Questions

A few inconsistencies/inaccuracies have emerged by this point regarding the Wedel family.  I have a feeling these issues may be tied together somehow, but I can’t say how just yet:

            1) Maria’s and Carolina’s names and ages on the Weimar manifest

            2) Identity of the mother of the young Wedel children on the Weimar

            3) Who was Johann Andreas Nachtigall and was he related to the Wedel family?

GRANDMA lists the following children of Peter Jacob and Katharina (Nickel) Wedel like this:

            1) Susanna, (05/14/1873 – 1958) (Married Andreas Ratzlaff

            2) Henry, (03/16/1875 – 04/21/1875)

            3) Eva, (05/29/1878 – 09/10/1879)

            4) Maria, (03/05/1881 – 03/20/1935) (Married John Andrew Nightengale)

            5) Carolina, (12/25/1881 – 10/17/1941) (Married Heinrich Unruh)

            6) Anna, (09/26/1885 – 1895)

            7) Elisabeth, (11/11/1887 – 01/28/1963) (Married Abraham Nightengale)

            8) Agnetha, (03/29/1890 – 10/14/1972)

First, the manifest of the SS Weimar lists Maria and Carolina travelling with the Wedels, but does not list Elisabeth or Agnetha at all.  According to the information in GRANDMA, both Maria and Carolina were in their 20’s and probably married by 1907.  Maria married Andreas Johann Nachtigall and Carolina married Heinrich T. Unruh.  If they were married by 1907, their last names wouldn’t have been listed as Wedel.  As far as I can tell, there are no Nachtigalls (Nightengales) or Unruhs (aside from the Benjamin Unruhs) on the Weimar manifest.  Also, the ages of the girls listed on the manifest are not correct at all.  Maria and Carolina both would have been about 26 years old in 1907 but the manifest lists them as 19 and 12. 

On the other hand, Elisabeth and Agnetha don’t appear to be listed on the manifest at all.  Their ages would have been 20 and 17 at the time.  Is it possible that the names “Maria and Carolina” were substituted on the manifest for Elisabeth and Agnetha’s correct names?  If so, why?  Is the information in GRANDMA incorrect? 

The next problem regards the 2 Wedel children that are listed in the Weimar manifest and confirmed by Marie (Ratzlaff) Penner.  The manifest lists Maria (age 6) and Heinrich (age 4), travelling with Peter and Katarina Wedel.  Marie (Ratzlaff) Penner, who was about 9 at the time of the emigration, tells us that these children were Peter and Katarina’s grandchildren.  Their mother, one of Susanna (Wedel) Ratzlaff’s sisters (left unidentified by Marie (Ratzlaff) Penner) had died and her husband, the mother of these 2 children, was away completing forestry service in 1907.  Therefore the children travelled with their grandparents.  Marie (Ratzlaff) Penner confirms the ages of the children listed on the manifest.  Who could the mother have been?  From GRANDMA’s list of Peter and Katarina Wedel’s children, all are accounted for and none appear to have died after having 2 children.  Maria, Carolina, Elisabeth and Agnetha are all documented as living in America.  Is there another Wedel daughter not listed by GRANDMA who died prior to 1907? 

In 1922, Andreas Ratzlaff sent some type of food remittance to a brother-in-law who remained in Russia.  The only possibility for this brother-in-law is the surviving father of these 2 children – the husband of the deceased Wedel daughter who was completing his forestry service in 1907.  No other brother-in-law of Andreas Ratzlaff could have still remained in Russia by 1922.  A postcard that was in the possession of my grandfather, Albert Ratzlaff, shows that Andreas Ratzlaff sent a food remittance to a Johann Andreas Nachtigall on February 10, 1922, via American Mennonite Relief (AMR) http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/A4572.html/.  Johann identified Andreas as his Schwager (brother-in-law), and listed his address as Pordenau, Sud-Russland (South Russia) (Pordenau was a village in the Molotschna Colony).  Johann indicated on the postcard that his family consisted of himself and his wife (“Mann & Frau”) and 1 child under the age of 15 years:

