Churches of the Schochenmaiers (Part II, Russian Empire)

Today, we go back to the South of the Russian Empire where the Schochenmaiers had lived possibly from 1817 after the year without summer in 1816 when the famine forced lots of persons to leave either for Russia or for US.

According to the documents, the first Schochenmaier born in Russia was probably August Schochenmaier (1835) who had been born either in Poland or in Ukraine (it was however Russian territory). Although we suggest that his brothers Gottlieb ( about 1828-31) and Christian (about 1833) had been born in Russia as well.

What we know precisely is the fact that our ancestors had come to the colony of Beresan, namely to the village of Rohrbach in the beginning of the 1850s. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of the churches from Rohrbach. Rohrbach belonged to the Evangelical Parish (Rohrbach-Worms 1809-1933
and Worms-Johannestal 1861-1885). That's why I would like to present to you the churches around Rohrbach which were alike, I think.

Rohrbach is surounded by villages of Karlsruhe, Landau, München, Rastadt, Speyer, Sulz,Worms, Grossliebenthal, Josephstal, Liebental, Mariental.

There were two churches in Rohrbach: the Protestant (Reformed or Lutheran) one and the Mennonite one. In other villages there were some Catholics churches as well.

I am afraid the pictures of today will shock you because almost all of the churches German colonists had been deconstructed or abandoned during the Soviet aera. Are you ready for the places where God is not to be found anymore?

Let's start with Manheim where the Kirche had been built in 1850 :

http://www.grhs.org/korners/heinle/church.htm

Now let's visit the Church of the Holy Trinity in Kandel. During the Soviet Union it has been used as granary:

It looked like that then: 

it looks now like that: 

Let's move on to the church in Selz that has been used like community club:

 

The example of the reconstructed church is that in Elsass village:

How do you think what is inside?? Have a look:

The Lutheran Church in Johannestal

Most, if not all of the colonial villages established colonies in Russia were segregated by religion, either Catholic, Protestant, or Mennonite.  Johannestal was established as a Lutheran village and remained so.  Although the church was Lutheran, many of the members of the village were reformed, including some of the church pastors.  In latter years of the colony's existence, a small Baptist group met in private homes in the village.

In the 1930's many of the churches in Russia were destroyed or severely damaged by the Godless Society, sponsored by the Communist Government.  The Johannestal church fared better than some:  it's steeple was removed along with all of the religions ornamentation and altar, however the building was left standing and was used as a "Klub" or social hall for the village.  In recent years the church has been re-claimed by the Ukrainian Lutheran Church and services are held there about once per month.

We do not have any good photographs of what the church looked like before the steeple was removed.  About all that was available was the photograph in Height (top left picture below.)  Gary Schorzmann commissioned an artist to draw what the church looked like, going from the Height photo and more recent photographs.  The four graphics are superimposed on a map showing Johannestal and the neighboring villages highlighted in yellow.

Only one church is still looking perfectly - the Lutheran Church of Odessa. It's because Odessa is the city of great importance:

Churches of the Schochenmaiers (part I, Germany)

Today I'd like to start a post  about the churches wherein our ancestors possibly had gone. But let's do it in chronological way. It will be consisting of three parts: churches of the Schochenmaiers in Germany, Russia and North America.

Let's start with Germany. As I know in what church books the earliest Schochenmaiers are to be found I may admit they had been members of those churches.

First, we visit the city of Ludwigsburg where we can track our ancestors (4 generations!!!) back from 1710s to 1820s.

The city church in Ludwigsburg was built in the Baroque style in the years 1718-1726. This makes it the oldest church in the heart of the city of Ludwigsburg, which itself arose only after the construction of the Royal Palace. So the year 1704 is considered the founding year of the city.

Then we should visit the Evangelical church of Kornwestheim (Martinskirche):

Let's move to Stuttgart. You should visit the Protestant Old Church in Heumaden (a locality of Stuttgart), Baden-Württemberg. Built in 1499, it is one of the most important attractions of Heumaden. More than a tourist spot, the church serves as the local parish and is often visited by the residents of the district. We can stumble upon the Johann Christian Schochenmaier here in the 1720s. 

Now let's fly to the West near France where you can find the family of Martin and Barbara Schochenmaier in the 1730s:

Church of Wittendorf:

Church of Kork (Kehl):

Church of Linx:

Church of Rheinbischofsheim:

And the last sights seeing for today will be Heilbronn where a big family of Carl August Schochenmaier had lived in the beginning of the 19th century. Here we go to the Nikolai Church:

 Next time we will visit the churches of the 19th century in the South Russia, Black Sea Germans (today's Ukraine).

Lifestyle in the Southern Germany where the Schochenmaiers had lived before Russia

In order to find out how our ancestors had lived in the Southern Germany (Baden, Württemberg or maybe Palatinate) I've visited an open-air Museum. It's about typical Lifestyle around there. Please enjoy my Pictures:

And now....! As you remember, if it is true that two different families (very possibly the Schochs and the Maiers), according to Jacob Schochenmaier, founded their joint wagon and buggy company in Germany, then it might look like follows: