Emmanuel Church Records and the Canton Gemeinde

From the original: 

Historische Skizze der Emmanuel (fruher "Canton") Mennonitengemeinde nahe Galva, Kansas

Von Prediger J.J. Ratzlaff vorgetragen auf dem Einweihungsfest der neuen Kirche, am 14 Juni, 1942 (Uebersezt)

Historical sketch of Emmanuel (formerly "Canton") Mennonite Church near Galva, Kansas.

Delivered by Preacher J.J. Ratzlaff at the dedication feast of the new church, June 14, 1942 (Translated) (gma#275288; see: HERE (1876-1951))

Die Aufzeichnung der Geschichte dieser Gemeinde, nachdem sie wenigstens 65 Jahre bestanden hat, wird in grosser Demut unternommen.  Umsomehr so, da ich Weiss, dass nur noch wenige der Glieder leben, die Selber mit den Unfangstatsachen besannt find, und das Material daher aus andern Duellen gesammelt warden musste.

The recording of the history of this community, after it has existed for at least 65 years, is undertaken with great humility.  Even more so, since I know that only a few of the members are still alive, who themselves are familiar with the facts, and the material therefore had to be collected from other sources.

Davon uberzeugt, das die grosse Mehrheit der ibigen Glieder der Gemeinde, die hier in dieser Umgegend geboren wurden und ausgewachsen sind, dieses Bemuhen schatzen warden, und dass es sie erfullt mit Danf gegen den allmachtigen Gott, der in Seiner unendlichen Liebe diese Gemeinde durch diese Jahre bemahret hat, sodas sie heute eine neue Kirche einweihen, und mit ihren Kindern und Kindestindern Den anbeten tonnen, der ihr Heiland unde Erloser ist, namlich Jesus Christus, Sohn des legendigen Gottes, sreut es mich, dieser Ausgabe nachzukommen.  Mochte der heilige Geist in meinem Herzen walten und mich an das erinnern, das zum Ausbau seines Reiches in dieser Gemeinde und zur Erbauung der Kirche Jesu Christi uber haupte notwendig ist!  Das ist mein Gebet.

Convinced that the great majority of the members of the church, who were born and grew up in this area, will appreciate this effort, and that it will fill them with gratitude to the Almighty God, who in His infinite love, has sustained this church through these years, so that today they can dedicate a new church and worship with their children and their children's children the one who is their Savior and Redeemer, namely Jesus Christ, Son of the legendary God, I am pleased to comply with this request. May the Holy Spirit rule in my heart and remind me of what is necessary for the expansion of His kingdom in this congregation and for the edification of the Church of Jesus Christ above all!  This is my prayer.

Es was Katharina II, die den Mennoniten “fur immer” Freiheir vom Militardienst versprach, falls sies ich in Russland ansiedeln und Acterbau betreiben wurden.  Das “fur immer” wurde spatter als 100 Jahre bedeutend bezeichnet.  Nach ihrer Herrschaft, ward das Bersprechen annulliert; was zur Folge hatte, das viele Mennoniten nach Amercia auswanderten.  Im Jahre 1874, als die grosse Auswanderung aus Russland began, unternahmen auch die Vater und Grossvater der hiesigen Gruppe das grosse Magnis und kamen nach America.  Sie kamen spezifilch aus dem Gouvernement Schutomir, Wolhynien, Welt-Russland, aus den Dorfern Antonovka, Karlswalde, Jadwalin, Kronswalde, und Karlsberg.  Sie landeten hier spat im Jahre 1874.  Einige der Familien wohnten wahrend des ersten Winters in Newton, Kansas, andere in Florence, Kansas, und noch andere in Great Bend, Kansas, wahrend einige Familien in Pennsylvania anhielten.  Wahrend der Fruhjahrsmonate in 1875 machten sich viele der Obenerwahnten in Lone Tree Township, Section 27, McPherson County, Kansas wo diese Kirche steht, und wo ein Kreuzweg mitten durch die Sektion ging, ansassig, langs welchem die Familien ihre Wohnungen bauten.

It was Catherine II who promised the Mennonites "forever" freedom from military service, if they would settle in Russia and build houses.  The "forever" was later called 100 years significant.  After their reign, the promise was cancelled; as a result, many Mennonites emigrated to America.  In 1874, when the great emigration from Russia began, the father and grandfather of the local group also undertook the great adventure and came to America.  They came specifically from the Shutomir Governorate, Volhynia, World Russia, from the villages of Antonovka, Karlswalde, Jadwalin, Kronswalde, and Karlsberg.  They landed here late in 1874. Some of the families resided during the first winter in Newton, Kansas, others in Florence, Kansas, and still others in Great Bend, Kansas, while some families stopped in Pennsylvania.  During the spring months of 1875, many of the above-named settled in Lone Tree Township, Section 27, McPherson County, Kansas, where this church is located, and where a cross walk ran through the middle of the section, along which the families built their homes.

Ich erinnere mich, das die folgenden familien aus dieser Sektion wohnton: John Jantz, Benjamin H Unruh, David H Unruh, Heinrich Unruh, Benjamin Jantz, Benjamin P Unruh, Karl Wedel, Peter Wedel, Prediger John Ratzlaff, und Heinrich Jantz; dazu das heim fur den Schullehrer – elf Familien – und jetzt wohnen nurd rei Familien aus dieser Sektion (640 aker).  Die Sektionen 25, 23, und 33 haben heite noch durch ihre Mitten Kreuzwege, wo damals Familien wohnten und wo das auch jezt noch der Fall ist wie dazumal.  Samuel Koehn und Andreas Eck, kamen als Prediger mit dieser Gruppe aus Russland; aber sie dienten in America nicht als Prediger.  Es ist aber der Umsicht von Samuel Koehn zu verdanken, das er in einem Buche all die Familien Aufzeichnete, die hier in dieser Gegen ansiedelten.  Seine Aufzeichnungen zeigen, dass 128 Familien, 8 Witwen, und im ganzen 713 Seelen hier in Amerika landenten.

I remember that the following families lived in this section: John Jantz, Benjamin H Unruh, David H Unruh, Heinrich Unruh, Benjamin Jantz, Benjamin P Unruh, Karl Wedel, Peter Wedel, Preacher John Ratzlaff, and Heinrich Jantz; plus the home for the school teacher - eleven families - and now only three families live in this section (640 aker).  Sections 25, 23, and 33 still have crossroads through their centers, where families lived at that time and where it is still the case.  Samuel Koehn and Andreas Eck came as preachers with this group from Russia; but they did not serve as preachers in America.  However, it is thanks to the prudence of Samuel Koehn (gma 282682) that he recorded in a book all the families that settled here in this area.  His records show that 128 families, 8 widows, and a total of 713 souls landed here in America.