Did Johann remarry after the death of his first wife (the Wedel daughter) and reside in Pordenau, Molotschna after he was discharged from forestry service?  We know Maria Wedel’s husband’s name was Andreas Johann Nachtigall, and he would have been Andreas Ratzlaff’s brother-in-law.  Could Andreas Ratzlaff also have had a different brother-in-law named Johann Andreas Nachtigall?  Two brothers-in-law with almost the same name?  I also have copies of some letters that my grandfather kept with this postcard.  The letters are being translated at this time by the Mennonite Library and Archives at Bethel College in North Newton, KS.  Hopefully they will lend some information to who Johann Andreas Nachtigall was.

Leeleva's ties to Alexanderwohl

The Leeleva (Lileva) Mennonite Church was listed in 19^th and early 20^th century Russian Mennonite publications.  Heinrich Dirks lists Leeleva in his Statistik der Mennonitengemeinden in Russland Ende 1905 which was an appendix to the Anhang zum Mennonitischen Jahrbuche 1904/05 which was published in Gnadenfeld, Molotschna, in 1905.  P.M. Friesen also listed Leeleva in his Die Alt-Evangelische Mennonitische Brüderschaft in Russland (1789-1910) im Rahmen der mennonitischen Gesamtgeschichte which was published in Halbstadt, Molotschna, in 1911.  Both Dirks and Friesen were leading scholars in late the 19^th /early 20^th century Russian Mennonite community.  Dirks listed Johann Janz as the leading minister, Johann Nachtigall as co-minister, and Johann Dekkert as deacon.  Houses on the Leeleva map indicate these names.  As Abe J. Unruh tells us in his book The Helpless Poles, by the early 1900s, Leeleva became the last Mennonite village of the Karolswalde villages.  As the villagers left Volhynia for America, the ones who stayed behind moved to Leeleva. http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/lileva_mennonite_church_rivnens2019ka_oblast2019/?searchterm=alexanderwohl

Both Dirks and Friesen list the Leeleva congregation as a branch of the Alexanderwohl congregration, the bulk of which by the time of these publications (1905 and 1911) was located in Goessel, KS.  Previously the Alexanderwohl congregation and village had been located in the central area of the Molotschna Colony. 

The fact that these contemporary Mennonite scholars, and probably the villagers themselves, would associate Leeleva with Alexanderwohl is another important clue regarding where our Ratzlaff ancestors originated.  We know our Ratzlaffs were in Leeleva and the Karolswalde area, but we don’t know first-hand how they came to be there.  We also know that there were plenty of Ratzlaffs in the Przechowka congregation in West Prussia.  The problem lies in linking our Ratzlaffs with the Przechowka Ratzlaffs.  

It’s a well-known fact that the Alexanderwohl congregation is a daughter congregation of Przechowka.  http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/contents/A44239.html.  These Mennonite groups tended to stick together as much as possible and largely migrated as groups.  Przechowka spawned several daughter congregations, including the groups in German Neumark, and Deutsche Wymysle and Deutsche Kazun in Poland.  The bulk of the Przechowka group, however, founded Alexanderwohl (and also Gnadenfeld) in the Molotschna. 

The fact that the Leeleva Church associated itself with Alexanderwohl indicates that the two groups had a common heritage.  Alexanderwohl having clear ties with Przechowka indicates that Leeleva has ties with Przechowka as well.  By extension, the Ratzlaffs of Leeleva, then, also have ties with the Ratzlaffs of Przechowka.

Other churches in the U.S.A. closely associated with the Karolswalde group (and Leeleva) include the Emmanuel Mennonite Church near Moundridge, KS, the congregations of the Church of God in Christ, Mennonite (Holdeman) in the Canton, KS, area (including the Lone Tree Congregation), the Bergthal Mennonite Church near Pawnee Rock, KS, the Friedensberg congregation of Avon, South Dakota, as well as the Mennonites of Montezuma, KS, and Major County, Oklahoma (Meno, Ringwood, Fairview).  The town of Lebanon, Connecticut, also has strong ties to the Karolswalde villages (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanon,_Connecticut).

