Berschauer Genealogy II 
Berschauer Genealogy II Introduction
This will be the first Berschauer Genealogy update since Eva Lelia Berschauer-Miller's publication in 1981. Her work has inspired me to continue the research work and attempt to answer some of the questions she had. I am fortunate to be able to document two more generations back in time, and add some more linkages to families, both in the United States and abroad, in writing an update to The Berschauer Genealogy written by my Aunt Eva. We have considerable new information because of the combined efforts of Brent Mai, Professor at Purdue, and Igor Pleve, Professor at the University of Saratov. I am considerably indebted to Aunt Eva's, publication, inspiration and assistance in the preparation of this book.Our ancestors were among a large group of Germans from Prussia who relocated to Russia upon a call from Catherine the Great when she issued her manifesto in 1763. As you will learn many left Prussia in 1765 after hasty marriages and "getting their affairs in order".
The format of this book will be historical, family accounts of life and immigration and family tree related pages. Care has been taken to group family tree pages to provide the maximum understanding of the relationship of closely related families.
As time passed, generation after generation, and families grew, we drifted apart to the point that the Berschauers in WaKeeney, Kansas do not know the Berschauers from Russell, Kansas or the Berschauers living in the Washington State, or Europe for that matter. We also do not know closely related cousins because in the past when a girl in a German family married, she marries off and is not kept track of. We have also moved away from our hometowns and are distributed all over the United States. There are also the Berschauers in the old country that we have lost track of!
We have tried to link many of the Berschauer families in the United States who were descendents of these Kratzke ancestors. We have been able to provide the family ties to most of the Berschauers in the United States and one family in Germany. We have not been able to positively trace the first and only Berschauer family arriving in Kratzke back to his family's roots in Germany. I have set a goal of publish by year end 2000 so there will be omissions because of my self-imposed time constraints.
In any Genealogy study it is worth mentioning the difficulty that we have had in getting our ancestor's names correct. For instance Aunt Eva's father and my grandfather Johann Heinrich Berschauer was known by Henry (no middle name) Berschauer. She said to me that her father was never known as anything but Henry. I have used the names as they were found in church records in research conducted by Professor Igor Pleve even though there are disagreements.
European History
In a search for understanding our ancestor's motives for leaving Prussia I have become an avid student of European history. The two periods of Prussian history that yield the greatest understanding of our ancestors are Frederick William I (1713 - 174?) and Frederick the Great's reign (174? - 1786) as King of Prussia. Frederick William I ascended to the throne upon the death of his father Frederick I on 25 February 1713. Prussia consisted of many geographically disconnected fiefdoms and dynasties. The kingdom was very weak and exposed to strong and violent takeover. Frederick William was fed up with seeing Prussia bullied. The following paragraph from (1) A History of Prussia best describes his attitude at the time of his father's death.The body of Frederick I lay in state in full baroque splendor, with the trappings of an age he had loved, admired, and done so much to emulate in his barren kingdom. At his feet, deep in thought, stood the new King, Frederick William I. Rather abruptly he straightened himself, turned on his heels and walked out of the room leaving behind him not only the body of his father, the guard of honor and the dim light of the candles, but also another age. The threshold which he crossed was one into an era he meant to be vastly different from that of his father.
And a new age it was! Frederick continued the policy of religious freedom but he changed the spending habits of his ministers and seized control of all assets. He believed that expenditure should not exceed revenue for any reason. The practice of overspending in the past had crippled the kingdom. He began to focus on production of products and exports. When the treasury began to show a surplus he built up army. Many people felt that his economy measures were drastic, but he did strengthen Prussia. This time in Europe was one of expansionism for all kingdoms. Alliances were being made and wars were being fought for the purpose of gaining land and resources from others. Almost 100 years had passed since the start of the ravages known as The Thirty Years War (1618-1648). It still was a requirement of a kingdom to be on guard.
Although disagreements between Fredrick I and his son Fredrick William II were at times extensive his son continued his policy of fiscal controls and building his army. He lead the army in wars and became a great commander. His goal was to consolidate his territories to make Prussia more defendable. These expansionist efforts resulted in what became known as The Seven Years War (1756 - 1762).
Volga History
The history of the Germans who left their homeland and traveled long distances to settle a wild and untamed land in Russia is very interesting indeed. I started with a simple curiosity in my family roots. My Aunt Eva had published The Berschauer Genealogy and that started my long fascination and fact-finding mission. The thing that has intrigued me the most is the question "WHY?" Even though the German born emperor of Russia, Catherine the Great had promised land and many other enticements, why would so many (about 37,000) people leave their homeland and place their families in danger to settle an untamed land. Was the prospect of free land that attractive?
