Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta

The Guardianship Committee of Foreign Settlers in South Russia

Compiled March 2002 by Tim Janzen & Tatyana Makarenko

1814

File 815. File concerning the return of colonists home from various places. They left the colonies with temporary passports and had not returned back to their colonies.

1. Correspondence from the Guardianship Office with the inspectors of the Molotschna and the Crimean Colonies, the Chief of Kharkov Police, the Ekaterinoslav City Police, the Feodosia City Police, the Josephstal District Office, the Taurida Government Expedition, the Chief of Feodosia, the Director of the Port of Sevastopol, Admiral Rojnov, and the Chief of the Sevastopol Fleet, Admiral Bichevsky, regarding searches and the return of the missing colonists to their homes.
2. List of the missing colonists which include David Stein and his family, Karl Johann Bohr, and Johann Maker of the Molotschna Colonies, Mennonite Helena Lyman of the Molotschna Colonies, David Kopp of the Josephstal Colony, Daniel Hoffmann and his family of the Molotschna Colonies, Gottlieb Kaiser and his family, Joseph Loch and his family, Susanna Weiss, Anton Kerner, Anna Riler, Anna Maria Riler, Andreas Eleret, and Gottlieb Strobel.

These documents are written in both Russian and German.
14 Nov 1814 to 20 Feb 1820. 69 pages. 107 frames.

File 818. File concerning an incident in the village of Kronstal in which the Mennonites Johann Schroeder and Cornelius Balman assaulted Martin Siemens.

1. Reports written by the Chortitza District Office.
2. Correspondence from the Guardianship Office with the Ekaterinoslav City Police, the Inspector of the Crimean Colonies, Mr. Gsell, and the Ekaterinoslav Charity Government about the incident.
3. Signed statement written by M. Siemens about his forgiveness of Johann Schroeder and Cornelius Balman.
4. Signed statement written by Johann Schroeder and Cornelius Balman about their repentance for their action.

These documents are written in both Russian and German.
31 Dec 1813 to 18 Jun 1814. 35 pages. 51 frames.

File 827. File concerning an incident in which a herd of horses that belonged to the priest F. Pivovarov from the village of Chernigovka trampled down the cornfields that belonged to Mennonites from Halbstadt and Muntau. The priest was to have paid for the damages (a fine of 58 rubles), but he did not. Mr. Sieber, the Inspector of the Molotschna Colonies, wrote a report concerning this incident.

1. Correspondence from the Guardianship Office with the Melitopol Minor Court, the Inspector of the Molotschna Colonies, the priest of Pokrov Church, P. Zegelnikov, and the priest G. Rovinsky from the village of Gross Tokmak about the incident and the need to obtain the fine from the priest F. Pivovarov.

These documents are written in both Russian and German.
21 Feb 1814 to 30 Jan 1815. 24 pages. 43 frames.

File 830. The Ekaterinoslav City Police made a request to the Guardianship Office to send delegates from the Guardianship Office in order to jointly investigate a criminal case about the theft of property and money from the Mennonite David Schroeder who was living in Ekaterinoslav. Correspondence from the Guardianship Office with the Ekaterinoslav City Police, the Ekaterinoslav City Council, the Ekaterinoslav Criminal Court, and the Inspector of the Josephstal Colonies, Mr. Develdeev.

1. Correspondence about the theft of property and money from the house of the Mennonite D. Schroeder.
2. Correspondence about the need to take into custody and prosecute a member of the Ekaterinoslav petty bourgeois, S. Borodin, who was suspected of the theft.
3. Correspondence about the need to send delegates from the Guardianship Office in order to jointly investigate the criminal case about the theft of property and money from Mennonite David Schroeder who lived in Ekaterinoslav.

These documents are written in Russian.
15 Mar 1814 to 30 Nov 1814. 12 pages. 23 frames.

File 833. Klaas Wiens, the representative from the Molotschna Mennonite community, wrote a petition to the Guardianship Office to have them give him 6 copies of the Letter of Privileges from the Emperor of Russia so he could use the copies as necessary.

1. Petition written by K. Wiens.
2. Resolution written by the Guardianship Office to give out the first copy of the Letter of Privileges because the Guardianship Office didn't have any more copies.

