What are the main sources for each country where Mennonites have lived? If you're just getting into Mennonite genealogy, these might be the places to start looking. So in reverse chronological order:
Canada and United States
1. Family stories from older relatives
2. State/provincial vital records
3. Federal and state/provincial censuses
4. Land deeds and probate files
5. Mennonite church books
6. Diaries and letters
7. Passenger manifests for immigration
Russia/Soviet Union
1. EWZ records - German World War II family trees and life histories of Germans in occupied countries
2. Molotschna school records
3. Censuses
4. Newspapers - Mennonitische Rundschau and others were a main form of communication between Russia and North America
5. Diaries and letters
6. Archival materials from Odessa and other state archives
7. Immigration records from Prussia
Poland and Prussia
1. Mennonite church books
2. Lutheran and Catholic church books - many Mennonite vital records were recorded in these for various reasons
3. Censuses
4. Land records
5. Emigration records to Russia
Netherlands - I don't know much about researching these
1. Dutch Mennonite church archives
2. ???
Latin America and Germany are postwar destinations for Mennonites that also deserve some mention, but I know little about those.
Showing posts with label Canada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Canada. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Going to the Courthouse - Legal Land Descriptions Explained
Many people are intimidated by the Public Land Survey System,
the section, township, and range designations, used in much of the US; but it is a
very effective way to locate land. Surveyors laid out baselines that run
east and west and meridians that run north and south, and all land in a
specific area is measured from these lines. For example, in downstate Oklahoma,
the land is measured east and west of the Indian Meridian and north and
south of the 1870 baseline. But in the Oklahoma panhandle, the
Cimarron Meridian and 1881 baseline are used.
Then townships that are six miles square are laid out (see the "Township Grid" in the image below), so a township contains 36 square miles. The township number indicates how many townships the tract is north or south of the baseline. The range number indicates how many townships the tract is east or west of the meridian.
Next each township is broken down into one-square-mile tracts called sections, and there are 36 of them in a township (see the middle white diagram of a township below). Sections are always numbered in the same way, starting in the northeast corner of the township and running west 1-2-3-etc. Then the next row south is numbered from the west back to the east 7-8-9-etc. This continues until you get to 36 in the southeast corner. A section contains 640 acres.
Sections can be broken in quarters of 160 acres and quarter-quarters of 40 acres (see the bottom left diagram below). So you could have the northwest quarter of Section 12 (NW4 Section 12) or the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter (NW4 SE4 of Section 18), for example. Tracts could also be divided into halves, e.g. the west of the southwest quarter (W2 SW4). And here is a specific example - one small piece of my grandfather's ranch in Oklahoma was the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 11, Township 2 North, Range 17 East of the Cimarron Meridian. This would be abbreviated SW4 SE4 11-2N-17ECM. The directional part of the township and range numbers (north/south and east/west) and the meridian name are often left out when it is obvious what they would be (SW4 SE4 11-2-17).
Here is a diagram that shows how the system works:
Land in Canada from Manitoba and provinces west is described by the Dominion Land Survey, which is very similar to the US Public Land Survey. A couple of main differences are that sections are numbered from the southeast corner of the township, unlike in the US where they are numbered from the northeast corner. Also, there one prime meridian in eastern Manitoba - land in Manitoba east of this meridian is ranges designated as "east." All land west of this was in ranges designated "west." Finally, townships were numbered starting from the south at the US border. Farther north, surveyors ran baselines and the township numbering restarted at these baselines. So the Canadian system is more a unified whole.
Next we'll discuss how to research land ownership at the courthouse.
 |
| Source: https://www.blm.gov/cadastral/meridians/oklahoma.htm |
Then townships that are six miles square are laid out (see the "Township Grid" in the image below), so a township contains 36 square miles. The township number indicates how many townships the tract is north or south of the baseline. The range number indicates how many townships the tract is east or west of the meridian.
Next each township is broken down into one-square-mile tracts called sections, and there are 36 of them in a township (see the middle white diagram of a township below). Sections are always numbered in the same way, starting in the northeast corner of the township and running west 1-2-3-etc. Then the next row south is numbered from the west back to the east 7-8-9-etc. This continues until you get to 36 in the southeast corner. A section contains 640 acres.
Sections can be broken in quarters of 160 acres and quarter-quarters of 40 acres (see the bottom left diagram below). So you could have the northwest quarter of Section 12 (NW4 Section 12) or the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter (NW4 SE4 of Section 18), for example. Tracts could also be divided into halves, e.g. the west of the southwest quarter (W2 SW4). And here is a specific example - one small piece of my grandfather's ranch in Oklahoma was the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 11, Township 2 North, Range 17 East of the Cimarron Meridian. This would be abbreviated SW4 SE4 11-2N-17ECM. The directional part of the township and range numbers (north/south and east/west) and the meridian name are often left out when it is obvious what they would be (SW4 SE4 11-2-17).
