Wedel and Ratzlaff roots in Neumark

Susanna (Wedel) Ratzlaff’s Wedel, Nickel and Buller ancestors, like the Ratzlaffs, can be associated with the Old Flemish sect of Mennonites living in West Prussia; namely Przechowka and its associated villages/congregations.  At this time, unfortunately, I have little further specific information about Susanna’s ancestors.  The Wedel, Nickel and Buller families lived in the Karolswalde villages surrounding the time when Susanna was born.  Indeed, the Tobias Unruh Karolswalde baptism lists record many names from these families.  However, I don’t know any other details for certain about them.  There were also a very small number of Litkes (also spelled Luetke or Lichti) around Karolswalde, but more about them later.

GRANDMA tells us little about these specific families.  Nickel was a fairly common Mennonite name and Nickels can be found in the Prussian Mennonite records in locations from Danzig to Schonsee and everywhere in between as far back as the 17^th Century. (http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/N535ME.html/?searchterm=nickel)

The Buller family may have been somewhat more limited.  Mennonite records suggest that the first Buller Mennonites were found in the 17^th Century near the Schonsee area of West Prussia, which is near Przechowka (http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/B8464.html/?searchterm=buller).

Like the Nickels, the Wedel family name could also be found among West Prussian Mennonites from Danzig to Przechowka (http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/W435ME.html/?searchterm=wedel).  It’s especially prevalent, though, among the families associated with Przechowka and/or Alexanderwohl.  Many Wedels are listed in the GRANDMA database.

Bullers and Wedels (as well as Ratzlaffs) can all be found in the records of the Old Flemish Mennonite villages of Brenkenhoffswalde, Franzthal and Neu-Dessau near Driesen in Brandenburg. The names can be found in the Przechowka Churchbook, as well as Court and Land records from the Neumark in Brandenburg during the mid-18^th Century:

http://www.mennonitegenealogy.com/prussia/neumark.htm

http://www.mennonitegenealogy.com/prussia/neumark2.htm

http://www.mennonitegenealogy.com/prussia/court1.htm

Here are the Wedel, Buller and Ratzlaff names from the above sources, as well as from the Przechowka Churchbook, who lived in the Brandenburg villages in the 18^th century:

Deed Records		Land Tax		Brandenburg			Przechowka
Neu-Dessau		Driesen Area		Settlers			Churchbook
1771-1787		1826		1767-1778			18th Century
Buller	David	Buller		Buller	David	Neu-Dessau	Buller	David	Franzthal
							Buller	Hans
				Buller	George	Franzthal	Buller	Jeorg I
							Buller	Jeorg II	Franzthal
				Buller	Peter	Brenkenhoffs.	Buller	Peter	Brenkenhoffs.
		Rettschlag	Friedrich
		Rettschlag	Tobias
		Retzlaff	Behrend				Ratzlaff	Hans I	Neumark
				Ratzlaff	Hans	Franzthal	Ratzlaff	Hans II	Neu-Dessau
Ratzlaff	Johann			Retzlaff	Johann	Neu-Dessau
				Ratzlaff	George	Franzthal
							Ratzlaff	Hinrich
							Ratzlaff	Peter I
				Ratzlaff	Peter I	Franzthal	Ratzlaff	Peter II	Brenkenhoffs.
				Ratzlaff	Peter II	Brenkenhoffs.	Ratzlaff	Peter
Wedel	Cornelius						Wedel	Benjamin	Brenkenhoffs.
							Wedel	Jacob	Brenkenhoffs.
		Wedell	Peter				Wedel	Peter

Johann Ratzlaff, who was discussed at length earlier, can be found among the records, as well as several different Buller families.  The Wedels in these records are relatively few.  One name that’s particularly intriguing is Cornelius Wedel who was associated with Deutsche Konopat.  I’m not sure yet where Deutsche Konopat was located, but it was associated with the Przechowka congregation.  It’s interesting to note that GRANDMA tells us there was a Cornels Wedel associated with the Przechowka congregation who was born in 1747.  This Cornels had a son named Benjamin, born 1772.