These documents are written in both Russian and German.
7 Apr 1814 to 9 Apr 1814. 2 pages. 8 frames.

File 835. Reports written by the inspectors of the colonies and local governments about fires that occurred in their colonies.

1. Reports written by the inspectors of the Crimea, Jewish, and Molotschna Colonies about fires.

These documents are written in both Russian and German.
1 Apr 1814 to 26 May 1815. 41 pages. 64 frames.

File 841. File concerning an incident in which a deserter, A. Klementev (or I. Bikov), escaped from Peter Enns' house in Chortitza. The Chortitza District Office accused the sentries of carelessness and wrote a report to the Guardianship Office about this.

1. Correspondence from the Guardianship Office with the Ekaterinoslav Minor Court regarding the report written by the Chortitza District Office.
2. Correspondence from the Guardianship Office with the Ekaterinoslav Minor Court about the need to punish the guilty persons.

These documents are written in both Russian and German.
20 May 1814 to 18 Nov 1814. 19 pages. 37 frames.

File 842. A merchant from Nikolaev, F. Isakov (the attorney of L. G. Albertov), petitioned the Guardianship Office to render him assistance in finding lumber which was swept away by a flood on the Dnepr River. He had already found part of the lumber in Kronsweide and Schoenwiese.

1. Correspondence from the Guardianship Office with F. Isakov and L. Albertov about this assistance. Jacob Neufeld of Kronsweide is mentioned.

These documents are written in both Russian and German.
26 May 1814 to 25 Jun 1814. 6 pages. 13 frames.

File 850. Schoolteachers from the Chortitza Colonies accused P. Siemens of the misappropriation of public monies when he served as the District Mayor of the Chortitza Colonies. The Chortitza District Office considered their hearsay evidence as insults to P. Siemens and his assistant. Mr. von Lau wrote a report to the Guardianship Office about this.

1. Report written by the Chortitza District Office.
2. Declaration written by Mr. von Lau.
3. Testimonies written by communities from the villages of Chortitza, Insel Chortitza, Nieder Chortitza, Einlage, Rosenthal, Kronsweide, Neuenburg, Schoenhorst, Kronstal, and Burwalde. The documents include signatures of the village mayors of the Chortitza Colony as well as the heads of households from many of the villages (frames 35-71).
4. "Journal of investigations". The Guardianship Office delivered a verdict that P. Siemens was not guilty.

These documents are written in both Russian and German.
11 Mar 1813 to 4 Oct 1814. 45 pages. 75 frames.

File 852. Attorney Malama wrote a declaration to the Guardianship Office about rudeness of David Schroeder.

1. Declaration written by Mr. Malama.
2. Cash voucher written by D. Schroeder (15 rubles for wood).

These documents are written in Russian.
7 Jul 1814 to 8 Jul 1814. 2 pages. 7 frames.

File 858. The business manager of the settlements, College Adviser Lifanov, made a suggestion to the Guardianship Office to send him information about the sowing and harvest of spring crops in the colonies supervised by the Guardianship Office in 1814.

1. Suggestion written by College Adviser Lifanov to the Guardianship Office regarding the necessity to send him information about the sowing and harvest of spring crops in the colonies supervised by the Guardianship Office in 1814.
2. Reports written by inspectors of the colonies containing information about the sowing and harvest of spring crops in the Danzig Village Government's colonies and the Chortitza District Office's villages, including lists of names of farmers from Chortitza, Rosenthal, Burwalde, Insel Chortitza, Schoenwiese, Einlage, Kronsweide, Neuenburg, Neuendorf, Schoenhorst, Kronsthal, and Neu Osterwick (frames 28-51).
3. Report from the Crimean Colonies including lists of names of proprietors in Chokurcha, Kronenthal, Heilbrunn, Zuerichtal, Kishlav, and Old Crimea. Lists containing information about the sowings, which were made each owner separately.

These documents are written in both Russian and German.
13 Jul 1814 to 25 Nov 1814. 58 pages. 91 frames.

