Rattai, Kreis Kolmar, Posen

The History of the Krassin Family
of Arkansas and Wisconsin
By William Remus
28 April 2016
(with help from Dallas McColley)
Table of Contents
Introduction – Rattai, Kreis Kolmar
Schokken (Skoki), Kreis Wongrowitz
Schwersenz (Swarzedz), Posen
Radwonke (Radwonki), Kreis Kolmar
Alt Sapust, Alt Dubisch, and Tarnawola in Volhynia in
the Ukraine from 1834 to 1855
Romansdorf from 1855 to 1875
Romansdorf post 1875
Krassins in America – Gilett, AR
Krassins in America – Tigerton, WI
Appendix
Other Families in the Village of Romansdorf
The History of the Krassin Family
of Arkansas and Wisconsin
Introduction– Rattai, Kreis Kolmar
Prior to 1772, Poland was an independent country that bordered
Pomerania which was a part of the Kingdom of Prussia. The
Germans in Pomerania lived on the great manorial estates of the
nobility. They had little freedom and no economic opportunity.
Meanwhile, Poland had suffered greatly in the Great Northern War
circa 1700 and other wars. It is estimated that a third of the
population died from those wars and epidemics. Consequently the
Polish nobility began to make use of German workers on their
estates. And when the nobles had vacant land, they often leased it
to German farmers. All this happened in border counties like Kreis
Kolmar.
Kreis Kolmar was a sandy and rocky place carved out by the same
glaciers that carved out Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota – and
Pomerania. This meant that only a few crops like rye could be
reliably grown. Consequently the nobles in this county had
developed a linen industry. Linen is just processed flax and the
sandy soil was ideal for flax. The workers became well trained in
growing flax, processing it into linen yarn and cloth, and even
producing quality needle work. The workers coming into Kreis
Kolmar were very good at linen production.
Rattai in Kreis Kolmar is where the earliest records of Krassins are
to be found. They are maybe related to all wings of the Krassin
family now in Minnesota, Arkansas and Wisconsin.
Those Krassins are to be found in the 1772 land census in Rattai.
This census was made after the first partition of Poland by the then
super powers of Prussia, Russia, and Austria. Here is the census
record:
Krassin Johann, Rattay, Czarnikow Census Subdistrict - 13 - 226
District Book for Crone Poland II 13 175
The details of the record are that Johan is living with wife (Anna
Marianna) and one daughter under 12 (Anna Rosina born 9 Oct
1771). So Johan and wife are just starting their family. The record
did not list any men or women living with the Johan Krassin
family. This family is on LDS microfilm 2,120,942 for the Kolmar
Catholic churches. I have not found any additional records of this
family.
The Johan Krassins were the only Krassins listed in the very large
area acquired by the Prussians in the first partitions. The census
showed no older Krassins that might be his parents. There might
well me more Krassins that moved out of Pomerania to Kreis
Kolmar after 1772. Or there might be other Krassins around in
1772 who might work for other families and live with those
families (only the head of households is listed by name).
Rattai is not a typical Polish village; it uses a common German
village plan called strassendorf (street village). That is the village
in the past and still consists of a line of houses to both sides of a
road. The village is on a rise and there is a lake and muddy area
that was used to process flax and make yarn just to one side of the
village; good farmland was to other side of the village. It may well
have been part of a noble’s estate but if so the big house and many
barns are gone. In 1772 there were well over 50 families living in
Rattai.
There appears to be no church in the village now or in the past
perhaps as it was so close to town of Kolmar. Here are some
pictures of Rattai.
The village now merges with adjacent Kolmar, a village famous
for its flax clothing. Thus it is likely that Rattai too was a cloth
maker’s village. This is where the Krassin family may have
learned the trade.
Schokken (Skoki), Kreis Wongrowitz, Posen
Schokken (Skoki is its Polish name) is an ancestral home in Poland
of the Krassin family of Volhynia and ultimately Arkansas and
Wisconsin. It is about 30 kilometers north of Poznan, Poland.
This manorial village has a typical Polish village plan centering on
two parallel streets with houses along the outer side of both streets.
This allows a common area between. The common area here is
now filled with buildings.
The village is on a rise and there is a stream and muddy area that
was used to process flax just to the north of the village. Schokken
was famous for its linen yarn.