If this is the same Cornels (Cornelius) Wedel who we find mentioned in the records above, he could be Susanna (Wedel) Ratzlaff’s great great grandfather. 

GRANDMA indicates that Benjamin, son of Cornels, was born in 1772.  We know Susanna’s grandfather, Jacob Wedel, was born in 1818.  We also know that Jacob’s father’s name was Benjamin.  We don’t know a birthdate for Benjamin, but it would probably have been in the last quarter of the 18^th Century.  GRANDMA doesn’t list any children for Benjamin Wedel (b. 1772).  It’s common for sources to lose track of a person after they move out of the area and that’s probably why no children are listed for this Benjamin.  It’s very possible that Cornels moved into Brandenburg in the late 18^th century (thus his name in the Brandenburg land records) and the Przechowka Mennonite records lost track of him.  His son Benjamin may have moved into Volhynia.  Benjamin’s great-granddaughter may have been our Susanna.

As stated earlier, the Buller name is common among the Brandenburg Mennonites and Susanna might be descended from any of these.  The Nickel name, however, is absent from all the above-mentioned land and court records as well as from the Przechowka Churchbook.  There are a fair number of Nickels listed in the Tobias Unruh Karolswalde baptism lists in Volhyhia though.  The Nickels, apparently, followed a different path to Volhynia than did the Ratzlaffs, Wedels and Bullers.

Here's a map of the Netzebruch area from around 1900.  Note the marshes on either side of Driesen.  Franzthal and Brenkenhoffswalde are west of Driesen, Neu-Dessau is to the east:

Geographically, the area around Driesen is sometime called the Netzebruch (http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/N478.html).  It's the marshy area along the Netze River near Driesen.  The larger surrounding area is sometimes politically called the Neumark (http://prussianpoland.com/neumark.html).  When the Mennnonites occupied these villages, the Neumark was controlled politically by the German State of Brandenburg.  Like other German states (Prussia or Bavaria for example) Brandenburg was controlled at various times by different German Princes.  In the 18th Century, Brandenburg was closely linked with the Prussian States.

Susanna Wedel family

When Andreas returned home to Leeleva in very early 1895, he promptly married to Susanna Wedel on February 17, 1895.  Susanna was born May 14, 1873, in Karolswalde to Peter Jacob and Katarina (Nickel) Wedel.  Susanna was the eldest child of Peter and Katarina who had been married in Karolswalde on March 24, 1864, and must have moved to Leeleva by the 1880s.

Peter Jacob Wedel was born March 21, 1848, in Karolswalde to Jacob Wedel (b.1818) and Maria (Buller) Wedel (b. c1820).  Jacob’s father and mother were Benjamin and Maria Wedel.  Peter’s baptism can be found on Tobias Unruh’s baptism records from 1866.  Peter was baptized in Karolswalde, but it looks like he lived in Pelagin-Gruenthal (Gruental) at the time of his baptism.  Note: the Susanna (Heinrich) Ratzlaff at the end of the list is probably Jacob Ratzlaff’s younger sister:

                        Taeuflinge die ich Tobias Unruh getauft habe                                     

1.  Abraham Samuel            Schulz                    von Karolsberge aus

2.  Andreas Cornelius         Nickel                    von Pelagin-Gruentha

3.  Benjamin Peter               Becker                   von Karlsberge

4.  Benjamin Jacob              Wedel                     von Pelagin-Gruentha

5.  Benjamin Peter               Janz                        aus Karlswalde

6.  Carl Friedrich                Schartner              aus Karlswalde

7.  Cornelius Johann          Schulz                    aus Karlswalde

8.  David Benjamin              Schulz                    aus Karlswalde

9.  George Peter                   Unruh                    aus Karlswalde

10. Heinrich George           Unruh                    aus Karlswalde

11. Heinrich Jacob             Siebert                   aus Karlswalde

12. Johann Benjamin          Janz                        von Karlsberge

13.  Johann Karl                 Decker                   von Karlsberge

14. Peter George                 Unruh                    aus Karlswalde

15. Peter Jacob                    Wedel                     von Pelagin-Gruentha1

16. Tobias Carl                    Decker                   von Pelagin-Gruentha

                                Taeuflinge die ich Tobias Unruh getauft habe.

