Week 33 of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Prompt - Family Legend

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 33

Prompt – Family Legend

When I was younger I remember Grandma McLaughlin nee Krikau speaking with great sadness about her extended family left behind in Russia. To remind you Grandma McLaughlin, her siblings and her parents left Warrenburgh in the fall of 1911 for North America. Shortly after their immigration, Russia was in the throes of a revolution. Things were changing. They were starving, their rights were being taken away and especially of note was their promise of pacifism. The men were being drafted into the Red Army or as my grandma use to say with such disgust "those Bolsheviks".  Also doors were being closed to the outside world. Information in and out was almost non existent. According to grandma, families got information from Russia via secret papers stored in the heels of the shoes of those who were able to get out of Russia. Apparently one had to use lemon juice on the paper to read the message. Further grandma told me that her cousin was hanged in front of the Lutheran Church because he was not a Bolshevik.

I didn't think much about this until I came across the following article while looking for information completely unrelated to Warenburg and grandma's stories. 

1919 Uprising in Warenburg

[This article appeared in Die Welt Post on 26 August 1920 with the title "Hochwichtige Kriegserfahrungen der Wolga-Deutschen" (Highly Important War Experiences of the Volga Germans). This translation was done by Richard Kisling.]

      A few months ago we received the first reports about a revolt in the large German colony of Warenberg on the Bergseite of the Volga River. We are now in a position to inform our readers of the details about the events in Warenburg. Pastor Schöning graciously placed the information at our disposal for publication. It was supplemented by statements from persons who recently came out of Russia.
      The bodyguard of the present Russian government, known as the Red Army, originally consisted exclusively of volunteers. With the further expansion of the Revolution on the borders of the empire in Siberia, the Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, and the Baltic (in which the [World War I] allies soon took part), the formation of a huge army became imperative. The government was forced to draft non-volunteers into the army and to order a general mobilization. First, in the late autumn of 1918, all of the former officers, non commissioned officers, and sergeants were called up.
      Many of these sought to escape but finally had to report, because the government threatened to retaliate against their close relatives. The general mobilization was implemented gradually by province and age group. As early as the autumn of 1918, several age groups were mobilized on the Bergseite of the Province of Saratov, which had precipitated uprisings in several German colonies. The German colonies in Samara Province [Wiesenseite] were especially known to the government as a counterrevolutionary element; as a result they delayed the execution of the mobilization decree until January 1919. All men between the ages of 18 and 45 were drafted.
      This news reached Warenburg on January 3. The local soviet made the mandate of the Saratov German Bolshevik Commissariat known to the community at a town meeting. Those who attended were seized with deep indignation. Warenburg's soldiers gathered together and, after considering and discussing the situation, unanimously resolved not to follow the command of the commissariat. They made a solemn vow to each other to stand together to the end. An action committee of three people was elected. The leaders of the village council reported this occurrence to the district soviet in Seelmann and requested a dispatch of a unit of the Red Guard to carry out the mobilization. Seventeen Red Guards were sent from Seelmann, two of who had originally come from Warenburg. The insurgents found out in time and met the Red Guards with a squad of twelve men, with Peter Kaiser at their head. The two groups met outside the village. The Red Guards threatened to shoot. The colonists were equipped only with various farm implements; by that time all weapons had long been confiscated. They seized upon a trick and announced to the Reds that they were armed with bombs and would use them immediately. The Reds, thus intimidated, were taken prisoner. They delivered up a machine gun with five chests of ammunition, sixteen rifles, and over two thousand rounds of ammunition. Then they were locked up in Warenburg. Five of them, who had voluntarily entered the Red Guard, were killed by the enraged farmers on the way back to the village. In the meantime, the leadership of the local village soviet had telegraphed to Balzer (a nearby village) and asked for help. The commissariat there sent thirty-eight men, all volunteers and on horseback, under the leadership of the teacher, Schaufler.
