Mennonite
Historical
Society
of Alberta

January 16, 2014 2:34 pm

As found in the records of the Guardianship Committee for Foreign Settlers in Southern Russia (Fund 6, Inventory 5, File 278) in the Odessa Region State Archives, Odessa, Ukraine, initially translated from Russian by Nikolai Penner in February 2004. Nikolai Penner’s translation was financially sponsored by Glenn Penner. Edited in March 2004 by Tim Janzen, Portland, Oregon.

Explanatory comments by Tim Janzen

This document provides information about a group of 67 families who were living in the Kuban Colony in the Caucasus Region in South Russia as of February 29, 1869. All of the people included on the list were Mennonite Brethren. Most of the people on this list were from the Molotschna Colony, but some were also from the Chortitza Colony. Those people from the Molotschna Colony are found in the first portion of the list and those people from the Chortitza Colony are found in the last portion of the list. The document is found among a large collection of documents pertaining to the Mennonite Brethren in File 278. The list is found on pages 635 to 643 in the original file and may be found on frames 1102 through 1119 on the microfilm of this file.

All of the families from the Molotschna Colony who are found in this list with the exception of Aganetha Schmidt and her son Johann Penner’s family who are the 55th family in this list are also found in the 1864 List of Families Intending to Settle in the Kuban Colony. None of the families from the Chortitza Colony who are the 56th through 67th families in this list are found in the 1864 List of Families Intending to Settle in the Kuban Colony. [See also List of Families Living in the Kuban Colony, 1866]

In this translation the names of the Mennonites and the locations have been translated into their most common form. Ages that appear in parentheses in the translation have been crossed through in the original document. This was done because the person had either married and thus was no longer living in the family or because the person had died. The ages of people who had died are their ages at the time of their death. The villages mentioned in the column where the settlers names are found are the villages they were living in prior to moving to the Kuban Colony in 1863 or shortly thereafter. Information that has been placed in brackets does not appear in the original but has been added for clarification. A question mark has been placed where selected words or phrases are difficult to read in the original. The comment for Johann Friesen, age 15, in family #57 has not yet been entirely translated.

The original document from which this translation was made may be found on microfilm at the following archives:

• Center for Mennonite Brethren Studies, Fresno, California
• Center for Mennonite Studies, Tabor College, Hillsboro, Kansas
• Mennonite Historical Society of British Columbia, Abbotsford, British Columbia
• Mennonite Heritage Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Alex Voth provided helpful suggestions for the improvement of this translation.

Page 635 copy

Register of the Molotschna colonists who are settled in Zelenchuk region,
who possess lands of 65 dessiatines [175.5 acres] per family and
who have to be excluded from their former colony of residence.

© 2003-04 Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta
Last Updated 3 Aug 2003

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