1.  Agnetha Andreas           Unruh                    aus Karlswalde

2.  Anna Carl                        Dircks                    von Jadwininnen

3.  Anna Peter                      Schmidt                 von Jadwininnen

4.  Else Abraham                 Janz                        von Pelagin-Gruentha

5.  Else Peter                        Penner                   aus Karlswalde

6.  Eva Heinrich                   Buller                     aus Karlswalde

7.  Eva Jacob                        Siebert                   aus Karlswalde

8.  Helena David                  Unruh                    von Jadwininnen

9.  Helena Johann               Schluz                    aus Karlswalde

10. Helena Peter                  Unruh                    aus Karlswalde

11. Maria Peter                   Richert                   von Jadwininnen, aus dem Kirchspie

12. Susanna Carl                Deckert                  von Pelagin-Gruentha

13. Helena David                Ruediger               aus Karlswalde

14. Susanna Heinrich         Eck

15. Susanna Heinrich         Ratzlaf

Diese 16 Juenglige und 15 Jungfrauen sind in dem Bethause zu Carlswalde getauft worden den 25.ten Mai neuen Stils 1866 am Palmsonntage.

According to GRANDMA, Peter Jacob Wedel was the third of six children who were all born in Volhynia; in Karolswalde, Gruental, and Karolsberge.  Peter’s younger brothers, Benjamin and Andreas, both immigrated to America at some point and both lived near Galva, KS.  GRANDMA does not indicate whether Jacob’s other siblings, older sisters Helena and Susanna, or youngest brother Heinrich, made their way to the U.S.A. or not. 

Katarina (Nickel) Wedel was born November 13, 1846, in Karolswalde to Johann Nickel and Susanna (Litke) Nickel.  Katarina’s baptism can also be found on Tobias Unruh’s baptism records from 1864.  Unruh doesn’t specify where the baptism took place, but it looks like Katarina (Catharina) lived in Karolsberge.  Note: I do not know the identity of Elisabeth Ratzlaff, #4 on the list below.  Her father’s name was Heinrich, so could this be another sibling of our Jacob Ratzlaff about whom we didn’t know previously?

Aufschreibung von Diejenigen welche durch die heilige Wassertaufe in unsere Gemeine zu Karolswalde, Karolsberge, Jadweninne und Anotonwke als Brueder und Schwestern auf- und angenommen worden sind.

                 Nun folgen die Jungfrauen.

1.  Susanna Heinrichs Tochter         Vothen                   in Karolsberge

2.  Helena Cornelius Tochter            Unruhen                in Karolswalde

3.  Helena Carls Tochter                    Baiern                    in Karolswalde

4.  Elisabeth Heinrichs Tochter        Ratzlaffen              in Karolswalde

5.  Elske Andreas Tochter                  Unruhen                in Jadweninne

6.  Karolina Cornelius Tochter        Vothen                   in Karolsberge

7.  Eva Davids Tochter                       Bullern                  in Karolsberge

8.  Catharina Johanns Tochter        Nickeln                  in Karolsberge

9.  (blank)

10.  Elske Tobias Tochter                  Janzen   in Karolswalde oder auf Jadweninne

11. Elisabeth Peters Tochter             Vothen                   in Jadweninne

Diese hier aufgeschriebene… 10 weibliche Seelen sind auf ihrem Verlangen durch dem heiligen Worte Gottes und dem Befehle Jesu Christi im Beisein vieler Zeugen getaufet und durch eine Handaufnehmung als Glieder in der mennoniten Gemeine in dem Bethause allhier zu Karolswalde am 24. Maerz neuen Stils 1864 an unserm Gruendonnerstage auf- und angenommen worden.

GRANDMA gives no further information regarding Katarina’s family.  However, the Tobias Unruh baptism record does list an Elske Nickel, daughter of Johann Nickel, of Karlsberge, baptized in 1865.  This Elske’s father’s name is the same as our Katarina’s.  Also, this Elska was from the same village and baptized at a similar date to our Katarina.  Could it be that this Elska was a sister to Katarina?

According to GRANDMA, Peter Jacob and Katarina (Nickel) Wedel had the following children after they were married in 1864:

            1) Susanna, (05/14/1873 – 1958)

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

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

            4) Maria, (03/05/1881 – 03/20/1935)

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

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

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

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

As stated earlier, the Peter Jacob and Katarina Wedel family must have moved to Leeleva at some point by the 1880s.  Their house can be seen on the hand-drawn map of Leeleva, second from the right on the front row.

Maps of Leeleva

The Leeleva area was mapped many times around the turn of the 20^th Century.  The Austro-Hungarians, Poles, Russians, Germans, Soviets and Americans all mapped the area.  If we compare these maps to the hand-drawn map of Leeleva we can see that the author’s memory was fairly accurate.  All the elements of the hand-drawn map are correct, some are just slightly out of place.  Note that different spellings are used for many of the locations from map to map.  This was probably due to language differences from German to Russian to Polish, etc.  For comparison’s sake, here are a few maps of the area.  First is the hand-drawn map, probably drawn from memory, many years after the author had left Russia:

Next is one that was mapped by the Austro-Hungarians in the late 1880s.  Note that on this map Leeleva is marked as Nikitskaja and Menziliski is marked simply as M.H.

This one was also done by the Austro-Hungarians, but slightly later, probably around 1900.  Again, Leeleva is marked as Nikitska, but Menziliski is not marked at all:

This map was charted by the Polish Army when Poland claimed the area in the early 1920s:

This map is of an unknown date.  Neither Leeleva nor Menziliski are shown on this map.  Leeleva would lie immediately south of Siever (Siwerka on this map) and Menziliski would be in the clearing immediately southeast of Kuniv (Kunew):

This map is also of an unknown date.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t show the entire area:

This map of a portion of the area was mapped by the Soviets in the 1940s:

This map of a similar portion of the area was also mapped by the Soviets in the 1940s and is marked in Cyrillic.  Leeleva (Лесная) is toward the bottom right while Kuniv (Кунев) is near the middle left.  Note that on this map, many small canals are seen across the area.  These canals obviously helped drain the many small streams and ponds dotting the area previously.  For instance, the two small ponds near Sievers (the village immediately north of Leeleva) that appear in the map above, do not appear in this map, having been drained.  The Soviets must have sponsored this type of hydraulic design sometime in the late 1930s to early '40s.  These canals can still be seen criss-crossing the area today:

This map was drawn by the American Army at some point after World War II.  It's compiled from data from the 1930s and '40s.:

Finally, here's a satellite view of the immediate Leeleva area today.  Note that Leeleva is marked Lisna.  Menziliski is no longer there, but it once stood in the clearing to the upper left.

Based on all the above maps, we can see where geographical changes need to be made to the hand-drawn map.  If we retain the same elements and just move them around a little, we could get something like this.  My apologies to the original author of the map for my crude rendition; I’ve tried to save the spirit of the original map while making the geography a little more accurate:

Based on information from all these maps, my best guess for where Andreas Ratzlaff’s house stood is marked by a green X on this map which was charted by the Polish army around 1921.  From the hand-drawn map, we can see that Andreas’ house stood to the west of a cemetery, south of the main road through Leeleva, east of the road to Kuniv:

I should also point out that the chronology on the hand-drawn map is probably not altogether accurate.  Andreas Ratzlaff was born in 1869, so he probably wouldn't have had his own house until after 1890.  Among the listed residents on the map, according to GRANDMA a few left for America in 1874.  Obviously if they left in 1874 they wouldn't have had a house in Leeleva at the same time as Andreas Ratzlaff.  Perhaps the Andreas Ratzlaff house was also the Jacob Ratzlaff house.  Jacob and family moved into the area in the 1860s and perhaps Andreas inherited the house after his Forestry stint was over in the 1890s.

