopat and Elisabeth (Mrs. Heinrich Funck) in Schoensee.  Finally, Hans' two younger sons, Berent and Jeorgen, were also each living in Deutsch Konopat.

So, in 1715, six of twelve Przechówko farms were occupied by Ratzlaffs.

1662 Przechówko Tax Register

The earliest tax register we know of for Przechówko village.

Here we have only 3 farms, occupied by 6 families.  This is during the immediate aftermath of the Swedish Deluge (1655-1660) which would have contributed heavily to the de-population of the countryside.

We have family surnames that are familiar in Mennonite circles: Ratzlaff, Wedel, Isaak, Unrau, Kopper, and Voth.

The only person here who we can positively identify is Jan Raclaw (Hans Ratzlaff, GMA #36103, PRZ #23).  He was born around 1630 and was a son to the original Mennonite Ratzlaff, the soldier with the Swedish military who deserted to the Mennonites in the very late 1620s.  Hans is listed here with wife Anna, servants Jakub and Sara, sister Elisabeth, and Elisabeth's maid Regina.  These servants could have been local Polish youths (certainly we can recognize some Polish Catholic names).  Children are not listed on this register since they did not factor into tax calculations.

Based on information from GRanDMA, Ratzlaff wife Anna could be Hans' second wife.  Ratzlaff children Berent (32092, born 1660) and Hans (36105, born 1661) should have been very young boys at the time of this listing.

It's interesting to note that we find multiple families in these houses, especially in the Raclaw (Ratzlaff) house we have 3 families.  The houses these Hollanders built were probably fairly large in order to accommodate so many people.

Thank you to Michał Targowski for initial translation of the document.  The original document can be found here:

https://www.szukajwarchiwach.gov.pl/skan/-/skan/f79a1d68eaad52266fca1186465e990733ecaa3813017ed3d9cb7db75cb1903b

6th Great Grandfather, Jeorgen Ratzlaff, Part 2

6th great grandfather, Jeorgen Ratzlaff, was born in 1693.

He was probably born in Przechówko and lived his adult life in Deutsch Konopat, Jeziorki, and Franzthal (Neumark).  I've been lucky enough to visit all these locations

This map shows Przechówko (map is from the early 20th century and the village is labeled Wintersdorf).  Deutsch Konopat is the village immediately west of Przechówko  (today = Wielki Konopat which means Large Konopat in English).  Klein (Small) Deutsch Konopat was the 4 lots of the village to the far east, bordering Przechówko.  From the mid 17-teens, Jeorgen lived at Klein Deutsch Konopat #1, on the map below marked in blue.

 

[2676 (alt. 1263) Kulm (Weichsel) (1:25 000 Topographische Karte (Messtischblatt) cz. wsch.(Ostdeutschland) /1870 - 1945/), cropped]

Today, this lot is occupied by a fairly new house which likely sits at about the same spot Jeorgen's did.  

There's a road along the border between Przechówko and Wielki Konpat which marks the valley between the two villages.  This photo looks south down the road which heads downhill toward the Vistula River.  Jeorgen's meadowland would have been the area in the photo to the right of the road.

In 1727, Jeorgen moved to Jeziorki (in the early 20th century map below, marked as Jeziorken), today a distance of 15 miles to the northwest by road.  We don't know exactly where Jeorgen lived within this village nor where the Mennonite church was located.  The road ran northwest to southeast (marked in green).  The cemetery was (is) located centrally (marked in blue) and the current church at southeast (marked in yellow - could the Mennonite church have been located at the same spot?  The road goes roughly along the top of a ridge with the land falling away in elevation to either side.  Houses were situated on either side of the road.  The cemetery was (is) also located at a high spot on village land.

[2575 (alt. 1171) Heinrichsdorf (1:25 000 Topographische Karte (Messtischblatt) cz. wsch.(Ostdeutschland) /1870 - 1945/), cropped]

Jeziorki cemetery is located in the patch of trees beyond the field:

The modern church in Jeziorki at the southeast edge of the village.  Could it stand in the same spot where the Mennonite church did?

In 1765, Jeorgen moved to Franzthal, Neumark, a distance of approximately 140 miles by today's roads.  Jeorgen lived initially at lot #9, then lot #5.  This map shows the village in the very early 20th century.  Lot #5 is marked in green, #9, in yellow.  The modern church is marked with blue.  The modern church is in nearly the same spot where the Mennonite church was.  The Mennonite cemetery occupied the modern churchyard.

[3160 (alt. 1637) Driesen (West) (1:25 000 Topographische Karte (Messtischblatt) cz. wsch.(Ostdeutschland) /1870 - 1945/), cropped]

This map is an overlay of the old village Franzthal over the modern village Głęboczek.  Blue numbers are current lot numbers, red numbers are Mennonite-era lot numbers.  Here we can see that 9 is modern-day 23 and 5 is modern-day 26.

Mennonite-era houses would have stood in the middle of the yard on lot 5/26, and roughly at the same spot as current house on lot 9/23:

This is the modern house at 23/9.  It is an old, dilapidated house, built during the first half of the 19th century according to information at https://zabytek.pl/pl/mapa.  It's an old house, but not a Mennonite house.  It must have been built after 1834 when the Mennonites left.

This is the modern farmyard at 26/5: house to the left (west) and barn to the north, forming a tidy, square yard.  The Mennonite-era house, where Jeorgen lived and probably passed away, stood roughly in the center of this yard.

The Mennonite cemetery occupied the space currently taken by the churchyard.  This photo shows the church, looking at it from the north.  The cemetery would have occupied the space in the foreground.