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- BIOGRAPHY:
Page 7, Die Welt-Post, Thursday, November 9, 1922
Headline: List of Names of Refugees Living in Minsk
From the colony of Marienfeld: Barbara Burgard; Heinrich Gerhardt; Anna Gerlin; Jakob
Mildenberger; Michael Messler; Katharina Mildenberger,
Widow; Karl Imber; Joseph Mollecker; Johannes Mollecker;
Katharine ?ell; Heinrich Schroeder; Joseph and Christian
Schoenfeld; Anna Herrlein.
http://www.ahsgr.org/vc2006A_F.htm
2006 Village Report for Brabander and Dehler
...
I have had extensive contact with Jaap and I have received assistance in finding the village of Kecklingen, Kurpfalz described by Dr. Igor Pleve PhD in EINWANDERUNG IN DAS WOLGAGEBIET 1764-1767, as place of origin of the Molleker family that migrated to Brabander. This is of particular interest to me personally since the family of Peter Molleker brought my first Abt ancestor, a 10-year-old orphan Johannes Abt to Brabander in 1767.
The fact that there were only 3 items in the Brabander Village File and the lack of a Village Coordinator for Brabander in the History of the AHSGR was the primary reason that I volunteered to assist.
Just because there is nothing in the Village file for Brabander does not mean that there is no information available. The AHSGR resources available for Brabander include: EINWANDERUNG IN DAS WOLGAGEBIET 1764-1767, Band I or Volume I by Dr. Igor Pleve PhD which contains the 1767 Census of Brabander Colony. The book is written in Russian and German. It also includes the origin or last home of the head of the family before departure for Russia. The book is the first of a series of 4 books on the 1767 Census by Dr. Pleve with the villages in alphabetical order. Volume I contains the villages from Anton to Franzosen. Volume II and Volume III are currently available and Volume IV should be available during 2007. A non-German speaking person can use the census portion of the book by using free translation software such as World Lingo. The second resource available for Brabander is the 1798 CENSUS OF THE GERMAN VILLAGES ALONG THE VOLGA, by Dr. Brent Alan Mai PhD. The work is a 2 volume set containing the translated 1798 census records for 101 German Colonies along the Volga. The entire village census for Brabander appears in this work. There were only 398 residents in Brabander in 1798 living in 78 dwellings. Dr. Mai lists the head of the household and the relationship of each household occupant to the head of the household with the ages of each person. Unlike the 1767 Brabander Census, the 1798 census also included the maiden name of the wives in most cases. There is a section that describes movement prior to 1798 to or from other villages and the year of movement. An additional section contains an agricultural census for each household indicating what animals, and how many of each the families had in 1797. It also relates what acreage and kind of crops each family planted in 1797 and the quantity of their harvest.
The only other resource available at this time is an Abt Family Chart and my soon to be released book extending much of the Abt lineage to the current time. Other resources that will be available after July of 2007 include 3 family charts that I have commissioned for the Schwalje/Chevalier/Schwalier, Bondank/Bontemps, and Führ families. The Schwalje Family Chart will also cover the Dehler branches of the family. The Führ Family Chart will include the Führs of Brabander, Rothammel, and Dehler, all of which are related. These charts will be available for purchase when completed. A family book extending the lineage to current time will follow each. It should be noted that a Village Map of Brabander from the 1930-1941 period is currently being translated and will be available in 2007.
There are supposedly census records for 1818, 1834, 1850, 1857 and 1861 currently in the Russian Archives along with the Brabander Church Records. I have attempted to purchase copies of these records, but have not been able to obtain them yet.
For a long time it was believed that Brabander had been completely submerged under the Volga as a result of a hydro electric project farther south that included a dam. The river appears to be about 30 miles wide at Brabander. Brabander was about 8 miles from the main river on an old channel or tributary. In August of 2006 I saw my first photo of Brabander taken in 2001. The photo was of the flour mill with the Volga River close in the background. The mill is still in operation using the original Volga German equipment. The river in the background appears to be very wide. Although much of the Brabander farmland was probably flooded it appears that all or most of the original village is above the water line. The cemetery which was south and a little east of the mill should be above water and findable with the available map. I am in contact with several relatives who were born in Brabander and exiled to Siberia and Kazakhstan in 1941 or before. I am attempting to add the names of the head of as many households to the surname map of the village that I have with the names written in Russian.
I have been able to find hundreds of my relatives who have migrated from Kazakhstan and Siberia to Germany and more living in Kazakhstan and Siberia. I have also found hundreds more relatives in Argentina, Canada and scattered throughout the United States with Brabander ancestry. Most have both Brabander and Dehler ancestry and many also have Rothammel ancestry. I have found that the inter-relationship between families of these three villages is very strong. In Argentina the Brabander and Dehler Colonists in many cases intermarried also. I have found one village of about 400 people called Santa Maria, La Pampa, Argentina, that has an extremely high concentration of residents who have Brabander and Dehler roots. For instance there are at least 4 different documented lines of the Abt family in the village. There are probably at least two more lines of Abt family descendants that still must be documented. I believe that few residents of Santa Maria La Pampa have no Brabander Ancestry.
