Lutheran Ancestors from Central Poland and Volhynia

with roots in Posen and Prussia

I welcome e-mail at brandtfam@prodigy.net if you have, or believe you may have, shared ancestors or collateral relatives. If there appears to be a match, I will gladly send you a complete pedigree chart, with sources and additional information on some individuals.

If you send any attachments by e-mail, please put them in ASCII format. Otherwise, mail the material to me at 13 - 27th Ave. S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55414-3101, USA.

a/e: There should be a hook attached to the "a" in "Dabrowa" and the "e" in "Debo" and "Debogórski." I have listed these as "Da(m)browa," "De(m)bo," and "De(m)bogórski," because that is how those names are pronounced and how they could possibly be listed in German records. This also applies to Gra(n)zowice, mentioned in the endnotes, but in that case the hook signifies that the pronunciation would be "an," not "am."

l: There should be a slanted line, halfway between a slash and a dash, across the "l" in "Lodz," "Laznowska" and "Mlyn"; this makes it sound like "w" to foreign ears.

z: There should be an acute accent above the "z" in "Lodz," which makes it sound approximately like the second "g" in "garage."

For notes concerning individuals, places and records, see end of lineages.

No.   Name (followed by places and dates of residence or vital events)
 
Braun
227.  BRAUN, Anna Katharina (?-by 1834) m Peter Weinkauf by 1814
      Lindenwerder (Lipia Góra), Posen, r by 1814-19
      Lódz area, Central Poland, 1819-by 1834
 
Fietz (?)
114.  FI(E)TZ/VIETZ/FIESS/FIESE/FIETSCH, ___________
      app Lódz area, Central Poland, r 1818
 
 G(r)odzinska/Rijstock/Ristock
57.   G(R)ODZINSKA (polonization of RIJSTOCK/RISTOCK?), Theophilia
         (1839-aft 1902) m Johann Schmidtke, ca 1860
      Wiskitno nr Lódz, Poland, b 1839
      Albertów, Central Poland, 1860-61
      Maksymilianów, Central Poland, 1863
      Radom, Poland, r 1860s?, 1871, 1873, late 1870s-1902
      Kalinówka (which one?), r Central Poland, 1876
      Werba (Verbsk), Vladymyr Volynsky parish, Volhynia, d? 1902-?
115.  G(R)ODZINSKA (RIJSTOCK?), (Anna?) Krystyna, app unmarried
      Antoniew nr Lódz (?), Central Poland, b 1818?
230.  RIJSTOCK, Jan (?) m Ludwiga Sieczka by 1818
      Dombogora(cher) Holland (De(m)bo Góra or De(m)bogórski Mlyn?),
         Posen, r
      Antoniew nr Lódz, Central Poland, r 1818
 
Kramer
225.  KRAMER, Marianna m Paul Schmidtke by ca 1812
      Da(m)browa (?) nr Lódz, Central Poland, r ca 1812
      Grömbach (Laznowska Wola), Central Poland, 1834
 
Müller
29.   MÜLLER, Rosalia (1878-1919) m Adolf Schmidtke, ca 1899-1901
      Central Poland, b, m? 1878-ca 1899-1901?
      Werba (Verbsk), Vladymyr Volynsky parish, Volhynia, by 1902-06
      Winnipeg, MB, 1906-14
      Steinbach, RM Hanover, MB, d 1914-19
58.   MÜLLER, Michael m Karoline Stelzer, by 1878
      Central Poland, r 1878
 
Rijstock/Ristock see G(r)odzinska
 
Schmidtke
14.   SCHMIDTKE, Eduard (1905-75) m Juliana Dorothea Cristina Ott, 1920
      Werba (Verbsk) (?), Vladymir Volynsky parish, Volhynia, b 1905-06
      Winnipeg, MB, r, m 1906-14, ca 1919/20-34, 1939
      Steinbach, RM Hanover, MB, r, d 1914-ca 1919/20, 1934-39, 1939-75
28.   SCHMIDTKE, Adolf (1876-1957) m Rosalia Müller, ca 1899-1901
      Kalinówka (which one?), Cental Poland, b 1876
      Radom, Poland, late 1870s-late 1890s
      Werba (Verbsk), Vladymyr Volynsky parish, Volhynia, by 1902-04
      Winnipeg, MB, 1904-14, 1919-ca 1954/55
      Steinbach, RM Hanover, MB, d 1914-ca 1919, ca 1954/55-57
56.   SCHMIDTKE, Johann (1839-aft 1902) m Theophilia G(r)odzinska
         (Rijstock/Ristock originally?), ca 1860
      Da(m)browa nr Lódz, Central Poland, b 1839
      Lódz (Trinity parish), Central Poland, bp 1839
      Albertów, Central Poland, 1860-61
      Maksymilianów, Central Poland, 1863
      Groszowice nr Radom (?), Central Poland, 1871
      Radom, Poland, r 1860s?, 1871, 1873, late 1870s-1902
      Kalinówka (which one?), Central Poland, r, 1876
      Werba (Verbsk), Vladymyr Volynsky parish, Volhynia, 1902-?
112.  SCHMIDTKE, Martin m Anna Marianna Weinkauf, 1834
      Da(m)browa near Lódz, Poland, b ca 1812
      Lódz (Trinity parish), Central Poland, m 1834
224.  SCHMIDTKE, Paul m Marianna Kramer by ca 1812
      Prussia (?), b?
      Da(m)browa near Lódz, Central Poland, r 1789?, ca 1812
      Grömbach (Laznowska Wola), Central Poland, r 1834
 
