Litke family

Susanna (Wedel) Ratzlaff’s maternal grandmother was Susanna Litke.  Unlike most of the other names found in my Ratzlaff genealogy, Litke is originally not a Prussian low-german name.  Instead, the Litke (also spelled Lichti or Luetke) name is of Swiss Mennonite origin making this family unique among my Ratzlaff ancestors (http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/L540ME.html/?searchterm=lichti).  The Litkes who married into the Nickel family in Volhynia may have been descended from Swiss Mennonites in the Volhynia area.  It is known that Litkes were among the Swiss Mennonite families who may have settled in the Podolia area in the late 1700s (http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/volhynia_ukraine/?searchterm=volhynia).

Podolia borders Volhynia to the south; in fact the traditional Podolia-Volhynia border may only be about 30 miles to the south of Ostrog.  The Litkes may have been Amish in origin and may have come from Montbeliard, France.  In 1791 a group of Mennonites, including some by the name Lichti, left Montbeliard, which lies just west of the French-Swiss border, and soon settled in Urzulin and Michelsdorf, about 30 miles northeast of Lublin (Lublin is in geographical Poland, southeast of Warsaw).  The bulk of the Michelsdorf-Urzulin colony moved into Volhynia and founded the village of Eduardsdorf around 1807.  Eduardsdorf lay about 15 miles west-southwest of Dubno in Volhynia.  Others left Michelsdorf-Urzulin in 1837 and settled in Horodyszcze, Zabara and Waldheim, near Korzec, Volhynia (Korzec is also spelled Korez or Korecs). 

(http://www.swissmennonite.org/feature_archive/2003/200305.pdf).

(http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jvoran/voran/migration.htm).

This map shows the western Russian border states in the very early 20^th century.  Note Lublin to the west (in the Russian State of Poland) and Ostrog in the center (in the Russian State of Volhynia).  Northwest of Ostrog is Dubno and northeast of Ostrog is Korez (Korzec).  South of Volhynia is the Russian State of Podolia:

This map shows the area surrounding Lublin in the early 20^th century.  Lublin can be seen to the west, Michelsdorf and Urzulin to the east:

This map from the 1930s shows Eduardsdorf (Edwardowka) near Dubno, in Volhynia:

This map, also from the 1930s, shows Horodyszcze near Korez (Korzec), Volhynia.  The Mennonite village of Kolowert can also be seen.  Zabara would appear just southwest of Korez, but that village is not marked on this map:

Susanna’s Litke ancestors may have been among these Swiss Mennonites in Volhynia.  Living in Eduardsdorf, Horodyszcze, or Zabara (as Jacob Ratzlaff’s family did), perhaps they then moved into the Karolswalde villages as those villages held the largest population of Mennonites in the area at the time. 

Tobias Unruh’s baptism record shows a fairly complete list of the people in the Karolswalde villages in the mid 19^th century.  The record begins when Tobias Unruh became elder in 1854 until the majority of the villagers left Volhynia in 1874.  So for this 20 year period, we have listed all the villagers of baptism age, and their fathers, from all the Karolswalde villages including Zabara (Dossidorf) and Heinrichsdorf.  Very few villagers in the mid 18^th century would not have been baptized.

The baptism record shows four Litkes (spelled Luetcke on the list).  David, Elscke and Peter were children of Hein (Heinrich) Luetke and were baptized 1855-1857.  Helena was the daughter of Johann Luetke and was baptized in 1871.  These baptismal candidates were all baptized in different locations around the villages.  Susanna (Wedel) Ratzlaff’s mother, Katarina (Nickel) Wedel was baptized in 1844.  Susanna’s grandmother, Susanna Litke, could be sister to this Hein Luetke (Litke).

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.