Life in Leeleva

When Andreas returned to Volhynia from his stint in the Forestry Service in Kherson Province during the first weeks of 1895, the Mennonite villages must have seemed a strange place.  His parents, Jacob and Anna, and most of his family had left for America 2 ½ years earlier.  His sister, Eva, and her family still lived nearby.  And his sweetheart, Susanna Wedel and her family also were still living in Leeleva.  Andreas had been discharged from service on the last day of the year of 1894.  He returned to his home and on February 17, 1895, he and Susanna were married.

Leeleva (or Fuerstendorf in German) lay about 6 or 7 miles south of the town of Ostrog.  About 3 miles to the northwest was the Mennonite Parish center of Antonovka.  Between Antonovka and Leeleva, about 2.5 miles to the northwest, was Menziliski, another Mennonite village where Andreas’ parents had lived.  Andreas had been born in Leeleva, but his younger brother Bernard had been born in Menziliski.  Andreas’ sister Eva may have lived in Menziliski with her family. 

The villagers living in the Mennonite colonies considered themselves German.  They spoke the German language to one another and clung to their German heritage.  Surrounding the German Mennonite villages were Russian, Polish or Ukrainian villages like Sievierz, Dankowka, Dertka and Balary.  The larger towns of Miakoty and Pluzne lay directly southeast of Leeleva while the parish center of Kuniv lay to the northwest, just west of Antonovka.  The two larger cities in the area were Ostrog, which was an ancient Russian city and was several miles to the north, and Iziaslaw (Zaslaw), which was several more miles to the southeast.

The majority of the Russians, Poles and Ukrainians in the area followed the Eastern Orthodox religion.  There was an Eastern Orthodox monastery just outside Ostrog to the southwest.  There were also many Lutheran Germans in the nearby villages and maybe in Leeleva too.  As the Mennonites began to leave starting in the 1870s, many Lutherans occupied former Mennonite dwellings, churches and villages.  Also, Jews were numerous in the area.  Volhynia was right in the middle of what was known as the Jewish Pale of Settlement; the only areas in Russia and Eastern Europe where Jews could lawfully live.  Ostrog had a large Jewish population as did the other nearby towns.  Ostrog also had a small Muslim population.  The road that ran north out of Ostrog to the villages of Chorow and Ozenin was known as Tatraska Road after the Tartar Muslims who lived there.  In 1897, the Russian Empire completed its first census.  According to the census, the rural population around Ostrog (but not including the city of Ostrog) numbered about 155,000 people.  Of these, about 84% were of Russian (including Ukrainian and Byelorussian) descent, about 7% were of Polish descent, almost 6 % were Jewish and about 2% were German.  http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus_lan_97_uezd_eng.php?reg=261

The land in Volhynia around Ostrog was very hilly and covered with forests.  The large Ostrog forest lay just north of Leeleva and was known to be inhabited by wolves.  Russian foresters patrolled the forests to protect the integrity of the environment.  On a satellite view of the area today, one can see remnants of this forest running all the way from Kremenets in the west to Zhytomir in the east; a distance of more than 100 miles.  Furthermore the land was marshy; many rivers, creeks and canals, including the Horyn and the Wilna, crisscrossed the land, and two small lakes lay just north and northeast of Leeleva.  Today, a large reservoir has been built just southeast of Ostrog.  A nuclear powerplant is located at the northeast corner of the reservoir, at Netishyn.

In the satellite view, Lisna (Leeleva) can be seen just left of center.  Kuniv and Antonivka (Antonovka) are northwest of Lisna and the other ex-Mennonite villages of Mykhailivka, Novosilka (Jadwenin) and Prykordonne (Karolswalde) can be seen north from Lisna.  Note the many dark green forested areas.  Menziliski no longer exists, but it once stood in the clearing south of Kuniv and Antonivka.  Ostroh (Ostrog) stands near the top of the map and the train station at Staryi Kryvyn can be seen somewhat east of Ostroh.  Pluzhne, just southeast of Lisna, is the administrative center for the district to which Lisna belongs.  Izyaslav (Zaslaw), another important nearby town, lies at the bottom right hand corner.

