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BACKGROUND GENEALOGY

MOLOTSCHNA COLONY - SUMMARIES

1852

http://www.plettfoundation.org/Books/DieseSteine/230-483.pdf

Josephine Chipman, The Mennonite Selbstschutz  in the Ukraine: 1918-1919. MA Thesis (University of Manitoba, March, 1988).

South Russia Mennonites

Ekaterinoslav (now Dnipropetrovsk since 1917), was a province (oblast in Russian) of the Ukraine, Russia, crossed by the Dnieper River, and was founded in 1786, and named after Catherine [The Great] II. Ekaterinoslav is bordered on the north by Poltava, on the east by Kharkov, on the south by Taurida, and on the west by Kherson.

In the year 1789 and then started again after 1803, the second large emigration of Mennonites from Danzig [present-day Gdańsk, Poland]-West Prussia began. It led through Riga into the Black Sea area to Chortitza (founded 1789) and Molotschna (founded 1804). The Schönfeld Colony was founded in 1868.

Molotschna Colony

The Molotschna Colony existed in what is now Zaporizhia Oblast (province) in the Ukraine and was named after the Molotschna River which forms its western boundary. It was founded by Mennonite settlers from West Prussia and consisted of 57 villages and was the second and largest settlement of Mennonites in Russia. Since the end of World War II, that area is now populated by Ukrainians and Russians.

Relevant villages: Halbstadt was founded in 1804; Tiegenhagen in 1805; Pordenau in 1820; and Alexanderkrone in 1857.

[Source: Preservings - being the Journal of the Flemish Mennonite Historical Society (No. 24, December 2004)]

Mennonite Villages in Molotschna, Ukraine

http://fistfulofeuros.net/pedantry/archives/000176.html

The voyage to the new land was not an unproblematic journey. During the trip, luggage was stolen, the Russian government failed to meet many of the promised financial agreements, and there was a failure in the leadership and unity within the group of Mennonites. Frederick William III, the leader of Prussia, was against the emigration of the Mennonites, so he set a restriction that the Mennonites had to pay exit taxes of 10% of their possessions. To encourage the Mennonites to continue with their decision to emigrate, the Tsar Paul I of Russia offered more privileges to counteract the restrictions. Interest-free loans and 120,000 more dessiatines of land east of the Molochnaya River were given. In 1803, 1,020 Mennonites left Prussia in horse-drawn, covered wagons. Their farms were sold at reasonable prices and they started a voyage of five to seven weeks. After this group wintered at the Chortitza Colony, they set out for the east bank of the Molochnaya River. After 1828, Russia discontinued their financial help and only those who had enough money were able to leave Prussia and inhabit the steppes of Russia. In the Molotschna Colony alone, there were more than 1,000 Mennonite immigrants. [Source: http://freepages.family.rootsweb.com/~elmcreekschool/Shawna/LivingHistory%20writeup-Shawna.doc.  ]

In 1905 the Molotschna settlement had the following congregations (the figures in parentheses indicate the year of founding and the total membership including children): Halbstadt (1895; 1174), Lichtenau (1823; 3338), Petershagen (?; 722), Schönfeld and branches (1868 ft; 763), Blumenfeld (1872; 135), Rosenhof (1870; 419), Ohrloff (1804; 980), Herzenberg (1881; 80), Alexanderkrone (1890; 1305), Neukirch (1863; 890), Alexanderwohl (1820; 680), Schönsee (1830; 1425), Gnadenfeld (and branches) (1834 ff.; 1151), Pordenau (1842; 1771), Rudnerweide (1820; 2548), Margenau (1832; 2876), Waldheim (1836; 219). The Mennonite Brethren were organized as the Rückenau Mennonite Brethren Church, with a number of branches (1860; 1977). In 1926 the total membership (including children) of the combined Mennonite congregations in the Molotschna was 15,036, of the Mennonite Brethren 2,501, and the Evangelical Mennonite Brethren 810, a total of 17,347. Another source says there were 20,706 Mennonites in the Molotschna settlement in 1922. Taking into consideration the natural increase it may be concluded that some 4,000 must have emigrated to America in 1922-1926.

After World War I

World War I had the same effect on the Molotschna settlement as on the other settlements in Russia. The suffering inflicted by the Bolshevik Revolution, the bandits of Makhno, the civil war, drought, and starvation was gradually overcome, partly through American Mennonite relief. According to a report entitled "American Mennonite Relief Scheme" there was a population of 20,706 in the Molotschna in 1922, of whom 11,134 received relief food. The Association of Citizens of Dutch Origin (Verband Burger hollandischer Herkunft) did much to prevent great disaster, and to help to restore the economic, cultural, and religious life. The NEP period made this restoration possible. Soon, however, the great Mennonite emigration to Canada set in (1921), which was discontinued by 1927. Again in 1929 a small number succeeded in leaving Russia for Canada. How many of the 25,000 emigrants from Russia who went to North America after World War I came from the Molotschna has never been established ...

[SOURCE: http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/M6521.html ]

Black Sea Germans settled along the north coast of the Black Sea starting in 1804 especially in Kherson, Tavrida, and Yekaterinoslav provinces in Ukraine and including colonies around Alt Danzig, Beresan, Bessarabia, Crimea, Dobrudja, Khortitsa, Molotscna, and Odessa. They were a mix of Evangelical Lutherans, Catholics, and Mennonites. In 1897 there were 345,000 settlers. Some migrated from these settlement to secondary settlements in the Caucasus region. The biggest concentration of Black Sea German emigrants to the United States is in North and South Dakota. ...

[Source: https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Germans_from_Russia_Historical_Geography ]

Molochna Chronology (1917 - 1920)

1917 -

Mennozentrum (Bureau der Molotschnaer Mennonitischen Vereinigung)

Mennozentrum was the executive body and office of the Bureau der Molotschnaer Mennonitischen Vereinigung in South Russia organized during the Revolution in 1917. At the meeting of the Allgemeiner Mennonitischer Kongress at Ohrloff in August 1917 the following members were elected to the Mennozentrum, or Zentralbureau, with the highest votes: B. H. Unruh (202), Dr. Peter Dück (192), Heinrich Schröder (182), Heinrich Janz (176), Heinrich Epp (177). This executive body played a significant role in negotiating with the temporary governments such as those of Kerensky and Denikin, the German government, and other organizations including the Verband russischer Burger deutscher Zunge. The first chairman of this executive body was Johann Willms, who was succeeded by B. H. Unruh. At a regional Molotschna meeting of the Kongress at Rückenau, a Studien-kommission was appointed to investigate settlement possibilities abroad for the Mennonites of Russia. Those elected were A. A. Friesen, B. H. Unruh, Heinrich Warkentin, and Daniel Enns. The latter declined to serve as did also his alternate Jakob Neufeld. Johann Esau joined the Studien-kommission temporarily. Not much is known about the activities of the Mennozentrum after this