Ostrog City and County Statistical Data, 1895

I recently came across some very interesting statistical information for the City and County of Ostrog, Volhynia Province, Russia, from the year 1895.  The information is from the Brokgauza and Efrona Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary, St. Petersburg/Leipzig, which was published several times between 1890 and the 1930s, in multiple volumes.  This data is from the 1907 edition of the Encyclopedia, listing data from the year 1895 and can be found in its original form here.  Keep in mind that this data separates Ostrog City from Ostrog County.  City data is not included in County data.

19th Century Ratzlaff clans of Volhynia

There appear to have been a few different clans of Ratzlaffs living in the Ostrog, Volhynia, area around the mid-19^th Century.  Based on the Tobias Unruh baptism record, shiplists from ships which carried mainly Volhynian Mennonites to America, data from GRANDMA, and other bits and pieces from here and there, it looks like there were no more than 4 Ratzlaff clans in the area at this time.  1) the Heinrich Ratzlaff family which included my great great grandfather Jacob, and great grandfather Andreas; 2) the Andreas Ratzlaff family which included the brothers Peter and Andreas Ratzlaff; 3) a second Andreas Ratzlaff family made up of Adam, Benjamin, Tobias and Bernard; and 4) the Heinrich Hans Ratzlaff family made up of Heinrich Hans’ 5 sons Johann, Benjamin, Abraham, Tobias and Andreas.

First of all, a word about names.  The name Andreas looks to have been a very popular name with the Mennonites of Volhynia.  All 4 of these clans have men named Andreas Ratzlaff, and all 4 will be discussed.  We have Andreas son of Andreas, born in 1822; Andreas son of Andreas, born around 1830; Andreas son of Heinrich Hans, born in 1833; and Andreas son of Jacob, born 1869. 

In no particular order, the first clan included my Ratzlaff ancestors, the Heinrich Ratzlaff clan.  This clan cannot be traced decisively back to its origins in Przechowka, but may very well be related to Johann Ratzlaff (b 1726) of Driesen, Neumark.  Heinrich Ratzlaff himself lived and died probably in Karolswalde.  He had 4 children, all of whom have been discussed in detail earlier.  His eldest son, Henry, may have never left Russia.  His other children and their families lived in Volhynia; Jacob with his family until their emigrations in 1893, 1907 and 1909; Benjamin with his family until they left for the Holy Land in 1877; and Susanna (Boese) and her family until they emigrated in 1875.  (Benjamin’s family would also later emigrate to America).  This family lived in the villages of Antonovka, Lileva and Mezelski. 

The second Ratzlaff clan was made of the 2 sons of Andreas Ratzlaff; Peter (b1826) and Andreas (b c 1830).  I am also related to this clan in that this Peter Ratzlaff married Anna (Koehn, Foth), the widow of Heinrich Foth, by the late 1840s.  This Anna (Koehn, Foth) was the mother-in-law to my ancestor, Jacob Ratzlaff (b 1842).  Peter became step-father to Jacob’s future wife Anna Foth.  The ancestry of Peter Andreas Ratzlaff and Andreas Andreas Ratzlaff is not known beyond their father, and I don’t know at this time whether the father (Andreas) lived in Volhynia or not.  In all likelihood he did; he would probably have been born around 1800 and that’s right about the time when the German Mennonites began coming into Volhynia.  However, in my notes, I found an indication that Peter was born in Ostrower Kaempe, West Prussia (Ehrental in German, today known as Ostrów Świecki, Poland), but I don’t know if that’s accurate or not.  I also don’t know in which Volhynian villages specifically these Ratzlaffs lived.  Koehn family documents indicate they lived in the Ostrog area but don’t name any villages.  This Peter Ratzlaff left for America aboard the SS Vaderland in December, 1874.  Peter may have been buried in Carson Township, Minnesota (Mountain Lake area).  Some members of the family late moved to the Canton, KS, area.  Andreas and his family stayed until summer of 1881, when they too left for America aboard the SS Waesland.  At this point I don’t know where they lived in America or when Andreas passed away.

An interesting sidenote here involves the Buller family.  This Andreas Ratzlaff (b c 1830) was married to a Katharina Buller.  Katharina’s father was David Buller (born 1785 in Jeziorken, died after 1828 in Antonovka).  My great-great-great grandmother, Maria Buller (b c 1820, grandmother to Susanna Wedel) was the daughter of a David Buller, born 1785.  It’s entirely possible that this Katharina and Maria were sisters, thereby forming another link between these two Ratzlaff clans.  This David Buller was also descended of Ratzlaffs, through his grandmother, Buscke Ratzlaff (b c 1716), a sister to the previously mentioned Johann Ratzlaff (b 1726).

