[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Migrations of people--Germans to Wohlynia

[Jerry Frank]

While the typical German in Volhynia was not wealthy, there were some who were doing well, owning flour mills, blacksmith shops, etc.  Others would at least have an interest in land and livestock that could be sold, albeit at below market values.  So the answer to your question really depends on individual circumstances, the time frame of the migration, etc.

And for those who could not raise enough cash, there was the sponsorship program from North America (or at least from Canada) which we discussed about a month or so ago.  Their fare would be paid, for example, by a farmer at Gretna, Manitoba.  The immigrant would work it off on his farm for a year or two after his arrival and then move on to his own farm.

Jerry Frank




----- Original Message -----
From: marlo <marlo50 at nwonline.net>
Date: Wednesday, April 19, 2006 3:39 pm
Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Migrations of people--Germans to  Wohlynia

> Jerry, now that you have answered that question, I am wondering 
> how those 
> people had money for passage?  Our family came with parents and 3 
> children, 
> I will admit they lied about the ages,  Bertha was really 6 but 
> they said 
> she was 2 and Maria was 3 and they said she was only 10 months.  I 
> know that 
> was cheaper,  but I still wonder how they had money to buy tickets 
> if things 
> were so bad for them there.  Just curious.  My husbands other 
> grandparents 
> also emigrated with 3 sons in 1874 from Pommern and were able to 
> buy land 
> when they arrived here.  I know land was cheap but they must have 
> brought 
> money with them when they came.
> How sad we never asked questions at the right time and now all 
> that is lost. 
> Margaret
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Jerry Frank" <FranklySpeaking at shaw.ca>
> To: "marlo" <marlo50 at nwonline.net>; "gpvjem" <gpvjem at sasktel.net>; 
> <rlyster at telusplanet.net>
> Cc: <ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, April 19, 2006 8:02 AM
> Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Migrations of people--Germans 
> to Wohlynia
> 
> 
> > At 03:47 PM 17/04/2006, marlo wrote:
> >>Would you be able to help us understand why my husbands maternal
> >>grandparents
> >>moved from the area of Lubben Kreis Rummesburg in Pommern to 
> Volhynia in
> >>1871 and than left to come to US in 1888?
> >>My mother-in-law was born in Volhynia and was only 6 years old 
> when they
> >>emigrated and she only said they came to US because they would 
> have been
> >>killed if they had stayed there in Volhynia
> >>or Russia as she referred to the area?  I
> >>don't know what profession her father was but they went directly 
> to 
> >>Berrien
> >>County MI
> >>and became fruit farmers.
> >>Any help?    Margaret
> >
> >
> > The Gartzes, Girschewskis, Ottos, Gitersonkes, some Schultzes 
> and others 
> > indeed migrated from Rummelsburg to Volhynia and then later to 
> Manitoba 
> > and Berrien County, MI.  I have less detailed information about 
> > circumstances in that region but I would suggest that the 
> reasons were 
> > probably similar to that for those from Russian Poland.  They 
> wanted to 
> > better their lot in life and that opportunity appeared to be 
> available in 
> > Volhynia.  Other Volhynian Germans not from Pomerania also went 
> to these 
> > same places.
> >
> > There may have been some fear of staying in Russia c.1888 and 
> certainly 
> > freedoms were already being eroded but I'm not sure that the 
> fear of death 
> > in the 1888 time frame was a strong reason for migrating.  Many 
> Germans 
> > continued to remain after that in Volhynia without facing death. 
> Others 
> > first went to Manitoba, didn't like the cold, so they moved on 
> to Berrien 
> > County.  Again, the move to North America was motivated first by 
> the 
> > eroding freedoms (for example the enforcement of using Russian 
> in the 
> > schools instead of German, inability of the Germans to own their 
> land, and 
> > conscription into the Russian army) and secondly the 
> opportunities in 
> > North America.  They were drawn to the prairies of both Canada 
> and the 
> > States by cheap homestead land.  I'm not sure what specifically 
> brought 
> > them to Berrien County.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Jerry Frank - Calgary, Alberta
> > FranklySpeaking at shaw.ca
> >
> >
> >
> > -- 
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