      On January 5 at 10:00 a.m., this unit approached the village. It had come by way of Achmat and Lauwe. As a precaution, Schaufler stayed behind in the latter village. The insurgents were forewarned by the sentinels they had established. In the square in front of the church, they set up the machine gun they had captured the previous day. As the Reds approached, a shot rang out from their midst. This was the signal for the Warenburgers to attack. They aimed the machine gun at the approaching Red Guards and mowed them all down. Only three wounded [Reds] escaped, and they spread the news of the uprising everywhere. Among the seriously wounded there was even a capitalist, who had joined the Bolshevik Army in order to thus save his wealth, but he died of his wounds.
      The incidents in Warenburg were telegraphed via Achmat and Balzer to Saratov. The captured material this time amounted to one machine gun with five cases of munitions, thirty to forty rifles with rounds of ammunition, hand grenades, revolvers, and swords.
      A regiment stationed in Saratov and made up of Latvians, Russians, and Hungarians was sent to Warenburg on a retaliatory mission. The Warenburgers had already received news about this and had quickly organized battle preparations. There were, in addition, two hundred men from the neighboring village of Preuss, who had arrived ready to help, armed with rifles and agricultural equipment. Both machine guns were set up in Warenburg, an dteh side streets were blockaded with harrows and other implements. At 9 o'clock the militia from Saratov arrived. Upon their arrival in the village, fire opened up from both sides. There were many dead and wounded on the side of the Reds. They had to pull back and continued the bombardment in front of the village. The gunfire lasted all day and into the night. Because it was frightfully cold, that is to say 26 degrees Reaumur, they pulled back by degrees to the nearest villages. Following this, the night remained calm for the most part. The next morning at 7 o'clock, the news spread that a regiment of support troops from Pokrovsk [Engels] was advancing with three field guns (cannons). Simultaneous with the arrival of the Pokrovsk troops, eighty-six men from the German Commissariat in Saratov also appeared. The Warenburgers saw that they were no match for this superior power; their will to resist weakened. The auxiliaries from neighboring Preuss marched off in view of this event. The position of the Warenburgers became untenable.
      The Reds sent in an emissary right away that same morning at about 10 o'clock to ask whether or not the Warenburgers would surrender. The farmers wanted peace, which was assured them with the surrender of all of their weapons. At that point, the aforementioned regiment advanced into the village which was already surrounded by troops. After the [Red] prisoners, about ninety men, were freed by the Latvian regiment, the commander said, "Now we'll show them!" That was the signal for general plundering. All who had taken part in the uprising were taken prisoner. Seven men were shot immediately. About ninety men were killed in all. On Wednesday, January 8, Schulz, the investigating magistrate, came from Saratov, and the terrible trial began.
      All who were under suspicion of participating in the uprising in any way were brought forth. About thirty men were placed on the mountain slope of the village and likewise shot. All their possessions were confiscated. The wives and children of those involved had to leave their homes just as they were. Homeless in the middle of winter, they sought shelter with friends and relatives. Damages of 1,300,000 rubles were levied against the colony. The sum that each had to pay individually was specified. Anyone who refused or could not raise the money was to be shot. The retribution was paid in two hours. About four to five million rubles were confiscated. The worst treatment was to those who had Schutzscheine [certificates of protection] from the German Empire. Five who had been sentenced to death escaped. A bounty of 10,000 [rubles] was placed on their heads. The systematic plundering of the village continued all that day and the following day. Many sheep, 380 horses, nearly 200 cows, camels, and other livestock, poultry, food supplies, and clothing were expropriated.
      One of the fugitives, Wormsbecher, who had been at the head of the insurrection, was discovered and brought in on the 10th. He was terribly mistreated on the way back to the village, with a rope around his neck tied to a sled, which he had to run along side. He was to be hanged immediately. Wormsbecher was hanged on the large church square.
      We further excerpt from the German [language] newspaper Nachrichten, the communist paper published in Saratov, the official account of the uprising.
Record of the Special Investigation Commission
      Those present were Comrades Saranzev, Ostroglasov, Ebenholz, Schönfeld, Alfred Schutz, Eduard Schutz, Johann Zitzer, and Schulz Grab. Individuals were named with the distribution of duties: as Commander of all Troops Present and President of the Collegium, Comrade Nachalov and Comrade Ebenholz; as Investigative magistrates, the Commrades Eduard Schutz and Hermann Schutz; Director in Charge of Arrests, Comrade Zitzer; Deputy President, Comrade Schönfeld; Administrator of Finances, Comrade Reichert; Commander of Those Arrested, Comrade Ostroglasov; Secdretary, Alfred Schutz.
      Because of their active participation in the uprising, [the following men] were judged and condemned to death by shooting:

Heinrich Trippel
Friedrich Hammel
Alexander Hart
Georg Kraft
Heinrich Gabel [Göbel]
Philipp Hubert
Georg Werner
Konrad Roth
August Kramer
Heinrich Roth
Heinrich Hartwig
Philipp Pfeifer
Andreas Eisner
Heinrich Michael Hartwig
David Schutz
Alexander Pfeifer
Johann Schutz
Heinrich Schutz
Johann Pfeiffer
Jacob Rasch
Philipp Adolf
Freidrich Schmal
Heinrich Bier
Eduard Simon
Philipp Becker
Heinrich [Spomer]
Philipp [Spomer]
Johann Braun
Friedrich Simon
Heinrich [Eisner]
Johann Stamm
Jäger [Wagenleitner]
Michael Funkner
Heinrich Stuppel

      Others who were convicted (but escaped):

Friedrich Klein
Philipp Döring
Peter Kaiser (father)
Peter Kaiser (son)
Friedrich Krikau
Peter Schmidt

      The death sentences were carried out right after the arrests. The property of the condemned was confiscated, as was the property of Vladimir Wormsbecher, whose wife and children were able to keep only the absolute necessities, while the remainder was given over to the Committee for the Poor.
      The assessment of 1,300,000 rubles, which was imposed on Warenburg, was apportioned in the following manner: Friedrich Schmall, 50,000 [rubles]; Alexander Bier, 50,000; and so on.

The following families are related to my family either directly or by marriage; Trippel, Kraft, Kramer, Pfeifer, Hartwig, Doring and of course Krikau.  A few sentences of story from my grandmother's life becomes an epic story that family legends are made of. 

Wendy

Week 32 of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Prompt - Youngest

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 32

Prompt Youngest

Recently, my granddaughter spent some of her summer holiday with us in Kelowna. She was away from home for the first time. We had so many lovely moments. I found myself wondering if she would remember this summer when she got older and the important matters of her life take over her adult life. She is will be 10 this October so I presume she might have some fragments of memories of the visit.

Memory is a fickle thing. For the first several years of life memories are not made or maybe it is not remembered. Maybe we are too busy figuring out all those things we need to survive in this world. As we age we find our memories become fuzzy, exaggerated, embellished, epic, and at times forgotten.

When I was a teenager and talking to my mom about this and that I told her about a memory I had of my younger life. It went something like this:

The setting is a small dark and cold house with a window over the small kitchen table. I am sitting on a potty behind a fabric curtain that acted as a door just off of the room I was playing in. I do not know who the women in the house was and Mom was nowhere around. As I come out of the room there is suddenly a women carrying an infant in her arms, all in white I think. This women sits at the table and is drinking coffee . They are looking at the baby now laying on the table in the sunlight of the window over the table and talking excitedly. There is a recollection of being carried to the baby to see its tiny fingers and toes.

Mom blanched. She looked at me and was gobsmacked to say the least. She told me the memory that I just explained was the day she brought my younger sister home from the hospital and she was picking me up at her friend's home who had been babysitting me while she was away. She says the detail of the room was correct.

My younger sister was born in January, almost 22 months after me. My youngest memory was at the tender age of 22 months old. Now it was my turn to be gobsmacked. How is this even possible? Sometimes we think we remember things because we have seen a photograph. However photographs in 1956 were rare in our family and there was no photograph of this event.

This is my youngest memory in my life. It seems unbelievable but according to mom, it really is true. As I said before memory is a fickle thing.

Wendy

Week 31 of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Prompt - Oldest

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 31

Prompt – Oldest

Kelowna in the summertime is sunny and very hot. Our mountains are covered by forests of mainly evergreens. It is inevitable that we will see forest fires every summer. Some are started by careless humans in campground fires or cigarette butts. However the majority are started by lightning. Right now we have 30 plus wild fires of note. Kelowna air is thick with smoke. The type that stings the eye and blocks the sun making for orange hues of daylight.

