Andreas Ratzlaff, born 1833

Andreas Ratzlaff, husband of Maria (Janzen) Ratzlaff, was born in Antonovka, Volhynia, in 1833.  Antonovka lies just a couple miles west of Karolswalde along the road from Ostrog to Kuniv.  Karolswalde and Antonovka were the two Mennonite parishes in the Karolswalde Circuit.  Antonovka was associated with Fuerstendorf (Leeleva) and Menziliski (Waldheim) among others (Leeleva and Menziliski are locations associated closely with the Jacob Ratzlaff family).  Andreas Ratzlaff was the youngest son of Heinrich Hans Ratzlaff (1784-1848) and Maria Sawatzky (1797-1891).  The CMHS GRANDMA database indicates that all six of Heinrich Hans’ and Maria’s children were born in Volhynia.  In 1837, the family moved from Volhynia to the Molotschna Mennonite Colony in South Russia.  Following Heinrich Hans’ death in 1848, Maria and some of the children moved back to Volhynia and lived in the Heinrichsdorf village near Zhytomyr.  http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/volhynia_ukraine.

GRANDMA doesn’t specify for certain whether Andreas moved back to Volhynia with his mother.  Therefore at this time I’m not sure about Andreas’ chronological whereabouts.  Nevertheless, this Andreas Ratzlaff had strong ties to the Antonovka parish villages in Volhynia and moved between this parish and the Moloschna at least once.

My great great grandfather Jacob also lived in the Antonovka parish villages.  We can’t be certain in which village he was born.  GRANDMA tells us that Jacob was born in Karolswalde in 1842, but doesn’t give a source for that information.  However, GRANDMA also indicates that two of Jacob’s younger siblings, Benjamin and Susanna, were also born in Karolswalde.  Susanna was born in 1850, so if the GRANDMA information is correct, Jacob and his family lived in Karolswalde until at least 1850.  During the first several years of the 1860s he lived in Zabara, as that is the location of his baptism in 1862 and his first child’s birth in 1863.  Sometime by 1869, though, the family moved to the Antonovka parish, as my great grandfather Andreas Ratzlaff was born in Fuerstendorf (Leeleva) in 1869, and the rest of the younger children were probably born in Menziliski. 

Jacob (b 1842) and Andreas (b 1833) traveled together to the U.S.A. in 1893, so obviously they had some sort of relationship.  Jacob lived in Volhynia while Andreas lived in the Molotschna, but perhaps their families were acquainted prior to 1837.  Perhaps they dealt with one another after Andreas’ mother returned from the Molotschna to Heinrichsdorf after 1848.  Whatever the case, they obviously rendezvoused in 1893.  They both shared the last name Ratzlaff and were of a similar age.  I don’t believe they were brothers though, as GRANDMA indicates otherwise.  Could they have been cousins?

GRANDMA doesn’t indicate, and I don’t have any other sources at this time that tell us, where or when Jacob’s father, Heinrich, was born.  However, given the birth dates of Jacob and his siblings, Heinrich must have been born in the neighborhood of 1800 and must have lived in Karolswalde by 1842.  We can be fairly certain that his name was Heinrich, as that’s the name indicated in the Tobias Unruh baptism records.  There are some indications, though, that his name may have been Jacob.  GRANDMA mentions this, and that would also solve the mystery of why the green Jacob Ratzlaff genealogy book lists “J” as Jacob’s middle initial.

Andreas (b 1833) Ratzlaff’s father, Heinrich Hans, was born in 1784.  GRANDMA doesn’t tell us for certain where he was born, but his father’s name was Johann Ratzlaff and he had as many as 13 siblings and 6 half-siblings.  Many of these siblings were born in the Mennonite villages near Driesen, Brandenburg.  Johann Ratzlaff was born in 1726 in Kolm, and died in 1805 in Driesen.  Again, we don’t know where Heinrich Hans was born, but we do know that he lived in Volhynia by 1820, where his children were born.  GRANDMA lists that Heinrich Hans had a younger brother by the name of Heinrich, who was born in 1798.  It’s troublesome that Heinrich Hans shared a first name with a sibling; there may be an inaccuracy there.  If a different first name could be attributed to Heinrich, it would alleviate the worry of two siblings with duplicate first names.  GRANDMA lists no further information for this Heinrich Ratzlaff beyond his birth date. 

In his book, The Helpless Poles, Abe J. Unruh discusses the origins of the Mennonites who lived in areas of Russia which have a strong Polish background, including Volhynia.  Unruh makes the assertion that many of the Mennonites from the Brandenburg villages of Brenkenhoffswalde and Neu-Dessau made their way to Volhynia in the early 19^th century.  Based on this information, Jacob Ratzlaff’s father or grandfather may very well have had ties to the Brandenburg villages.

1)      Andreas and Jacob travelled to the U.S.A. together in 1893.

2)      Andreas and Jacob were both born in the Karolswalde or Antonovka villages.

3)      Jacob’s father, Heinrich, was probably descended from Brandenburg Mennonites and was probably born around the year 1800.

4)      Andreas’ father, Heinrich Hans, was born in the Brandenburg village of Neu-Dessau and had a brother named Heinrich who was born in 1798.  Their father’s name was Johann Ratzlaff.

5)      If this Heinrich was also known as Jacob, two Johann Ratzlaff offspring wouldn’t have the same name.

Could Johann Ratzlaff’s son Heinrich be Jacob Ratzlaff’s father?  Given the above information, it certainly looks possible.  If that were the case, Jacob and Andreas would have been first cousins.