Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta

Mennonites in the Cities of Imperial Russia, Vol. 1

A new book by Helmut T. Huebert (author of the well-thumbed Mennonite Historial Atlases) has recently been published, entitled Mennonites in the Cities of Imperial Russia.  It's a hefty book - 8 1/2" x 11" and 450 pp long.  It covers seven Russian cities where Mennonites lived, featuring long lists and at least cursory description of those residents, businesses, Institutions, and Schools operated by Mennonites, and biographical essays on some of the more notable residents. 

to give you an idea of the content, I'll list the headings from the lists of people and indication of how many people are in the lists as indicated by Huebert.  beneath each list I'll identify the number of Rempels who appear in the list.  This may only be interesting to other Rempel researchers, but it will give you an idea of the scope of the book and whether it belongs on your reference shelf. 

Huebert's book is available for purchase from the MHSA (see link on upper right corner of this webpage)

List of people who at one time lived in Barvenkovo (184)

1. no Rempels

List of people who at one time lived in Berdyansk (978)

1. Gustav Johann Rempel - in 1922
2. Isbrand Peter Rempel b 27 Aug 1841 Sparrau, Molotschna
3. Jacob Rempel, guest in 1877
4. Johann Rempel b ca 1797
5. Johann b 11 Jul 1831
6. Johann Johann, son of windmill owner
7. Johann Peter b 258 Feb 1832 Sparrau
8. Mr. Rempel (dau = Justina b 14 May 1893)
9. Nikolai Isbrand Rempel b 18 Jan 1867 Berdyansk
10. Peter rempel, guest 1877
11. Peter G. Rempel b 10 Feb 1866 Nieder Chortitza
12. Peter Peter Rempel b 1803 Marienburg, W Prussia
13. Wilhelm Jakob Rempel b 11 Dec 1866 Elisabetthal,  Molotschna

List of people who at one time lived in Melitopol (or area) (189)

1. Georg Nikolai Rempel (s of Nikali Isbrandt Rempel and Katharina Martens; d 17 Sep Welland, ON)
2. Heinrich Nikolai Rempel (b to GNR)
3. Johann Heinrich Rempel
4. Nikolai Isbrand Rempel (also listed in Berdyansk) b 18 Jan 1867 Berdyansk
5. Nikolai Nikolai Rempel (b to GNR)

List of people who at one time lived in Millerovo (400)

1. Abram Rempel
2. Abram Dietrich Rempel (immig to Can 1924, settled in Herbert, SK

List of people who at one time lived in Melitopol (189)

1. Johann Gerhard Rempel b 8 Sep 1878 Rosenthal, Chortitza
2. Kornelius Gerhard Rempel b 11 Aug 1882 Rosenthal
3. Widow Peter Rempel
4. Susanna Rempel b ca 1892

List of people who at one time lived in Orechov (138)

1. Mr. Rempel b ca 1870

List of people who at one time lived in Pologi (68)

1. no Rempels

List of people who at one time lived in Sevastopol (28)

1. no Rempels

List of people who at one time lived in Simferopol (85)

1. Agatha Rempel from Gnadenfeld
2. Maria Rempel from Gnadenfeld

In Kinship,
Judii

Photo Ops

Normally Photo Ops is a shorthand way of referring to Photographic Opportunities for politicians to show that they're just everyday folks or that they are powerful folks yet benevolent in assuring a particular project or program gets underway.

Today, though, I have in mind a pretty rich resource of photographs that most folks don't consider:  school yearbooks.  Whether highschool, college or university - most smaller schools produce these annually.  What a great way to see what a relative, parent, or teacher looked like years ago.

At the MHSA we have a lot of yearbooks - probably over 100 - on the shelves for lots of prairie and west-coast schools.  Mennonite Educational Institute, Bethany Bible Institute, Prairie Bible Institute, Swift Current Bible Institute, Mennonite Brethren Bible College, Columbia Bible College, Canadian Mennonite Bible College and more. 

Some in our collection go back to the 1930s and earlier.  And, they're on our library shelves, so it's an easy matter to bring along a digital camera or borrow our scanner to capture an image for your research purposes.

In kinship
Judii

The Most Important Genealogical Secret

Shh... don't look away now.  I'm about to tell you the very best genealogical secret for those who live in Calgary, Alberta.*

You - if you have a Calgary Public Library Card - have access to an amazing resource in their e-Catalogue, the Ancestry.com subscription-based database!

