Glückstalers in New Russia and North America

Homer Rudolf, Editor, writes in the Introduction: "This collection of bicentennial publications is intended to document and commemorate the German colonists who settled in what were known as the Glückstal Colonies of South Russia, as well as all their descendants throughout the world."

The Glückstal District mother colonies are: Bergdorf, Glückstal, Kassel and Neudorf.

The book includes: 1) Illustrations; 2) Time lines; 3) Maps; 4) Points of origin summary table ; 5) Stumpp passport lists - Glückstalers; 6) Mother and daughter colonies - histories; 7) Mobility or wanderlust of the Glückstal colonists; 8) Wolost structure; 9) Parish structure; 10) Report on 1804 arrivals; 11) Crop report of 1820-21; 12) Statistical report of 1825; 13) Kassel Annahme - 1830; 14) Inheritances from abroad; 15) Monthly chores in South Russia during the 1880s; 16) Voter’s lists; 17) Agricultural & consumer associations; 18) The colonist wife; 19) Seals and stamps on Russian documents; 20) Reports on persons living outside of their colony in 1851 & 1859; 21) The church in the Glückstal colonies and Hoffnungstal; 22) Travel from South Russia to the U.S. and Canada; 23) Early Glückstal colonist settlements in the U.S.; 24) Third migration in the U.S. and Canada; 25) The Trek; 26) Einwandererzentralstelle (EWZ) documents - introduction; 27) Military history through WWI; 28) Farming on the steppes and the prairies; 29) The women and their lives; 30) Handwork of the women; 31) Midwifery; 32) Brauche – the faith healing tradition; 33) Causes of death; 34) Light side, dark side – glimpses of Germans from Russia life; 35) Church, school and holiday traditions; 36) Some research tools for Germans from Russia; and 37) Researching federal land records.

The searchable CD-ROMs include: 1) Complete EWZ tables; 2) Current master Gedcom table for Glückstal colonists & their descendants; 3) Index to all letters in the Ashley Tribune and Wishek News through 1938; 4) Index of all letters from Glückstalers in South Russia published in the Staats-Anzeiger; 5) Index of all obits in the Ashley Tribune and Wishek News through 1938; 6) Complete points of origin table; 7) Ship records of Glückstalers arriving in the U.S. and Canada; 8) Reproductions of the signatures of early Glückstal colonies heads of households; 9) Translations of selected letters published in the Staats-Anzeiger; and 10) Reproductions of all submitted photos and documents.

Comments about the book:

I'm writing to praise the Glueckstalers book. I was reading the "Brauche, Healing and Home Remedies Chapter" when I was pleasantly surprised to read about my Aunt on my Dad's side of the family, Katharine Weber Reich. She was my Dad's oldest sister who was two years older than my dad, Joacob Weber. He had another sister Catherine Weber Neiffer who was born after my grandfather Johann Weber died a month before Catherine's birth. My Dad took the family to Wishek on a number of occasions when we lived in Isabel, South Dakota. Aunt Katherine spoke only German and didn't say much to me, at least I don't remember what she said. Our family moved to Washington state in 1936 and I never did see the Reich family after that. I read with great interest the story on page 695 about the treatment of Angewachse. The story: "In the 1960s, a rural Wishek, North Dakota, woman remembers making middle-of-the-night journeys with her screaming infants to the Wishek home of Katharine Weber Reich, a well-respected Brauchere. There is another mention of Aunt Katharine on page 696. At any rate I wanted to say thanks for the marvelous book.

--- Edward Weber