[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Land questions for Volhynia

[Dave Obee]

Re:

> Would appreciate any information from SGGEE members. 
>  Many thnx...Edith Rimple McKelvy     
> edies_hook at msn.com 
> 

I am not an SGGEE member, but perhaps I can help with some of your questions.

The German settlers near Zhitomir bought land and divided it up between them. Land records in the Zhitomir archive record transactions for my family members going back to the 1860s. There is a clear paper trail, from the first mass purchase through subsequent transactions into the early 1900s. A card index can point researchers toward the relevant files.

The settlers in my area -- Solodyri, Wjasowitz, Pulin, Iwanowitsch and the villages nearby -- built homes on their own farms. Their descendants were forced into villages with the collectivization that followed the revolution. The amount of land for each family seemed to vary; but I think we could assume that most of them had viable farms. (With farming, the amount of land is not as important as the source of water, the climate and the proximity to markets.)

Years ago -- probably in the 1980s -- I saw a reference to that area being all forest until the Germans arrived. I have seen nothing since that would confirm that. I doubt that it was true, in my ancestors' area at least.

Hope this helps.

Dave Obee