Sieczka (?)
231.  SIECZKA (Polish name or polonization of ZIETSCHKE/ZISKE?), Ludwiga
         (?) m Jan Ristock, by 1818
      Antoniew nr Lódz, Central Poland, r 1818
 
Stelzer
59.   STELZER, Karoline m Michael Müller, by 1878
      Central Poland, 1878
 
Weinkauf
113.  WEINKAUF, Anna Marianna (ca 1814-?) m Martin Schmidtke, 1834
      Lindenwerder (Lipia Góra), Posen, b ca 1814-19
      Lódz (Trinity parish), Central Poland, m 1834
226.  WEINKAUF, Peter (?-by 1834) m Anna Katharina Braun (?-by 1834), by
         1814
      Lindenwerder (Lipia Góra), Posen, r by 1814-19
      Central Poland, 1819-by 1834

(1) Grömbach was founded by Swabians in 1800. But many of these migrated, primarily to Bessarabia ca. 1815 due to the consequences of the Napoleonic presence (or to Volhynia after the Polish Revolt of 1831 against Russia). Prior immigrants from the northern Prussian provinces, often called "Kashubians" because many of them had come from the general vicinity of the medieval Duchy of Kashubia (British: Cassubia) or East Pomerania, took over some of the vacated farms.

(2) Ewald Wuschke, the leading expert on Germans in Congress Poland and Volhynia, believes that the Grodzinska surname was an approximate Polish translation of Ristock (Dutch: Rijstock) and that the "r" was dropped in later records. The Ristock and Grudzinski names both appear in the Lódz Trinity Lutheran parish register.

(3) A German colony was founded at Da(m)browa in 1789, when this was still a part of an independent Poland, although truncated by the First Partition of 1772. It seems likely, but is uncertain, that the Schmidtkes were among the original colonists. A Martin Schmidtke, who was apparently an uncle of # 112, died in Lódz in 1854 and is listed as having been born in Prussia, which apparently refers to East or West Prussia (together known as Old Prussia), rather than in the territory Prussia gained in the intermediate years.

(5) Johann Schmidtke (1839-aft 1812) was a sacristan, i.e., a lay minister who led worship services (usually by reading from the Bible, not by preaching) when the pastor, who often had to serve many localities, was absent. In reality, the sacristan worked mostly as a teacher in the church schools, but "sacristan" was a more prestigious status. This accounts for the family's numerous moves as a result of his being reassigned. Most of the places where he lived, as listed above, are known as a result of a record showing the places of birth of his children. He probably served in other places as well. The records in the Radom archives suggest that he may not have been stationed in Radom, or even assigned to schools in the area, continuously from his first assignment to Radom until his documented departure for Volhynia. It is not out of the question that he could have had a temporary assignment in Kalinówka near Vladymir Volynsky when son Adolf was born in 1876, although there are numerous places in Central Poland bearing this name, including one near Turek, west of Lódz, where a German settlement existed.

(7) The Radom records clearly state that Johann moved with a previous son named Adolf, who must have died young, from Groszowice near Radom to Radom in 1871. But there is a possibility that the records could be based on a miscommunication, since the family was German, the record was in the Russian language, and the ethnicity and linguistic ability of the recorder (probably a Pole) is unknown. Ewald Wuschke suggested that this could have referred to Gra(n)zowice near Opoczno. I visited both places, but was neither able to confirm, nor to rule out, either possibility. The Radom archivist was certain that it was Groszowice, but there is no record of there ever having been Germans there and the oldest residents (born ca. 1900) had no knowledge of any such presence. On the other hand, Schmidtkes are known to have lived in Kolonie Jawór, not far from Gra(n)zowice, until 1945. However, in the Polish language, these two place names sound so different that a Pole would never confuse them. Furthermore, the record shows only father and son, not the entire family, moving in 1871, which would make a short-distance move seem more likely than a much longer one.

(8) The transliteration of the Ukrainian name for Vladymyr Volynsky is Volodymyr-Volyns'kyi. In Polish, it is Wlodzimierz Wolynski (with a slash across both "l's" and an acute accent above "n." Germans would also use "w" in lieu of "v."