File 861. The Chortitza Colony community wished to send two deputies, Jacob Enns and Gerhard Willems, to St. Petersburg to obtain Emperor Alexander the First's approval of the Charter of Privileges that had been given by Emperor Paul the First on September 6, 1800. The Chortitza Village Governments reported to the Guardianship Office about this.

1. Report written by the village governments of the Chortitza Colonies.
2. Draft of a passport for Jacob Enns and Gerhard Willems.

These documents are written in both Russian and German.
6 Aug 1814 to 13 Aug 1814. 7 pages. 15 frames.

File 866. File concerning an incident in which Ivan Voloshin, a settler of Tokmak, had stolen a horse from a herd that belonged to Mennonites from Fuerstenau. Mennonites Johann Thiessen and Peter Wiebe beat him because of this theft.

1. Correspondence from the Guardianship Office with the Orekhov City Police, the Melitopol Minor Court, and the Inspector of the Molotschna Colonies concerning I. Voloshin who had stolen a horse.
2. Correspondence from the Guardianship Office with the Orekhov City Police, the Melitopol Minor Court, and the Inspector of the Molotschna Colonies concerning two weeks' imprisonment of the Mennonites from Fuerstenau, Johann Thiessen and Peter Wiebe, who had beaten I. Voloshin.

These documents are written in both Russian and German.
15 May 1813 to 21 Aug 1815. 30 pages.
(This file has not yet been microfilmed).

File 867. The Ekaterinoslav City Police wrote two official letters to the Guardianship Office regarding the necessity to bring the "prohibition against housing people without written residence permits" to the notice of the colonists. The first letter contains a demand to take the Mennonite Johann Brandt to the police and the second letter contains a demand to take the colonist Martha Brimer to the police as she had housed a woman who did not have a written residence permit.

1. Correspondence between the Guardianship Office and the Ekaterinoslav City Police about the prohibition against holding people without written residence permits.
2. A group of colonists and Mennonites living in Ekaterinoslav was given a written notice not to house people who did not have written residence permits.

These documents are written in both Russian and German.
19 Aug 1814 to 8 Sep 1814. 5 pages. 13 frames.

File 870. The Melitopol District Court made a request to the Inspector of the Molotschna Colonies, Mr. Sieber, to send the Mennonites Anna Loewen, Abraham Kornelsen, Cornelius De Fehr, and Heinrich Wiens to the court in order to investigate a criminal case about the disappearance of a horse belonging to the Mennonite Abraham Kornelsen. Inspector Sieber reported to the Guardianship Office about this.

1. Report written by Inspector Sieber to the Guardianship Office about the request of the Melitopol District Court.
2. Report written by Inspector Sieber to the Guardianship Office about the need to send a translator for the court proceedings because the Mennonites didn't speak Russian.
3. Correspondence from the Guardianship Office with the Taurida Government and the Taurida Civil Governor Borozdin about the need to obey the law and to send the Mennonites to testify in court.

19 Sep 1814 to 24 Dec 1814. 11 pages.
(This file has not yet been microfilmed).

File 872. The Melitopol District Court sent to Inspector Sieber a court decision regarding a case concerning the Mennonite Gerhard Wiebe about the clandestine making of wine and other matters. Inspector Sieber reported to the Guardianship Office about this.

1. Report written by Inspector Sieber.
2. Court decision about the transportation of wine that was purchased by Gerhard Wiebe in the village of Halbstadt through lands that didn't belong to the Mennonites.

These documents are written in both Russian and German.
21 Sep 1814 to 11 Dec 1814. 10 pages. 22 frames.

File 877. File concerning the colonist Johann Bohr's debt of 360 rubles to Titular Councilor S. Gromeka.

1. Petition written by S. Gromeka to Emperor Alexander the First.
2. Promissory note written by Johann Bohr.
3. Correspondence from the Guardianship Office with the Sloboda-Ukrainiansk Government, the Chief of Novomoskovsk City Police, and the Molotschna District Office regarding the debt of Johann Bohr.
4. Confirmation written by S. Gromeka about the receipt of this debt.

These documents are written in both Russian and German.
19 Oct 1814 to 2 Jul 1819. 36 pages. 60 frames.

File 879. Information about the arrest of the Mennonite Joseph Nowitzky by the Ekaterinoslav City Police for not having a written residence permit. This was reported to the Guardianship Office.