While there are many Ratzlaff members of the Alexanderwohl Congregation, I’m not aware of any, aside from the Andreas Ratzlaff family, who were descended from residents of the Karolswalde villages.  Daughter congregations of Alexanderwohl include the Hoffnungsau Church (and the Buhler and Inman, KS, churches) near Buhler, KS and the Tabor, Lehigh, Goessel, Walton and Burns, KS, churches.

Andreas Ratzlaff and the Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church

After immigrating to Kansas, the Andreas Ratzlaff family became members and attended church at the Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church near Goessel, Kansas (http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/A44239.html).  Alexanderwohl, one of the largest congregations in Kansas, traces its roots back to the Przechowka congregation in West Prussia, just as the Ratzlaff family does.  Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church is located at the southwest corner of section 33 of Menno Township, Marion County, KS.  This map of southern Menno Township from the 1921 shows the church (section 33) relative to the Andreas Ratzlaff residences (sections 24, 25).  Goessel, KS, lies one mile south of section 34, in neighboring West Branch Township.

The Alexanderwohl Church membership book lists the members of the Andreas Ratzlaff family and scans of the book can be seen here: http://mla.bethelks.edu/metadata/cong_15.php.  Notes in the churchbook are made in German.

The Andreas Ratzlaff family page in the Alexanderwohl Familien Register:

Florentine was left off this page, perhaps because she was already married by the time the information was written down.  I don't know why the double listing for Jacob and Isaac.  A double listing for Jacob may indicate recognition of the baby boy named Jacob who died when he was about 3 weeks old in Volhynia in 1895.  However, why not a similar recognition of baby Adam who also died while an infant in Volhynia?

The Andreas Ratzlaff family members in the Alexanderwohl Glieder Verzeichnis (“members’ directory”)

Andreas' listing indicates that he's deceased (gestorben), but the date of death is not listed.  Karoline is missing from the listings in the member's directory, perhaps because as Susanna (Ratzlaff) Wilson tells us, that she was living with a different family during this period of time.  The listing for Marie indicates her affiliation with Hoffnungsau Mennonite Church after her marriage to Peter P Penner, who was a member of Hoffnungsau.  Florentine's entry likewise indicates an affiliation with the First Mennonite Church in Hillsboro, KS.  Jacob's listing may indicate a similar affiliation, but I can't make out the handwriting to tell exactly what happened on October 31, 1937.

Andreas Ratzlaff family members' Alexanderwohl baptism listings (Taufhandlungen):

Karoline and Jacob are missing from this list of baptisms.  Again, Karoline was probably living with a different family at the time.  Was Jacob never baptised at Alexanderwohl?  All the children were baptised by Peter H. Unruh and father Andrew (Andreas) Ratzlaff is listed at the far right.

Andreas Ratzlaff family members’ Alexanderwohl wedding listings:

Marie, Karoline, and Katherine must have been married at other churches, while John remained unmarried.  Florentine married John D. Goosen, Susanna married Clyde Wilson, Abraham married Rachel Goertz, Albert married Mary Penner, Isaac married Esther Schroeder, and Jacob married Bertha K. Reimer.  P.H. Unruh presided over four of the weddings while P.H. Richert officiated Abraham's and A.J. Dyck officiated Albert's.

Apparently the Alexanderwohl churchbook does not list funerals, or maybe I just haven't found that information yet.  Nevertheless, Andreas Ratzlaff died on November 5, 1934, and was buried on November 8, in the Alexanderwohl Friedhof (cemetary). 

Susanna (Wedel) Ratzlaff survived another 26 years, living with Albert and his family for many of those years.  Susanna passed away on October 20, 1960.  She is also buried at Alexanderwohl.

Andreas Ratzlaff census information

I really don’t know much about the early days of the Andreas Ratzlaff family’s life in Marion County, KS.  As far as I know, the family’s first farm was located at the southeast corner of Section 24, Menno Township, Marion County.  In 1914, the family moved directly south 1 mile to the southeast corner of Section 25.  Andreas and the boys together worked fields including the southeast corner of Section 25 and the southeast corner of Section 22.  By the mid-1930s, Susanna had completed the purchase of the northeast corner of Section 25. 