The third Ratzlaff clan was also made up of an Andreas Ratzlaff and his sons; Andreas Ratzlaff (b 1812 or 1822 in Antonovka) and his sons Adam (b c 1836), Benjamin (b 1839), Tobias (b 1843) and Bernard (b 1844).  This man and all 4 sons appear to have lived in Antonovka during the 19^th Century.  Andreas was born in Ostrower Kaempe, West Prussia, in 1812 or 1822 but must have moved into Volhynia by the mid-1830s.

His first son, Adam, lived in Antonovka until his premature death between 1867 and 1874.  After Adam’s death, his widow, Eva Wedel, re-married to a Benjamin Peter Jantz, and the whole family emigrated to America aboard the SS Vaderland in December of 1874.  The family lived near Canton, KS, and then moved to Oklahoma. 

The next son, Benjamin, married an Eva Nachtigal.  The couple along with several children emigrated to America in 1880, after which time they lived in Durham, KS.  They later moved to Montezuma, KS.  

The third son, Tobias, was on his second wife by the time he and his family emigrated to Marion County, KS, aboard the Vaderland in December of 1874.  While living in Antonovka, he first married Susanna Koehn, but she died around 1871.  Next he married a woman named Anna, but she died soon after arrival in America.  Finally, Benjamin married Helena Schmidt and the couple are both buried in Montezuma, KS.

The fourth son, Bernard, was born in Antonovka and married Helena Unruh.  They with 4 of their children also emigrated to America aboard the Vaderland in December, 1874.  They are also buried in Montezuma, KS.

These four sons were children of Andreas Ratzlaff and his wife Helena Koehn.  Helena died at some point around 1850 and Andreas re-married to Wilhelmina Foth.  After Wilhelmina Foth’s death, Andreas married Maria Foth.  At some point after his first wife’s death, Andreas moved from Volhynia back into the Masovia, Poland, and lived in the upper Vistula Mennonite villages of Deutsche Wymyschle, Wola Wodzinska and perhaps Wonsosz bei Gombin.  Andreas also emigrated to America at some point by 1915 when he was buried in Hitchcock, Oklahoma.

Finally, the fourth clan include several sons of Heinrich Hans Ratzlaff.  Heinrich Hans was born, probably near Neu-Dessau, Neumark, in 1784, a son to the previously mentioned Johann Ratzlaff (b 1726).  He married his first wife, a Richert daughter, in Neu-Dessau, but she died shortly afterwards.  He married his second wife, Maria Sawatzky, in Volhynia around 1820.  Maria had been born near Elbing, in Prussia.  5 sons and 1 daughter were all born in Volhynia between 1821 and 1833, but the family moved to the Molotschna Colony in 1837.  Heinrich Hans died in 1848 after which point Maria and 2 of her sons, Abraham and Tobias, moved back into Volhynia and were among the founders of the Heinrichsdorf, Volhynia, Mennonite community.  Heinrichsdorf was founded in that same year about 12 miles northwest of Berdychev; about 84 miles southeast of Karlswalde (today there are no traces of the village left, but it would have lain directly northeast of the Ukrainian village of Vakulenchuk.

http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/volhynia_ukraine/?searchterm=heinrichsdorf

Abraham (b 1828) and Tobias (b 1831) both are listed in the Heinrichsdorf churchbook.  Abraham married Anna Teske in 1853 and Tobias married Helena Nachtigal in 1858.  The Heinrichsdorf community probably had little to do with the Karlswalde villages, however, other than the fact that Tobias Unruh served as elder for both communities.  Children of Abraham and Tobias are both listed in the Tobias Unruh baptism record.  Abraham and Tobias, along with their families and their mother Maria, emigrated aboard the SS Colina in September of 1874, and settled in Turner County, South Dakota.  Maria died in 1891, Abraham in 1893, and Tobias in 1903, all in South Dakota.

Heinrich Hans’ other children were Johann (b 1821), Maria (b 1826) and Andreas (b 1833).  These children were also born in Volhynia but grew up in the Molotschna Colony. 

