The Berschauer Genealogy II

The Berschauers Research notes & Daniel Burgard .

Research completed by Dr. Igor and Ludmila Pleve in Saratov Russia is credited for the data contained here for the Berschauer ancestry in the Volga region. We asked that the research include 1766 through 1900. This was the period when when the settelers arrived from Prussia/Germany and established families that are our ancestors. Most of the information we received ends in the mid-1850's for births and deaths and the mid 1860's for marriages. The Pleves offer the following explanation:

"It is a pity that the church records reffering to the second half of the 19th century are found only for separate years and are extremely meager, but your families are investigated fully and thoroughly from the moment of their arrival to Russia and up to 1860. If later some new documents on the Kratzke colony are found, we'll undoubtedly inform you."

The Berschauer chart does not go back to the original Berschauer immigrant from Germany to Russia. The Pleves offer a detailed explanation about the research that was undertaken in an attempt to locate them. The wording in brackets are Dr. Brent Mai's clearification notes.

"...we couldn't sorrowfully find ... information on the Berschauer family. For today [meaning as of today] we have looked through the record lists of all the colonists who had arrived in Russia in 1766, the record lists all of the colonists in the 1767-1768 census, but among them there is not a single family with the surname of Berschauer. We have also examined the record lists of the late 18th century in more than 40 colonies, but the Berschauers weren't there either. But we have come across a curious coincidence. According to the 19th century documents (both various lists [census] and church books) the oldest Berschauers are:

  1. Georg Jacob, b 1789
  2. J. Christoph, b 1792
  3. Cath. Magdalena, b 1793
To that they are registered as born in the Kratzke colony. But these persons bearing this surname\ are not registered in the Kratzke colony in the late 18th century census [1798] though [they] should have been there. There is only a note of a certain Maria Cath. Berschauer, 1770, who had married Johannes Merz, b. 1770 from the Merkel colony. Looking through the 18th century record lists [the 1798 census again] for the second time, we've run into the family of Daniel Burgard, 1739? (1740). The document certifies that this second wife was Margaretha Elisabeth Straut, 1760 and they had the following children:
  1. George Jacob, b. 1788? (1789)
  2. J. Christoph, b. 1971? (1792)
  3. Maria Magdalena, b. 1793
  4. Cath. Dorothea, b. 1796
Both the names and the birthdates of these Burgards precisely coincide with the Berschauer's. [Well, the girls don't exactly match....] It could be supposed that the surname in the document had been misspelled, but the 1767 record lists [census] of the Kratzke colony on 7.08.1766 [7 August 1766]. We can't exclude, that the surname had been wrongly put in the first settlers' record list, but this can only be guessed, because there's no documentary confirmation of the fact. The only thing to do if you wish, is to make an order to Germany to check out how the surname of this Daniel Burgard or Berschauer had been really written, since we know for sure that he belonged to the Reformed Church, was a bag weaver from Prussia, Berlin, and arrived to the Kratzke colony on 7.08.1766 and consequently, had left Germany in 1765. From our side, we'll examine the 18th century documents further on, though it is time-consuming."

So, as you can tell, they were unable to tell us everything that we wanted to know, but we have learned quite a few things, from new family connections to previously known maiden names. Dr. Brent Mai and I will continue to try to verify whether or not the Pleves theory of the Burgard/Berschauer misspellings given above are correct. Since the first Berschauers found in lists were the first born in Russia, the birth event is the first time a German wrote the names down. This adds creditability to Pleve's theory, or perhaps the Burgards just decided to change their last name?

Source:

Research sponsored by the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia,
Brent Mai, Professor at Purdue University and Kratzke Village Coordinator for AHSGR
Research completed by Dr. Igor and Ludmila Pleve, Saratov University, Russia
Web page By: Bob L. Berschauer