Dear Laura,
I have read with interest the exchange between you and another member of this list. Permit me to add some remarks concerning the geography of your problem since I grew up rather close to Rosenberg (where an uncle of mine was a pastor from 1920 to 1935) and have travelled in that region as an adolescent.
Moving from a village near Mohrungen to one in the Kreis Rosenberg did not mean to move over a long distance. The distance from Reussen to Seegenau may have been somewhat between 24 and 30 km (or between 15 and 20 miles). Moreover, both Kreis Mohrungen and Kreis Rosenberg were part of the same historical landscape in the old /duchy /of Prussia, namely the /Oberland/, and the social structure was more or less identical. The Oberland was a region dominated by large land-owners and dependent farm-labor, however in the 19th century farm laborers were already free to move from one estate to another. Rosenberg had been separated from the rest of the Oberland and united to the neighbouring province of Westpreussen from 1815 to 1824, but then both provinces were again reunited until 1878 when Westpreussen was a second time separated from Ostpreussen and reorganized as a separate province.
Westpreussen (the western part of the old Prussia once controlled by the Teutonic order) should of course not be confounded with the western provinces of the /kingdom /of Prussia, namely the Rhineland and Westphalia. Rather, it was an Eastern province not much different from Ostpreussen. In the late 19th century, there was indeed a lot of migration from the agricultural provinces Ostpreussen and Westpreussen to the industrial regions in Rhineland and Westphalia. But when somebody moved over the relative modest distance of 25 or 30 km within the Prussian East this probably had no specific economic reasons comparable to those migrations toward the highly developed parts of the western provinces. Could it not be that your great-grandma had been separated from her parents for some highly individual reason and then moved to live with her aunt in Seegenau - which, I repeat, after all was not so far away from her native village? Such migrations over short distance were not uncommon after the agricultural reforms of the early 19th century, and it is highly unlikely that this had anything to do with political events such as the revolution of 1848. Such events probably had few impact on the Oberland (including Rosenberg) with its very conservative political environment.
Best regards,
Gerhard Lehmbruch
Hello Gerhard,
Since you write you are familiar with the region around Mohrungen I have a question in regard to my own genealogical research.
My ggg-grandmother Charlotte Kretschmann, born Schikowski, was born in the town of Eckersdorff, near Mohrungen, in 1824.
Although - according to my information - her religion was Lutheran/Evangelian, newly received information revealed she was half-jewish.
(there is a picture of her on my website: http://kretschmann.nl; also see my recent postings (In German) on this subject).
This may explain why I couldn't find a registration of her birth in the local evangelian church registers. Perhaps she received a 'jewish baptism'?
The question in that case is where I should look? Are you familiar with the village Eckersdorff? What can you tell about it? Was there a large jewish community?
Were there any synagogues in the neighbourhood?
Thanks very much for your reply.
MfG,
Milko Kretschmann.
Dear Laura,
I have read with interest the exchange between you and another member of
this list. Permit me to add some remarks concerning the geography of
your problem since I grew up rather close to Rosenberg (where an uncle
of mine was a pastor from 1920 to 1935) and have travelled in that
region as an adolescent.
Milko Kretschmann
Nijmegen, the Netherlands
E milko@kretschmann.nl
W http://genealogy.kretschmann.nl
Looking for the following names:
GEHRKE in GROSS-WESTPHALEN (KREIS GRAUDENZ),
GRÜNWALD, KRETSCHMANN in ELBING,
SCHIKOWSKI in JAESKENDORF and ECKERSDORF (KREIS MOHRUNGEN)
Gerhard,
Thank you for all this information you posted which is of great interest to
me.
My Kanowski ancestors moved from Alt Christburg (Stary Dzierzgon) to Fabian
(a manorial estate just east of Rosenberg/Susz) ca 1850 - an even lesser
'trek' than that made by Laura's ancestors.
I have found this site (I cheat and have Google translate it into their
version of English for me) one of the most informative for my locations:
http://www.ostpreussen.net/
Have I possibly left a stone or three unturned in my search for
(Evangelical) Church records for Alt Christburg? I know Polish Archives
have some Confirmation records. I have a document from 1818 for the birth
of an ancestor, with parents clearly named. Now I would like to be able to
discover more!
Rather too common are the Schulz families in the Rosenberg area. I know my
line were in Faulen at one time,
but none of the Schul(t)z families I have followed in filmed records appear
to correspond with mine.
I'm hoping one day to be able to visit this region, but it is great for now
to hear first hand descriptions of events from you.
Thanks again,
Bronwyn.