Following are the US Federal Census entries for the Andreas Ratzlaff family:

1910 US census:
Name:	Andrew Ratzlaff
Birthplace:	Russia
Relationship to Head of Household:	Self
Residence:	Menno, Marion, Kansas
Marital Status:	Married
Race :	White
Gender:	Male
Immigration Year:	1907
Father's Birthplace:	Russia
Mother's Birthplace:	Russia
Family Number:	128
Page Number:	8
	Household	Gender	Age
	Andrew Ratzlaff	M	40y
Spouse	Susanna Ratzlaff	F	36y
Child	Mary Ratzlaff	F	12y
Child	Carrie Patzlaff Ratzlaff	F	11y
Child	Katherine Ratzlaff	F	8y
Child	John Ratzlaff	M	7y
Child	Florentina Ratzlaff	F	5y
Child	Susanna Ratzlaff	F	4y
Child	Albert Ratzlaff	M	1y 9m
Child	Abraham Ratzlaff	M	y 4m

1920 US census:
Name:	Andrew Ratzlof
Residence:	, Marion, Kansas
Estimated Birth Year:	1870
Age:	50
Birthplace:	Russia
Relationship to Head of Household:	Self
Gender:	Male
Race:	White
Marital Status:	Married
Father's Birthplace:	Russia
Mother's Birthplace:	Russia
Film Number:	1820539
Digital Folder Number:	4300864
Image Number:	942
Sheet Number:	3
	Household	Gender	Age
	Andrew Ratzlof	M	50y
Spouse	Susie Ratzlof	F	46y
Child	Mary Ratzlof	F	22y
Child	Katrena Ratzlof	F	17y
Child	John Ratzlof	M	16y
Child	Florentine Ratzlof	F	15y
Child	Susie Ratzlof	F	13y
Child	Aberat Ratzlof	M	11y
Child	Abraham Ratzlof	M	10y
Child	Jacob Ratzlof	M	7y
Child	Isaac Ratzlof	M	5y

Karoline is absent from this census family list as, like Susanna (Ratzlaff) Wilson said in her biographical notes, she was living with another family at the time.

1930 US census:
Name:	Andreas Ratzlaff
Event:	Census
Event Date:	1930
Event Place:	Menno, Marion, Kansas
Gender:	Male
Age:	60
Marital Status:	Married
Race:	White
Birthplace:	Russia
Estimated Birth Year:	1870
Immigration Year:	1907
Relationship to Head of Household:	Head
Father's Birthplace:	Russia
Mother's Birthplace:	Russia
Enumeration District Number:	26
Family Number:	3
Sheet Number and Letter:	1A
Line Number:	13
NARA Publication:	T626, roll 710
Film Number:	2340445
Digital Folder Number:	4584466
Image Number:	332
	Household	Gender	Age
	Andreas Ratzlaff	M	60
Spouse	Susanna Ratzlaff	F	56
Child	John Ratzlaff	M	27
Child	Albert Ratzlaff	M	21
Child	Abraham Ratzlaff	M	19
Child	Jacob Ratzlaff	M	18
Child	Isaac Ratzlaff	M	16

By the mid-30s, most of the Ratzlaff girls married and moved to their husbands’ residences.  John, who may not have been too healthy, later lived in Hillsboro.  Albert Ratzlaff lived on a farm at the northeast corner of Menno Township, Section 25, which was owned by FM Goosen.  Jacob lived in the southeast corner of Section 23, and Abraham lived at the southeast corner of section 22 before moving to Colby, KS.  After Andreas' death in 1934, Susanna lived with Albert for a time.  Maps of Menno Township, KS, can be seen here:See: http://www.kshs.org/p/county-atlases-or-plat-books/13859 or http://www.historicmapworks.com/Browse/United_States/Kansas/Page/10/