Jacob Ratzlaff emigration

The green Jacob Ratzlaff family history book mentioned earlier indicates that there were 21 people traveling together in the Ratzlaff party aboard the SS Polaria.  Since the Polaria’s manifest lists Andreas and Maria among the Jacob Ratzlaff family, I feel fairly confident saying these folks were all travelling together.  The manifest can be seen in its entirety here: http://collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/passenger/001045-119.01-e.php?&sisn_id_nbr=3134&interval=20&&PHPSESSID=9spml0cqkh6h5jtp2mdde4jle4

It’s hard to say which other travelers were with the Ratzlaffs.  Immediately above Maria Ratzlaff’s entry are names that appear to be a Nightengale widow and her son.  I can’t tell what the first names are though.

The Jacob Ratzlaff family did have ties to Nightengale (Nachtigal) families in Russia, and there were many Nightengales living in the Karolswalde area.

According to the CMHS GRANDMA database, there was a married couple by the name of Andreas and Maria Ratzlaff who were both born in 1833, making them 60 years old in 1893.  This could very well be the Ratzlaff couple in question.  GRANDMA indicates that Andreas became deceased in 1892.  GRANDMA does indeed indicate that Maria travelled aboard the Polaria in 1893 so maybe the 1892 death date for Andreas is incorrect.  Otherwise, the information GRANDMA has for this couple is quite sketchy.  Maria’s maiden name was Janzen and the couple had eight children total.  They lived in Alexanderkrone and Fuerstenau in the Mennonite Molotschna Colony when their youngest children were born.  GRANDMA doesn’t list any further information for them.   The youngest two children, Johann and Heinrich, were born in1859 and 1861, respectively, in the Molotschna Colony.  Neither Johann nor Heinrich ever left Russia; both dying there in Mennonite Colonies years later.  No children are listed for Johann.  Heinrich, however, had several children.  Some of these are listed as having emigrated to the Fernheim, Paraguay, Mennonite Colony probably in the 1920s.  Andreas and Maria may have been the only members of this family to ever make it to the U.S.A.

Jacob Ratzlaff family emigration to USA

Mennonites settled in Russia in the 19^th century for various reasons.  The St. Petersburg government gained control of South Russia during this time and wished that the fertile steppe be converted into valuable farmland.  In Volhynia, the Russian serfs were being freed and the landowners needed knowledgeable farmers to work the land.  Many Germans, including Mennonites, Lutherans and Baptists, were invited into Russia because of their acumen for working the soil.  Some, like the Mennonites in South Russia, were granted special privileges excusing them from military duties or exempting them from taxes.  By the mid-century mark, Ukraine was dotted with German colonies; farmers or cottage industrialists who did not assimilate with the native Ukrainians and Russians.  As time wore on and the nationalistic spirit grew, the Russian government began to desire that the Germans living in their midst become more “Russian” in culture so it instigated changes in its former policies that were favorable to the German colonists.  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Germans_in_Russia_and_the_Soviet_Union)

Mennonites in Volhynia and South Russia greatly valued their German heritage and had no desire to assimilate with the native Ukrainians or Russians.  Furthermore, their religion forbad them military service, so they began to leave Ukraine.  The mass exodus of Mennonites began in 1874 as they began to find new homes in the U.S.A., Canada, and South America. (http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/U568.html)

The Jacob Ratzlaff family also began to look into leaving Volhynia.  In 1893 most of the family packed up and left, bound for Marion County, Kansas.  A generous resident of Marion County, Bernard Jantz, paid the travelling fare for the Ratzlaffs.  The travelling party consisted of 21 people and they boarded the SS Polaria, bound for Montreal, Canada.  The SS Polaria was a ship of the Hamburg-America Line and departed Hamburg, Germany, on June 10, 1893.  After a brief stop at Antwerp, Belgium, on June 14, 1893 the ship embarked on its cross-Atlantic voyage and reached Montreal, Canada on June 27^th.  (http://www.norwayheritage.com/p_shiplist.asp?co=haaml)

Members of the Jacob Ratzlaff family who made the voyage were:

     Jacob and Anna,

     Henry (Heinrich), wife Katherine and their children Tobias and Karolina,

     Bernard and his wife Marie,

     Adam,

     Lena (Helene),

     John (Johann).

Jacob and Anna's other two children, Eva and Andreas, both stayed in Russia at this time.  They both would travel to the U.S.A with their families at later dates.

Bernard and Maria’s names appear on the first page of the manifest of the SS Polaria where they are listed as farmer and wife:

The names of the rest of the Ratzlaff party appear on the second page:

Joining the Jacob Ratzlaff family on the voyage was an Andreas Ratzlaff (note that this is NOT Andreas Ratzlaff, the son of Jacob Ratzlaff) and his wife Maria.  The SS Polaria manifest gives Andreas and Maria’s ages as 60 at the time of the voyage in 1893.