At the end of July we were in Vancouver celebrating our daughter's elopement wedding party. While in Vancouver we read a news item on our I Phone that showed there was a fire in our area of Kelowna about 2 kilometers away from our condo. The area was put on evacuation alert. Upon hearing the news I immediately had to face the very remote possibility that we could return to no home. Now it was never evacuated and the fire which was started by two boys playing with a lighter was brought under control with mega response of the fire department in a few days.

At first I realized all that was important to me was with me in Vancouver. Everything else was just “stuff”. After the emergency was over and the evacuation alert lifted I began to think of the stuff that could have been lost and in particular my genealogy stuff – the irreplaceable things. I have scanned most if not all of these documents into my computer. I have backed them up to the hard drive and to thumb drives and even the I Cloud. However there is something so special about the actual documents in my possession which are about 100 years old. I guess it is knowing that you are holding a certificate, a document, a booklet or a picture that your now deceased relative was also holding.

The oldest document that I have is the Inspection Card for my grandmother McLaughlin, nee, Krikau. It is 107 years old. It has yellowed and is very brittle and some of the stamps on it are beginning to fade. Overall it is still readable.

By an Act of the United States Congress in February 1893 an order to all consular officers and medical officers of the United States serving in ports such as Ellis Island must enact the following two orders. Firstly, immigrants and steerage baggage must be inspected and then when passed it shall be labelled with a "red label, bearing the name of the port, the steamship on which the baggage is to be carried, the word inspected in large type, the date of inspection, and the seal or stamp of the consulate or of the medical officer of the United States serving in the office of the consul.” Similarly all baggage that has been disinfected would receive a yellow label “upon which shall be printed the name of the port, the steamship upon which the baggage is to be earned, the word disinfected in large type, the date of disinfection, and the seal or stamp of the consulate or of the medical officer of the United States serving in the office of the consul.” and it is not valid unless it has the the consular or medical officer stamp. I never saw these label and presumably these label went with their suitcases which were probably disposed of many years later.

Secondly in addition to the baggage inspection it was ordered that each immigrant or steerage passenger would receive a “Inspection Card” which should include the following, “stamp of the port of departure, name of the steamship, date of departure, name of immigrant or steerage passenger and last residence, and the seal or stamp of the United States consulate or the detailed medical officer.” The purpose of those cards was to facilitate an easier transportation through the states and foreign countries such as Canada.

On my grandmother's Inspection Card she is listed as Maria Krikau who sailed aboard a ship called “Birma” leaving the port of Libau on October 3, 1911 and her last residence was Privalnoje. It also states where on the ship's manifest Maria Krikau name is found. Under the medical inspection area is the stamp of the Acting Assistant Surgeon whose name might be a Dr. C. M. De Forest. Under the Civil Examination site is the stamp of New York Canadian Govt. Official and within the stamp is the word, “passed”. Actually this stamp is also stamped again between the medical inspection area and civil area. The third area is for Railroad Ticket Agents Stamp and here is the stamp “Canadian Pacific Railway, October 17 1911, I Broadway, N.Y., New York”. This now tells us that she left Ellis Island and headed to Canada aboard a Canadian Train on October 17^th, a mere 14 days after her departure from Libau.

The back of the Inspection Card is written a note that says “This card should be kept carefully for 3 years. It should beshown (sic) to government officials whenever required.” This statement is written in a dozen different languages.

Grandma was 7 years old. She was probably tired from living in steerage for a week on the boat. It would have been close quarters with many other immigrants of different ethnicity. The bureaucracy of Ellis Island would have been stressful especially if she thought she could be deported due to her hearing loss. The English language was foreign. She probably kept close to her parents for fear of losing them in this muddled strange new country. I imagine that her father was given each of the family's Inspection Cards to keep track of. Somewhere down the years she had kept her card and kept it in a special document holder that held other important papers to her like naturalization, her first and second will etc. The Inspection Card was her first legal paper in this new land. It was like an admission slip. And maybe Grandma saw it as that thing which changed the course of her life forever.

