1864 List of Families Intending to Settle in the Kuban Colony

State Archives of the Odessa Region, Odessa, Ukraine

Records of the Guardianship Committee for Foreign Settlers in Southern Russia
Fund 6, Inventory 5, File 278

Translated from German in March 2004 by Tim Janzen, Portland, Oregon

Explanatory comments by Tim Janzen:

This document provides information about a group of 73 families totalling 338 people who planned to settle in the Kuban Colony in the Caucasus Region in South Russia. All of the people included on the list were Mennonite Brethren and all were from the Molotschna Colony. The document is found among a large collection of documents pertaining to the Mennonite Brethren in File 278. The list is found on pages 161 to 173 in the original file and may be found on frames 292 through 315 on the microfilm of this file. The list itself is not dated, but it follows a document that was signed by the head of each family that is dated 30 Dec 1863. Based on a comparison of the ages given for the people found in the list with the birth dates from other sources for these people it appears that the list was likely compiled about May or June of 1864. It appears that some of the families on this list did not follow through with their stated intentions to settle in the Kuban Colony since only 67 families are said to have settled there by 1866 (The Kuban Settlement by C. P. Toews, Heinrich Friesen, and Arnold Dyck, p. 14). In a list of 67 families living in the Kuban Colony in 1869 that is also found in File 278 only 53 families found in this 1864 list are found also found in the 1869 list. Apparently the other 20 families did not follow through with their stated intentions of moving to the Kuban Colony.

In this translation the names of the Mennonites and the locations are shown with the exact same spelling as they appear in the original document. The words “wife”, “son”, and “daughter” have been abbreviated as “w”, “s”, and “d”, respectively. Information that has been placed in brackets does not appear in the original but has been added for clarification. There appear to be a number of spelling errors in the original document. For instance, the first name of Mr. Friesen, whose family is #32 in the list, is likely to have been Martin rather than Matin as given in the original. Also, the first name of Mr. Voth, whose family is #41 in the list, is likely to have been Andreas rather than Adreas as given in the original. Various locations are also slightly misspelled. The age of Heinrich Boldt’s daughter Anna found in family #23 appears to have been incorrectly given as 1 year in the list. Other sources including the 1869 Kuban Colony Census suggest that she was about 7 years old in 1864.

To provide additional information I think would be helpful to researchers I have added two columns on the left side of the table that are not found in the original document. The first column denotes which families found in this list are also found in the 1869 Kuban Colony Census. The second column provides the Grandma number of the head of the household if they are currently found in the Grandma database.

The original document from which this translation was made may be found on microfilm at the following archives: the Center for Mennonite Brethren Studies, Fresno, California; the Center for Mennonite Studies, Tabor College, Hillsboro, Kansas; the Mennonite Historical Society of British Columbia, Abbotsford, British Columbia; and the Mennonite Heritage Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Alf Redekopp and Jake Wiens of Winnipeg, Manitoba and Elli Wise of Frankfort, Kentucky provided helpful suggestions for the improvement of this translation.

