Showing posts with label German Immigration to the Russian Empire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label German Immigration to the Russian Empire. Show all posts

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Did the Schochenmaiers speak Franconian or Swabian German?

After we mapped the spouses' ancestors of the first Schochenmaiers married in Russia, we concluded here that our forefathers could either speak Franconian dialect (Franconian of Mosel river near France) or Swabian (in our case it's area between Stuttgart and Heilbronn).

Here is the map of some dialects:

High German dialects in 1945 from wikipedia no copyright.png
High German dialects.
Austro-Bavarian dialects are in blue colours:
North Bavarian (7), Central or Danube Bavarian (8), and South Bavarian (9).
Swabian-Alemannic dialects are in red colours.
Two Franconian dialects are in green colours.
(Courtesy Wikipedia.)


How can we check it out? How could we find out it precisely? I think I need your help.

Below you'll find two videos with examples of those two dialects. If you do remember how your parents or grandparents spoke German between them, please, be so kind to comment what dialect it could be. I do understand that it's very subjective, but, however, it could help. By the way, if you are not a Schochenmaier, but your ancestors are from the Berezan Colony (Russian Empire, 19th century), then your help is appreciated.


Example of Swabian (in German Schwäbisch):



Example of Franconian (in German Fränkisch):




Thank you in advance for your help. 

Saturday, December 21, 2013

What do we know about Rohrbach?

Rohrbach

(Russian name: Novoswetlovka/Новосветловка, Ukrainian name: Novoswitlivka/Новосвітлівка)

Beresan District, Odessa/ Black Sea Region, New South Russia (Ukraine)

General Information

Founded:         1808

First Settlers:   1809

Location: Rohrbach is located 90 versts or approximately 61 miles northeast of the city of Odessa (a port city on the Black Sea and now part of the Ukraine) or 130 versts or 86 miles northwest of Kherson which served as the center of District Government for the Beresan German Russian Colonies. The Beresan District lies between the Bug River and the Tiligul River and is bordered on the south by the north shore of the Black Sea. Its closest neighbor is the village of Worms located six versts or 4 miles from Worms. See the map below. Worms is located 4 miles northwest of Rohrbach. Rohrbach is number 26 on the map below. Worms is number 25.

http://rohrbachrussia.ancestryhost.org/rgeneral.htm

Most of the German Colonists of this region came to Russia to seek economic and religious freedom and to escape the devastation that was raging in Western Europe as the result of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. Most of the western German states bordering on the Rhine River were overrun by French occupation forces and German youth were being conscripted into the French Army. Taxation to support Napoleon's exploits was extreme. As political boundaries shifted as the result of military invasions these oppressed people were eager to leave western Europe. They were offered free land, freedom of religion and exemption from military service in New South Russia (the Ukraine) which had been acquired from the Ottoman Turkish Empire through a series of wars with Imperial Russia. There were numerous German villages all along the north shore of the Black Sea.



Sunday, December 8, 2013

What region did my ancestors live in?

As we know for sure they had come to the Beresan district, Odessa region.

 It's highlighted with lightskyblue:




In the USA a regional interest group concerning this region is to be found under: http://www.grhs.org/chapters/bdo/ 

and partly on the website Black Sea German Research: http://www.blackseagr.org/learn_odessa.html

or at the Odessa Office for Foreign Settlers in Southern Russia: http://www.archives.gov.ua/Eng/guides-Odessa.php 

Here is another map of those villages:







Friday, December 6, 2013