Johann, with his wife Ann Buller and their children, emigrated to Minnesota aboard the SS Vaderland in the summer of 1876. 

Maria married a Johann Beier, but died in the Molotschna in 1867.  Johann also died in 1867, leaving their 7 children orphans, the youngest of whom was only 3 years old at the time of the parents’ death.  The family must have spent some time among the Mennonite villages in Crimea before Maria and Johann’s deaths.  The children were named Johann, Helena, Anna, Abraham, Suzanna, Cornelius and Katherine.  Johann, Abraham and Cornelius all emigrated to the U.S. in 1874.  Members of Helena’s family made their way into Kazakhstan after 1920.  Some remained there during the Soviet period (death dates recorded as recently as 1985) and may very well remain in Russia to this day.  Others were able to make their way into Germany.  Anna’s family moved into the Millerovo, Russia, Mennonite village.  It appears as if most of this family eventually made their way to Canada or Germany.  Nothing more is known of Suzanna’s or Katherine’s family at this time.

Heinrich Hans’ youngest child, Andreas, married Maria Janzen and emigrated to the United States in 1893 aboard the SS Polaria along with the Jacob Ratzlaff (b 1842) family.  Andreas died shortly after arrival in America.  Andreas and Maria left behind 8 children in South Russia.  The fate of the elder 6 children is unknown, while the 7^th and 8^th children, Johann and Heinrich, moved deeper into Russia.  Johann died in the Mennonite settlement of Orenburg in the 1920s.  Heinrich and his family trekked all the way to the Barnaul Mennonite settlement in Siberia where he died in 1915.  Several of Heinrich’s children were among those Mennonites to escape over the border into China during the early Soviet period.  From Harbin, China they were able to make their way to the Mennonite Colonies in Fernheim, Paraguay (http://wikimapia.org/#lat=-22.3891664&lon=-60.0085259&z=12&l=0&m=b), and near Curitiba, Brazil (http://wikimapia.org/#lat=-25.4219198&lon=-49.8211098&z=13&l=0&m=b).  Some of their descendants still live in South America today.

In addition to all these, a couple other Ratzlaffs appear in the Tobias Unruh baptism records.  Elisabeth Ratzlaff was baptized in 1864 and Tobias Unruh lists her father as Heinrich.  There’s also another Elisebeth (Elske) listed as the daughter of an Andreas Ratzlaff, baptized in 1861.

Dutch or German?

My immediate Ratzlaff grandfathers, Albert, Andreas and Jacob Ratzlaff, spoke low German and lived among the ethnically German Mennonite settlers in Volhynia and Kansas.  At some point, the idea took hold that they were of Dutch descent.  The Green Ratzlaff book indicates that Jacob Ratzlaff was born in Holland in 1842.  Jacob’s son Henry, upon his immigration to the United States in 1893, dictated that his surname be spelled “Ratzloff” as he felt this spelling more closely resembled the original Dutch spelling.  With all due respect to my forefathers, without whose wisdom and foresight I wouldn't be here today, I must disagree with the hypothesis that we are of Dutch descent.

There is no doubt the Prussian Mennonites communicated with their brethren in Holland.  The Mennonite Church in Holland was seen as the mother church from which the Prussian Church took direction and the City of Danzig, particularly, was influenced by its trading partners in the Netherlands.  We have records of visits to Prussia from the Dutch church fathers (for instance: http://mla.bethelks.edu/archives/cong_15/hulshoff.pdf).  The Prussian government restricted new candidates from joining the Mennonite church in Prussia since they wanted to limit the growth of the population from whom they would receive no military support.  For this reason, the very first Ratzlaff, upon his desire to join the Mennonite Church, travelled to Holland for the conversion process.  His wife, a Voth woman, probably died there.  But there is very little historical evidence to show that the Ratzlaffs ever lived in Holland.  In the updated version to the Green Ratzlaff book, Cornelius Krahn, one of the most learned and respected Mennonite historians, is quoted as having said that no Ratzlaffs were ever in Holland.  Krahn was of the opinion that the Ratzlaffs were originally Germans from Prussia and Danzig. 

