Monday, January 21, 2013
Menno Township, Marion County, Kansas
Initially when the Andreas Ratzlaff family settled in Kansas, they rented a farm in the southeast corner of Section 24, Menno Township, Marion County, Kansas. The lived on this farm until 1914. During this period of time, the Ratzlaff children attended Steinbach School which was located at the extreme northeast corner of Section 23. After 1914, the family moved one mile south, and lived on a farm at the southeast corner of Section 25. At this time, the children had to move schools and attend the Antioch School, located at the northwest corner of Section 36. My Grandfather, Albert Ratzlaff, was just a little guy when attending Steinbach, but went to Antioch for most of his childhood years, through 8th Grade. I remember driving down the road with Grandpa when I was young, past the site of the school where there was still a hedgerow that had bordered the schoolyard. I remember how Grandpa pointed out that many a baseball was lost in that hedgerow when he was a schoolboy. My dad, Norman Ratzlaff, also attended the Antioch School in the early 1940s for elementary school. When they were grown and struck out on their own, three of the Ratzlaff boys acquired land along the road running between Sections 24 and 25 that would later become a blacktop. Albert's farm was located in the northeast quarter of Section 25, Jacob's in the southeast quarter of Section 23, and Abraham in the southeast quarter of Section 22.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Social Divisions in Imperial Russia
Russian society was
strictly divided into social classes or estates (sosloviia, cословия), separating one social group from another. Like other European societies, this soslovie (сословие) system had existed
from medieval times. As in other
European countries in the 19th Century, four basic sosloviia existed: 1) nobility, 2) clergy,
3) urban commoners, and 4) rural peasants.
The hierarchical system began at the top with the tsar and continued
down to the lowest peasant. The system
had religious foundations; the tsar was given his position by god and the
hierarchy was seen as established by god as well. People felt secure knowing they had a place
within society. Raznochinet (разночинца) was the term given to those who fell between the
nobility/clergy and the peasantry (the growing middle class). Nobility consisted of hereditary and personal
nobility. Divisions existed in the
clerical class depending upon the clergyman’s specific role in his church. Commoners were divided into many groups
including honorable citizens, urban commoners, merchants, philistines, and
burghers. A special soslovie was the military.
Cossacks and other military men held their own sosloviia.
The peasant class
was the largest class of all and included numerous different ranks. Peasants were different from other classes in
that they were subject to both a poll tax (Подушный
оклад) and military conscription whereas members of other classes may not
have been. Single homesteaders, farmers,
monastic farmers, free agriculturalists, state peasants, landowners’ peasants,
appanage peasants, and ascribed peasants were all different classes among the
peasantry (Крестьяне). Some German settlers were categorized as free agriculturalists (Вольные хлебопашцы), while others
identified themselves as Крестьянин, a
variation on the Russian for peasant.
Each soslovie had different rights and
obligations; some were subject to certain kinds of taxation, some were subject
to military conscription, some were required to belong to guilds, each was
required to hold different types of passports, etc. Some classifications were allowed to travel
freely while others were restricted.
Some groups were able to engage in commerce, although limitations may
exist upon the characteristics of such.
Some groups were entitled to a certain degree of mobility and might
change classification depending upon employment tenure, net wealth or marriage
status. Members of a soslovie might petition the tsar to
modify their rights or privileges. Thus,
two sosloviia that may have been otherwise
almost identical may have been subject to dissimiliar entitlements or
restrictions.
Most European
countries similarly classified their populations and this system provided their
populace with social identity and clearly defined the peoples’ role within
society. One’s social status not only
determined how he paid taxes or became employed, but it also affected his day
to day life with very tangible measures.
A member of a peasant class would need to address higher class folks
with a certain title and they may need to give way in traffic or don their cap
when approached. Certain classes would
not have been able to legally possess arms of any sort, or achieve master
status within their vocation, or would need to quit their education after achieving
a certain level. From the American
standpoint, this system seems very restrictive and even inhumane, but these
systems existed in European societies for centuries.