Photographs of the area can be found here and there on the internet: http://www.panoramio.com/map/#lt=50.186681&ln=26.535587&z=4&k=2&a=1&tab=1&pl=all and http://wikimapia.org/#lat=50.2397397&lon=26.4701843&z=12&l=0&m=b

There was not much land available, and the little that was wasn’t very good for farming.  A very small tract of land just to the northeast of the main road running through Leeleva had been cleared and was used as communal pasture.  But according to the maps from the late 19^th century, most of the land was covered with trees.  Abe J. Unruh, in his book The Helpless Poles, states that the ground was sandy and not much good for crops anyway.  The Mennonites also didn’t own their own land in Volhynia, rather they rented or leased it from the native Ukrainian landowners or from the government.  German colonists in this area had been invited by the landowners in 1861 when the Tsar freed the serfs and landowners needed industrious farmers to work their land and to clear forests and drain marshland.  After the land was readied, potatoes and beans as well as many garden vegetables were grown.  Wheat and millett were common crops, and a few cattle and horses were also kept.  Today, many sugar beets are grown in the area.

Both Andreas and his father Jacob listed weaving as their occupation in Leeleva.  Many other Russian weavers lived in the area too, spinning flax into linen.  The weavers would hold their cloth until the Jewish merchants came through the village to buy it.  Additionally, Leeleva’s citizens were blacksmiths or carpenters or stone masons or kept bees.  There was a flour mill in the nearby area, but not in Leeleva itself, so any grain had to be transported to be ground into flour.  The village had three wells from which the inhabitants could draw water.  The market town may have been Kuniv and a yearly fair was held in Ostrog.

Abe J. Unruh indicates that the Volhynian Mennonites were much poorer than their brethren in the Molotschna Colony.  Land was more scarce and the land that was available was not good farmland.  The villages associated with Antonovka, including Leeleva and Menziliski, were among the very poorest Mennonite villages in Russia.

Given this economic difference, the Volhynian Mennonite began to fall behind the South Russian Mennonites in areas such as education and industry.  While the Chortitza and especially the Molotschna Mennonites began to establish large estates, primary and secondary educational facilities, hospitals and orphanages, and agricultural equipment factories, the Volhynian Mennonites struggled just to feed themselves.  The government granted privileges enjoyed by the South Russian Mennonites in the form of free land and low taxes, were not bestowed upon the Volhynians.  These circumstances, in addition to the obvious geographic gulf separating the two regions, caused the Volhynians to become more conservative and feel somewhat inferior to other groups.

Andreas Ratzlaff (b1869) forestry service

When Jacob, Anna, and the rest of the Ratzlaff party left Volhynia in 1893, two of the oldest children stayed behind in Russia.  Eva was married in 1885 to Johann Nachtigal and their residence was just outside Leeleva.  It’s hard to tell where their house stood, but I believe it’s probably marked at the lower left-hand corner of the map of Leeleva.  Could it have been closer to Menziliski then to Leeleva?  Eva, Johann and their one surviving child born prior to 1893, Tobias, remained in Volhynia.

Andreas also stayed behind in 1893.  Andreas was born in 1869, but apparently there is a discrepancy about this birth date.  Most sources give the date as 12/23/1869 but GRANDMA indicates that another source gives the date as 11/11/1869.  It’s possible the discrepancy exists because of Russia’s continued use of the Julian Calendar (O.S.) until the year 1917, but I don’t think that’s likely.  While the U.S.A. and most of Western Europe used the Gregorian Calendar (N.S.), Russia stuck to an older system until 1917.  The Gregorian Calendar is several days ahead of the Julian.  For instance, the Russian October Revolution, according to the U.S.A. (Gregorian) Calendar, actually occurred on 11/07/1917.  In Russia, where they were using the Julian Calendar, the revolution occurred on 10/25/1917.  On Andreas’ Russian forestry service paperwork, his birthdate is recorded as 12/23/1869.  The Russians would have used the Julian system when recording this date.  Translation to Gregorian would actually bump that date forward into January, not backward into November.  I feel it’s likely that 12/23/1869 is the correct date in Julian and that this date was never corrected when he moved to the U.S.A.

