One of 9 specialized English-language books on the list of "Twenty-five of the most useful books for German genealogical research" by Horst Reschke, German-born columnist for Heritage Quest (Sept.-Oct. 1998).
indexes the most comprehensive, classic works on four groups of migrants to Eastern Europe:
The places of origin in the west of these migrants to the east are listed in the majority of cases, but not all. Usually the exact village is given.
Except for the book on Mecklenburg emigrants, the overwhelming majority of names are those of people who settled in Eastern Europe in 1750-1825. The Mecklenburg data begin in the early thirteenth century and extend into the mid-twentieth century, but most entries are for the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Nearly all of the Germans migrated to Galicia in 1782-85, while the recorded Danube Swabians came mostly in 1749-85. A much smaller number came to these two areas in 1802-03.
The Mennonites emigrated almost exclusively from West Prussia to the Chortitza and Molotschna settlements in what is now eastern Ukraine, beginning in 1789. Data found in West Prussian archives lists one emigrant as late as 1895, but very few after 1847. The vast majority had arrived by 1806, with a smaller wave around 1818-19.
Only rarely and coincidentally will you find the names of ancestors who came to North America, although I have one ancestor who migrated to the Russian Empire as a boy and to Canada as an old man. Rather, the names are likely to be those of their grandparents, great-grandparents, etc., who migrated to the Russian Empire or the eastern parts of the Austrian Empire.
Our book also indexes:
- Two major works on Germans in the Bukovina (considerably less complete, but still very helpful)General places of origin are often given, but rarely specific villages.
- Selected works on specific local areas, mostly in Poland, but also in Bessarabia and the Odessa areaAll surnames in the following books are indexed:
(1) Dr. Franz Wilhelm and Dr. Josef Kallbrunner, Quellen zur deutschen Siedlungsgeschichte in Suedosteuropa [Sources Regarding the History of the German Settlement in Southeastern Europe] -- 13,201 surnames; Austrian immigration lists of Danube Swabians and Galician Germans
(2) Ludwig Schneider, Das Kolonisationswerk Josefs II. in Galizien [The Settlement Activities of (Austrian Emperor) Joseph II in Galicia] -- 3,404 surnames; more detailed on Galicia than Wilhelm & Kallbrunner, including lists of the 1780s, 1820 and some for 1812, but does not include every name found in Wilhelm & Kallbrunner's earlier book (presumably because of early deaths or early onward migration to the Bukovina)
(3) Benjamin Heinrich Unruh, Die niederlaendisch-niederdeutschen Hintergruende der mennonitischen Ostwanderungen im 16., 18. und 19. Jahrhundert [The Dutch-Lower (North) German Background of the Mennonite Eastward Migrations of the 16th, 18th and 19th Centuries] -- 513 surnames, with many individuals bearing the same surname; includes lists of emigrants found in Prussian archives, with more detailed information in the 1808 Russian revision lists (tax assessment records similar to a census) for the Chortitza and Molotschna colonies, the 1795 revision list for Chortitza and a few other generally less informative lists
(4) Martha Mueller, Mecklenburger in Osteuropa [Mecklenburgers in Eastern Europe] -- 2,233 surnames; place of origin in Mecklenburg, place of settlement in the east, with detailed lists of descendants for many listed emigrants
(5) Irmgard Hein Ellingson, The Bukovina Germans in Kansas: A 200-Year History of Lutheran Swabians -- 258 surnames; about 1/3 of the Bukovina Germans were Lutherans, most of whom came southwestern Germany
(6) Dr. Sophie Welisch, Bukovina Villages/Towns/Cities and Their Germans -- 422 surnames in this authoritative history of 22 villages which had a significant number of Germans, many originating in Bohemia
Books for specific areas in Poland (all of them for areas in which I have done research) include:
(7) Gustav Schedler, Eben-Ezer: Eine Jahrhundertgeschichte der evangelischen St. Trinitaetsgemeinde zu Lodz [Ebenezer: A Centennial History of the Evangelical (merged Lutheran-Reformed, but almost exclusively Lutheran) St. Trinity Congregation in Lodz] -- 256 surnames; lists all ministers and lay officials for the century beginning with the founding in 1829 of the first Lutheran church in what became the largest German community in Poland outside the Prussian Partition