Zu Anfang hielten sie ihre Sonntagsandachten im Heim von Grossvater Peter Richert, Eltern von Frau P.C. Wedel, die damals aus Sektion 23 wohnten.  Dann, wohl im Jahre 1876, tauften sie ein Gebaude und bauten es um in ein Schulhaus, welches auch als Andachtslokal benuzt wurde.  Es was das der Hauptteil der Kirche, die abgebrochen und jezt in diese neue Kirche hineingebaut worden ist.  Die alte Kirche stand eine halbe Meile sudlich von dieser neuen unde diente wenigstens 60 Jahre als Andachtslokal.  In jenem alten Gebaude hat Bruder C.F. Duerksen, der jezt bei seinen Kindern in Fairview, Oklahoma weilt, als erster Schullehrer vier Monate im Jahre 1877 gedient.  Seine Eltern wohnten damals in der Alexanderwohl Gegend.  Er teilte mir mit, dass er damals in jener Schule einige mehr als 100 Schuler gehabt habe – darunter auch erwachsene Manner und Frauen.

In the beginning they held their Sunday services in the home of grandfather Peter Richert, parents of Mrs. P.C. Wedel, who lived at that time from section 23.  Then, probably in 1876, they baptized a building and converted it into a schoolhouse, which was also used as a place of worship.  This was the main part of the church, which was demolished and built into the new church.  The old church stood half a mile south of the new one and served as a place of worship for at least 60 years.  In that old building Brother C.F. Duerksen, who is now with his children in Fairview, Oklahoma, served as the first school teacher for four months in 1877.  His parents were then living in the Alexanderwohl area.  He told me that he had some more than 100 students in that school at that time - including adult men and women.

Er erhielt kein Gehalt.  Alles, was er erheilt, war Koft und Logis bei Peter Wedels.  Aeltester Jakob Stucky von der Hoffnungsfeld Mennonitengemeinde, westlich von Moundridge, hatte hier eine Katechismusklasse von 33, die auch von Bruder Duerksen dreimal im Monat unterrichtet wude, und in der vierten Woche unterrichtete sie Aeltester Stucky. (Prediger Stucky gab Bruder Kuerksen 3 Ferkel fur seine Dienste.)  Aus dieser Klasse wurden dann 30 durch Aeltester Stucky getauft und in die Gemeinde aufgenommen.

He received no salary.  All he received was room and board with Peter Wedels.  Aeltester Jakob Stucky of Hope Field Mennonite Church, west of Moundridge, had a catechism class of 33 here, which was also taught by Brother Duerksen three times a month, and the fourth week Aeltester Stucky taught them. (Preacher Stucky gave Brother Duerksen 3 piglets for his services.) From this class 30 were then baptized by Aeltester Stucky and received into the church.

Im Herbst des Jahres 1877 wurde Heinrich Dalke von der Hoffnungsau Gemeinde nahe Inman, Kansas als Lehrer angestellt, und es wurde eine religiose deutsche Schule gehalten, die sich eines zahlreichen Besuchs erfreute.  Nebst seiner Schularbeit hielt Bruder Dalke auch einen Abend in der Woche oder am Sonntagabend Singstunde.  Er lehrte nach Ziffern (1 bis 8), anstatt nach Noten oder Silben singen, wie das spatter zu meiner Zeit ublich war.  Jener Unterricht wurde von allen hochgeschazt und gab Anregung zur Bekehrung zu Jesus Christus.

In the fall of 1877 Heinrich Dalke was hired as a teacher by the Hoffnungsau congregation near Inman, Kansas, and a religious German school was held which enjoyed a large attendance.  In addition to his school work, Brother Dalke also held singing lessons one evening a week or on Sunday evenings.  He taught singing by numbers (1 to 8), rather than by notes or syllables, as was more common in my day.  Those lessons were highly appreciated by all and encouraged conversion to Jesus Christ.

Bruder Dalke diente in diesem Amt etwa funf Jahre.  Prediger aus Nachbargemeinden dienten dieser Gruppe ab und zu mit dem Wort, und Prediger Jakob Stucky diente als Aeltester.  Im Jahre 1876 wurde Bruder Tobias P Wedel als Vorsanger gewahlt fur die Gottesdienste, und am 6 Oktober, 1878 wurde er als Prediger ordiniert, zusammen mit Bruder Benjamin Boese.  (Bruder Boese hat nuer einmal mit Predigt gebient)  Wahrend dieser Zeit wurde die Kansas Konferenz (seit 1898 die “Westliche Distrikt Konferenz” genaunnt) organisiert, und die “Canton Gruppe” wurde bedient als Feld der inner Mission.  Diese Konferenz rief dann Bruder Johann Ratzlaff, einen Prediger der Hoffnungsau Gemeinde, un hier als Aeltester zu dienen.  Er wurde am 28 Dezember, 1875, von der Hoffsungsau Gemeinde gewahlt und am 4 Januar, 1876, durch Aeltester Jakob Buller von der Alexanderwohl Gemeinde, ordiniert.  Dem Rufe der Kansas Konferenz und der Canton Gemeinde folgend, wurde er dann am 4 Juli, 1880, durch Aeltester Dietrich Gadder von der Hoffnungsau Gemeinde, als Aetester ordiniert.  Im Herbst, 1880, zog er mit Familie in diese Gegen und haute ein Heim weniger als 80 Ruten ost von der Kirche.  Er diente dann der Gemeinde als voller Aeltester, und mit ihm dienten als Prediger die Bruder Tobias P. Wedel und Tobias P Unruh.  Bruder Unruh was zusammen mit Bruder Karl Schartner durch Aeltester Friedrich Schartner, z. Z. Marion, Sud Dakota, als Prdiger ordiniert worden.  Leztgenannter und Familie zogen im Marz 1884 hierher.

Brother Dalke served in this ministry for about five years.  Preachers from neighboring churches served this group with the Word from time to time, and Preacher Jakob Stucky served as Aeltester.  In 1876, Brother Tobias P Wedel was elected as presider for the services, and on October 6, 1878, he was ordained as preacher, along with Brother Benjamin Boese.  (During this time the Kansas Conference (since 1898 called the "Western District Conference") was organized, and the "Canton Group" was served as the field of inner mission.  This conference then called Brother Johann Ratzlaff, a preacher of the Hoffnungsau congregation, to serve here as an elder.  He was elected by the Hoffsungsau congregation on December 28, 1875, and ordained by Aeltester Jakob Buller of the Alexanderwohl congregation on January 4, 1876.  Following the call of the Kansas Conference and the Canton congregation, he was then ordained as Aetester on July 4, 1880, by Aeltester Dietrich Gaddert of the Hoffnungsau congregation.  In the fall, 1880, he moved with family to this area and homesteaded less than 80 rods east of the church.  He then served the congregation as full Aeltester, and with him serving as preachers were Brother Tobias P Wedel and Tobias P Unruh.  Brother Unruh was ordained as a preacher together with Brother Karl Schartner by Aeltester Friedrich Schartner, currently of Marion, South Dakota.  The latter and family moved here in March 1884.

Diese drei Prediger dienten dann der Gemeinde ohne irgend wlchen Lohn bis Aeltester Ratzlaff im Marz, 1895 nach Meno, Okahoma, ubersiedelte, wo schon vorher ein Teil dieser Gemeinde hingezogen war, die die Gelegenheit ausnuzten, zu einem eigenem Heim zu kommen, indem sie bei der sogenannten Croffnung des “Cherokee Strip” am 16 September, 1893, bei der Regierung um eine Heimstatte (“claim”) einkamen.  Die Prediger Wedel und Unruh blieben in Kansas bis immer mehr der Canton Gemeinde nach Meno und Ringwood, Oklahoma zogen.  Dann im August, 1900, zog auch Prediger Unruh mit Familie nach Ringwood, und diente mit Aeltester Ratzlaff der neuen Neu Hoffnungstal Mennonitengemeinde, die dort zwei Kirchen hat, eine in Meno, und die andere 8 Meilen ab, etwa 5 Meilen Nord von Ringwood, nahe wo Prediger Unruh sich ansiedelte, der am 6 Juni, 1911, starb und auf dem Meno Fridhof begraben liegt.

These three preachers then served the congregation without any pay until Aeltester Ratzlaff moved in March, 1895, to Meno, Okahoma, where part of this congregation had already moved, taking advantage of the opportunity to come to a home of their own by petitioning the government for a homestead ("claim") at the so-called opening of the "Cherokee Strip" on September 16, 1893.  Preachers Wedel and Unruh remained in Kansas until more and more of the Canton congregation moved to Meno and Ringwood, Oklahoma.  Then in August, 1900, Preacher Unruh and family also moved to Ringwood, and with Aeltester Ratzlaff served the new New Hope Valley Mennonite congregation, which has two churches there, one in Meno, and the other 8 miles away, about 5 miles north of Ringwood, near where Preacher Unruh settled, who died June 6, 1911, and is buried in the Meno cemetery.

Im Marz, 1904, zog Prediger Wedel mit Famlie auch nach Ringwood, Oklahoma; was zur Folge hatte, dass die Canton Gruppe, die nun ziemlich klein war, ganz ohne Prdiger dastand.  Sie liess daher in 1907 einen Ruf ergehen an Prediger Wedel, zuruckzukommen und ihr als Prediger zu dienen.  Er gehorchte diesem Ruf, und kami m Deezember 19007 zuruck, und diente hier weiter bis August 1919, worauf er wieder nach Ringwood umsiedelte und am 4 September, 1928, starb.  Er diente der Gemeinde 37 Jahre, langer als irgend ein anderer Prediger.

In March, 1904, Preacher Wedel and family also moved to Ringwood, Oklahoma; as a result, the Canton group, now quite small, was without a preacher.  She therefore sent out a call in 1907 for Preacher Wedel to come back and serve her as a preacher.  He obeyed this call, and returned in December 1907, and continued to serve here until August 1919, when he moved back to Ringwood and died on September 4, 1928.  He served the congregation 37 years, longer than any other preacher.

Nachdem Prediger Wedel wieder nach Oklahoma gezogen war, diente Prediger Johann Stucky von der Hoffnungsfeld Gemeinde, der jezt in Moundridge, Kansas, wohnte, der Emmanuel Gemeinde, aber nuer mit Unterricht und als Prediger, d. h., er gab sich nich weiter mit Berwaltungsangelegenheiten der Gemeinde ab.  Er diente so ohne Gehalt, bis es ihm seine geschwachte Gesundheit nicht mehr erlaubte.  Er gab die Arbeit auf in der Hoffnung, das die Gemeinde jemand finde, der das volle Amt ubernehmen werde.

After Preacher Wedel moved back to Oklahoma, Preacher Johann Stucky of the Hoffnungsfeld congregation, who now resided in Moundridge, Kansas, served the Emmanuel congregation, but only with teaching and as a preacher, i.e. he did not continue to deal with administrative matters of the congregation.  He served without salary until his weakened health no longer allowed him to do so.  He gave up his work in the hope that the congregation would find someone to take over the full ministry.

Die Gemeinde liess dann im Fruhjahr 1929 einen Ruf ergehen an Prediger J.J. Ratzlaff, der in Newton, Kansas, wohnte, sie zu bedienen, der eben eine Stelle an der Herald Publishing Company angetreten hatte.  Da er musste, dass er nicht beiden Stellen Gerecht warden konne, sagte er der Gemeinde zu, ihr ein Jahr lang sonntaglich mit der Predigt zu dienen, in der Hoffhung, dass die Gemeinde jemand finden werde, der naher wohne, um ihr mit voller Zeit zum dienen.  Prediger Peter Buller, Gehilfsprediger and der Gossel Mennonitengemeinde, sagte auch zu an zwei Sonntagen im Monat mit der Predigt zu dienen.  So dienten dann die Prediger Buller und Ratzlaff der Gemeinde abwchselnd ein Jahr lang.  Dann wurde Prediger Ratzlaff ersucht, die volle Arbeit aufzunehmen, was er auch tat und mit Freuden diente bis zum 26 Dezember, 1938 – fast 10 Jahre lang.

The congregation then sent out a call in the spring of 1929 for Preacher J.J. Ratzlaff, who lived in Newton, Kansas, to serve them, having just taken a position with the Herald Publishing Company.  Finding that he could not do justice to both positions, he agreed to serve the congregation with preaching on Sundays for one year, in the hope that the congregation would find someone living nearer to serve them full time.  Preacher Peter Buller, assistant preacher at the Goessel Mennonite Church, also agreed to serve with the sermon two Sundays a month.  Thus, Preachers Buller and Ratzlaff served the congregation alternately for one year.  Then Preacher Ratzlaff was asked to take up the full work, which he did and served with joy until December 26, 1938 - almost 10 years.

Da sich die Geminde dann nicht gleich auf einen Prediger einigen konnte, wurden die Vorsteher beauftragt Prediger einzuladen, wie es ginge, um an den Sonntagen mit der Predigt zu dienen.  So dienten wahrend des Jahres 1939 die folgenden: David J Ediger, J.M. Regier, Karl Friesen, J.J. Voth, Peter Buller, Missionar P.J. Wiens, Missionar G.A. Linscheid, A.F. Kreider, A. Warkentin, und wohl noch andere.

Since the congregation could not immediately agree on a preacher, the leaders were instructed to invite preachers as they could to serve with the sermon on Sundays.  Thus, during the year 1939, the following served: David J Ediger, J.M. Regier, Karl Friesen, J.J. Voth, Peter Buller, Missionary P.J. Wiens, Missionary G.A. Linscheid, A.F. Kreider, A. Warkentin, and probably others.

Es war in dieser Zeit, das jemand, der die Mennonitengemeinde verlassen hatte, anfing zu predigen ohne von einer Gemeinde gerufen oder ordiniert zu sein und auch hier predigte, welches einige Gemeindeglieder verwirrte und zu grosser Uneinigkeit fuhrte, sodas wenigstens ein paar Familien sich zuruckzogen von der Gemeinde.  Im November, 1939, nahm Missionar G.A. Linscheid einen Ruf der Gemeinde an, und es gelang nicht nuer die Verwirrung zu korrigieren, sondern er wurde auch in Gottes Hand zum Werkzeug in der Anregung eine neue Kirche zu bauen, die heute eingeweiht wird zum heiligen Dienste der Gemeinde, die hier Andachten abhalten wird.  Prediger Linscheid diente der Emmanuel Gemeinde bis er im September, 1941, wegen schwerer Erkrankung die ihm liebgewordene Arbeit niederlegen musste.  Die Gemeinde, wie auch seine Familie hoffte, dass Prediger Linscheid noch wieder gesund warden und der Gemeinde weiter dienen wurde; doch in Gottes Ratschluss war es anders bestimmt, und er durfte am 14, April, 1942, heim gehen.

It was at this time that someone who had left the Mennonite church began to preach without being called or ordained by a congregation and preached here as well, which confused some church members and led to great disunity, so that at least a few families withdrew from the church.  In November, 1939, missionary G.A. Linscheid accepted a call from the congregation, and not only succeeded in correcting the confusion, but also became an instrument in God's hand in the suggestion to build a new church, which is being consecrated today for the holy service of the congregation, which will hold devotions here.  Preacher Linscheid served the Emmanuel congregation until September, 1941, when he had to resign from the work he held dear due to serious illness.  The congregation, as well as his family, hoped that Preacher Linscheid would recover and continue to serve the congregation, but God's plan was different and he was allowed to go home on April 14, 1942.

Nun wurde die Gemeinde wieder von verschiedenen Predigern bedient bis Missionar Wilhelm T Voth im Mai, 1942, einen Ruf der Gemeinde annahm.  Die Gemeinde zahlt jezt etwa 100 aktive Glieder.  Es find in dieser Gemeinde, seiet ihrm Anfang, 272 Seelen getauft worden.

Now the congregation was again served by different preachers until missionary Wilhelm T Voth accepted a call from the congregation in May, 1942.  The congregation now numbers about 100 active members.  Since its beginning, 272 souls have been baptized in this congregation. 

The Ratzlaff Barn, the Peter P Ratzlaff Family, and the Antonowka Church Records

 Visitors to Kaufman Museum at Bethel College in North Newton, KS, will find a Ratzlaff barn, restored and painted bright red, to the north of the main museum building.  This barn was moved onto the museum grounds in the 1980s from its original location 6 miles east of Buhler on Dutch Avenue.  The barn was built by Abraham Peter Ratzlaff, long-time elder at the Hoffnungsau Mennonite Church near Inman.

Abraham Ratzlaff (gma 81741) was born 1850 in the village of Franztal, in the Molotschna Mennonite Colony.  His parents were Peter and Maria Richert, who were born in Beckersitz and Przechowko, respectively, in West Prussia.  This Peter Ratzlaff had moved to Molotschna Colony with his family when he was 7; Maria with her family in 1819 when she was 4.  Both families likely made their homes in the village of Franztal.   [GRanDMA gdm2609d, 3 SEP 2026; © 1992, 2024 Mennonite Genealogy, Inc. GRanDMA OnLine website:  GMOL v7.7.28; © K. L. Ratzlaff, Lawrence, KS, 2000‑2026]

Soviet Map, Специальная карта европейской России 1420 000, 1944, SKER420_048_1900

Peter and Maria were married in 1832 in Franztal and had 12 children.  In 1874, they joined the large group that migrated to USA and this large family traveled aboard the SS Teutonia.  After the immigration, they settled in McPherson County, Kansas, and were congregants at the Hoffnungsau Church.  

McPherson County, KS, 1898

Abraham was the 9th child.  He was baptized by Elder Benjamin Ratzlaff (gma 47884) at Rudnerweide Church near Franztal Village, in 1869 (Abraham was 2nd cousin twice removed to Elder Benjamin).  After the migration to Kansas, Abraham became a congregant at Hoffnungsau and then, in 1880, was ordained as a minister.  In 1902 he became the elder of the congregation, succeeding Dietrich Gaeddert, who had led the Teutonia group to McPherson County.  Abraham was then a solid leader for the Hoffnungsau community until his death in 1939.  Hoffnungsau History

The barn at Kaufman Museum, built by Abraham Ratzlaff, is a fantastic example of early Kansas Mennonite architecture.

Abraham's brother John (Johann; gma 111722) was 9 years older than Abraham.  He too was baptized at the Rudnerweide Church near Franztal and migrated with his family in 1874.  In 1875, John was elected as a minister at Hoffnunsau and this is where the rest of the story begins.

By 1880, John was elected elder of the Canton Gemeinde, several miles southeast of Hoffnungsau.  This Canton Gemeinde had its roots in Antonowka, Volhynia.  When the Antonowka group migrated to USA in 1874, they basically formed the Emmanuel Mennonite Church near Canton.  After many in this group were converted by John Holdeman to establish the Lone Tree Church, those remaining formed the Canton Gemeinde.  

Lone Tree Township, McPherson County, KS, 1898

John Ratzlaff and these Canton congregants, both originating at daughter churches of the Przechowko community, were a good fit together.  Elder Johann Ratzlaff

In 1895, John Ratzlaff led a great many of the Canton Gemeinde to northern Oklahoma, to Major County, to establish there the New Hopedale Church.  It was there, near Meno, Oklahoma, where John died in 1914.

"Magnetometer Survey" of Major County, Oklahoma, produced by The Texas Company, 1928

The mystery, then, involves church records allegedly taken to Oklahoma with this Canton group.  A Mennonitesche Rundschau article, published 28 March, 1917, asserts that Samuel Koehn (gma 282682) took the Antonowka Church Records with him to Oklahoma in 1895 and thereafter gave them to Elder Johann Ratzlaff.  