In his Russian
passport (pasportnaya kniga), Andreas
Ratzlaff identified Крестьянин as the soslovie to which he belonged.
-http://www.gla.ac.uk/0t4/crcees/files/summerschool/readings/Cadiot_2005_SearchingForNationality.pdf
-Across the
Revolutionary Divide: Russia and the USSR 1861-1945, Theodore R Weeks, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. Chapter 2
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Metrical Books and Passports in 19th Century Russia
In 19th
Century Russia, citizens were recorded for a variety of purposes. Certifying identity provided the government with
citizenship records providing data to tabulate taxes, to provide lists for
military conscription, to record social estate status, to record land
ownership, or to preserve hereditary information. Citizenship records were kept in two ways: 1)
metrical books recorded by the clergy, and 2) internal passports purchased by
the citizen from the local police.
Metrical Books (Metrika) first appeared under Peter the
Great as a tool for cataloging the population of the Russian Empire. Beginning in the early 1700s, the government
required that clergy keep the metrical books, starting with the Russian
Orthodox Christians. Gradually, the
requirement spread to other religions in the Empire including Protestant
Christian, Roman Catholic, Islam and Judaism.
However, Buddhists in the east and the recognized pagans in European
Russia, escaped registration in metrical books entirely. The books created the fundamental register of
identity in the Empire and served as the basis for civil status. Regardless of social station or religion,
citizens were required to report to clergy to have recorded births, marriages
and deaths. The records created the
official documentation needed to identify birthdates, social and civil rights
of an individual, and provided lists from which were drawn tax registers and
military draft notices.
The government
issued instructions to clergy that metrical books were serious records and
their maintenance was of utmost importance.
Yearly, parish clergy submitted their metrical records to local
government authorities. This inclusion
of the clergy into such vital record-keeping shows that the Empire’s government
was indeed moored to religious foundations.
However, suspicions arose from time to time that certain clergy were not
fastidious enough in their record keeping which the government may have
evaluated as sabotage or treason.
Catholics, Jews and Muslims were from time to time put down as being
poor record keepers. Obviously there
were many problems with this system; Lutherans wanted to keep their records in
German, and Tatar Muslims in their native languages, etc. What was to be done if a citizen converted to
a different religion or confessed to no religion at all? What if a new religion was formed? Metrical books lasted until the Tsarist
government was put down by the Bolsheviks and the process was never taken over
by civic authorities.
-“Between
Particularism and Universalism: Metrical Books and Civil Status in the Russian
Empire, 1800-1914”, Paul W. Werth, UNLV.
Passports (pasportnaya kniga): internal passports
had been in place in Russia since the early 18th Century as Peter
the Great instituted their use as a way to certify a person’s legal place of
residence. Internal passports,
identifying the bearer by occupation, residence, and estate, helped regulate
travel and prevented evasion of taxes and military conscription. Passports held by those belonging to lower
social orders were registered by the local administrative institutions or rural
societies and bound the holder to his residence and form of employment; the
passport illustrated that a person belonged in a particular place and to a
particular vocation. By the late 19th
Century, members of lower social orders received passports that were valid for
five years, after which time the bearer was required to renew the document. Each social estate had its own local
administrative body. All members of
lower social estates were held responsible for the collective burden of taxes
levied on their social estate. The
administrative body certified that an individual had paid his taxes and was
eligible for a passport. Yearly fees were
also paid on the passport as a sort of tax on free movement. Local administrative bodies could also place
limitations on a person’s free travel rights.
Literate passport holders, usually members of higher estates, signed
their document while the lower orders made their mark or recorded their
physical description. Members of higher
estates received passports which were less restrictive.
-Documenting
Individual Identity, Jane
Caplan and John Torpey ed, Princeton 2001.
Chapter 4, pp 67-80.
