Preservings $20 Issue No. 26, 2006 - Home at Plett Foundation

in the Chortitza Colony. Our grandparents
were married on December 1, 1847.
On September 17, 1838 grandfather, as a
youth, left Prussia for Russia. He spent five
weeks and five days on the journey to the
Chortitza Colony. After a few days of rest here
he continued on his journey to Molotschna to
the village of Schönau where he worked for
five years.
In 1843 he left there for the Bergthal
Colony, where he married in 1847. From 1849
until 1851 grandfather was a school teacher. In
1851 he moved into his home and Wirtschaft
in Schönthal. In 1853 he purchased a windmill
and a house in Bergthal. In 1858 he sold the
windmill and purchased a treadmill in Einlage.
That is all, as far as I know, that my father has
written about my grandparents except for the
birth register of his children.
Bernhard P Hamm, Schönhorst, Manitoba.
My great-grandfather was born in the year
1795 in Prussia in the village Fürstenauerweide
in the government district of Marienwerder,
Stuhmer region, in the village of Usnitz. My
grandmother was born in the year 1826 on
the fourth of October in the Chortitza Colony.
Grandparents were married on December 1,
1847.
Grandfather left Prussia for Russia as a
young man on September 17, 1838. He spent
five weeks and five days on the trip till he arrived
at the Chortitza Colony. Here he rested
for several days and then continued to the
Molotchna Colony to the village of Schönau
where he worked for five years.
In 1843 he left there for the Bergthal Colony
where he married in 1847. From 1849 until
1851 grandfather was school teacher. In 1851
they moved into the farmstead (Wirthschaft) in
Schönthal. In 1853 he bought a windmill and
a house. In 1858 he sold the windmill again
and bought a treadmill in Einlage.
That is all, as far as I know, that my father
has written about the grandparents, except for
the birth register of the children.
My father is born April 4/16, 1850. (Sommerfelder
B296); My mother is born December
4/16, 1848; They were married October
13/25, 1868; My sister Agatha was born August
8, 1869 in Bergthal, South Russia, government
district of Ekaterinoslaw, Bergthal
Colony; Brother Peter was born July 9, 1875;
I, Bernhard, was born March 30, 1879; My
sister Helena was born 14 Jan 1884; My sister
Sahra was born March 1, 1887, in Bergthal,
East Reserve, Chortitz Post Office.
Deaths, Father’s Side.
Great-grandfather died in 1859 in Prussia;
Great-grandmother died there in 1835
also in Prussia; Grandfather died in the city
of Berdiansk on his return trip from Prussia.
He left for there on May 27 of the same year.
Grandmother died December 12, 1916 at 1:00
at night after a five months illness. She was 90
years, two months and seven days old.
My Parent’s Journey.
On June 14, 1874 my parents emigrated
from the village of Bergthal, Russia, where
they had lived since 1868. Yes, what a sobering
step this must have been for them to
leave everything behind: the parents (although
they followed shortly thereafter), the big and
beautiful fruit gardens with all the beautiful
apples, pears, apricots, cherries, plums and a
variety of other nice fruits. In order to go to a
land of which they knew nothing and which
was known to them only as a wild territory
which was home to the Indians. Yes, what will
it have cost them to surmount, to overcome all
that, what sleepless nights it will have given
them. And why? Yes, only out of love for their
children, to keep us free from military service.
For this we cannot thank them enough.
What have our dear parents also missed
on account of us young people? For we have
enjoyed such good times until now, compared
to those to be pitied people who must live in
that hard and sorely tested Russia. Yes, what
murder, fear, hunger and tyranny, slavery and
misery have we been spared. And we have our
dear God and the parents to thank for that.
First God, that he has placed it in the hearts of
our dear parents to do this, and our parents that
they have seen this big undertaking to completion
out of love for us, their children.
Oh yes, may our dear God continue to be
so gracious to us and to our children and spare
us all from the great misery and distress of
which we hear almost daily from the former
home of our parents. But we are in God’s
providence here, too, and do not know what
the future holds for us. And we are no better
than those people but I believe that if we all
turn to God from the bottom of our hearts he
will protect us from this great distress. For
that is the joy that we have in Him, if we ask
Him He hears us; yet He delays His response
sometimes in order to test our faith.