Wait... Antonowka Church Records?  This would mean that the Antonowka group, originating near Ostrog in Volyn Governorate, Imperial Russia, which traveled aboard the SS Vaderland in 1874 carried church records with them?

Today, we do have church records from the Emmanuel Congregation near Canton.  These records contain much information from the years in Volhynia (1804-1874), so were they basically a copy of the Antonowka records?  If not, where did all the information from the Volhynian years come from?  Emmanuel Church Records

The Meno churchbooks themselves have disappeared over the years and I have not been able to find anyone yet who knows anything about these Antonowka records.  But again, were the Antonowka records copied into the Emmanuel records prior to moving into Oklahoma?

On the Origin of the Name of Alexanderwohl Village

 I'm just going to re-post this here, with a few of my comments at the very end.  Thanks to Bob Buller for his research.

On the Origin of the Name of Alexanderwohl Village

 

By Bob Buller

bullertime.blogspot.com 

Spring 2018

 

We now take up consideration of one of the more incredible claims that the 1848 Alexanderwohl community report (Gemeindebericht) makes, one repeated in every account of Alexanderwohl’s history that I have encountered. The claim relates to how the village received its name. The relevant section of the community report reads as follows:

When this community, which had existed as a church in Prussia for over 200 years, emigrated to Russia under the leadership of its church Ältester (elder), Peter Wedel, they rested for two days on the south side of the city of Warsaw. Tsar Alexander I—may he rest in peace—and a segment of his troops were outside the city engaging in field manoeuvres. We waited anxiously when the tsar, who had been alerted by several passing generals, stopped his carriage and beckoned with his right hand. Several church leaders ran to him and were asked where we came from and where we were going. When he heard we were going to Molotschna in southern Russia the tsar said: “I wish you luck on your journey. Greet your brethren for I have been there.” This happened on September 14, 1820.

When we arrived in Molotschna these greetings were promptly conveyed by Peter Wedel, our Ältester, to the congregations gathered in the churches. When the office in Ekaterinoslav heard of this extraordinary event, the chief judge Fadeyev immortalized it by naming the colony Alexanderwohl because, as he said, “Tsar Alexander has wished you well.”

Before we look at the details of the report, we need to discuss what type of literature this portion of the report actually is. In form and function it corresponds to a literary type in folklore and biblical studies commonly known as an etiological tale. George Coats explains that this type is “a narrative designed in its basic structure to support some kind of explanation for a situation or name that exists at the time of the storyteller” (1983, 318). Etiological tales, then, often give the story behind why something bears a certain name. Clearly, the Alexanderwohl community report fits the bill according to that definition: it explains how the village got its name.

What is interesting about etiological tales is that, although some of them originate in an actual event (i.e., they report how something came to be, how a name was assigned), many of them are after-the-fact explanations that make sense of the end result but actually have no basis in history or reality.

Several of the claims can be judged reliable without any further investigation: a sizable group from the (Przechówko) church did emigrate to Russia under the leadership of Elder Peter Wedel in 1820, and presumably they made periodic rest stops along the way; Alexander I, the son of Paul I (reigned 1796–1801) and grandson of Catherine the Great (1762–1796), was tsar from 1801 to 1825; and Andrei Mikhailovich Fadeev was the chairman of the Ekaterinoslav Bureau of the Guardianship Committee in 1820 (he succeeded Samuel Contenius in 1818). Finally, the German word wohl does indeed mean “well,” so the etiology makes sense from a lexical perspective. (It may surprise readers to learn that some etiologies of this type fail on a lexical level.)

Other claims will be the focus of our investigation:

1.       Is it conceivable that the tsar of Russia was on maneuvers in Poland in 1820?

2.      Is there evidence that Tsar Alexander I was in Warsaw on 14 September 1820?

To answer the first of these questions, we must engage in more than a little history.

1. The Partitions of Poland

The Kingdom of Poland had its territory systematically reduced through three successive partitions in the waning years of the eighteenth century. In 1772, 1793, and 1795 Russia, Prussia, and Austria divvied up Polish territory to add to their expanding realms. Very important to note is that the city of Warsaw never fell under Russian rule during this time.

2. The Duchy of Warsaw

Of course, Napoleon failed in his attempt to conquer and subdue Russia, and when his army retreated from Russian territory in December 1812 the Russians filled the vacuum and assumed control over most of the Duchy of Warsaw (the Prussians reclaimed the rest).

3. Congress Poland

The Russian rule over the former Duchy of Warsaw was formalized through an agreement once again made between the powers (victors against Napoleon) of the day: Russia, Austria, Prussia, and the United Kingdom. At the Congress of Vienna, which lasted from November 1814 to June 1815, Tsar Alexander I proposed, and the other participants surprisingly agreed, to form the Kingdom of Poland (more commonly known as Congress Poland in recognition of its origin—an etiology of sorts). The surprising aspect of the assent is that, although the new state was technically independent with its own constitution (Congress Poland was a constitutional monarchy), its rulers were to be the Russian tsars. In short, Polish independence was more hypothetical than real, and Alexander I was simultaneously tsar of Russia and king of Poland.

In 1807, during the middle of the Napoleonic wars of the early nineteenth century (1803–1815), the Prussians ceded their territory to Napoleon, who immediately established a Polish state that would provide him and his army material aid in their war against the Russians to the east. As is evident in the map below, the area of the Duchy of Warsaw corresponded roughly to the areas that Prussia had partitioned in 1793 and 1795 and Austria in 1795.

So, therefore, is it conceivable that the tsar of Russia was on maneuvers in Poland in 1820? Clearly, given the fact that Tsar Alexander I was ruler of Congress Poland beginning in 1815 and continued his rule over Poland through the end of his reign in 1825, it is plausible to imagine him on maneuvers south of Warsaw in September 1820.

This leaves only one more question to answer: Is there evidence that Tsar Alexander I was in Warsaw on 14 September 1820?

The answer to our question is found in a book of memoirs written by Sophie de Tisenhaus Choiseul-Gouffier, a member of the Lithuanian nobility in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth of the sixteenth–eighteenth centuries. Sophie met Alexander I in 1812, and they remained close friends until his death in late 1825. One indication of the closeness of their relationship is that Alexander was godfather of Sophie’s only son with her husband, the French Count Louis Antoine de Choiseul Island Oktavija-Gufjė.

Choiseul-Gouffier was a prolific author, with a number of novels to her credit, but the work that is of interest to us is her 1829 Mémoires historiques sur l’empereur Alexandre et la cour de Russie, translated into English many years later as Historical Memoirs of the Emperor Alexander I. and the Court of Russia (1904). A friend and confidant of Alexander during the last two decades of his life, Choiseul-Gouffier serves as a reliable and contemporary source for information about the Russian tsar.