This manorial village gained many of its German residents after
noble Calvinist Nicholas Rej invited German cloth makers
following the Swedish war circa 1650. Here is a picture of the Rej
family's manor house (gut):
The land here has been farmed since 1632 when new town of
Schokken was formed. In 1772 this area including Schokken was
incorporated into Prussia so cloth makers needed to compete in
Prussian market rather than the less competitive Polish market.
The head of the village contains a Catholic Church where some of
the Johan Krassin family were baptized (from 1720 to 1772 the
Lutheran Church was banned in Poland). Here are 2004 pictures of
the exterior and interior of the church.
This church is now being renovated as seen in this 2006 picture:
Here is Martin Krassin's 1782 birth record from this village.
Martin was born in the village of Stare (Starin is shown above)
which is just north of Schokken. His brother Andreas was born in
1776 in Gryzbowo near Stare, both north of Schokken. Martin’s
sister Anna Catherina was born in Gonborner Hauland in
Schokken parish in 1784 (I cannot find this location on maps of the
area but it could be Gorker Hauland). Somewhere between 1784
and 1812 Martin moved on to Schwersenz. Between 1802 and
1812 he married Anna Marianna Benkendorf who was born in
Michanow (Michalowo?) near Schokken.
Here are some pictures of the village. The old Evangelical Church
is still there but now being used as the main Schokken Catholic
Church while the older one is under repair. The damage to bell
tower is from WW II:
Interestingly, the church books for Schokken include many family
names like those of other families that moved to the cloth maker
villages in Russia like the Krassins. The family names include
Spitzer, Rosentreter, Hahn, Neumann, Wegner, Makkus, Kinst,
Degner, Henkel, Will, and Klukas.
Schwersenz (Swarzedz), Posen-Ost, Posen
Schwersenz is a town set up by the Gruzinski family around 1600.
It was a refuge for Lutherans during the counter-reformation. At
the time of the First Partition of Poland, it was a village of German
cloth makers.
As noted earlier, Johan Krassin's children were born near
Schokken between 1776 and 1784. His son Martin’s children were
born in Schwersenz between 1813 and 1824. Other family names
in Schwersenz later found in Romansdorf include Martin Will,
Andreas Spitzer as well as Henschell, Henkel, Hahn, Jesswin, and
Lehmann. Later many of these people moved onward to Volhynia
and Kiev in the Ukraine.
Schwersenz was known for its carpenters around 1900. The village
has become a big town but it still has a nice town hall and Catholic
Church.
The Lutheran destroyed in the war; it was located on this town
square:
The only picture I could find of the Lutheran church was in a
damaged book. This is an 1890’s Lutheran church probably build
on the site of an older Lutheran church. So courtesy of that noted
artist Buddy Hathaway, we have this restored picture:
Radwonke (Radwonki), Kreis Kolmar, Posen
Radwonki (happy village in Polish) is earliest known location of
the Gottlieb Krassin family of Wisconsin and later Minnesota. We
have only a little evidence to suggest that Gottlieb was also a child
of Johan Krassin of Rattai (discussed earlier) which would also
have made Gottlieb a brother of Martin Krassin who was born in
Schokken to Johan Krassin.
Johan Krassin was in Rattai in 1772. As noted in the last section,
Johan’s child Martin was born in 1782. Martin’s children were
born in Schwerenz between 1813 and 1824. Gottlieb was born in
1791 (according to the passenger records from Liverpool, England
to New York arriving 28 Aug 1854). His children were born in
Radwonke (which you will soon learn about) which is an estate
just a few kilometers from Rattai. Gottlieb’s children were born in
that village between 1816 and 1824. Martin’s father Johan and
Gottlieb both lived near to or in Rattai. Gottlieb was the right age
to be Martin’s younger brother.
This manorial village has a typical Polish village plan. The village
style was termed Angerdorf - where the road forks within the
village and encloses a central plaza, in which a village fishpond,
trees or a church with cemetery frequently is found. Here the farms
lie on both sides of the two branches of the road. The manor house
stood along with the barns at the top of the village. The common
area here was still maintained (in many villages in Poland the
common area is filled with schools or churches). The common area
also contains a stream that might have been used to process flax
and make linen yarn or cloth (this area of Poland was famous for
its cloth makers). The X’s represent small houses for the workers.
In 1772 there were only 4 households in this village and no were
occupied by Krassins. Most of the houses in this village looked
relatively modern and might have been built long after 1772.