Andreas Ratzlaff’s
passport is an example of a pasportnaya
kniga.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
19th Century Volhynian administration
After being totally absorbed by the Russian Empire as a
result of the 3 Partitions of Poland during the late 18th Century,
Volhynia (Volyn Guberniya - Волинська
Губернія) was divided into counties (powiati
- повітів or okruga - округов) by the
Tsar’s government. Each powiat (повіт) had an administrative
center or county town (Губернскаго городовъ or Повітовий центр) which was
the namesake for the powiat. Immediately after the establishment of the
province within the Russian government, the Volhynian capital was Zaslaw
(Iziaslav). It was soon moved to
Novograd Volyn, and soon moved again to Zhytomyr, where it remained for the
duration of the 19th Century.
This map (from Wikipedia) shows the 12 Volhynian Powiati during the 19th Century, listed alphabetically according to the Russian alphabet. Ostrog Powiat is number 10:
This accompanying chart shows some statistical data for the 12 Volhynian Powiati, c.1897:
Each powiat was
divided into parishes or townships (volosti
- волостей). Powiati had between 16 and 25 volosti. Each volost
(волость) had its administrative center located in an important village and
each parish took its name from this village.
The Mennonite villages of Karlswalde, Antonovka, Leeleva and the rest,
fell administratively into Ostrog Powiat (Powiat Ostrozhsky – Острозький Повіт).
Antonovka was in Kunivska Volost
(Волость Кунівська) with its center at Kuniv, and Leeleva was in Pluzhanska Volost (Волость Плужанська)
with its center at Pluzhno.
This chart shows some further information regarding Powiat Ostrozhsky, c.1897:
Information is taken from the 1897 Russian census:
and the 1890 edition of the Brokgauz and Efron Encyclopedic
Dictionary
Monday, January 7, 2013
Volhynian Railway Service
Railways began to be established in Russia in the
19th Century and the rail line was built through Volhynia in the
1870s. By the early 1890s, the Ukrainian
Kiev-Brest line formed the main line through Volhynia, running roughly
northwest-southeast, serving Volhynian towns in between Kovel to
Berdichev (Berdichev was part of Volhynia until 1855, after which point it was moved into the Kiev Province for administrative purposes). A spur ran from Zdolbunov
(just south of Rovno) to Radziwill (Radziwilow). The Russians established the railway lines
with little regard for local municipalities; lines primarily led to Russian
cities or destinations and bypassed many important Ukrainian locations. For instance, of the 12 Volhynian cities that
were administrative centers for the 12 Volhynian counties, only one (Kovel) was directly served by the railway.
Furthermore, no direct railway link led between Kiev and Odessa, the two
most important Ukrainian cities (no direct highway link existed either!). From Ostrog, a person would have needed to
travel to Krivin, Wilbowno, Ozenin or Zdolbunov to catch a train.
This map shows the route in 1882. East from Kiev, a person could continue
travelling to Kursk, where connections could lead either to Kharkov or
Moscow. West from Kovel led to Lublin
(Poland) or Brest, in the province of Grodno.
A connection at Brest could also take a person to Moscow. Brest, along with Lemberg (L’vov) in Austrian
Galicia, were the two most important rail hubs near the western Ukrainian
frontier.
From an 1891 Volhynian calendar/almanac published by a company in Zhytomyr, we find
the local railway table. Prices are
given in rubles/kopecks and distances are given in versts (1 verst was about
the equivalent of 2/3rds of a mile).
With the current information, I don't know the railway schedule for this line. A similar publication (Volhynian calendar/almanac) published in 1906 indicates that there were 6 trains per day passing between Zhytomyr and Berdichev in that year. Zhytomyr and Berdichev were easily the largest cities in the area in the early years of the 20th Century, so it makes sense that train traffic would be busy between those locations. Out in the countryside trains probably didn't pass with as much frequency, but rail travel was the fastest, most efficient way to travel over land in those days.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Andreas and Susanna (Wedel) Ratzlaff photo
This is a photo of Andreas and Susanna (Wedel) Ratzlaff, taken in Lehigh, KS, in 1922 when Andreas was 53 and Susanna was 49. I'm unsure of the history of the photo, but it may have been taken by my grandfather, Albert Ratzlaff.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
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.
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