I submit that one of the reasons our forefathers thought they were from Holland was because they carried the name Hollander with them from Prussia into Russia.  Wojciech Marchlewski, in his articles (http://holland.org.pl/art.php?kat=art&dzial=maz&id=15&lang=en, http://holland.org.pl/art.php?kat=art&dzial=maz&id=13&lang=en, http://holland.org.pl/art.php?kat=art&dzial=maz&id=17&lang=en) discusses the origin and use of the term Hollander.  A Hollander was a type of village in areas of 18^th Century Poland (Powisle, Masovia, Prussia, etc).  Originally, a Hollander was a village of Dutch folks, but later it described more of an economic/social characterization than an ethnic one.  In the third article above, “Different Neighbors; Everyday life of Hollander Colonists in Powisle in the 19^th Century”, Marchlewski describes Hollander like this:

The economic activity commenced by the Mennonites in the 16^th century in Poland led to creation of a specific family model, known as the Hollander settlement.  This model should be considered as a social economic system, composed of interrelated elements such as: legal status, social and territorial organization, settlements network, construction, draining techniques, trade.

Karolswalde, the first Mennonite village settled in the Ostrog area, was very near the Polish/Ukrainian border.  By the year 1800 (near which time the village was inhabited by Mennonites), the area had passed from Polish to Russian hands, although the “natives” in the area were ethnically Ukrainian.  Therefore, the village had several different names which it was called by the local governments and populace.  Karolswalde was its German name, and Holendry Slobodzkie its Polish name, later it was named Pykordonne by the Russians and Ukrainians.  The Poles named the village Holendry Slobodzkie as the villagers were Hollander as described in Marchlewski’s articles listed above, or at least they had come from Hollander villages from farther up in Prussia.  We should also remember that the native Poles, Ukrainians and Russians disliked one another and would have resisted using an ethnic name other than their own.  I feel the Germans (our Ratzlaffs included), having come from Prussia (which was actually a Polish state at that time) later would have preferred using the Polish name rather than a Ukrainian or Russian one.  The Germans had much more in common with the Poles than with the Ukrainians or Russians.

Marchlewski focuses on Hollander villages in the Masovian area of Poland.  Masovia contained the Mennonite villages near Gambin: Deutsche Wymysle, Deutsch Kazun, and a couple others.  Some Ratzlaffs did live in these villages in the 18^th and 19^th Centuries; the villages were all daughter congregations of Przechowka.  I suspect somehow my Volhynian Ratzlaffs are related to these Masovians in some way although I don’t know how yet.

My point is that the term Hollander, in the time and area in question, did not refer to ethnicity.  Our Ratzlaff ancestors, not having the easy access to information we have today, would have just known that their grandfathers came from a village with Holland in the name of it – therefore they made the easy conclusion that the village must have been Dutch.  I can understand very easily how this mistake could have been made.

I know that there are those among our family who will always choose to believe that our Ratzlaff ancestors came from Holland, and that may be something I’ll never be able to 100% disprove.  However, I feel with the help of Marchlewski’s work on the Polish Hollander villages we may have an important clue as to how what I regard as a misconception could have originated.

The Green Ratzlaff book indicates that Jacob Ratzlaff was born in Holland on 08/12/1842 and emigrated to Volhynia when Jacob was 25 (1867).  I think it’s most likely that Jacob was born in Holendry Slobodzkie (Karolswalde) in 1842 and at some point moved to Zabara.  1867 would be a likely year for Jacob’s return to the Ostrog area, as Eva was born in 1864 (location unknown, perhaps Zabara) and Andreas was born in 1869 in Leeleva.  Later generations may have confused the move from Zabara with a move from Holland. 

Lastly, there were other villages in Volhynia or nearby regions with Hollander in their names, indicating possible descent from the Hollander villages of Poland.  Hollander villages in the Volhynia area include but are not limited to:

• Holdendry Slobodzkie (Karolswalde) – south of Ostrog

• Josefin-Holendry (Powiat Lutsk)

• Aleksandrowka Holendry (Powiat Kovel)

• (Kol) Holendrow – immediately north or west of Michalin (somewhat south, southeast of Berdichev, in Kiev Gubernia)

3 villages among German Colonies along the Bug, south of Brest, near the borders of Volhynia Gubernia (Powiat Volodymyr-Volyn) and Grodno Oblast:

• Zabuskie (Sabushskie) Holendry
• Holendry Swierzowskie
• Nowiny-Holendry

Heinrich and Anna (Koehn) Foth

Anna Foth was born on May 24, 1842, to Heinrich and Anna (Koehn) Foth.  We don’t know for sure where Anna was born, but in all likelihood it was in Volhynia; either Karlswalde or Zabara.  Heinrich and Anna (Koehn) Foth had one other daughter, Eva, who was born on December 24, 1846.  GRANDMA indicates that Anna was baptized on June 10, 1861 and Eva on May 4, 1864.  However, the Tobias Unruh baptism record indicates that both Foth girls were baptized on the same date in 1861, in Antonovka. 