Wendy

Week 30 of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Prompt - Colorful

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 30

Prompt – Colorful

Tea rose bushes, huge purple lilac trees, peonies, tiger lilies, and gladioli were just some of the colorful flowers my grandmother, Mary McLaughlin had in her back garden. Every time I smell a tea rose it transports me back to her yard and all of her memories that come from being there.

Her garden was not just flowers. In her earlier years the garden was mainly a vegetable garden which was necessary for her and the family. My sister, Betty remembers that grandma even used the empty lot across from her home as additional garden space during the war years when rationing was in place.

Grandma's lifelong border, Fred Ready grew and created new glads for the Saskatoon Gladioli Show in the 1960's and 70's. I know grandma must have had a hand in helping this process. Their glads were award winning. They were gorgeous, rich in newly created colors. Apparently Fred named one variety after my grandmother. It was called “Mrs Mac”. Unfortunately I do not know what color it was. Any of my siblings know?

Grandma's small home was full of her cut garden flowers in the summertime. She even contributed to the church altar flowers on occasion.

Grandma McLaughlin

Mary McLaughlin and Award Winning Glads

 It was beautiful and colorful; maybe this is where my love for flowers in the home come from.

     Wendy

Week 29 of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Prompt - Music

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 29

Prompt Music

I remember in the early 1960's, the family got its first portable record player as family Christmas gift. I think we got some 45 rpm singles to play on it but can't remember any of the albums we played. I can still smell the oil and rubber belt as it heated up from overplaying it. I could put the record on but an older sibling had to drop the needle onto the record. I was told it was all too delicate for a young child to operate because I might scratch the record or break the needle which were very expensive to replace. The portable player was played often.

In the mid 1960's the portable player was replaced with a “hi-fi” which was actually a piece of furniture with the same drop needle album player and hidden speakers. The speakers were fabulous which was true for the time. Over the years we accumulated many many albums. Rock and roll, country, folk and Christmas music.

My mother loved music and all things musical. Apparently in the 1930's or 40's she and her friend played guitars and sang songs on the local Saskatoon Radio Show.

Vivian Sullivan / McLaughlin

In 2006 when her brother, Wally McLaughlin was still alive we visited him and his wife in Yuma where they wintered. Uncle Wally said that Vivian was very talented musically and much to his chagrin she could play by ear and on almost any instrument she put her hands on. On those times they found themselves on the farm she would play the violin and guitar with such ease. Uncle Wally took lessons for the trumpet and a “red player piano” and said he never really mastered either.

Vivian Playing Drums at Brother's Band Practice

Rob Teaching Nephew Glenn The Drums

It was no surprise then that mom encouraged my two older brothers to form a rock and roll band. Robert played electric bass guitar and Dennis played electrical lead. Their friends played the organ, drums and additional guitar and all sang. Rob and Dennis had voice training as they sang with the local Saskatoon Boy's Choir. They called themselves "The Verdicts 5". They practiced a few times a week. Every Wednesday it was in our home. Imagine a 900 square foot slab home with no basement. The whole band set up in the living room right after supper and practiced until 9 or 10. Full on loud rock and roll music live in our family home. Dad sat on the kitchen stool in the kitchen drinking coffee and smoking and never said “boo”. Mom was just in the middle of it all really enjoying it. When summer rolled around in Saskatoon they practiced in our garage at the back of our house. The door open and kids and adults from everywhere stopping to listen (or complain about the noise). The Verdicts 5 was a popular band and played school dances in and around Saskatoon almost every weekend.

My Brother Rob in The Tiger Slacks and Brother Dennis Beside Him in Red Velvet Shirt

My Sister Bonnie

Bonnie & Trombone

 My younger sister, Bonnie played the organ and trombone growing up. And for the past umpteen years her sons formed a band and played similarly in their home (the basement).

I wished that I could have played an instrument or even have a talent to sing. I love music. Its my place of serenity. Alas I can't hold a tune in a bucket and this is verified by daughters who often said to me when I was rocking a tune in the car “no sing mommy!”

Wendy