Once you're "in", you can start searching immediately, or go to their listing of databases**.  As I write today, they indicate there are 3,306 (139 of which are focussed on immigration, for instance) different databases available for your use!

Or, look for Canadian records specifically, by going to their Search Tab** and scrolling to select Canada and the province of interest.

When you get your first hits, why not brag on the MHSA discussion list, at the next MHSA Genealogy Special Interest Group meeting, or send me a comment if you're not part of either of those.

To access the e-Catalogue, go to: http://www.calgarypubliclibrary.com/:

1. Click on e-Catalogue
2. Enter your library card number (imprinted on the back of your card)
3. Enter the last four digits of your phone number (this is your "password")
4. Scroll down about 2/3 of the webpage and you'll see a History section
5. Click on the first link after that - to go to Ancestry.com

* If you don't have a Calgary Library card, why not check the public library near you - and let us know what it has to offer members?  I'm betting the libraries in other larger centres (e.g., Edmonton, Kelowna, Vancouver, Saskatoon, Winnipeg) will also provide these kinds of services.

** These links will ONLY work if you've already been validated as an authorized user by having signed in through the Calgary Public Library.

In Kinship,
Judii

(Southern Manitoba) Pioneer Portraits

Al Rempel just tipped me to the fact that the full (over 100) collection of Pioneer Portraits Published in the Red River Valley Echo (Altona, Manitoba) 1974-1980 have been indexed with links to the images and narrative online.  Check it out!

Does anyone else have knowledge of new Mennonite history information placed online or recently published?

In Kinship,
Judii

FindMyPast Updates Immigration Record Collection

I reported on FindMyPast's passenger list resources (fee-based) about a month ago.  Already, they've extended the timeframe by 10 years!  FindMyPast now includes immigration records from 1890-1909.  See: http://www.ancestorsonboard.com/:

"AncestorsOnBoard [is] a new database featuring BT27 Outward Passenger Lists for long-distance voyages leaving the British Isles from 1960 right back to 1890.

"With AncestorsOnBoard, you can search for records of individuals or groups of people leaving for destinations including Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, South Africa and USA featuring ports such as Boston, Philadelphia and New York. Passengers include not only immigrants and emigrants, but also businessmen, diplomats and tourists. Images of the passenger lists are available to download, view, save and print. "

In Kinship,
Judii

Old Newspapers

The MHSA has a really fine collection of old periodicals (means academic journals, magazines, and newspapers).  We have a virtually complete set of MB Heralds and Gospel Heralds - important to the Mennonite Brethren and "Old Mennonites". 

We have a lot issues for Der Bote, The Mennonite, The Canadian Mennonite and others as well.  But what we really would like to have are really old copies of Der Bote (pre 1980s) and ANY issues of Mennonitische Rundschau (we have almost none of these). 

Do you (or someone you know) have some old Mennonite periodicals around?  You could send us a note and confirm whether or not we have the issues in question .. and boy we would be pleased to receive them!

Current issues and obituary indexes of many of these are online:

• Canadian Mennonite - Obituary Index (1953-1971 and 1997-2002; 1972-1996 it was published under the name Mennonite Reporter)
• Christlicher Familienfreund - Obituary Index (1935-1984)
• Der Bote - to cease publication in 2008 - Obituary Index (1950-2004)
• EMC Messenger
• EMMC Recorder
• Gospel Herald - Obituary Index
• MB Herald - Obituary Index (1961-2004)
• Mennonitische Rundschau - Obituary Index (1930-2001)

Even if you don't have back issues - why not send us a comment regarding other online Mennonite periodical resources that you know about.

In Kinship,
Judii Rempel for MHSA

Immigration Records

It would be natural to think that immigration records are only available from Immigration offices, but that simply isn't so.  Once they are no longer operationally needed, in Canada, immigration records get deposited in archives.  After blackout periods to protect persons' privacy, they become available to interested persons.

The set that are most helpful to Mennonite researchers can be found, partially transcribed, at the Library and Archives Canada website.  Well, for 1925-35 anyway. 

Passenger lists from 1865-1922 can also be searched there, but only by details of the ship/passage - not by passengers' names.  The good news of this site is that the lists are actual images (not just indexes or transcriptions). Larger public libraries across Canada have copies of the microfilms as well - but using them requires painfully scrolling through them unless you have used the online resource to narrow your search or you otherwise know what port, ship, and date they travelled.

