Abraham Schmidt - the Beginning Chapter 1

Having just survived the coldest winter since their arrival in south Russia, the colony of Molotschna was enduring a heat wave in July 1850 as Katharina Funk Schmidt gave birth to baby Abraham. History would note record temperatures that year from a low of 14 degrees below zero in January to a high of 102 degrees in July.

To make it worse, storms came sweeping across the broad, treeless Russian plains filling the air with dust. It was enough to make any immigrant want to return home, if they had a home to return to. But these immigrants didn't. When the Mennonites left their homes along the Vistula River of Poland, they sold their houses and land, packed everything they owned on wagons and trudged hundreds of miles to the south of Russia. It took them between five and seven weeks to get to the new colony.

OK, so that's why they weren't Russian even though came to America from Russia.

From 1804-1840 six thousand Mennonites left Poland. They left Poland because they were being persecuted for their religious beliefs, especially their refusal to bear arms. The Napoleonic Wars were making it hard to avoid conscription into the army. (Personally, I think that the neighbors were jealous. The Mennonites were such good farmers that they were able to move into the swampy land along the Vistula River and turn it into productive farmland. When they left they had to sell to whoever would buy it for whatever price they could get.)

Then, were the original Mennonites Polish?

Not necessarily, although during the 100 years that they lived in Poland some local people joined their religious community. The Mennonites came from other countries like Holland, Switzerland, France and Germany. They banded together through their common religion and beliefs, the same beliefs that forced them out of their native countries.

Which country did Abraham's parents come from?

Abraham's parents were not born in Russia according to his diary.(Personal diary owned by Hulda Langhofer)

His mother, Katharina Funk, was born on June 22, 1807 in the part of Poland ruled by Russia. Abraham called this area "Polen Russia".

His father, Heinrich Schmidt, was born in German in 1793. Heinrich (the father) came with his parents to the southern part of Russia when Heinrich was 18 - that was in 1811.  Heinrich came with his father Daniel, 51, his stepmother Barbara, 37, and brothers and sisters.(Die Niederlandish by Unruh, p.330)

They brought with them 1 horse, 6 cows, 5 sheep, 1 harrow, 1 wagon, and a spinning wheel. They settled in the Molotschna Colony near the Black Sea in a newly created small village of 30 people, called Ruckenau.
Soon after they arrived in Rückenau, Heinrich's sister Susanna married Jacob Draksel, a neighbor, on February, 25, 1813.

But why did they pick Russia? And why right then?

Russia under the rule of Catherine the Great had just won a war and gained millions of acres of unoccupied agricultural land along the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. The Russian government wanted to settle the area with industrious, stable farmers. She offered liberal inducements - such as free land and transportation; support until they were settled; tax exemption for a limited time; self-government within their region; exemption from military duty; and, most importantly, religious tolerance. After Catherine the Great died, her son Paul continued the same offer.

In Summary
Abraham was born in Russia in 1850 but his father and grandfather had come from Germany in 1811. Their religion and their culture remained intact in Russia through their communal solidarity.

More tomorrow......

Update on Names

Here is the headstone for Henry Schmidt son of Abraham and Katharine Schmidt

How I Got Started...the prequel

My great-grandfather Abraham Schmidt had been laid to rest in a Reedley, California cemetery for fifty years before I began searching for him. By 1978 only the skeleton of his life remained. I had so many unanswered questions. Who was he? Where did he come from? How did he get to California? Why did he come here? What traits have I inherited from him?

These questions fascinated me and started a search that continues still. This blog is an attempt to answer these questions from information that I have pieced together from many sources.

I began my research when I came across an antique photograph of a large family. I was intrigued to learn that the slender, young boy in the center was my grandfather Jacob Schmidt. My childhood memory of him was of a huge man with a big belly. Could this slender young boy really be him?

 Back row: Peter Karber, Jacob Hiebert, Abraham A., John, Henry
Standing: Elizabeth (Voth), Peter, Jacob
Sitting: Katharina (mother Nikkels), Mary, Nicholas, Katharina, Abraham
Infant Walter Karber

The family was dressed in black and looked as though they were going to a funeral. The inscription on the back, however, said that it was a joyous occasion. Abraham, with the white beard, had just become an American citizen.

My mother used a few German expressions around the house and when we visited her relatives they would serve "German" food. Naturally I assumed that her ancestors had come from Germany. Imagine my surprise when I learned that Abraham Schmidt had emigrated from Russia!