The green Ratzlaff book indicates that while in Zabara, Anna Foth married Jacob Ratzlaff (b 1842).  There’s a little confusion about when the Foth family moved to Zabara; I suppose it’s entirely possible that Anna was born in Zabara.  The green Ratzlaff book indicates that Anna was baptized in Zabara, but I don’t think that’s likely as the Tobias Unruh baptism record indicates she was baptized in Antonovka.  Nevertheless, Anna and Jacob were married in Zabara, probably sometime in 1862.

Anna (Koehn) Foth’s father’s name was Jacob Koehn.  Nothing more is known about him at this time, but he probably would have been born around the year 1800.  Anna (Koehn) Foth was born on June 3, 1824.

Several years prior to 1856, Heinrich Foth died.  After a period of time, Anna (Koehn) Foth remarried to a man named Peter Ratzlaff.  Anna (Koehn, Foth) and Peter Ratzlaff had their third child by the year 1856 so Heinrich Foth must have died by 1853 at the latest.  By the time her father died, Anna Foth would have been just over 10 years old, and Eva would have been a few years younger.  After mother Anna (Koehn, Foth) was married to Peter Ratzlaff, the young Foth girls would have lived in the Peter Ratzlaff household until they were married.

Peter Ratzlaff was the son of Andreas Ratzlaff and was born on April 10, 1826.  No additional information is known about his parents at this time, but he did have a brother named Andreas (born about 1830), who also lived in the Ostrog area.  Andreas married Katherina Buller and emigrated to America with his family in 1881 aboard the SS Waesland.  The ancestry of Peter and Andreas is unknown beyond their father.  However, their children do appear in the Tobias Unruh baptism record.  Mary, Bernard and Elizabeth, Peter and Anna (Koehn, Foth) Ratzlaff’s eldest 3 children are listed as having been baptized 1874, 1867 and 1874, respectively.  These children would have been half-siblings to Anna Foth.

Peter and Anna (Koehn, Foth) Ratzlaff, with their children Elisabeth, Catharine, Sara and Susanna, emigrated to America in 1874 aboard the SS Vaderland in December of 1874.  Bernard also emigrated to America, at a different time.  Mary, the eldest child, may have remained in Russia.  On the ship listing, the Peter Ratzlaff family appears after a Koehn family and before a Buller family:

 Peter and Anna (Koehn, Foth) Ratzlaff made their way to KS and must have been among the immigrants who suffered terribly in Hutchinson and Florence in the winter of 1874.  Anna died in 1906 and lies buried in an unmarked grave in the Lone Tree Church cemetery.  Peter’s date of death is unknown.  Based on information in the GRANDMA database, most their children lived in the McPherson County, KS, area, while some of their grandchildren made their way to the Meno-Ringwood, OK areas.

Eva Foth was married to Benjamin Nachtigal around 1866 and they made their home in the Ostrog area.  At least 3 sons were born, and the family emigrated to America aboard the SS Vaderland in December of 1874.  At this point, I do not know where Eva and Benjamin are buried, but apparently the family settled near Canton, KS.  2 of the sons (Andreas and Jacob) moved to Oklahoma, while the eldest, Heinrich, stayed in Kansas and is buried in the Lone Tree Church cemetery.  Benjamin was the son of Andreas and Luisa Nachtigal.

Ratzlaffs of Przechowko VI

I’ll probably never know for sure exactly who my Ratzlaff ancestors were beyond Heinrich Ratzlaff.  I feel confident, though, that Heinrich’s forefathers were members of the Przechowko congregation.  And going through all the Ratzlaffs in the congregation, it looks like the following are the best candidates to be either Heinrich himself or Heinrich’s father:

1)      Jacob 47895

2)      Heinrich 47690

3)      Heinrich 47889

4)      Heinrich 47904

5)      Peter 47768

6)      Heinrich 198648

The numbers associated with the names are the identification numbers from the GRANDMA database, and from GRANDMA we learn the following about these Ratzlaffs:

