Tips & Tricks to Track Your German Russian Ancestors...Tip # 3 Sources, Sources, Sources in Russia...Organizations & Societies

There are so many excellent sources from Organizations and Socities, it takes more than one post to cover the basics! Let take a look at the Germans from Russia Heritage Society next.

There is a vast amount of research available here.  You will want to explore the database and village groups. Village coordinators are organized by regions and area.  There is an alphabetical listing of Villages and Village Coordinators with who you will want to connect. The areas covered range from Beresan to Crimea to Kurchurga and Caucasus. Drill into all of the links to learn more and be sure to check out the letters which details much of the history of from the 1870s especially in the Dakotas, but including Canada and Argentina, too.

Another valuable all volunteer site is the Black Sea German Research. The Research Repository covers an incredible amount of information if your ancestors from the Black Sea Villages. There are so many links to visit, be sure to reseve at least a day to visit the whole site

And, if you doubted that descendents of Germans From Russia settled around the globe, just check  the number of languages in which this site is published. There are over 100 languages from which to choose!

There are at least four more essential sites to visit and we will cover it in the next post. Please stay tuned!

©2019 Anna Dalhaimer Bartkowski

Tips & Tricks to Track Your German Russian Ancestors...Tip # 3 Sources, Sources, Sources in Russia...Organizations & Societies

Besides books, there are historical societies, organizations and individuals who have obtained records from Russia. All have excellent sources.  I can't cover everything each group has to offer, but here are highlights you won't want to miss.  Check out these focal points, but be sure to visit the entire website for additional outstanding information.

At the Center for Volga German Studies, there is a list of all of the Russian Censuses. The index listed below provides a Combined Surname Index to All Volumes compiled by Brent Mai.

And, then by village, there is a list of censuses that have been obtained, and who has the census.  Here are examples of 3 villages: Mariental, Rosenfeld am Nachoi and Rothammel.  This makes it easy to figure out how you can find a copy. New records are being published daily, however these volunteers do a great job of keeping up with many of the latest publications.

Every census provides great information, but if you can obtain an 1874 Family List (rewritten in 1896 with additional information), you have struck a gold mine of information. This time frame matches when many of our ancestors left Russia for the Americas, so this can help you build the link back to the original village settlers.

At the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, there is plenty of good information...especially under the village and research links.

Under the village link you can read about your village history and connect with your village coordinator for the latest updates on your village's content.

As you drill into the research link, you can see from the drop down on the picture below that there are a multitude of options for continuing your search.  You will want to check all of the levels here, however, I wan to show you specifically the German Origins page.

Under the AHSGR German Origins Project is a wonderful compilation listed alphabetically by surname and village which links your family back to the place of Germanic origin. Here you might find your original settlers before you are able to connect directly by each generation through the census or other records. And, that's OK because sometimes you have to work from both ends of a situations to get to the middle!

I mentioned earlier that it will take a few posts to get through all of the sources we need to explore, and the organizations and societies postings will continue soon.

©2019 Anna Dalhaimer Bartkowski

Tips & Tricks to Track Your German Russian Ancestors...Sources, Sources, Sources In Russia

Once you have exhausted all of the sources in the Americas, you are ready to reach out to sources in Russia.

How do you locate relevant resources in Russia?  You can obtain records directly for a fee. However,  unless you are fluent in Russian, the language can be a challenge.

The good news is that many documents have already been purchased from the Saratov and Engels archives.

So it is best to find out what has already been located, then supplement your records with purchases if needed. To discover what has been located, let's check out Books and Historical Societies.

There are five books I recommend to help you on your genealogical journey.

1) Emigration from Germany to Russia in Years, 1763 to 1862, with Maps by Karl Stumpp  (Pictured above)
This book is the guide to all of the emigrations from Germany to Russia and the maps alone are extraordinary.


2) Einwanderung in die Wolgageiet 1765-1767 by Igor Pleve
These four volumes list the movements to the Volga colonies, including most places of origin.  It is written in German and Russian, but with a little translation help, this is a valuable resource for all Volga Germans.

3)  The Immigration of German Coloniest to Denmark and Their Subsequent Immigration to Russia in the Years 1759-1766 by Dr. Alexander Eichorn and Dr Jacob  and Mary Eichhorn.
Without this book, I would have never learned about my 5th great grandfather, Johann Conrad Reimer. He was a tailor who traveled to Denmark with his wife, Johanna and two children, and his servant, seraching for greener pastures in Russia.  Unfortunately, he passed away in Denmark before he embarked on his travel. But, this informtion led me to my 6th great grandfather, Hans Georg Reimer, and my Reimer Germanic origins in Freudental.

4) 1798 Census of the German Colonies along the Volga, Economy, Population and Agriculture Volume 1 and 2, by Brent Alan Mai

These volumes are so helpful because the 1798 census helps us track many settlers who 

may have moved after they originally settled in a village, like my Herzog ancestors who settled in Balzer but moved to Reinwald before 1798.

5) German-Russian Handbook, A Reference Book for Russian German and German Russia History and Culutre, by Ulrich Mertens.
This book has so much information, I have not yet absorbed even a quarter of it!  However, it has fascination information, including citing the martyrdom of my friend Judy Gareis's relative. It's a comprehensive compilation of all of the villages and photographs and maps...nearly 800 pages of information.

These and many more research items are available for purchase or borrowing from private researchers.  Also, you can use the Interlibrary loan system to gain access to some of these books.

Our next source stop will be the organizations and historical societies who have additional, vast resources.

©2019 Anna Dalhaimer Bartkowski