Here are some pictures of the village. Note particularly the first
picture with one cottage made in the Old Prussian wall style and
the second picture showing a clay barn. (Sorry, it was a rainy day
and my pictures weren't that great).
This picture shows the buildings at the head of the village
(formerly manor house and barns) - now replaced with the
structures of the state run farm that Radwonke became following
World War II.
The Martin Krassin family left for Russian Poland in the late
1820’s. The Gottlieb Krassin family left for America in several
family groups between 1852 and 1854. Now I will continue
onward with the Martin Krassin story.
Alt Sapust, Alt Dubisch, and Tarnawola in Volhynia in
the Ukraine from 1834 to 1855
The Martin Krassin family moved from Schwerenz in Prussian
Poland to the Lodz area in Russian Poland around 1823. Their
move probably reflected the work opportunities near Lodz in the
newly developing cloth making industry in that area. Cloth making
was a cottage industry when they arrived but quickly was moving
to a factory based industry.
In 1833 there was a major uprising of the Poles against the Russian
occupiers. This was accompanied by bloodshed and cruelty on
both sides. The Russians mercilessly repressed the revolt. Two
years later the Martin Krassin family was in the Ukraine, a Russian
occupied area where there was no revolt. Also in the Ukraine the
local nobility wanted to build a cloth making industry so made it
easy for the cloth makers to lease land.
The Martin Krassin family and related cloth maker families settled
in the Alt Sapust area. These villages were on sandy alkaline soil
suitable for growing flax. They were also on the Styr River so the
mud flats were suitable for processing the flax straw to extract the
linen fiber. These cloth making villages are along the eastern shore
of the Styr River as shown in the following map.
Below is the bridge on the River Styr in Rozyszcze looking toward
the villages. The villages are on the right side of the River.
The Village Square in Rozyszcze where the church was located.
Above is a cloth maker style house in Alt Sapust. Behind the house
is a stream suitable for the processing of flax. Across the street is
the necessary sandy alkaline soil for growing flax.
The housing in this and other German villages is pretty much still
as described by Eric Hoffman in his family history:
Each family had a small plot of ground around their home for a
garden and a yard or pen for their stock. A herder was employed
by the whole village. Each evening he rounded up the cattle and
took them out to pasture in the country and brought them back in
the evening. The house and barn was a one-unit affair. The family
or owner lived in one end of the building and the livestock was
housed in the other. There of course was a wall to seal off the
stable part from the family living quarters. In the part of Russia
where our folks lived the farmers were plagued by horse thieves.
So when they built their barns, no doors were made to lead directly
into the part where the livestock were housed. The animals were
driven or led through a door and across the corner of one of the
rooms of the house. Even then the people had to be on the alert lest
the thieves might cut a hole through the other end of the building
and steal their horses. The household furnishings were very plain mostly hand made. A fireplace was used to heat the house and clay
ovens for baking bread. Cook stoves as a rule had sides made of
brick or clay with cast iron tops.
Romansdorf from 1855 to 1875
Romansdorf (Slavic name Doliwa) was founded in 1855. It is a
street village (strassendorf) that once housed about 80 families,
most German. A strassendorf is built along a road with houses on
small plots of land neatly placed alongside both sides of the road.
The fields surround the village.
Romansdorf was a rich village; the land is flat and has good black
soil. The initial occupants were given 20 year contracts on the
land; this meant there was a large in migration in 1855 and out
migration when the 20-year contract expired in 1875.
The village is nearer to Kiev, Ukraine than to Zhitomir in
Volhynia, Ukraine. So the church book (Kirchenbuch) records are
in Kiev Parish and not in Zhitomir Parish. These records are for the
most part available through the microfilms kept by the Mormons.
The few missing years are available in the Kiev Archives.
The initial settlers were tuchmacher (cloth makers) such as my
great-great-great-grandfather Christian Hoffmann and the Andreas
Spitzer family that arrived in Volhynia in the 1830's and lived
largely from the Faustendorf area and Krassins and Radkes that
lived in Alt Sapust area. The reasons for their move in 1855 can
only be conjectured but here are two reasonable possibilities:
Faustindorf and Alt Sapust 20-year land contracts had run out
around 1855 so the contracts needed to be renewed or the Germans
had to find new places. Another reason for the move was that the
land in Romansdorf was much better than that in either Faustindorf
or Alt Sapust.