1. Report written by the Chortitza District Office.
2. Announcement written by the Ekaterinoslav City Police about the arrest of J. Nowitzky.

These documents are written in both Russian and German.
23 Oct 1814 to 17 Nov 1814. 3 pages. 9 frames.

File 880. File concerning an incident in which the Mennonite Peter Boris? saw his horse with a man from the Caucasus, Anderm Scheneev, and had brought an action against him. The Melitopol District Court delivered a verdict stating that Anderm Scheneev was not guilty and that obliged Peter Boris? to pay legal costs of 15 rubles.

1. Correspondence from the Guardianship Office with the Taurida Government and the Inspector of the Molotschna Colonies.
2. Notes from the documents of the Melitopol District Court.

These documents are written in Russian.
9 Nov 1814 to 5 Nov 1815. 10 pages. 21 frames.

File 881. File concerning colonists who had illegally left their colonies.

1. Correspondence from the Guardianship Office with the Elder of the Radichev Mennonite Brotherhood, Mr.Waldner, the Inspector of the Swedish Colonies, Mr. Dalke, and the Kiev, Chernigov, and Volinsk Governments regarding searches and the return of the following colonists to their legal homes: Peter Ratzlaff and his family of Radichev, Joseph Wielt of Schlangendorf, Johann Schweizer of Muehlhausendorf, and Dorothy Becker and her daughter Anna of Schlangendorf.
2. Debt account of Joseph Wielt (1804-1807).

These documents are written in both Russian and German.
1 Nov 1814 to 15 Oct 1815. 31 pages. 55 frames.

File 888. File concerning an incident in which the Mennonite Jacob Toews of Ekaterinoslav petitioned to the Guardianship Office for protection from Major Fuerstenau who rented his house. Major Fuerstenau had beaten Aganetha Toews, the wife of Jacob Toews.

1. Petition written by Mennonite Jacob Toews to the Guardianship Office.
2. Letter from the Guardianship Office to Ekaterinoslav Medical Administration containing a request for them to examine Aganetha Toews.
3. Certificate that was given to Aganetha Toews about her physical injuries.
4. Letter from the Guardianship Office to the commander of the Ekaterinoslav garrison battalion, Colonel Tarasevich, regarding the need to investigate the incident.

These documents are written in both Russian and German.
21 Dec 1814 to 11 Feb 1815. 16 pages. 30 frames.

File 890. File concerning the permission to borrow grain from the reserve stores granted to Mennonites and colonists from the Ekaterinoslav Settlement, who needed grain for food and spring sowing.

1. Reports written by Inspectors Sieber, Develdeev, and Hauschteck, the Elder of the Radichev Mennonite Brotherhood, Mr. Waldner, and the Molotschna District Office containing information about the poor harvest in 1813 and the shortage of grain for food and sowing. Reports containing requests to borrow grain from the reserve stores.
2. Lists of the villages in the Molotschna Colonies in which settlers needed grain.
3. Lists of the names of colonists who needed grain in the following villages in the Molotschna Colonies: Montal, Rosental, Reichenfeld, Neudorf, Molotschna, Hoffental, Nassau, Weinau, Wasserau, Durlach, Kostheim, Leitershausen, Hochstaedt, Friedrichsfeld, Gruental, Heidelberg, and Waldorf.
4. Lists dated March 26, 1815 of the names of Mennonites who needed grain in the following villages in the Molotschna Colony: Muntau, Schoenau, Fischau, Lindenau, Lichtenau, Blumstein, Blumenort, Rueckenau, Ladekopp, Schoensee, Petershagen, Tiegenhagen, Tiege, and Rosenort, as well as those in the Josephstal, Rybalsk, and Jamburg Colonies (frames 58-64).
5. Lists dated March 6, 1816 of the names of Mennonites who needed grain in the following villages in the Molotschna Colony: Muntau, Fischau, Blumstein, Ladekopp, Lindenau, Rosenort, Fuerstenau, Rueckenau, Schoensee, Petershagen, Tiegenhagen, Tiege, and Blumenort (frames 102-106).

These documents are written in both Russian and German.
21 Feb 1814 to 22 Sep 1815. 73 pages. 122 frames.