1)      Jacob 47895, was born in 1812 in Klein Konopat, Prussia, son of Peter and Catarina (Arnten) Ratzlaff.  We don’t know if Jacob 47895 had any siblings, if he became married, or when he died.  Klein Konopat (Little Konopat) was the eastern an area of Konopat (also called Deutsch Konopat).  According to GAMEO http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/konopat_kuyavian_pomeranian_voivodeship_poland/?searchterm=konopat the entire village migrated to the Molotschna Colony in the first quarter of the 19^th century.  GRANDMA lists no futher information for this Ratzlaff family after Jacob’s birth in 1812 which leads me to believe that the family became distanced from Przechowko shortly after that date.  Either they stayed in Prussia or became associated with a different Mennonite congregation.  Although my ancestor Heinrich’s name may have been Jacob, given the current information I don’t really feel that Jacob 47895 is the right man.

2)      Heinrich 47690 was born in 1810 to Adam and Ancke (Wedel) Ratzlaff in the village of Przechowko and he had an older brother named Peter.  Similarly to Jacob 47895, the Przechowko Churchbook apparently loses track of this family after Heinrich’s birth and we know nothing further about this family including whether or not Heinrich had any children.

3)      Heinrich 47889 was born in 1803 to Peter and Ancke (Schmidt) Ratzlaff in the village of Jeziorken.  Jeziorken was another village associated with the Przechowko congregation that was situated 12 miles to the northwest.  Heinrich 47889 had 3 siblings, but apparently no further information is known about any of them.  Also, it’s unknown whether this Heinrich married or not, or what his date of death was.  GAMEO indicates that the villagers from Jeziorken, being somewhat removed from Przechowko, began moving to the Neumark villages in the late 18^th century and later some went to Deutsch Wymysle.  This makes Heinrich 47889 a very good candidate to be my ancestor, Heinrich Ratzlaff.  His name, date and location apparently are all viable.

4)      Heinrich 47904 was born in 1797 to Tobias and Ancke (Ratzlaff) Ratzlaff in the village of Deutsch Konopat.  We don’t know any other specifics about this Heinrich, but apparently the family moved to Deutsche Wymysle at some point as some of his younger siblings were born in that village.  Deutsche Wymysle was located farther up the Vistula River, somewhat northwest of Warsaw; much closer in proximity to Volhynia than was Przechowko.  Mennonites from Wymysle are known to have moved to Volhynia and the Molotschna Colony from time to time in the 19^th century.  The data for this family in GRANDMA is a bit sketchy so I don’t know if this Heinrich had any children or not, but the possibility remains that this man could by my Heinrich Ratzlaff ancestor.

5)      Peter 47768 was born in 1727 and was the son of Peter and Sarcke (Schmidt) Ratzlaff.  Peter married Liscke Unrau in Brenkenhoffswalde and died in 1789.  Peter had numerous siblings but we don’t know anything further about Liscke or when she died.  We don’t know anything about their children; we can’t be sure they even had any children.  But Peter lived to be 62 years old and was married so it’s probable some children were born to the couple.  My ancestor Heinrich was probably born in the neighborhood of 1800 in the Neumark villages.  If Peter 47768 was his father, the location of residence is right, but the time period may be just a little off as Peter 47768 died in 1789.  Peter 47768 is a good candidate to be my Heinrich’s father, but the pieces don’t quite fit perfectly.

6)      Heinrich 198648.  This Heinrich is still the Ratzlaff who I feel is most likely my Heinrich Ratzlaff ancestor.  This Heinrich was an uncle to the Andreas Ratzlaff who travelled to Montreal with my great grandfather Jacob Ratzlaff aboard the SS Polaria in 1893.  Andreas as well as some of his siblings had ties to Volhynia although they lived in the Molotschna Colony by the late 1800s.  GRANDMA tells us nothing about this Heinrich except that he was born in 1798 to Johann and Sarcke (Voth) Ratzlaff.

The first two, Jacob 47895 and Heinrich 47690, both have correct names and dates, but I don’t know if either man had any children.  Also, neither of them necessarily lived in the correct locations.  They remain possibilities because of what I don’t know about them moreso than because of what I do know.

The second two, Heinrich 47889 and Heinrich 47904, also have the correct names and dates.  I also don’t know anything about whether they had children or not.  However, both of these Ratzlaffs were from more outlying areas (Jeziorken and Wymysle, respectively) and I feel it’s more likely that villagers from these outlying areas ended up in Volhynia.