Regardless of the birthdate, Andreas was born in Leeleva and grew up with the rest of the family until the early 1890s.  In 1891, Andreas was obliged to leave Volhynia to complete his stint with the forestry service.  Forestry service (Forseidienst) for young Mennonite men was completed in lieu of military service (http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/F6717ME.html/?).  According to Andreas’ Forestry Service paperwork, he began his service in 1891 and was away from Volhynia when most of the rest of his family left for U.S.A. in 1893.  He returned in very early 1895.

The cover page of Andreas’ Forestry Service paperwork indicates that his stint began in 1891 (the square to the left) and that he served in the Ratzynskaya Forestry Brigade (the square to the right).  The cicular emblem in the middle indicates the Mennonite Forestry Service.  Each page of this document says “Andreas Ratslaf” or “Andreas Jakobovich Ratzlaf” across the top in a horizontal rectangle. 

This map, from the Mennonite Historical Atlas, shows a forestry camp labeled as Razyn in extreme southern Russia, just north of the City of Kherson.

Unfortunately, the second page of the booklet is missing.  This missing page may have indicated the date that Andreas’ service actually began.  Question number 6 on the third page asks if the bearer has any special skills to which Andreas answers “none”, and question number 7 assigns Andreas to Brigade number 2.

The next two pages deal with personal data.  Andreas indicates that he was born on 23 December 1869, that he’s currently a bachelor, and that he adheres to the Mennonite faith.  These documents are his discharge papers and number 11 indicates that he is being discharged to a) Province: Volhynia, b) District: Ostrog, c) Parish: Kunitsky, and d) Village: Antonovka.  Below is indicated that the document was issued in Odessa on 31 December 1894.  After that are some signatures and some language which indicates that Andreas appeared at the Ostrog Police Station on 17 March, 1895, to enroll into the ranks of reserve workers.

The next page indicates that Andreas was recognized as a citizen of the village of Antonvka and that he personally received these documents on 30 December 1895.  The signature of the parish notary follows and then an illegible handwritten paragraph completes the page.  On the next page of the document, in a different written hand is a sentence that states something like Andreas was given temporary leave from March to August of 1905. 

To summarize then, Andreas was drafted into the Forestry Service in 1891.  He served at the Ratzynskaya  forestry camp, a member of brigade number 2.  He was discharged in Odessa on 12/31/1894 to his home village of Antonovka and appeared at the Ostrog Police Station on 03/17/1895 to enroll into the ranks of reserve workers.  The meaning of the last handwritten line is a bit of a mystery, but he was given temporary leave from March until August of 1905, after which time he would presumably re-enter the ranks of reservists.

Interestingly, Andreas was married to Susanna Wedel on February 17, 1895, which would have been only about a month after his return from service in Ratzynskaya.

To give some perspective of where Andreas was stationed during his Forestry Service, here’s a map of the Ukraine in the 1880s.  Andreas had a journey of about 470 miles from his home near Ostrog to the camp at Ratzynskaya, which was about 15 miles or so north of Kherson.  Other young Mennonite men in the camp would have come from the Molotschna Colony, which lay 180 miles to the east of Kherson.  Andreas received his discharge papers in Odessa, which is 125 miles west of Kherson.  In the 1880s, Odessa was the 3^rd most populous city in Russia and the major administrative center of the southern areas of the Empire.  On the map below, Andreas’s home near Ostrog is marked with an H, the Forestry Camp is marked with an F, and the Molotschna Colony is marked with an M.