File 897. The Elder of the Radichev Hutterite Brotherhood, Mr. Waldner, reported to the Guardianship Office about a contagious disease among many of the settlers there.

1. Reports written by Waldner.
2. Correspondences from the Guardianship Office with the Chernigov Governor about the need to send a doctor to the Radichev Colony for the treatment of the sick.

These documents are written in both Russian and German.
1 Jun 1814 to 1 Aug 1814. 16 pages. 26 frames.

File 900. Statistical information regarding the welfare of colonies from May to August, 1814. The Guardianship Office sent this statistical information to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Kherson Military Governor.

1. Statistical lists containing information about the number of families, females and males in the following colonies: the Odessa Settlement, Jamburg, Kronsgarten, Josephstal, Rybalsk (Novomoskovsk District), Swedish, the Crimean Settlement, Jewish, Smolensk, Molotschna colonists and Molotschna Mennonites, and settlers who had recently arrived in the Chortitza Colony from May to August 1814, including monthly totals and the total for 1814.
2. Summary lists containing information about all the colonies from May to August, 1814.
3. List of the names of colonists from the Crimean Colonies containing information about the number of births and deaths and the number of colonists who arrived and departed from May to August, 1814.
4. Extractions from the records of the births, deaths, and marriages of the colonists and Mennonites and the number of colonists and Mennonites who arrived and departed from May to June, 1814 in the Molotschna Mennonite Colony (frames 89, 90, 114, 115, 135-164) and the Prischib Colony (frames 34, 35, 46, 47, 62, 69, 90, 91, 115-117, 167-170, 178, 179).
5. Extractions from the records of the births, deaths, and marriages of the Swedish Colony from May to August, 1814.
6. Information about people who were ill and about the money spent on their treatment from May to August, 1814 in the Molotschna Colonies.

These documents are written in both Russian and German.
27 Jun 1814 to 22 Dec 1814. 248 pages. 351 frames.

File 901. The business manager of the settlements and the Odessa Settlement Court Counselor, Mr. Lashkarev, made a suggestion to the Guardianship Office to sell wool from colony sheep flocks, which were communal property, to the Ekaterinoslav cloth factory.

1. Correspondence from the Guardianship Office with the business manager, Court Counselor Lashkarev, concerning the sale of wool.
2. Petition written by P. Penner of Schoenwiese to receive the money for the wool.
3. Resolution written by the Guardianship Office after the report from the Inspector of the Molotschna Colonies about the public monies of the Molotschna Colonies.

These documents are written in both Russian and German.
9 Sep 1814 to 24 Mar 1816. 12 pages. 23 frames.

File 902. Statistical information for 1814 that was sent to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Kherson Military Governor.

1. Statistical lists containing information about the quantity of grain that was reserved in village reserve stores in the colonies dependent upon the Guardianship Office and in the colonies of the Taurida Province and the Odessa Settlement.
2. Statistical list containing information about the harvest and sowing of grain in the colonies of the provinces of Taurida, Ekaterinoslav, and Kherson and in the colonies of the Odessa Settlement for 1814.
3. Statistical list containing information about the number of fruit and mulberry trees in the colonies of the Odessa and Ekaterinoslav Settlements.
4. Summary list containing information about the harvest and sowing of grain in the colonies in New Russia. Notes from the list contain information about the quantity of grain that was sown and was harvested by each family and about the quantity of grain that was needed for each colony for food and sowing, and about the quantity of grain left over to sell.
5. Summary list containing information about the state of Spanish sheep breeding in the colonies dependent on the Guardianship Office of Foreign Settlers.
6. Statistical list containing information about the acquisition of household effects in the Chortitza Colonies and the colonies of the Odessa Settlement.
7. Statistical list containing information about the numbers of cattle deaths in the colonies in New Russia and in the Odessa Settlement.
8. Statistical lists containing information about the number of births, deaths, and marriages of the foreign settlers in all the colonies and separately in the colonies of the Odessa Settlement.

These documents are written in both Russian and German.
10 Jan 1814 to 21 May 1815. 98 pages. 207 frames.

© 2002 Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta
Last Updated 23 Mar 2002

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