Whether or not Found in the 1869 Kuban Colony Census	Grandma Number	No.	Names of Family Members	Ages		Village of Current Residence	Where Listed in the Last Revision List (1858 Molotschna Colony Census)	Fixed Assets of the Same (Immovable Property Such as Buildings)	Total Fixed Assets in Rubles	Capital from Land in Rubles	Total of Moveable Household Assets in Rubles	Grand Total in Rubles
Yes	12411	1	Johann Claassen w - Catarina s - Jacob David d - Maria Agnetha	44 11 8	37 4 1	Liebenau	Listed at Sparau No. 44	Collective buildings and combined property for Johann Claassen’s family and Cornelius Reimer’s family after paying all debts	4500	In goods 6844	3500	14844
Yes	102944	2	Cornelius Reimer w - Gertruda s - Abraham	42 2	28	Liebenau	Listed at Schönsee No. 41		4500	In goods 6844	3500	14844
Yes	38547	3	Heinrich Hübert s - Klaas	54 28		Liebenau	Listed at Münsterberg No. 13			Owed 4750	529.50	5279.50
Yes	283353	4	Simon Harms w - Agatha s - Heinrich d - Anna Maria	34 7	31 4 1	Liebenau	Listed at Schardau No. 37	A brick non-landowner’s house together with a shed and a barn	1200		432.30	1632.30
Yes	29088	5	Heinrich Nikel w - Katarina d - Katarina Agnetha	44	43 7 4	Liebenau	Listed at Rudnerweide No. 30			Owed 953	777	1730
Yes	2539	6	Peter Nickel w - Sara s - Peter Heinrich Jakob d - Anna Sara Maria	38 11 8 4	35 13 6 0	Liebenau	Listed at Sparau No. 49	A brick non-landowner’s house	600		200	800
Yes	36531	7	Peter Gäde w - Helena	21	24	Libenau Helena was the daughter of David Klassen of Ladekop.	Listed at Liebenau No. 14				15	15
No		8	Katarina Gossen, daughter of Johann Gossen		19	Liebenau	Listed in Liebenau	No property
Yes	3339 and 32781	9	Children of the deceased Pet. Bühler: Gerhard Peter Justina Helena	22 21	27 25	Liebenau	Listed at Libenau No. 2			60 50 180 190		381
Yes	54220	10	Cornelius Cornelsen w - Katarina stepsons: Johann Dick Abrham Lowen stepdaughters: Anna Dick Sara Elisabeth Löwen	59 17 13	46 23 21 9	Wernersdorf	Listed at Wernersdorf No. 21	A non-landowner’s house	300		359	659
No	54218 and 278248	11	Peter Dick w - Katarina d - Helena Anna stepsons: Cornelius Wolf Peter stepdaughter: Maria	28 19 17	41 4 3 11	Wernersdorf	Listed in Neukich; The Wolf children were listed at Wernersdorf No. 11	A non-landowner’s house	300		167	467
Yes	Wife of 54070	12	widow Hübert s - Abraham Johann	23 3	46	Wernersdorf	Listed at Wernersdorf No. 1	A house without its own place	50		100	150
No		13	widow Maria Berg s - Jakob d - Maria Elisabeth		56	Wernersdorf [Additional comment includes the words “the children”, but the rest of the comment is unreadable.]
Yes		14	Peter Siemens w - Renatha			Wernersdorf Renatha was the daughter of Peter Martens of Ladekop.					120	120
No		15	Johann Martens w - Elisabeth d - Elisabeth Sara	33	31 6 1	Landskron	Listed at Schardau No. 34	A non-landowner’s house next to a stable	625		589.75	1214.75
Yes	89989	16	Cornelius Penner w - Anna d - Elisabeth Anna	27	23 3 2	Landskron	Listed at No. 18				260	260
No	Sons of 25520	17	The unmarried sons of the landowner Cornelius Penner: Heinrich Abraham	19 18		Landskron	Listed at No. 18	Both are still with their parents and thus there is no property to report
Yes	399985	18	Peter Blok, unmarried	22		Landskron	Listed at No. 24			Owed 144	25	169
Yes	52123	19	Johann Friesen w - Helena s - Gerhard Franz Johann d - Maria	47 21 18 16	44 14	Gnadenheim	Listed at Gnadenheim No. 11	A building and associated farm goods	3300	Owed 50	765	4115
No	327851	20	Jakob Martens w - Margaretha s - Wilhelm Franz d - Maria	32 5 2	28 3	Gnadenheim	Listed at Blumenort No. 34	A non-landowner’s house	500	Owed 100	466	1066
Yes	399381 and 51496	21	Heinrich Boldt w - Anna s - Heinrich Johann Jakob d - Sara Anna	37 10 3 0	35 12 1	Gnadenheim	Listed at Friedensdorf No. 30	A non-landowner’s house	400	Owed 100	150	650
No	172639 and 307560	22	Hermann Peters w - Margaretha s - Herman d - Sara	24 2	25 3	Gnadenheim	Listed at Prangenau No. 1	A non-landowner’s house	325		380.20	705.20
No	102943	23	Jakob Reimer w - Wilhelmien s - Jakob Johann Cornelius Abraham Peter David d - Maria Karoliena	46 22 16 14 10 5 0	46 20 12	Gnadenfeld	Listed at Schönsee No. 41	A building and nearby house	3500	Owed 36	923.50	4459.50
No	312808	24	Juli Straus		40	Gnadenfeld	Listed at No. 37			Owed 60	25	85
Yes	27717	25	Johann Pankratz w - Maria s - David Heinrich Johann d - Anna Elisabeth Susana Katarina Gertrude	49 10 7 6	45 25 22 18 15 1	Gnadenfeld	Listed at No. 31	A building and farm property	2500		800.60	3300.60
Yes	57156	26	Children of Bernhard Penner: s - Bernhard d - Anna	25	20	Gnadenfeld	Listed at No. 2			Owed 51.50	313.25	364.75
No	106066	27	Karolina Unruh, daughter of Georg Unruh		31	Gnadenfeld	Listed at No. 22	No property
Yes

1864 List of Families Intending to Settle in the Kuban Colony

State Archives of the Odessa Region, Odessa, Ukraine

Records of the Guardianship Committee for Foreign Settlers in Southern Russia Fund 6, Inventory 5, File 278

Translated from German in March 2004 by Tim Janzen, Portland, Oregon

Explanatory comments by Tim Janzen:

Records of the Guardianship Committee for Foreign Settlers in Southern Russia
Fund 6, Inventory 5, File 278