(8) Hans Schmidt, Die Geschichte des Deutschtums in Szamocin (Samotschin) und Umgebung [The History of the Germans in Szamocin (Samotschin) and Vicinity] -- 286 surnames; provides names (sometimes only surnames) of Germans who settled or lived in particular villages in this Notec (Netze) River area in northern Posen, but little further detail; many people from this area later migrated to Central (Congress) Poland, i.e., the Russian Partition, and some later to Volhynia
(9) Kurt Lueck, Geschichte des Deutschtums in Chodziez (Kolmar) und Umgebung [The History of the Germans in Chodziez (Kolmar) and the Surrounding Area] -- 111 surnames; similar to the above, although less detailed, but covers the entire former county, not just the cluster of villages described by Schmidt
(10) Dr. Oskar Kossmann, Die deutschen in Polen seit der Reformation: Historisch-Geographische Skizzen [The Germans in (Central) Poland Since the Reformation: Historical-Geographical Sketches] -- 462 surnames; an immensely important book for migration history, listing more than 1,200 German settlements in Central Poland, but surnames are limited to those for which you may find a different Polish spelling in the records; however, this is accompanied by a list of sources which tells you in which part of Poland the names occurred, providing an opportunity for further research
Other indexed books include:
(11) Gustav Adolf Famler, Torsza und seine Ansiedlung [Torsza and Its Settlement] -- 351 surnames; an almost complete list of names of those who settled in Torsza (Torschau), one of the larger Danube Swabian settlements in Yugoslavia; quite a few of these families migrated onward to Ukraine before long
(12) Georg Leibbrandt, Hansgeorg Leibbrandt and Otto G. Siegle, Hoffnungstal und seine Schwaben [Hoffnungstal and Its Swabians] -- 1,300 surnames; detailed genealogical data on families which lived in this parish, one of the largest ones in the Odessa area
(13) Herbert Weiss, Colony Teplitz [Teplitz Colony] -- 414 surnames; detailed information on one of the larger Bessarabian settlements
Because some surnames appear in more than one book, there are 23,796 references for the 19,720 surnames. The number of entries is much larger. For example, the Wilhelm and Kallbrunner book has at least twice as many entries as surnames; the Unruh book, about four times as many families and an estimated seven times as many entries as surnames.
We used to provide a transcription of the surname data in these books for a minimum of $10 and an English translation of the data for a minimum of $30, but this has been revised, due to changing circumstances.
Simple transcriptions for those who know German are no longer feasible, so providing only a copy of the relevant information requires a trip to a copy shop. Moreover, the entries are not always self-explanatory.
The books on Hoffnungstal and Teplitz are not in my personal library. Due to decreased mobility and limited hours of access to the collection in which they are found, it is very difficult now for me to check or borrow these books. Therefore, they will no longer be searched, unless a client is willing to pay a significantly larger fee and wait quite a while for the information.
However, for those who are interested primarily in the western place of origin of these settlers, I have a copy of Dr. Karl Stumpp, The Emigration from Germany to Russia in the Years 1763 to 1862. The list of more than 20,000 families who migrated to the Russian Empire is alphabetized (by the surname of the father, occasionally a widow, and unmarried migrants, but not by the maiden name of the wife, which is sometimes given) and therefore easy to search. It will yield the names and places of origin of a much larger number of settlers than just those who settled in the two parishes of Hoffnungstal and Teplitz. There is a lot of other genealogical information in the book, but the other data are either alphabetized by village or not alphabetized at all, so a lot of time would be required to search these other lists, including some Russian revision lists. I will be glad to search the list of migrants in Stumpp's book in lieu of the books on Hoffnungstal and Teplitz.
The $30 minimum fee will cover about ten entries (not ten surnames), on the average, but the amount of time required may vary, due to the varying nature of the indexed books. If there are quite a few people bearing the surname you want researched, the cost may be quite a bit higher, so if you are requesting this service, please specify the amount of money you are willing to authorize without a prior estimate. In the few cases where a search yields hardly any information, you will get a partial refund of the minimum $30.