Choiseul-Gouffier reports, for example: “In the year 1816 I made a journey to Carlsbad, with my father and one of my relatives. Upon our return we stopped at Warsaw, where the emperor was expected on the 30th of September” (221). The year is wrong for our purposes, but the location is right. Further, one cannot help but be intrigued by what follows. After Alexander arrived, he and the other Warsaw elite attended a ball, where he danced and engaged in banter with Choiseul-Gouffier. Sometime later, she reports,

The emperor left the ball at eleven o’clock. He kept early hours, rising very early in the morning, either to be present at the drilling of the soldiers or to work with his ministers. The next day he had a grand review of the Polish army, on the plain of Povonski, which was covered with an immense throng of people in carriages, on foot, and on horseback, all come to witness this brilliant military spectacle. (222)

Still the wrong year, but now we have the right action: Alexander, clad in a “Polish uniform with the blue and white plume on his cap” (221), surveying the drilling of the soldiers and a “brilliant military spectacle” that Choiseul-Gouffier refers to, strikingly, as “manœuvres” (223). The military review took place on the plain of Povonski, a site said to be three miles from Warsaw at that time (no source indicates, however, which direction it lay from Warsaw).

This is not, fortunately, the only time that Choiseul-Gouffier encountered Alexander in Warsaw. Later she explains that she wished to leave Paris but without dishonoring her husband. She initially sought to have him appointed to a post in Russia, but that did not transpire due to Alexander making his choice before her letter arrived. Still, she remained determined to leave France, so

in 1820 I made a journey to Lithuania, and M. de C. [Choiseul-Gouffier’s husband] being engaged in defending himself against a very unjust lawsuit, I decided to go to Warsaw where his Majesty was at that time, and ask justice and protection from him. (241–42)

Now we are in the right year and the right place. Choiseul-Gouffier continues her account by noting that once again she and Alexander met at a ball, where they danced and conversed and she made her plea that Alexander intervene in the lawsuit in favor of her husband. Alexander agreed and asked her to supply the details of the case. Choiseul-Gouffier intended to do so at a following ball but arrived late and did not meet Alexander at all. The morning after the second ball, Choiseul-Gouffier reports, Alexander sent a messenger to inquire about her health, since he had not seen her the night before. We pick up Choiseul-Gouffier’s narrative at that point:

As I proposed to stay only a few days at Warsaw, his Majesty, learning that I was on the eve of my departure, deigned to come and receive my respectful adieux, saying that he had hoped that I would prolong my stay at Warsaw until the term fixed for his Majesty’s own departure, twelve days later, when he was to go to the conference of Troppan in Silesia. (244)

Here at last we find a piece of evidence that will enable us to date Alexander’s 1820 stay in Warsaw: the conference in Troppan, more commonly known as Troppau. In 1820 the five great European powers of the day—Russia, Austria, Prussia, United Kingdom, and France—met in the city of Troppau (modern Opava, Czech Republic) to discuss an uprising and revolution in Naples, Italy. The details of that conference can be ignored; what is crucial for our purposes is the date of the conference: it began 20 October 1820.

Troppau lay approximately 200 miles southwest of Warsaw, so if one estimates that Alexander and his party covered 30 miles a day (they no doubt traveled faster than the Mennonites emigrating from Przechówko to Molotschna), then their journey required a week. To be safe, we might imagine that it took anywhere between five and nine days, but we will use seven days for our rough calculations.

Let us assume that Alexander arrived no later than 19 October. A seven-day journey would have thus begun on 13 October. Alexander last saw Choiseul-Gouffier twelve days before his departure, which would have been, by our reckoning, 1 October. The several balls that Choiseul-Gouffier mentions took place before then, during the last week of September. Choiseul-Gouffier also reports that the tsar was already in Warsaw when she made her decision to travel there from Paris, which was no doubt a substantial and time-consuming journey.

What does this mean for our question? It seems indisputable that Alexander I was in Warsaw when the Mennonite group from Przechówko rested south of the city on and around 14 September 1820. At least the basic facts of the etiological tale are confirmed: Alexander and the Przechówko Mennonites were at the same place at the same time, just as the Alexanderwohl community report claims.

The only confirmation that we lack is that of Alexander participating in field maneuvers with Polish troops while the Przechówko church members rested for two days. However, the fact that he did exactly that in an earlier stay at Warsaw lends credence to the claim that he also did so in 1820. Emperors of all times generally like to be seen directing their troops; Alexander was presumably no exception.

All the pieces of the etiology either fit or seem highly plausible, so we have little reason to doubt the other main element of the report: Alexander conversed briefly with several church leaders and, upon learning from where they came and to where they were headed, wished them luck. We will, or course, never have definitive confirmation of this final detail, but we also have no valid reason to doubt it.

1. Alexander I

Alexander’s quoted dialogue (from the 1848 community report) is only two sentences long, but each is worthy of notice. We begin with the second sentence: “Greet your brethren for I have been there.” Alexander’s statement is no throw-away line. In fact, Alexander had visited Molotschna colony just two years prior. Peter M. Friesen’s The Mennonite Brotherhood in Russia includes a first-person account from the Mennonite head of the household that Alexander visited: David Hiebert of Lindenau, Molotschna (Friesen 1980, 173–75).

His Majesty ate with apparent appetite, drank beer and coffee, and, while eating enquired as to our circumstances in the most affable manner: how long we had been in his empire, how we liked it and whether or not we had any complaints about anyone. To this we answered: “No, but we would like to thank Your Imperial Majesty for his great mercy and gracious reception. We would also like to request grace and Your Majesty’s protection for the future; not only for ourselves but also for our brothers-in-the-faith in Prussia, who because of the great and difficult war, have come into dire straits, so that they too might find acceptance and support here.” Thereupon the emperor said to my wife: “Yes, dear child, it shall be done.” (175)

Although we cannot verify the details of the story—the Hieberts’ request on behalf of the Prussian Mennonites who were expected to make their way to Russia or Alexander’s promise to give aid and support to future immigrants—we should note that this account is entirely consistent with the second sentence of Alexander’s comment: he had personally visited Molotschna, so he asked the traveling group from Przechówko to greet their fellow Mennonites when they arrived at their final destination in Molotschna.

The first sentence merits close scrutiny as well, since it may affect how we understand and interpret the etiology of the village name. Alexander begins his dialogue with a simple statement: “I wish you luck on your journey.” Note first that Alexander expressed a wish; he did not make a promise or offer concrete assistance. Second, his wish was for the journey, not for their lives once they arrived in Molotschna. We might speculate on why he limited his wish to the journey, but for now we simply note it as potentially important for our understanding of this tale. Third, Alexander wished them luck, or Glück in German, an important word choice in light of what follows.