The Alt Sapust, Alt Dubisch and Tarnawola group did not move en
masse to Romansdorf around 1855. In fact, the majority of these
families stayed put including parts of the Krassin and Spitzer
families. The move by those from Alt Sapust, Alt Dubish,
and Tarnawola seemed to be more by virtue of marriage or
occurred as their numbers exceeded the available farmland in that
area.
In any case, the new village was quickly populated and the
residents enjoyed a high standard of village life. In the Mennonite
Encyclopedia, Busch lists Romansdorf as having 143 adherents
(Lutherans) with 26 school children in 1859.
As 1865 approached Romansdorf was at its maximum capacity and
people began to settle in nearby villages such as Ludwigsdorf and
Malin. Later in 1875 the 20-year land contracts in Romansdorf had
run their course. For that reason there was a major movement out
of Romansdorf in 1875 to other villages in the area like
Ludwigsdorf. Good farming land could be purchased rather than
leased in these villages.
Romansdorf post 1875
The 1880's brought repressive policies by the Russians throughout
the Ukraine. All people were required to learn Russian, join the
Orthodox Church, and all young men serve in the Russian Army.
This set off massive migrations to the Americas including not only
Germans but also Ukrainians, Poles and Jews. Having proper
identification in order to migrate was a problem for Germans in
Russia. To aid them the Lutheran pastors made up birth certificates
(there never were any official certificates). Here is a copy of
a "birth certificate" that helped Julius Krassin to make his way to
America.
The family of Wilhelm Otto and Caroline Spitzer was the first of
the families from Romansdorf to leave for North America. They
arrived in New York City in 1884 and purchased land in
Ottenheim Kentucky from Lincoln Land Company in New York
(owned by Jacob Ottenheim). They settled in Ottenheim soon
thereafter. They assisted the departure of the much larger family
groups in 1892; these groups landed at Baltimore and went
immediately to visit their cousins in Ottenheim. Several of the
families settled in Ottenheim but others like the Krassins went to
Wisconsin, Michigan, and Arkansas.
It is a good thing that most people got out then. Germans living in
Russia were sent to Siberia when World War I pitted the Germany
against Russia. Many died; those that survived left for America
although some resettled in Russia. In 1929 Stalin tried to
collectivize all Russia including Romansdorf. Those resisting,
including Germans, were killed. Collectivization still didn't work
so in 1933 Stalin set off a great starvation in the Ukraine killing
many; Julius Krassin and wife Anna Elisabeth Quast were starved
to death in Romansdorf in 1933. In 1937 killings related to the
Stalin purges occurred; 46 people were killed in Romansdorf
including Julius and Anna Elisabeth Krassin's son Adoph Krassin.
In 1939 many Germans were again sent to Siberia; only three
families returned. My great-great-grandfather Samuel Hoffman's
son Heinrich Reinhold Hoffman also died in the foregoing
holocaust although it is not clear when this happened.
The village of Romansdorf was totally destroyed in the Second
World War. First the Russians built trenches using material from
the village and a battle was fought there. Then the Nazi's did the
same when retreating from their defeat in Stalingrad. All buildings
in the village now are post-war. There are no remnants of the
German villages and only a few remaining graves. As of 2000, the
young people have all gone to the big Ukrainian cities like Kiev
leaving Romansdorf to the old timers.
The Romansdorf cemetery contains only one German grave
monument; it is on the grave of Julius Krassin and wife Anna
Elisabeth Quast who were starved to death in 1933. The monument
has a bullet mark on the back. Here are the pictures:
Martin Krassin Descendents in America
Gillett, Arkansas
Gillett, Arkansas is a town on the "Grand Prairie" in Arkansas
County, Arkansas. This area is an area of prairie grass and
bordered by the Mississippi and White Rivers. This area was
populated prior to the American Civil War and a major battle for
the control of the Mississippi was fought at Arkansas Post in this
county. This area has a rich history and if you have history
questions, just email John W. Cover, [email protected], the
Gillett historian.
Here is a 1895 map of the county.
