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THE STORY IN MAPS and DOCUMENTS
1. My German ancestors once lived in the Rhineland region of present-day
Germany. Franz Weiss left in 1804. Michael Vetsch left Neeweiler,
Alsace in 1808. See also this map of old
Germany.
2. While still in Neeweiler, Michael Fetsch married Marguerite Sennhauser.
(1807 record, tanslation and cover page)
3. An arduous journey of 1700 miles lasted generally three to four
months. While some took the Danube River from Ulm all the way to its
mouth on the Black Sea, the majority went overland with carts and wagons.
The Russian government organized and supervised the larger groups, and
paid the expenses. (map of Europe)
4. While Franz Weiss settled first in Glückstal, by 1820 he and
his family were in Selz. Michael Fetsch was one of the original colonists
in Selz in 1808. Both families continued to live in Selz for over a
hundred years. (map of Kutschurgan district)
5. Franz Weiss is listed on the 1820 Selz Voters
List. His name appears on line # 20. He signed his name on the right
side of the page. Franz's name appears also on the 1828
Selz Debtors' List. Karl Weiss, son of Franz, appears on page 84
of a 1892 Statistics Journal for Selz. Both
Franz and Karl are listed in the 1852 Kutschurgan Church List for Selz.
6. Konrad Weiss married Brigetta Fetsch in Selz in 1908. (marriage
record). They emigrated to Canada in 1913. Conrad applied for his
passport in Cherson. They sailed from Rotterdam to Portland, Maine
in April, 1913 on the S.S. Belgic.
7. Konrad applied for a homestead at the Dominion Lands Office in Maple
Creek, SK. (homestead application)
8. All of Konrad's siblings and cousins remained in Russia. After World
War II and ten years of exile in Siberia, many of them moved to
Kazakhstan.
9. My dad, Remigius, was born in 1919 on the Weiss homestead northeast
of Fox Valley. (RM of Fox Valley map) But
I was raised on what became known as the Weiss farm south-west of Fox
Valley. (farm photos)
10. In 2004, I visited Selz, re-named by the Russians as Limans'ke,
Ukraine. We also toured beautiful Crimea.
This is the once-grand Cathedral, The Church of the Assumption, in Selz.
This is the Rissling home in Selz, across the street from the Cathedral. The summer kitchen is located to the left or south.
Patti and I on the outskirts of Rosental, Crimea, now called Aromate, Ukraine. Many of the church records of my Schafer family are found in Rosental Parish records.
The highway sign outside of Simferopol, Crimea -- very near to the village where my mother was born. We did not have time to find the actual village of Anakoj-Eli.
Map credits this section: Dr. Karl
Stumpp, maps available through GRHS Rand McNally World
Atlas, 2002 2003 Saskatchewan Highway Map, Canada
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