Here is a diagram that shows how the system works:
 |
| Source: http://www.geocommunicator.gov/geocomm/lsis_home/home/lsis-plss-description.html |
Land in Canada from Manitoba and provinces west is described by the Dominion Land Survey, which is very similar to the US Public Land Survey. A couple of main differences are that sections are numbered from the southeast corner of the township, unlike in the US where they are numbered from the northeast corner. Also, there one prime meridian in eastern Manitoba - land in Manitoba east of this meridian is ranges designated as "east." All land west of this was in ranges designated "west." Finally, townships were numbered starting from the south at the US border. Farther north, surveyors ran baselines and the township numbering restarted at these baselines. So the Canadian system is more a unified whole.
Next we'll discuss how to research land ownership at the courthouse.
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
Mennonite Historian Available Online
The September 2016 issue of the Mennonite Historian is now available online, and I have an article in it on using probate records from Saskatchewan. Take a look.
Monday, October 3, 2016
Do You Really Need That Marriage Registration?
On 18 February 1890, my great-grandmother Aganetha (Klassen) Janzen Siemens #6465 (1848-1890) died of puerperal fever. She left behind a grieving husband who now had to care for seven children ranging in age from newborn to twelve years. Understandably my great-grandfather Gerhard T. Siemens #6463 (1834-1908) remarried quickly, on 13 July 1890, to a widow Maria (Peters) Rempel #7038 (1847 - 1930) in Rosenhoff, Manitoba.
The question - should I research anything about his re-marriage? After all, this new wife was not my direct ancestor. In fact, she's not even a collateral relative. You do have to draw the line somewhere about what you are going to resarch, but I think this is not the place for several reasons.
First, any marriage is an important event in the life of a person. My great-grandfather lived with Maria Peters for eighteen years before he died, so it affected him greatly that he married her. Since my grandfather Cornelius K. Siemens was five years old when his mother died, the new wife was really the mother who raised him. Second, it's a vital event (birth, baptism, marriage, death, burial) that I want to document for every ancestor, even if this particular marriage was not the one to which my grandfather was born. Finally, and most importantly, there can be some critical information on the marriage registration. So let's look at how to find the marriage registration and the details of the document.
A searchable index to Manitoba vital records, beginning in 1882, is online here. When I searched for the marriage, this is the index entry that I found:
This gives proof of the fact of their marriage and the date. At this point, you could be pleased with what you found and think there is no more information on the original and stop. And sometimes you would be right. But in this case it would be a big mistake.
For a mere 12 CAD, you can order a copy of the original, which I did. And Saturday it showed up in my (snail) mailbox. There were no great revelations on it, but there were some interesting facts. First, here is the document:
Note how much more information is on the original. Here are some of the interesting things.
His Parents
Gerhard's parents' full names are given. In fact, this is the only document I have found that gives his mother's maiden name, Gertruda Thiesen. I have a church register that gives his father's wife's maiden name, but the church register doesn't say that that husband and wife are Gerhard's father or mother, so I have to use other documents to demonstrate that connection. So this marriage registration is my only direct connection between Gerhard and his mother.
Her Parents
Maria Peters' parents were previously unknown in the Grandma database. But here it says they are Jacob Peters and Katarina Heidebrecht.
I'm not really interested in her parents, but it might help someone else if I submit this correction to the Grandma database.
No parents are listed in the screenshot above, so I submitted a correction by clicking on the button circled in red. Of course, I searched for her parents in the database first, but I wasn't sure that I found them. There was a Jacob Peters #53094 married to a Katharina _____ #53097 who might be her parents, but they don't have a child Maria listed in the database. And I couldn't find that they had a child Maria in the Molotschna school records. So I added my hunch as a note to the correction that I submitted. Hopefully this will help some of Maria Peters' descendants someday. (For someone who wants to pursue this family, Maria wrote a letter to the Mennonitische Rundschau that was published on 6 March 1895, in which she lists many of her relatives and either implores them for a letter or thanks them for having communicated.)
Witnesses
The two witnesses to the marriage are interesting as both are former in-laws! Heinrich L. Friesen was the brother-in-law of Gerhard's previous wife, Aganetha Klassen. And Jacob Rempel was the brother of Maria's previous husband. There must not have been animosity with the in-laws since in-laws were witnesses to the marriage. On the contrary, the in-laws likely were happy that a bereaved spouse had found a partner and someone to care for each one's children.