In addition to the above, Mennonites who immigrated in the 1920s have theCanadian Mennonite Board of Colonization records as well.  These are available on microfilm at the MHSA in Calgary and at the Mennonite Heritage Centre in Winnipeg as well.  Both of their websites contain an index of household heads that is reasonably complete and accurate. At the MHSA website, many of the records have also been transcribed, and some images (linked from the above MHSA index) have been placed online.

In kinship,
Judii

BMD Records in Western Canada

All the western provinces now have websites that offer assistance in finding vital records for Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) records.  The sites do vary considerably in how helpful/complete their indexes are and the price of obtaining the records referred to vary as well.

Here are some cursory details about each, as well as links to information on their websites

BC ($20-60)

• http://www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/services/servops/bcapricelist.pdf
• If uncertain of some details, a "package" must be purchased for about $60
• You can purchase a digital image (TIFF file format with a .tif extension) of the original registration document(s) of this record for $19.95

AB ($20+)

• http://governmentservices.gov.ab.ca/ra/Product_Catalogue.pdf
• Government charges $20, but since one obtains records through Registry office, they can apply a handling fee

SK ($50)

• http://www.health.gov.sk.ca/ps_vital_stats_fees.html
• $50/copy!

MB ($23-37)

• http://web2.gov.mb.ca/cca/vital/Query.php
• If you wish to obtain a certified copy of the original record for genealogical purposes based on a search you have done, the fee for each record is $12.00
• No refunds or replacement of documents will be given for copies of the records issued based on your search
• If you wish Vital Statistics to perform the search on your behalf, the regular fee of $25.00 will apply

ON ($22-37)

• http://www.forms.ssb.gov.on.ca/mbs/ssb/forms/ssbforms.nsf/AttachDocsPublish/007-11075E~3/$File/11075_July+14+2006.pdf
• $22 if all needed details are provided; if they need to conduct a search for the record,they charge $15/5year span searched

Geography

For some reason the term "geographic places is not used by the Latter Day Saints of Jesus Christ (Mormons) in their pursuit of family information.  They use the term "localities".

But whichever way you say it, geography is important to genealogy, and specifically to Mennonites.  Our difficulty is that the geography ranges over various countries that change their names at a national level as well as every level beneath that. 

When the Mennonites migrated en masse in the late 1700s, they did so from Prussia to Russia.  But the Prussian landscape today is generally known as Poland.  And, for a long time the Russia where Mennonites lived was known as USSR.  Now we generally say they were from Ukraine.  Villages were germanicized (names were made to sound German) when the Mennonites settled them in Russia in the late 1700s and early 1800s Prussia, but after the Russian Revolution, they became russified.

Sometimes it was just a nuance:  Chortitza (germanicized) became Khortisia (russified).  Other times it's a lot harder to remember:  Einlage (germanicized) became Kitchkas (russified).

So, when you're looking at an old typeset or handwritten document, it can be tricky to figure out what you're reading.  To help with that, you can consult a number of web resources specifically for these kinds of Mennonite roots:

We've placed a complete listing of all the geographic place names in GRANDMA 3 online.  And, consult the extensive lists compiled by Tim Janzen (germanicized and russified equivalents), and maps (Bereslav, Crimea, Danzig, Ekaterinoslav & Odessa) on our site as well. 

In kinship,
Judii

GRANDMA

No, silly, this is not about your grandmother.  Well not exactly anyway. 

GRANDMA.  That stands for Genealogical Registry ANd Database of Mennonite Ancestry - now in it's fifth generation:  GRANDMA 5.

It's a database of over 940,000 genealogical records for Mennonites of so-called "Russian" ancestry.  (actually means that their ancestors lived for a time in the Russian Empire, any time from 1789).

It comes zipped in Brothers Keeper 6 and Legacy software formats, and accompanied by a shareware copy of Brother's Keeper.  Available in Canada from the Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta (publications page).

Prepaid orders are recommended. An order form is linked from the publications page.

Let's say you don't think you have Mennonite ancestry - don't be so sure.  It documents Bart Simpson's creator (Matthew Groening, whose father is Homer and mother is Margaret Wiggum), Nickleback's lead musician (Chad Kroeger), Calgary Flames hockey player (Robin Regehr), and others.

For other "famous" Mennonites, see James N. Weber's site - and track the ones with "Russian roots" in GRANDMA.

In Kinship,
Judii