2. Andrei Mikhailovich Fadeev

Now that we have observed exactly what Alexander said, we can read with greater insight what the district mayor Fadeyev said when he named the village. We begin by noting first that the Przechówko group did exactly what Alexander asked when they arrived: they conveyed the tsar’s greetings to all their fellow Mennonites. Then we are told that the district office in Ekaterinoslav heard of “this extraordinary event,” Fadeyev “immortalized” it by giving the village (colony in the terminology of that day) a particular name.

At the risk of sounding cynical, I find the characterization of the tsar’s wish as an extraordinary event a bit of a stretch. Alexander wished the party good luck on their journey, in other words, safe travels. He also asked them to greet people he had previously met. Neither of these qualify, in my view, as anything out of the ordinary; they are, rather, niceties that one would hope are more mundane than spectacular. Certainly one would not expect a wish for someone to have safe travels to be immortalized in a village name.

We should also note that Alexander did not wish the Przechówko Mennonites well (German wohl), as Fadeyev claims in this account; in fact, he wished them luck, Glück. One must wonder why the village is not more accurately named Alexanderglück, to immortalize what Alexander actually said. Something is wrong with this picture; the details at the end of the account seem at odds with those at its beginning.

We have established thus far that it is both plausible and highly likely that Alexander encountered the Przechówko Mennonites south of Warsaw. The report of their encounter, with its wish for safe travels and a request to greet the Mennonites whom Alexander had met just two years previously, also has the ring of truth to it. Still, when we get to the whole point of the tale, an explanation of what the village name means, the internal logic of the story starts to fall apart and makes much less sense.

This leads me to wonder whether, although the larger story of the encounter is historically accurate, the precise explanation given for the naming is somewhat less than true. I am not suggesting that the Alexanderwohl settlers made anything up, but I do think we should ask whether there may be a better explanation for the village name than the one that Fadeyev supplied and the townspeople adopted into their historical self-understanding.

On its surface, the explanation for the naming of Alexanderwohl sounds plausible: Alexander wished the Przechówko party well, so the village they settled was named accordingly: Alexanderwohl, which combines Alexander’s name plus the German word for “well.” Most etiologies sound plausible on the surface, but frequently they become suspect when one digs a little deeper.

So it is with the Alexanderwohl etiological tale: the details of the story do not all correspond to the simple etiological explanation. That is, Alexander wished the party luck, not well, and the mundane character of the encounter, essentially wishing someone safe travels, would not typically warrant any sort of memorialization, let alone the naming of a village.

Without calling into question the basic facts of the story, one wonders if the explanation given is the real meaning of the village name. Such skepticism increases when one considers a similarly named Molotschna village, namely, Mariawohl.

This village was one of the last founded in Molotschna, in 1857. According to Helmut Huebert, the village “was named in honour of Wilhelmia Maria, wife of the recently crowned Czar Alexander II” (Huebert 2003, 158). In other words, this village received its name by combining the name of the person being honored plus the German word wohl, or “well.” In this case there is no hint that Maria wished the townspeople well. On the contrary, the village name is more likely an expression of well wishes to the person whose name provides the first part of the village name. The village name is thus a shorthand way of saying: May it be well with Maria.

Why would not the same explanation be applied to Alexanderwohl? If we did not have the story of the encounter in Poland, we would naturally think that the village name was intended more to honor Alexander than to commemorate a brief encounter between Alexander and the Mennonites in which the tsar wished them safe travels. In this explanation, the village name was a vehicle for expressing a wish of good things for the tsar: May it be well with Alexander.

This clearly is not the perspective of the etiological tale, but it makes better sense of the way some village names were created at that place and time. There was, after all, a clear precedent for naming a Molotschna village after Alexander. In 1820, one year before the founding of Alexanderwohl, the village of Alexandertal was founded. The -tal suffix simply indicates that the village was located in a valley; the primary emphasis is on the person being honored by the village name: Alexander I.

Similarly, in 1857 the Molotschna colony saw the founding of Alexanderkrone (where Peter D and Sarah Siebert Buller lived for a few years). This village was named in honor of Alexander II, husband of the Maria honored by the naming of Mariawohl. The German word Krone means “crown” in English, which suggests that the village name meant something like Crown of Alexander. The point, again, is that the village name honored the one after whom it was named.

To bring this all back around to Alexanderwohl, one need not be a skeptic to find the etiological tale a little suspicious at the end. Granted, Alexander likely met and conversed with the Przechówko group south of Warsaw, and they dutifully shared his greetings with their fellow Mennonites in Molotschna. All that seems not only plausible but likely.

However, when Fadeyev named the village—and we should not lose sight of the fact that Fadeyev was the one who named the village, not the Alexanderwohl settlers—he probably was more interested in currying favor with his tsar than in memorializing the tsar’s encounter with a party of Mennonite immigrants. Given the fact that just a year earlier Fadeyev had named another Molotschna village to honor Alexander, and in light of the plain meaning of the -wohl suffix in the later village Mariawohl, it seems most plausible to conclude that the village Alexanderwohl was given its name as a means of expressing a positive wish to a much-loved tsar: May it be well with Alexander.

The association of the account of the journey and encounter with the naming of Alexanderwohl is, in all likelihood, secondary. It may be that Fadeyev named the village for the reason just given but told the Alexanderwohl settlers that the name commemorated their extraordinary encounter with the tsar. Fadeyev may have told them, in other words, what he thought they would like to hear.

It is equally possible, in my view, that the etiology proper—“When the office in Ekaterinoslav heard of this extraordinary event, the chief judge Fadeyev immortalized it by naming the colony Alexanderwohl because, as he said, ‘Tsar Alexander has wished you well.’”—was the villagers’ own creation over time, their attempt to make sense of the village name in light of their own history with the tsar.

We may never know the precise origin of the etiology proper, but it does seem more likely than not that the etiological tale of the naming of Alexanderwohl is both generally true but mistaken in its final detail.

 

Work Cited:

Choiseul-Gouffier, Sophie de Tisenhaus. 1904. Historical Memoirs of the Emperor Alexander I. and the Court of Russia. Translated by Mary Berenice Patterson. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner. Originally published Mémoires historiques sur l’empereur Alexandre et la cour de Russie (1829).

Die Gemeindeberichte von 1848 der deutschen Siedlungen am Schwarzen Meer; (23) Alexanderwohl (Pp 131, 132), edited by M. Woltner, S. Hitzel, Leipzig, 1941.

Friesen, Peter M. 1980. The Mennonite Brotherhood in Russia, 1789–1910. 2nd ed. Translated by J. B. Toews, Abraham Friesen, Peter J. Klassen, and Harry Loewen. Fresno, CA: Board of Christian Literature, General Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches.