The last two, Peter 47768 and Heinrich 198648, both lived in the proper location during the correct time period and these are the only two that are possibilities because of what I do know rather than what I don’t know.  I do know that Peter 47768 lived in Neumark during the correct time period and that he was married.  If he was married, he probably had children and one of these might have been my Heinrich.  I also do know that Heinrich 198648’s family lived in Neumark and that he was uncle to Ratzlaffs who I know lived in Volhynia.  GRANDMA doesn’t list a wife or children for this Heinrich; nevertheless since their was some sort of connection between his nephew and my Heinrich I feel that Heinrich 198648 and my Heinrich may be one and the same.

Ratzlaffs of Przechowko V

Finally, the eldest grandson of the original Ratzlaff, Berent 32092, was born in 1660 and died in 1717:

		Hans 131766, married in Neumark, unknown dates	Hans 132130, unknown dates, no spouse or children listed	lived in Neumark
		Berent 33034, died Terespolno, Prussia	Hans 47721, may have converted to Lutheranism died without Mennonite affiliation	not likely
			Jacob 193793 1748-c1765
Berent 32092	Berent 33029		Johann 193794  b1756, no children listed	not likely
			Jacob 112574  b1765, no chldren listed	not likely
		Johann 33033, b 02/01/1726 Neumark, d 11/07/1805 Driesen
			Andreas 193799 1775-1842, died in Prussia, no children listed	not likely
			Bernhard 193801 1782-1822, died in Poland	Benjamin 103905, 1824-1901, immigrated 1874
			Tobias 896561 1788-1863, died in the Mototschna, no children listed	not likely
			Peter 193804 1793-1800, died in Driesen
			Abraham 214896 1795-1848, died in Molotschna
			Heinrich  198648 b1798, no children listed	could this be the father of Jacob b1842?
				Johann 57435, 1821-1899, b Volhynia, immigrated 1874
				Benjamin 67624, 1824-1900, b in Volhynia, grew up in Molotschna, emigrated 1878
			Heinrich Hans 47861 1784-1848. died in the Molotschna (may have lived in Fuerstenau, Molotschna) married 1820 Volhynia
				Abraham 67626, 1828-1893, born in Volhynia, emigrated 1874
				Tobias 67627, 1831-1874, b Volhynia, married in Heinrichsdorf, emigrated 1874
				Andreas 67628, b 1833, married to Maria Janzen, born in Antonovka, Volhynia, emigrated to Molotschna 1837	did this Andreas and his wife travel aboard the Polaria with OUR Jacob in 1893?

Several of Berent’s descendants are possible candidates to be my Heinrich’s or Jacob’s ancestor.  And we can see from the Przechowko Churchbook data that two of Berent 32092’s grandson’s lived in the Neumark villages; Hans 131766 and Johann 33033.  Hans 132130 was probably born in the Neumark, but he has no children listed.  Hans 47721 isn’t likely as he converted to Lutheranism and we know Heinrich and Jacob were Mennonites.  The sons of Johann 33033 - Johann 193794, Jacob 112574 and Andreas 193799 - are all possibilities but none have any children listed in the GRANDMA database.  Tobias died in the Molotschna Colony so he’s not likely.

Heinrich 198648 deserves some serious consideration though.  This Heinrich has the correct name, he’s born in the correct time frame (b 1798), and he was probably born in the right location (his father died in the Neumark village of Driesen).  Heinrich 198648 really seems to check all the right boxes.

Furthermore, GRANDMA lists that Heinrich 198648 had a brother named Heinrich Hans 47861.  Heinrich Hans ultimately died in the Molotschna Colony, but he had 5 sons who were all born in Volhynia.  Furthermore, the youngest son, Andreas 67628, is probably the man who travelled with my great great grandfather Jacob Ratzlaff aboard the SS Polaria in 1893.  Why was Jacob travelling with this man?  Could they have been cousins?

It’s troubling that the sons of Johann 33033 are born in such a wide time frame.  Johann 33033 would have been 72 years old when Heinrich 198648 was born.  But I guess that’s not impossible.  GRANDMA and a genealogy called “Retzlaff Roots from the Scroll” by Evangeline Neuschwander both list this data and the representative historians apparently feel comfortable with the data.  It’s also troubling that Johann 33033 would have two sons with such similar names (Heinrich and Heinrich Hans).  Nevertheless, I feel Heinrich 198648 is a very good candidate to be my Ratzlaff ancestor.