Minister
I have long had a question about what church Gerhard was a member of after about 1880. He was a member of the Kleine Gemeinde to that point, but shortly after that, the KG suffered a major split where their elder and a third to a half of their members left and joined the Holdemans. Gerhard's oldest stepson, Isaac DeVeer, did join the Holdemans, and several of his children and stepchildren joined the Sommerfelder. Did Gerhard leave the KG? I haven't found any record either way until now.
But the minister who married them, Johann K. Friesen, was a KG minister according to the Grandma database (#3777), so it appears that Gerhard did not leave for the Holdemans and was still KG.
So I hope that I have demonstrated that it is worth finding the original for every marriage of your ancestors, not just the marriage between your direct ancestors.
The question - should I research anything about his re-marriage? After all, this new wife was not my direct ancestor. In fact, she's not even a collateral relative. You do have to draw the line somewhere about what you are going to resarch, but I think this is not the place for several reasons.
First, any marriage is an important event in the life of a person. My great-grandfather lived with Maria Peters for eighteen years before he died, so it affected him greatly that he married her. Since my grandfather Cornelius K. Siemens was five years old when his mother died, the new wife was really the mother who raised him. Second, it's a vital event (birth, baptism, marriage, death, burial) that I want to document for every ancestor, even if this particular marriage was not the one to which my grandfather was born. Finally, and most importantly, there can be some critical information on the marriage registration. So let's look at how to find the marriage registration and the details of the document.
A searchable index to Manitoba vital records, beginning in 1882, is online here. When I searched for the marriage, this is the index entry that I found:
 |
| Gerhard Siemens and Maria Peters marriage registration index, 13 July 1890, no. 1890-001447, Vital Statistics Agency, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Accessed online at http://vitalstats.gov.mb.ca/DetailView.php on 3 October 2016. |
For a mere 12 CAD, you can order a copy of the original, which I did. And Saturday it showed up in my (snail) mailbox. There were no great revelations on it, but there were some interesting facts. First, here is the document:
 |
| Gerhard Siemens and Maria Peters marriage registration, married 13 July 1890, Rosenhoff, Manitoba, registered 4 August 1890, Vital Statistics Agency, Winnipeg, Manitoba, p. 269. |
His Parents
Gerhard's parents' full names are given. In fact, this is the only document I have found that gives his mother's maiden name, Gertruda Thiesen. I have a church register that gives his father's wife's maiden name, but the church register doesn't say that that husband and wife are Gerhard's father or mother, so I have to use other documents to demonstrate that connection. So this marriage registration is my only direct connection between Gerhard and his mother.
Her Parents
Maria Peters' parents were previously unknown in the Grandma database. But here it says they are Jacob Peters and Katarina Heidebrecht.
 |
| Maria Peters, #7038, Genealogical Registry and Database of Mennonite Ancestry as updated July 2016, California Mennonite Historical Society, Fresno, California. Accessed online at http://www.grandmaonline.org/GW-asp-2/GWIndividual.asp?Ind=7038 on 3 October 2016. |
Witnesses
The two witnesses to the marriage are interesting as both are former in-laws! Heinrich L. Friesen was the brother-in-law of Gerhard's previous wife, Aganetha Klassen. And Jacob Rempel was the brother of Maria's previous husband. There must not have been animosity with the in-laws since in-laws were witnesses to the marriage. On the contrary, the in-laws likely were happy that a bereaved spouse had found a partner and someone to care for each one's children.
Minister
I have long had a question about what church Gerhard was a member of after about 1880. He was a member of the Kleine Gemeinde to that point, but shortly after that, the KG suffered a major split where their elder and a third to a half of their members left and joined the Holdemans. Gerhard's oldest stepson, Isaac DeVeer, did join the Holdemans, and several of his children and stepchildren joined the Sommerfelder. Did Gerhard leave the KG? I haven't found any record either way until now.
But the minister who married them, Johann K. Friesen, was a KG minister according to the Grandma database (#3777), so it appears that Gerhard did not leave for the Holdemans and was still KG.
So I hope that I have demonstrated that it is worth finding the original for every marriage of your ancestors, not just the marriage between your direct ancestors.
Saturday, September 24, 2016
He Became a British Subject
My great-grandfather Gerhard T. Siemens #6463 (1834-1908) immigrated to Canada in 1874 and was naturalized, thereby becoming a British subject. (All Canadians were British subjects until 1947.) I wanted to know more about his naturalization. Here is the little bit that I have found - it may give you some ideas for searching for the naturalization of your Canadian ancestor.
First, the 1901 census asked when a person was naturalized, and the enumerator recorded that he immigrated in 1874 and was naturalized in 1882 (circled in red).