Prior to 1900, the Grand Prairie area was not considered to be very
good for farming and subject to destructive prairie fires. Thus, the
southern part of the Grand Prairie was marketed to immigrants and
other people outside Arkansas. This led to the Poll, Leverenz,
Natho, Rook, and Richter families to travel from Danville IL to the
lands southwest of Gillett to farm in the 1880’s; locals referred to
this area as "Germany". And led the Lehmanns, Hoffmanns,
Krassins, and Jessweins who were Germans from Volhynia in
Russia to locate northeast of Gillett in the mid 1890’s; locals
termed this area "Russia." On the above map you can see
Greenwald on the rail line to Gillett which was used mainly to
move rice and other crops. The "Russians" were living near
Greenwald; they had lived in Gruenwald (Green Forrest) in Russia
prior to 1892. People easily moved between Gilett, Wisconsin, and
Michigan. So families like Julius Lehmann (who married Caroline
Krassin), Johan Natho (who married Mathilda Krassin), and
William Krassin (who married Anna Seefeldt) were not only in
Gillett but in other places in America.
The Ludwig Hoffmann Family lived in Gillett (1893 to 1898) prior
to the introduction of rice and life was not so good. Here are details
from the Hoffmann Family History Story:
Our dad (Ludwig Hoffmann) had some experience making wagons
while in Russia, so the first job he got when he arrived at St.
Joseph, MI was in a wagon factory. At heart, however, he was a
farmer. So when the other relatives at Gillett, Arkansas wrote to
him telling how wonderful the climate was down there, he became
very interested. He was told that two crops could be raised from
the same plot of ground in one year. So he thought how wonderful
it must be to be able to always have new potatoes.
It was in the late winter or early spring of 1893 when father quit
his job at the wagon factory and moved his family down to Gillett,
Arkansas. Dad bought forty acres of land from one of the relatives.
They lived in with Fred Lehman and Julia Lehman nee Hoffmann
(dad's sister) until a house could be built on the land just
purchased. Before one year had passed father and mother found
out what Arkansas of that period was like. The summers were too
dry for corn to grow. At best the corn only developed into small
nubbins. All other crops were in like proportion. Potatoes had to be
planted extra early to have anything at all. Mother said there was
one year when they thought they were going to have a bumper
crop. The weather had been ideal and the potatoes had grown to
enormous size. Then a heavy downpour of rain came and right
after that real hot weather. In a few days all the potatoes were
rotted to nothing. On top of all this mother and father were sick an
awful lot - with malaria for one thing. At one period mother was so
ill she was not expected to live. She finally did get well, but her
memory of a lot of things she used to know about cooking and
medical plants left her and she never fully recovered from it.
Besides all these hardships a full-scale depression was on during
these years. If the farmers had anything to sell, it was worth little
or nothing. If jobs of any kind were found - wages were fifty cents
per day. What helped out dad was that he was handy with
woodwork and black smithing. He made hooks to handle baled hay
out of broken hay rake teeth, and sold them. He repaired broken
cultivator teeth or blades - and occasionally fixed guns. He made
wooden wagons, which he sold for ten dollars each. So in this way
he managed to provide for his family. The Ludwig Hoffmann
family returned to St. Joseph MI in the spring of 1898 and then
moved on to Tigerton, Wisconsin.
The "Russian" and "German" families often intermarried. Both
groups attended the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Gillett. Here are
pictures of the old church and its altar:
The local economy of Gillett really took off with the introduction
of rice farming to the area around 1905. Below is a picture of rice
harvesting in those early days.
Following is a picture of the first rice mill in the area and a picture
of the current elevators; both are in Stuttgart just north of Gillett.
Tigerton, Wisconsin
When the residents of Romansdorf immigrated to America, they
settled initially in Gillett, Arkansas and Tigerton, Wisconsin.
Tigerton was home to the Lehmann, Krassin, and Hoffmann
families. All three of those families had intermarried so I am a
descendent of all three. Here is a picture of the Lutheran church
these families attended.
In the 1900 US and 1905 WI census provides these details: My
maternal grandfather Ludwig Hoffmann and family settled here on
a farm across the road from the Lehmann farm; Ludwig was a
descendent of a Hoffmann-Lehmann marriage). Up the road was
the Julius Krassin and Juliana Spitzer farm. Samuel Spitzer and his
wife Caroline Krassin and family also lived here. Jacob Lehmann
and his wife Ernestine Kurtz and family were also here. Then by
1910 Gustav Lehmann, the son Julius Lehmann and Caroline
Krassin then living in Gillett also lived here.
The building of the Hoffmann home is shown in the following
picture.
It is gone but the base of the barn and some of the outbuildings
remain:
This is a difficult farming area since the land has lots of stones and
is hilly. The removal of stones has continued over the last 100
years as the stones work though the soil to the top level. So the
land is good for farm animals but a problem for crops that require
modern equipment to grow.