I haven't yet been able to find exactly where Ratzynskaya was.  Marked by a green box on this Soviet map from the 1940s is the general area where the camp must have been.  Kherson can be seen at the very bottom just right of center:

Children of Jacob Ratzlaff

After the Jacob Ratzlaff family settled in Marion County, the children soon went their own ways.  GRANDMA tells us the following about the children:

Henry emigrated in 1893 with wife Katharine (Base) and children Tobias and Carolina.  The couple had eight more children who were born in Galva, Lehigh, Burrton and Halstead, KS.  Henry died in 1916 and is buried in Burrton, KS.  Katherine died in 1947 and is buried in Hesston, KS.  Henry felt it to be more appropriate to spell the family last name with an “O”, therefore his descendants’ last name is spelled Ratzloff.  Father Jacob, never having learned to read or write English, accepted the spelling as it was given to him by immigration officials.

Eva did not emigrate with the family in 1893.  She had married Johann Nachtigal in 1885 in Leeleva and stayed there with her family.  Johann died in 1904 and was buried in Volhynia.  Of the couple’s eleven children, only five survived.  Eva, with the five children, emigrated to the U.S.A. in 1909.  They arrived in Galveston, TX and settled near Durham, KS.  In 1910, in Major County, OK, she married Tobias Unruh who was also originally from Antonovka, Volhynia but had come to America in 1874.  Tobias died in 1937 and is buried in Halstead, KS.  Eva moved to California after Tobias’ death and in 1949 was buried in Winton, CA.

Andreas also did not emigrate with the family in 1893.  At the time, Andreas was fulfilling Russian Government obligations with the Mennonite Forestry Service.  Much more on Andreas later.

Bernard emigrated in 1893 with his wife Maria (Schultz).  Their first seven children were born near Durham and Hillsboro, KS.  Later, the family moved to Copeland and then Protection, KS, where they had two more children.  Bernard and Maria are buried in Montezuma, KS; Bernard in 1952 and Maria in 1963.  Maria’s parents were Cornelius and Leona (Jantz) Schultz.  Leona’s brother, Bernard Jantz of Durham, KS, loaned the Jacob Ratzlaff family money for their voyage to America.  Bernard and his siblings worked for many years to pay off the loan.

Adam was with the family aboard the Polaria in 1893 and lived in Marion County until at least 1905.  Adam’s first marriage ended in divorce.  In 1943 he married Dena Koehn, originally of Durham, KS, in Merced, CA.  Adam and Dena were both buried in Winton, CA; Adam in 1950 and Dena in 1976.

Helena travelled with the family in 1893 and was married to Andreas Becker of Moundridge, KS, in 1903.  Conflicting data from GRANDMA and the 1905 Marion County census shows that their first child was born either in Major County, OK, or Durham, KS.  Regardless, Andreas passed away in Meno, OK, in 1912 after the couple had four children.  Helena remarried to Bernhard Becker, also of Moundridge, KS, in 1913.  The couple had five children, all in Meno, OK.  It appears that at some point in the 1920s the Beckers lived in Halstead, KS, where one of their children, Juanita, as well as Father Jacob, passed away.  Helena died in 1927 but I don’t know where she’s buried.  Bernhard died in 1976 and is buried in Newton, KS.

John was only three years old during the voyage in 1893.  He married Amanda Unruh in 1915.  GRANDMA tells us very little about his family, but they must have moved around a bit between Major County, OK and Protection, KS.  The couple had five children.  John died in 1954 and is buried in the Lone Tree Church Cemetary in McPherson County, KS.  GRANDMA does not indicate details about Amanda’s death or burial.

The Green Jacob J Ratzlaff book also tells us of four other children.  Three babies died in infancy in Volhynia.  Unfortunately, we don't know anything further about these babies.  In addition, a daughter named Elizabeth passed away due to small pox at the age 15 years.  Elizabeth's name does not appear on the Polaria's manifest, therefore she must have passed away prior to 1893.  Therefore, she was born between 1863 and 1878 in either Zabara, Menziliski or Leeleva.  She was probably buried in a cemetery near Menziliski or Leeleva.