On June 15, 1874 our parents left from
Konstantinowka at 4:30 in the afternoon. Arrived
in Charkow on the 16th at 8:00 in the
morning. About 5:00 in the afternoon they
arrived in Kurko. They left there at 6:00 in
the evening for Oral where they arrived in the
night at 12:30. They left Oral on the 17th and
arrived at Duenaburg at 9:30. From Charkow
we passed a lot of forests. The grain was poor
except for the rye. Arrived in Wintebecks at
2:30 in the morning. From there we left at
3:00 in the morning. Arrived in Polotks at
1:00 in the morning of the 19th. We laid over
half a day in Dueneburg. The grain here is
somewhat better. This part of the trip is the
worst I have had so far. We were unable to
continue and spent the night in Dueneburg. We
left Dueneburg at 11:00 noon for the Prussian
border where we arrived about 10:00 in the
evening. Arrived in Erkuhmen. But is Erkuhmen
not a Russian city? The topsoil is not like
what we are used to but a fuller, white clay
mixed with sand.
(A portion missing)
I was wrong, Erkuhnen is a German city.
The grain stands better here than it did between
Charkow and the border; it is mainly
winter wheat. On the 22nd of this month we
experienced the first signs of illness when
some were afflicted with diarrhoea. There is
a lot of forest everywhere. The crops are looking
worse again and just starting to come up.
They are just now planting (gesteckt) potatoes
which amazes me. After Dueneburg we saw
much farmland and they were still seeding.
We arrived in Wilma at 4:30. Immediately
on the other side of Wilma we passed through
the first tunnel and before Kowna through the
second. On the 25th we crossed the border at
Erkuhnen and spent the night there. Weleft
there at 8:30 in the morning. Grain crops look
good, there is much forest, but the black and
white cattle are not to my liking; the general
settlement plan does not appeal to me for there
are no organized communities.
Erkuhmen was the first Prussian city. From
there we passed through the following cities:
Insterburg, Köningsberg, Braunsberg, Elbing,
Duerschau, Konitz, Branberg, Schneidemuhl,
Kreuz and Lantsberg. We saw rye that was
already ripe. From the Berlin railway station
to the Hamburg railway station we crossed ten
bridges and on entering the city another four.
We left Berlin at 12:00 noon and arrived in
Hamburg at 8:00. From Erkunen to Berlin we
saw beautiful grain and good rye.
In Berlin the party under the leadership of
Janzen and Penner caught up with us at 5:00
in the afternoon. The temperature in Berlin
was very hot. All of Prussia, together with
the settlement patterns, do not appeal to me
in the least. But then, perhaps that is like that
Frenchman who said, “One can go east or one
can go west, home is still the very best.”
On Monday, June 24 we boarded the ship
at 4:00 in the morning but we did not leave for
Hull until 7:00. We arrived in Hull at 12:00 at
night. On June 25 at 8:10 we departed from
Hull. June 26. The ship that took us to Hull
was called Pacha. It was seventy steps long
and 12 steps wide. Between Hull and Liverpool
we crossed 138 bridges. We arrived in
Liverpool at at 1:00. Between Hull and Liverpool
we saw wild oats which we have not
seen since we left Charkow.
In England we passed a huge number of
coal pits and factories. It is hillier than we have
seen in any other land, which is why there are
so many bridges and tunnels. Everything is
black with soot. We stayed over in Liverpool
from Tuesday until Tuesday. I do not like it
here at all because it is a rough people. Especially
the youth are boldly impudent and not
at all like the youth in Mariupol or any other
Russian city we passed through.
In Liverpool I saw two horses loaded down
with 73 bags of rice, something unheard of.
In Liverpool I bought tobacco for one shilling,
that is equal to one dollar per pound
and it is bad tobacco at that. The tobacco is
bad everywhere and still so expensive. If it
won’t get any cheaper I will likely have to
quit smoking. Here in England the tools are
more expensive too than they were in Russia.
I saw chisels priced at a dollar and more, and
54 - Preservings No. 26, 2006