The quest for an answer to the question "WHY" lead me to the history books and the Internet. I began to learn about the "Pre-Germany" style of life that our ancestors lived. What is now Germany was a number of duchies or "fiefdoms" ruled by the owners of those regions. They were most always at war. For the people living there at the time of mass exodus, about 1765, Freedom from military conscription was a BIG! Deal. They had just suffered through a 30-year war, invasions from Sweden and Denmark and Russia. The seven-year war was just behind them, but they remembered well the horrors of war.
There has been a considerable body of work written about the hearty Germans who emigrated from Prussia and settled the Volga River valley in Russia. In 1766 the people governed by Prussia considered themselves Germans. The uniting force was based solely on language. It would not be until 1871 that Bismarck would bring the Germans together and politically become the country of Germany. Of the many books written about these people, however most either focus on the history of Prussia/Germany or The Russian "Catherine the Great". This book will focus on our ancestors who left Prussia in the 1760's, the promises that motivated their move to Russia and the circumstances that probably motivated their move on to United States. I will finish with what we know about the fate of our ancestors who remained in Russia.
About Why
About why our ancestors left Germany in the first place. The Seven Years War (1756-1763) had just ended. The economy was in ruins and once again the war had torn up a large territory in central Europe. The men were constantly being conscripted for the army and people were taxed quite heavily to support the armies (hence the attraction of no taxation & freedom from military service). The wars always resulted in heavy casualties. One of the reasons for the fighting was over religion (Protestant vs. Catholic) -- therefore, the attraction of freedom of religious affiliation attracted them as well. It was Catherine the Great's second Manifesto issued on 22 July 1763 with a promise of religious freedom, autonomy and freedom from military conscription that motivated their move to Russia. The circumstances that motivated their move on to the Americas were the loss of these promises. So our ancestors moved on and the first wave arrived in the United States in 1876. Note that this was the same time period that the "Pennsylvania Dutch" also began mass immigration to the U.S.The Structure
The structure of The Berschauer Genealogy II provides a contents page on the Internet which links all of the to major lines of Berschauer families. [That we know about] The Kratzke link connects to a page, which identifies my assumptions about the first Berschauer immigrant to Kratzke. This has been a difficult person to identify because of the spelling irregularities of names recorded as our ancestors passed through St. Petersburg. I have included notes we received from Dr. Igor Pleve, Professor at the Saratov University when he completed the research of the Berschauer surnames in Kratzke.
I hope you will find the preface and introduction pages informative and interesting. These pages attempt to give the reader some background about the conditions our ancestors were living and perhaps an understanding of why they left their homeland. The appendixes will provide Julian vs. Georgian calendar information, useful when attempting to verify dates, and statistics about the surnames and numbers of residents in Kratzke in the early years.
The links to male Berschauer family lines certainly do not document all of the descendents of our ancestors from Kratzke. This researcher felt it was time to start writing and adding information for women that "married off" to the extent it is found. Two assumptions are made in this Genealogy list. The first is about the first immigrant from Prussia to Kratzke. I believe there was only one Berschauer immigrant because Kratzke/Dietel church records list three Berschauer children born without indication of parent information. However, Daniel Burgard had four children listed and their names and birth dates were almost an exact match. I believe that Daniel's name was written wrong as he entered at St. Petersburg. When children were born in Kratzke a German pastor, from the Dietel parish, recorded their names and the names were recorded as Johann Christoph Berschauer, etc... [See the research notes] It was difficult to establish a definite lineage to the Berschauers who finally settled in the Olympia, Washington area. Their [father/grandfather] the immigrant Jacob Johann Berschauer, was son of Henry Berschauer Sr. is my grandfather's uncle, or that Henry Sr. and my great grandfather, Johann Jacob Berschauers brother. In part I concluded that because my great grandfather's obituary read in part, "he is survived by his four children here and two brothers 'Henry' and 'Adam', still living in Russia". I have included my research notes for your information.
You will find the last heart wrenching letters received from our ancestors still in Kratzke during the drought of the 1930's. I am still heartbroken just from reading these letters. There are more accounts of reasons for leaving Kratzke and the immigration to the United States. During Stolypin's Reform there were large numbers of people relocated to Siberia. During Stalins Reform there were 17 million undesirables [to Russia] murdered. Many of these were Germans living in Russia. And finally I include a story about Germans in Russia [Ukraine] Today. Some accounts indicate that there are as many as 2,000,000 Germans living in Russia today. May God grant you peace and happiness!
PS:
Axle Schäfer assisted me in translating some difficult text.
His curiousity and persistance found these interesting facts:By: Axel Schäfer, Deutschland - I was curious about Stolypin and looked up the encyclopedia:
"Pjotr Arkadjewitsch Stolypin born Dresden 1862 died Kiew 1911 Minister of the Interior in Russia since 1906. The aim of his reform was to stabilize the social conditions in the villages in order to get more economically healthy farmers."
Source:
(1) A History of Prussia by H.W. Koch
(2) Bob L. Berschauer
(3) Axel Schäfer, Deutschland