Huebert, Helmut T. 2003. Molotschna Historical Atlas. Winnipeg: Springfield.

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I'll just make one addition to Buller's research above.  Mention is made of military maneuvers performed on the "Plain of Povonski".  I'll suggest that this location is equivalent to Powązki.  One can see this location on the 1839 map below.  It's situated immediately to the west of Warsaw proper.  The pronunciation of Powązki in Polish would be something like "Povanski" - that ą makes kind of a "an" sound (as an equivalent to English).  

Today, the location is within the metropolitan Warsaw area.  It's a famous and historical cemetery that was established toward the end of the 18th century.

So the location of the tsar's military maneuvers, I feel, was likely to the west of Warsaw while the Przechowko emigrants are said to have stopped/camped to the south of the city.

Searching for the Last Housebarn in Przechowko

In June, 2024, my friend David Richert and I were searching at Przechowko for remains of the houses in which villagers lived in former years when the village was occupied.  Based mostly on this photo from the early 1960s:

Here we have the cemetery circled in red, the site of the church circled in green, and a couple houses right behind (to the south) of these sites.  David and I figured that by walking between the bluffs upon which sit the cemetery and the church/school, we might find flat spots where it would make sense that houses would have stood.  So, here's the gap between the two bluffs, looking towards the north:

And here's a spot, right about where it should be (based on the above village photo) that looks flat - like it could be a spot where a house could stand:

Near this spot we even found some bricks or something.  Could these be remains of a house or just some bricks or rubbish that were dumped here?:

Otherwise, this former village area is really overgrown with trees and weeds and such:

In the spring of 2025, I was introduced to a man who is now a good friend of mine named Robert Adrych.  Robert is an artist living in the vicinity of Swiecie, Poland, and he specializes in stone carving; he can create the most wonderful items right out of stone.  He's shown me plenty of things he's carved: animals, flowers, people, etc.  It's an absolutely amazing talent, really.  I don't know how a person would even begin to carve items out of a stone but Robert can just come at the rock with his grinder and - like Michelangelo said - there's a item trapped in the stone and the artist liberates it.  Robert can do that with his chisels and grinder and it's just fascinating.  Robert also grew up living in Przechowko - right there in a Hollander housebarn.

Mennonites moved away from Przechowko by the very early 1830s.  After that point, Lutheran Hollanders moved into the village and they simply moved into the housebarns previously occupied by the Mennonite Hollanders.  Eventually, local Poles also moved into the village and were co-inhabitants with some of the Lutherans.  By the 1940s I think there were 14 farms in the village and, little by little, as the century progressed, villagers moved away from Przechowko until only one farm was occupied - the farm and housebarn that sat almost immediately east of the cemetery.  This housebarn stood until the early 2000s and Robert grew up living in it.

This is a photo of the house from Peter Klassen's "Mennonites in Early Modern Poland and Prussia", page 88:  

Note the ornamental tree in front of the house, again seen clearly in this photo via Kathy Friesen from the early 2000s.  Friesen traveled to the village at that time with a tour led by Allen Peters:

The same tree is still standing in its spot.  In the photo below, you can see the flat, open spot behind the marked tree where the house stood:

In the summer of 2025, Robert was good enough to show me exactly where the house stood.  Here we can find portions of the house foundations as well as bricks that made up the walls of the stable.

When I see this now, it looks like David and I had the correct spot back near the top of this article.

The driveway leading to the house is still seen clearly through the trees.  This is basically the gap between the cemetery and the church/school bluffs:

The Memorial Stone that Robert carved for the Przechowko is magnificent piece of art as well as a touching tribute to the souls buried in the cemetery, both Robert's ancestors and mine.

Robert included a heart-shaped stone on the front to signify our love and respect for the village and the cemetery.  This stone, as well as the Memorial Stone itself, are native stones that Robert recovered from the area.:

On the front, Robert carved a map of the village, copied from a well-known early 20th century map.

Marked here in with red crosses is the cemetery, and the house where Robert lived in marked with a yellow arrow.

At the back of the Memorial Stone, Robert carved a likeness of the housebarn in which he lived.

Thank you, Robert Adrych, for showing me the place where your childhood home stood, and thank you for your wonderful efforts in creating the Przechowko Memorial Stone.  May it, and the cemetery itself, stand as a lasting tribute to the village and to those who lived there.

Inscribed upon the Przechowko Memorial Stone:

"To the Mennonites and Evangelicals from Przechowko (Wintersdorf), and the surrounding area who found their final resting place here. Peace be upon their ashes.

The work and design were carried out by Robert Adrych, a former resident of Przechowko."

Chelmno in the Old Days

Przechowko is located directly across the Vistula from Chelmno, Poland.  In centuries past, Chelmno was an extremely important town even though for various reasons it declined.  The town was the seat of a very early bishopric even though the official bishop's residence and church was actually located in nearby Chelmza.  As a result, Chelmno was home to several important churches and monasteries.  The standard for the Chelmno Rod has been bolted onto the backside of the Renaissance-era city building.  And even today you certainly get the feel that the town was an important center back in the old days.  The locals like to repeat that sentiment and like to point out that there are more churches here than in Torun.

The largest church in town, the Church of the Assumption, could certainly be seen from Przechowko and I imagine the Mennonite villagers gazing at the tower as they did fieldwork.

View to the south from western-most Przechowko lot.  Note church towers in the distance.

Recently, I came across fantastic old photos that give an idea to what Chelmno looked like centuries ago.  These photos are likely from the inter-war period, before the deprivations and destructions of WWII and the communist era.  Photos Here.

This photo in particular fascinates me.

And it's interesting that we can compare it very much with a modern photo from Wikipedia.  Obviously, both photos are focused on the buildings of Chelmno, but I'm looking at the landscape in the distance to the north.

The most interesting thing to me is that we can see how the surrounding landscape has evolved over the last century.  We cannot see Przechowko from this angle, but we still get a real good idea about how Przechowko has changed.  Notice the lack of trees in the old photo.  We can see the Vistula not too distantly beyond the city walls (north).  And the view here is towards the northeast whereas Przechowko would actually be directly north from this view (this view is obviously taken from the tower of the Church of the Assumption).  (Another interesting point is that the Chelmno Rod is bolted onto the backside of the Ratusz, obviously in the new photo.  If you look carefully, you can also see it on the old photo too.)

Notice the lack of trees on the north side of the Vistula.  We read here and there about the fact that no trees - or very few trees - were present at Przechowko in centuries past.  This photo would seem to be witness to that fact.  In the modern-day photo, obviously, the whole area is absolutely filled with trees so it's hard to get a good handle on the topography of the land.  But this early-century photo really gives a feel for what our ancestors' perspective would have been.