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- *Zita (Dauenhauer) Gieser, Dickinson, North Dakota
Ancestral Villages: Katharinental, Landau, Speyer [Beresan District]; Franzfeld [Liebental District]
Zita writes, "I was born the second child of Florian Dauenhauer and Rosa Bernhardt Dauenhauer. I had six sisters and two brothers and we lived on a farm near Taylor in southwestern North Dakota.
"My parents were of German-Russian ancestry with my father's family immigrating from Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany, in 1809 to Russia. They helped found the colony of Landau in the Beresan Valley. My father immigrated from Landau to New Salem, North Dakota in 1912 at the age of 20. My mother's family also immigrated from Rheinland-Pfalz and helped to found the colony of Katharinental in 1816. My mother then immigrated to Glen Ullin, North Dakota from Katherinental in 1914 at the age of sixteen."
Zita graduated from Taylor High School and married in 1943, farming on her husband's family farm until she retired to Dickinson in 1981. She taught a rural school and raised seven children who blessed them with sixteen grandchildren, four of whom are already college graduates. During all this, Zita found time to participate in many community organizations and activities ranging from local to national duties. She presently serves as secretary for their local chapter of GRHS and is a village coordinator, for Landau and Katharinental as a member of their Stark County Historical Society.
"During our May, 1993, tour [to Russia and ancestral villages, she writes], we felt privileged to see childhood home colonies of our parents, Landau and Katharinental. Our parents often spoke of their old homes and shared many fond memories with us. Rosemarie [Zita's sister; see Rosemarie Hoff below] and I were happy their parents did not see how their beautiful churches had been desecrated. We are most thankful our parents had the opportunity and the courage to leave Russia and immigrate to the United States."
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1923 - 2008 (85 years)