Tips & Tricks to Tracking Your German Russian Ancestors....Tip # 5...Community Counts...continued

As promised, Tip # 4 continues with examples of how being involved with the German Russian Community helps you make incredible genealogical discoveries.

It was tough for me to choose a few from the many discoveries I attribute to the community.  But here are two of my favorites.

My Mother and my Paternal Grandmother

This first story starts in my childhood, during visits with my grandmother who was very proud that her family, the Herrmanns and her husband's family, the Dalhaimers, descended from the original settlers in Mariental.  She also told us that her father-in-law told the story of the History of Mariental, but that my grandfather, who was very proud of his handwriting, wrote this story in a book. When we asked for a copy of the book, she said it was more like a pamphlet and she didn't have a copy.  Perhaps there was a copy somewhere in Russia?  She doubted it, she believed it must have been destroyed. 

At the AHSGR convention in Milwaukee in 2017, Mila Koretnikov was in attendance.  During one of her presentations, she mentioned that Nicholas Dalhaimer’s History of Mariental was available from the Engels Archive. I was shocked, and I had to reflect over and over to remember the conversation during the visits with my grandmother to remember the story she had mentioned. So I reached out to Mila for information, and she graciously helped me to purchase copies of the documents.

Cover of 1908
The History of Mariental from the Engels Archive

Nik. Thalheimer Marienthal

Sample Pages from The History of Mariental

While I can't prove this is my grandfather's writing, and it is only my memory of my Grandmother's story about the book, I have compared the writing to my grandfather's penmanship in the family Bible, and it a match for me.  The year of the publication matches the life span of my great-grandfather and grandfather.  And, my grandfather did not leave Russia until 1913, so he would have been there to record the history.  It's one of my treasures as I never knew either of these ancestors.

The second story occurred goes like this...

• If I hadn't attended an Arizona Sun Chapter meeting in 2005...
• I would have never met Judy Gareis
• If I hadn't met Judy, I would not have been sitting next to her at the AHSGR Convention in Hays, Kansas listening to Isabel Kessler in 2007
• And then Judy wouldn't have turned to me and said, "We need to go to Argentina."
• To which I replied, "I'm not going to Argentina!"

To be continued under Tip # 8!

©2019 Anna Dalhaimer Bartkowski

Happy Memorial Day

I have been so fortunate over the last few months to connect with distant cousins I didn't know existed.  Our common ancestry has been verified and it has brought  me great joy.

I continue to explore the missing years, and see pictures of cousins my mother and father did not know they had. They had hoped that aunts, uncles and cousins had survived but did not live long enough to see me make these new connections. I believe we are blessed to know the survivors want to build bridges across the continents. .

As I continue to investigate, research and document my findings, there is one thing of which I am certain.. Gratitude.  Gratitude for having found lost relatives, for my parents, grandparents and great-grandparents and all they did to keep our legacy alive. Thank you for your service, your love and your perseverance so that this new generation can continue to learn from each other..

Since I don't have the space to honor all, I hope these few photographs let them know how much I appreciate their lives.