This, of course, is better than nothing; but it's not a primary source. Gerhard told the enumerator who wrote it down. We hope that Gerhard remembered the right date, that he wasn't distracted, that he didn't stutter, that the enumerator heard him correctly, that there wasn't a baby crying at that moment, that the enumerator didn't forget to ask him and just filled in some number. It's a secondary source.
I have obtained Gerhard Siemens' Saskatchewan homestead file from 1907, and he affirmed that he was naturalized before 1889 in Manitoba. That fits with what the 1901 census stated, so that is a confirmation.
But I would still like to have a primary source. Citizenship and Immigration Canada holds the naturalization records for 1854 to the present, but the original records for naturalizations before 1917 have been destroyed. Only a card index remains, and there is not much information on the card index. A Canadian citizen or resident can make an Access to Information request and pay 5 CAD to get a copy of the index card. I am neither, but fortunately I have cousins who are Canadian citizens, so they ordered a copy for me.
The index card was rather sparse, but upon close examination it does give the answer.
So what are the results? It has his name (Gerhardt T. Siemens) and date of birth (34/05/21, which is 1834 May 21, his new-style birth date). And it shows that he was born in the USSR, which means that the card index must have been made sometime after 1922, when the Soviet Union came into existence (otherwise it would have shown Russia as his birth country). But the document is a primary source to the fact that he was naturalized, something that the 1901 census and his homestead application do not do.
There is also a mysterious section of "actions," which appears to be the record of correspondence between officials. These are all dated in 1885 and 1886 - was Gerhard naturalized at that time instead of 1882 as the census reports? Does the pre-printed "85" at the end of the file number "032790-85" indicate that his citizenship was granted in 1885?
But at the lower right of the white card, there is a faint date. I had to look carefully even to find it.
I am quite sure that it reads "85/12/23," which would be the date 23 December 1885. When combined with the dates of the correspondence happening in late 1885 and early 1886 and the preprinted "85" on the form, this makes me think it is his naturalization date!
Why did the 1901 census enumerator record 1882 as his naturalization? I don't have an answer. But by 1907, it seems as though Gerhard was uncertain about his naturalization date, since he wrote "before 1889" on the homestead application. I think 23 December 1885, is the best date for his naturalization, although the evidence is conflicting.
IMPORTANT NOTE - If your ancestor was naturalized after 1917, which would include the Russländer immigrants, then much more information is listed on the card index, which might make you more eager to send off for the file.
First, the 1901 census asked when a person was naturalized, and the enumerator recorded that he immigrated in 1874 and was naturalized in 1882 (circled in red).
 |
| Gerhard Siemens household, 1901 Canada census, Morris Municipality sub-district, Provencher district, Manitoba, p. 4, household 30, lines 4-12. Accessed at www.ancestry.ca on 29 June 2014. |
I have obtained Gerhard Siemens' Saskatchewan homestead file from 1907, and he affirmed that he was naturalized before 1889 in Manitoba. That fits with what the 1901 census stated, so that is a confirmation.
 |
| Sworn statement of patentee Gerhard Siemens, 7 February 1907, homestead file #1239121, Land Registration District of Assiniboia, Regina, Saskatchewan accessed online at Saskatchewan Archives Board Homestead Index 1872-1930, Reference #S 42.1239121, http://sab.minisisinc.com on 16 April 2014. |
 |
| Detail of homestead statement above. |
The index card was rather sparse, but upon close examination it does give the answer.
 |
| Gerhardt T. Siemens naturalization card, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, file #032790-85. Index card from Access to Information request on 24 August 2016. |
So what are the results? It has his name (Gerhardt T. Siemens) and date of birth (34/05/21, which is 1834 May 21, his new-style birth date). And it shows that he was born in the USSR, which means that the card index must have been made sometime after 1922, when the Soviet Union came into existence (otherwise it would have shown Russia as his birth country). But the document is a primary source to the fact that he was naturalized, something that the 1901 census and his homestead application do not do.
There is also a mysterious section of "actions," which appears to be the record of correspondence between officials. These are all dated in 1885 and 1886 - was Gerhard naturalized at that time instead of 1882 as the census reports? Does the pre-printed "85" at the end of the file number "032790-85" indicate that his citizenship was granted in 1885?
But at the lower right of the white card, there is a faint date. I had to look carefully even to find it.
Why did the 1901 census enumerator record 1882 as his naturalization? I don't have an answer. But by 1907, it seems as though Gerhard was uncertain about his naturalization date, since he wrote "before 1889" on the homestead application. I think 23 December 1885, is the best date for his naturalization, although the evidence is conflicting.
IMPORTANT NOTE - If your ancestor was naturalized after 1917, which would include the Russländer immigrants, then much more information is listed on the card index, which might make you more eager to send off for the file.
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