Hello, I would like to post some recently received information on my German families (some of whom came from Russia) and others who maybe did or maybe didn't ...don't know. The following is information which came from Mennonite records (bless them for that)....and is only part of the very generous outpouring of information that has followed my initial inquiry. You are an amazing group of people and thank goodness Mother Russia's loss was the our gain ( our = the free world) . I've gotten to know a few of you a little bit and I'm looking forward to making the acquaintance of more of you. It feels like coming home. "I did find on the GRANDMA CD a reference to an Agnes Moritz, born 18 Jan 1894. Her family's data is found in the oldest church record book of the Reedley Mennonite Brethren Church in Reedley, California. Her parents were Friedrich J. Moritz and Wilhelmine Kusch. Wilhelmine Kusch was, in turn, the daughter of a Heinrich Kusch. Friedrich J. Moritz was born 14 Apr 1862. Wilhelmine Kusch was born 16 Sept 1863 and died 27 July 1935. She had previously been married to a John Kiepke. Friedrich and Wilhelmine were married 12 Feb 1886. The church records indicate that they had nine children, of whom Agnes was the fifth in line. Friedrich J. Moritz, in turn, was the son of Friedrich Moritz and Florentina Grabowski. Their family record is found in the old records of the Ebenfeld Mennonite Brethren Church near Hillsboro, Kansas (Marion County). The records say that Friedrich Moritz was born 19 June 1841 in Reichenburg, and was baptized into the Mennonite Brethren Church on 30 Mar 1878. He married Florentina Grabowski, the daughter of Jakob Grabowski, on 20 June 1860. She was born 6 Jan 1842, place unknown. One entry in the church records gives her surname as "Garbewsky." The record lists three children, of whom Friedrich J. was the oldest. The Ebenfeld records also state that the family migrated to the United States from Russia in 1875. Incidentally, the Ebenfeld Church was a rather interesting collection of ethnic Mennonites and recent Lutheran converts. The minister of the church was a certain Abraham Cornelsen, who had been exiled from the Mennonite Molotschna Colony due to a church schism which had been viewed as dangerous by the Mennonite leaders in the colony. As a result, he resided for a time with Lutheran Germans in the surrounding area, and established a Mennonite Brethren congregation that contained a significant number of former Lutheran families. I believe that the Moritz and Kusch families were among those formerly Lutheran families." Malinda Jones wrote: > The other day , I forgot to mention that I also have a Thiessen line that > were Mennonites (in addition to my Moritz line). I know very little about > them. My grandfather was Pete D. Thiessen (b. 7 Jun 1890) .It gives Major > Co.OK as his birthplace on his death certificate, but it could very well > have been Marion Co.KS. His father is listed as D. Thiessen, birth place > Russia and his mother is listed as unknown, with Russia as the birthplace. > > Pete D. Thiessen married Agnes Moritz , daughter of Freidrich J. Moritz and > Wilhelmine Kusch. You sent me some of their information the other day (from > one of the older record books in Reedley. They were part of the Ebenfeld > Brethren Church in Hillsboro,Marion Co. KS.) "The GRANDMA database does have some information on Peter D. Thiessen's ancestry. Both Peter and Agnes appear in the database, but were not shown to have been married. I will pass that new information on to the person in charge of such updates. Peter Thiessen's father was Dietrich Thiessen, born 12 August 1852. On 24 October 1876 he married Susanna Braun, born 27 September 1855. Susanna died on 23 April 1926 in Okeene, Oklahoma. Dietrich Thiessen's parents were Dietrich Thiessen and Aganetha Klassen. We have no dates or further information for them in the database. Susanna Braun's father was Bernhard Braun, born in about 1825. In about 1847 he married Catharina Teichroeb, born in about 1826. " The above information was given to me by Alan Peters and Kevin Enns-Rempel. Tim Janzen also added that the Freidrich Moritz family immigrated on the CIMBRIA from Hamburg (ca. 4 Aug 1875) to NY (arr. 18 Aug 1875) and that the LDS film for the 1875 Hamburg departure lists is 472908 (which can be ordered through the local FHC). ...also that other German passengers who departed on the CIMBRIA that day were from the village of Mariupol , a city on the north shore of the Sea of Azov. Tim further mentioned that Reichenburg (the town where Freidrich Moritz was born 19 June 1841) was not a Mennonite village. My grandmother (nee Moritz) told us that her family was from Germany (not Russia) and it is so indicated on her death certificate (just that "Germany") and on grandfather Thiessen's certificate the place of birth of his parents is "Russia". On another list a blurb appeared the other day that said that anyone having Polish ancestors born between 1775 and 1918 (the 143 years when Poland disappeared from the map) would find them "in either Russia, Prussia (Germany) or Austria . The place of birth may have changed name and nationality several times during those years and the place may not even be in Poland today."......now......one of the many locations of Reichenburgs was listed as being in the Brandenburg area of Germany , northwest of Berlin near the border of Poland (which would have been called Russia at that time ?). ....also....Friedrich married Florentina Grabowski (b.20 June 1860 , place unknown). A Grabow descendant recently contacted me and her ancestors were from a town nortwest of Berlin called Schilde , Perleburg , Brandenburg. We are still wondering if Grabow and Grabowski are spelling permutations of the same name. We would welcome your comments and opinions on this. Sorry this was so long (for those of you who read all the way through it...thank you). Are there any comments or connections out there ?? Malinda Thiessen Jones