[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Origin of Germans in the Sompolno - Websites

[William Remus]

I have got a lot questions about the below message I posted last week. So here is the edited  original post with some websites that might help you. 

It starts with the three partitions of Poland. After the first partition in
1772, it was clear to the Prussians that the newly acquired land would be
more manageable with there were additional German settlers there. So
settlers were recruited from areas of war and famine like Wurtemburg ins SW
Germany (a frequent site of French occupation); others came in from nearby
Neumark and Saxony/Silesia. Since the area near Poznan which was gained in
the first partition was suitable for clothmaking (flax farming in sandy
soil, linen and lace making), many of these people were clothmakers and
weavers. These groups ended up in places like Skokken and Kolmar north
of Poznan and Labischen east of Poznan (and generally all around Poznan).

Uwe Kerntopf provides a list of some of those colonists and their places of origin. Try
http://www.kerntopf.com/diverses/kolliste.htm
and click on the letter the starts you family name. (You will see my Bidermann and where he originated plus lots of others).

In the first partition, Prussia gained the Netze area. So to find out if your ancestor was there, go to 
http://genealogy.drefs.net/Introduction_1772_Netze.htm
and click on the letter that your family name begins with like S for Schmalz and take a look. Be sure to look for spelling variations also. (Sorry no Schmalz here) ... but my mother's family is there.

Luckily Uwe Krentopf indexed the church books in Labischen in the Netze, so I can get even more detail on my mother's family there. Check:
http://www.kerntopf.com/diverses/


West Prussia was also gained in the first partition. Some Germans settled there also and went onward to Volhynia. So check there by going to 
http://www.odessa3.org/collections/land/wprussia/
and click on the letter corresponding to your family name. And there are Schmalz here (plus more possiblities with slight spelling differences). And lots of Remus (my Dad's family)


The second and third partitions led to more land for Prussia and more
movement out of first partition land to the new land plus more inflow from
Germany proper. The third partition gave Prussia what became known as South Prussia. The 1793 land census is indexed at
http://genealogy.drefs.net/Introduction.htm
Here we can find lots of Schmaltz but only one Remus (a mysterious one I know nothing about).

My personal thanks to Reuben Drefs who put up the wonderful 1772 West Prussia and Netze data as well as the 1793 South Prussia data. Incidentally these records are of heads of household of farms with no details on the family members or day laborers working at the farm. Sometimes this is referred to as a land census. In any case, the Prussians did it as a first step in establishing a land taxation system. And thanks to Uwe Kerntopf for the immigrand data as well as the Labischen data also.

Regards bill remus