I showed the picture to my mother. "RUSSIA?" I asked. "But I thought they were from Germany."

Well, actually," she replied. "They came from Poland, but they spoke Low German because they were originally from Holland."

That was really confusing!

"How did Germans from Russia come from Poland and speak German that was really Dutch?" The answer was in their Mennonite religion. So started my search to unravel this confusing history.

Stay tuned for the rest of the story tomorrow...

Four of the Thesman children - Anna, Katherine, Helen, Johnny

Back row: Anna and Katherine Front row: Helen and Johnny

Henry H. Thesman and Sara Jantzen had 11 children. This is a picture of 4 of them.

Anna J. Thesman married Jacob Schmidt and lived in Enid, Okla.
Katherine Thesman married Herman Hiebert and lived in San Jose, CA.
Helen married Marvin Gaede and lived in Los Angeles.
Johnny died as a child.

Middle Names or Not

Did our ancestors have middle names? I was getting conflicting answers to that question so I googled it. This is what I found:
The Amish don't use middle names, but with the increase in government paperwork, they now use middle initials. Usually the first initial of the father's name is given as a middle initial for their children's names. This is done out of respect for the father. The Mennonites, on the other hand, use the first letter of the mother's maiden name.
In our family:
Henry H. and Sarah (Jantzen) Thesman's children were Franz J. Thesman and Anna J Thesman, etc.
But in the Abraham and Katharina (Regier) Schmidt family, the children were Jacob A. Schmidt and Elizabeth A. Schmidt. 
Maybe it was where they lived that made a difference in their choice. Does anyone know?
What we do know and that I find interesting is the way the kids added to their Middle initial. Anna Thesman chose "Julia" for her middle initial "J".
In the Schmidt family, Henry picked "Andre" for his middle initial of "A".

I see a lot of middle names for the children born around 1920 and later. Maybe a middle name is not listed on the birth certificate, but by the time they learned to write their name they knew their middle name.


Here is Jacob A. Schmidt and Anna J. Thesman's marriage license signed by Rev. Voth.

Family Tree Link

I haven't written in a couple of days because I have been trying to edit our family tree. We are represented on RootsWeb.com but not completely. For example, Jacob Schmidt's daughter Rosalie Berg is listed on one version but not all of Jacob's brothers and sisters are listed.

There are 2 trees listed in RootsWeb.com. One is by a distant Schellenberg relative in Canada. And one is by a distant Gaede relative in Los Angeles.

I've been in touch with both men and they are very happy to "talk" to us.

We are in touch in some San Jose Hiebert relatives who do research as well.

Next blog is about the middle name mystery.

Jacob Schmidt

A 78 year Life Story with Music in 3 minutes

Here is a video that I made about Abraham Schmidt 1850-1928.

Click on the arrow:

Covered Wagon Driving Cousin

   The other day, R.S. told me about the last time he had seen his cousin Patricia Schmidt. Pat was the daughter of Henry Schmidt who had left Enid, Okla to seek his fortune elsewhere. Henry ended up being a salesman (sometimes of cars and sometimes of Maytag products). And he married the daughter of a doctor in a small town in Texas.

Back row: wife Fayne, dau. Francis, Henry S., sister Mary 

Front row: dau.Patricia, niece Jean 

   Henry and his wife Fayne had two daughters. One of whom was still living and in her 60's when R.S. and his wife Katy found themselves driving through Texas. They decided to stop in Stephenville to see how cousin Pat was doing.
   She wasn't home, they were told. She's out driving a covered wagon in a re-creation of a wagon train traveling around Texas.
   So R.S. and his wife followed the wagon train and caught up with Pat about suppertime. They spent the evening around the campfire catching up on family business. When it was time to turn in, Pat climbed into her wagon while R.S. and Katy enjoyed the comfort of their motorhome. After all this was the 1980's. No need to rough it.

Welcome! to a story about Abraham Schmidt and Heinrich Thesman

Hello, I have been researching my family tree ever since I saw the program "Roots" by Alex Haley on tv in the '70's.

Little did I know the trip that was ahead of me.

Very often I learned about our ancestors in stories told by relatives and friends. There are no boxes on family tree forms for these stories.

I'm new to blogging but from what I've heard, blogging will be a great way to share the stories.
I also want to share the photos that I have collected and hopefully you will share yours as well.

I'll start with Abraham Schmidt 1850-1928 because I am most familiar with him. And we can go from there.