This entire area of La Pampa appears to have substantial migration from the Brabander-Dehler area of Russia. Those families that came from other villages now have acquired Brabander and Dehler roots through marriages. The telephone directory is filled with surnames from Brabander and nearby Dehler.
Another area that I have discovered is the village of San Miguel named after the "Vorsteher" Miguel or Michael Stössel. The inhabitants called the village Dehler. The 15 founding families were from Dehler, but many of them had Brabander ties also. These families had entered Argentina in 1878 and founded the Colony of San Miguel in 1881. I am in contact with many descendants of the founding families of both San Miguel and Santa Maria, La Pampa that are related to me. Many of them I have been communicating with for several years already. Most only speak Spanish.
I plan to commission additional family charts for the Braun, Homann, Russmann, Molleker, Kern, and Weth/Wett families from Brabander. Anyone interested in obtaining any of these family charts should contact me. Additionally I would like to communicate with anyone having Brabander and/or Dehler ancestry. You may communicate in Spanish, German, or English, or Portuguese.
These are the surnames that I have found with Brabander ties: Brabander, Kern, Werd/Werth/Wett, Schneider, Lehning, Pemsel, Wulf, Schmidt, Paschau, Adamo, Haber, Meringer, Hisrch, Klein, Seitz, Schmeizinger, Sommer, Lambert, Volmer, Freude, Koreka, Metz, Beil, Homann, Haas, Kaster, Dom/Dam, Mader, Stieber, Eberhardt, Widiu, Ganzwich,Palter, Rach, Herrlein, Werner, Retenmeier, Kramer, Chevalier/Schwalje, Wind, Drewalski, Bontemps/Bondank, Obert, Mülleker/Molleker, Abt, Glaser, Brandecker, Heckenbinder, Schlegel, Masson/Mason, Damplon, Gertenberg, Stalldecker, Barte, Rothling, Schreiber, Braun, Dossier, Weber, Huck, Dentler, Rehaser, Schlager, Monschau, Gerhard, Fritz, Lang, Pichki, Gimbald, Keytmann, Feck, Konrad, Hesse, Bouillon, Mezieres, Fackenbusch, Meier, Kasner, Spitzwieser, Franz, Jung, Stahl, Blei/Blein, Helske, Baumeister, Mai, Trutschel, Bohm, Horn, Marusch, Lombar, Jaudel, Zimmer, Ott, Berer, Eltz, Neuberger, Stürm/Storm, Sontag, Sendelbeck, Lobinger, Scheitwahl, Redel, Neubert, Prosius, Minterlein, Weber, Demm, Schmalz, Mathres, Dornhof, Muller, Gotz, Stahl, Pobinger, Altersroh, Wachter, Spaniol, Russmann, Breidel, Mieiser, Glusch/Klitsch, Haber, Konrad, Bock, Schep, Philipp, Gossmann, Fischer, Bauer, Herel, Herzer, Kieffer, Weiss, Lemp, Stark, Burhoven/Burhoff, Sommer,Fuchs, Weber,Klein,Keitman, Rost, Weitz Rach, Glanzer, Prediger, Benz, Heilman, Lambrecht, Kauptmann/Kaufmann, Martel, Aschenmacher, Mildenberger, Kasner, Behm, Bullion, Storczk/Stork/Storg, Stossel, Ziegmann, Wentz, Masson/Mason, Trutchel, Kippes, Pfenning, Seelmann, Wambach, Lang, Wittmann, Ernst, Homann/Homan/Goman, Ritter, Munschlau, Seitz, Bieber, Walter, Schmalzal, Kohler, Matthias, Wassinger, Herzberger, Tomplon, Beil, Becker, Keiler, Meringer, Wurst, Führ, and Graf.
It should be noted that in my research I am finding variations of these names occurring regularly in Argentina. For instance the name Bondank above which started out as Bontemps in Lothringen has been altered to Pundang in Argentina. I am finding the original French name of Chevalier that entered Brabander and became Schwalje altered to Schwalier and even reverted back to the original form of Chevalier. I am finding the name Bullion written in Argentina records as Pullion I am finding other names such as Gunter (with an Umlaut U) from Dehler Colony changed to Guinder and Ginder in Argentina and the name Bretz as in Nicholas and Barbara Bretz, the Rothammel Village Coordinators changed to Pretz. People speaking the Brabander and Dehler dialect had problems with the letters "B" and "P". I first realized this when I could not find my grandmother Anna Maria Bondank's native village that she described to me as Probender. It took me many years to learn that Probender described by my grandmother was actually Brabander named after the "Vorsteher", a dentist. The "B" to "P" problem even took the irregular spelling of the name Brabander to Argentina where I am even finding it listed as Prapander in books and documents. Surnames that were umlauted in German usually get a spelling change in other languages. If you are doing research on any of these village names remember to be flexible with the spelling of the names in your research.
I am hoping that anyone having ancestry from the villages of Brabander known as Kasitzkaya in Russian and often referred to as Probender in dialect will contact me. I will gladly assist in finding your roots. You may contact me in English, Spanish, German or Portuguese. Please also refer to the Dehler 2006 Village Report.
I hope to have a website up and running for both Brabander and Dehler very soon.
Best Wishes,
Jim Osborne
Village Coordinator for Brabander
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