When I was in Tigerton I focused on my immediate ancestors so
the above pictures are about them and the area. However, just
down the road is the Julius Krassin and Caroline Spitzer farm. It
was locked inside a fence so we could not get in:
Appendix
Other Families in the Village of Romansdorf
Following is information on many of the families found in
Romansdorf between 1855 and 1875. In many cases the family
information includes family members before and after residency in
Romansdorf, for example, births in Faustindorf, Alt Sapust, and in
the Americas.
Hoffmann
The Hoffmann family came from Krolikow, Gruziec, Poland and
then from Stanislowow Studinski near Rawa, Poland ending up in
1835 in Volhynia; they were tuchmachers (cloth makers). The
Hoffmans settled in Faustindorf in 1836. The land was sandy and
alkaline allowing the growing of flax. Faustindorf was also near a
swampy area useful in extracting the linen fibers from the flax
stem. The patriarch was great-great-great-grandfather Andreas
Hoffmann who was likely recruited by the Prussians about 1794 to
settle in Poland following the third partition of Poland; the family
was originally from Saxony. His children were born in
Stanislowow and Faustindorf and grandchildren in Romansdorf.
Spitzer
The Spitzer family was recruited by the Prussians to settle Poland
following the third partition of Poland in 1794. The first records
show them just south of Thorn in Poland in Radziejow. They
moved around villages near Sampolno in Russian Poland prior to
moving to Volhynia in 1835 with the Hoffmanns. They too were
tuchmachers (cloth makers) in Faustindorf (and nearby
Stanislowa). The patriarch was Andreas Spitzer. His children were
born in Faustindorf and grandchildren largely in Romansdorf.
Reiser
The Reiser family can be tracked back to villages near Stuttgart in
Wurtemburg; this family can be traced back to before 1700. They
moved in Russian Poland around 1800 and then moved to
Volhynia with the Hoffmanns in 1835. They too were tuchmachers
(cloth makers) in Faustindorf (and nearby Stanislowa). The
patriarch was Jacob Reiser. His children were born in Faustindorf
and grandchildren largely in Romansdorf. Jacob of the village
stand-in for the Lutheran Pastor; in particular he baptized many of
the newborn children in Faustindorf and later Romansdorf. His
sister Juliana lived in the Alt Sapust area and was a midwife. (The
families of the daughters of Jacob Reiser settled in Ottenheim,
Kentucky).
Lehmann
The Lehmann family first appears in Volhynian records with the
1835 birth of Johan Gottlieb Lehmann in Olganowka near Alt
Sapust/Alt Dubisch/Tarnawola. It is not proven yet where they
came from but the Saxony area is likely. Carl Lehmann is
described in the 1836 Kirchenbuch as a master weaver so the
family was also in the cloth trade. The family patriarch is Johan
Lehmann. Johan's son Johan Gottlieb was born in Olganowka,
Volhynia; Johan's daughter Louise was married to the
aforementioned Christian Hoffman's son Samuel. Thus Louise
Hoffmann nee Lehman is my great-great-grandmother.
Kurtz
The Kurtz family first appeared in the 1850's in the Alt Sapust/Alt
Dubisch/Tarnawola area of Volhynia; these villages are suitable
for flax so it is likely they were tuchmachers (cloth makers). There
seem to be two family patriarchs. Gottfried Kurtz was born in the
Lincowitz area of Poland. Daniel Kurtz was in another family
patriarch; he was also born in Poland. Some of the members of
both families later moved to Romansdorf and nearby villages like
Ludwigsdorf.
Minges
The Minge family first appears in Sobieski, Iwanonwiez, Kalisch
about 1809. It is likely that this family was recruited by the
Prussians for Sobieski around 1794 after the third partition of
Poland. The family appears in the Alt Sapust/Alt
Dubisch/Tarnawola area of Volhynia about 1840. Christina
Minge who married Johan Krassin in Romansdorf is noted above.
Radkes
The Radke family first appeared in the 1850's in the Alt Sapust/Alt
Dubisch/Tarnawola area of Volhynia. The family patriarch
is Gottlieb Radke; his kids were born in the Shieradz area of
Poland, his grand children in Alt Sapust/Alt Dubisch/Tarnawola,
and some of his great grand children in Romansdorf. This family
also was originally cloth makers. Auguste Radke is my great
grandmother.