[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] GRs in Mexico

Sat Apr 29 07:43:11 PDT 2006

To all,

This message does not contain much in the way of living in Mexico, 
but does indicate the restlessness of my family, and does note one 
visit my grandfather made to Mexico.

My grandfather, Eduard Jaeger (or Geiger, depending on which part of 
his passport or birth record you look at) left Volhynia on June 5, 
1893 from Alexandrov and went to Canada.  He apparently had just 
gotten out of the Russian Army after serving 5 years (legend in our 
family says that after 5 years everyone who have served that long got 
to draw straws to see who got out, and he drew the correct straw, the 
short one I presume).

I do not know the exact route Eduard took to Canada, or where he 
first lived, but the following list of births indicates that he did 
not stay very long in one place:

in 1895 my Aunt Pauline was born in Edmonton, Alberta,
in 1897, my uncle David was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba,
in 1899 my Aunt Martha was born in Overstone, Manitoba,
in 1901 my father Heinrich was born in Overstone, Manitoba,
in 1903 my uncle John was born in Overstone, Manitoba,
in 1907 my aunt Ida was born in Plainview, Saskatchewan,
in 1909 my uncle Albert was born in Fenwood, Saskatchewan
in 1911, my uncle Wilhelm was born in Fenwood, Saskatchewan,
in 1915, my aunt Bertha was born in Hillside, Saskatchewan.

In 1921 my grandfather Eduard obtained a Canadian passport while he 
was living in North Battleford, Saskatchewan (information I have is 
that he lived there from May 1911 until some time in 1923.

On November 25, 1921 there is an entry in Eduard's passport that 
allows entry into the USA, Mexico and Panama.

On January 7, 1922 there is a stamp in Eduard's passport that says he 
was in Cuidad Juarez, Mexico.

On February 9, 1922, there is a stamp in Eduard's passport that says 
he was in Sonora, Mexico

On February 9, 1922, there is a stamp in Eduard's passport that says 
he was in El Paso, Texaa.

Evidently Mexico was not to the liking of Eduard Jaeger, as he 
returned to Canada, moved to to Benton Harbor, Michigan and 
Riverdale, Illinois.

Eduard moved one last time to Morden, Manitoba in about 1925, where 
he lived until his death in 1954 at age 88.

Gary Warner

At 08:51 AM 04/28/06, Jerry Frank wrote:
>In addition to the Mennonites, I have heard of some Lutheran 
>Volhynian Germans who migrated to Mexico.  Unfortunately I know 
>little about them or their migration.
>
>Would like to hear more about them from anyone who has any info.
>
>
>Jerry Frank
>
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Ed Sonnenburg <esonnenburg at sympatico.ca>
>Date: Friday, April 28, 2006 8:58 am
>Subject: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] GRs in Mexico
>
> > The following web pages give you some history as to how the
> > Mennonites ended
> > up in Mexico.
> > Since they first came to Canada there would not be ships
> > mentioned.  It
> > would be interesting
> > to find out how 6,000 people went from Canada to Mexico without cars.
> > Pictures anyone?
> >
> > When I visited northern Mexico in 1979 everything was very
> > primitive.  Even
> > though the people
> > lived very simple lives they were still better off than the native
> > Mexicans.The GRs were always
> > friendly, not to provoke anger or jealousy from the Mexicans.
> >
> > One thing about the Mexicans was they bred like jack rabbits.
> > Families had
> > between 10 - 15
> > children.  They nominated a person that wasn't too bright to be
> > the teacher
> > for the children.
> > They only got taught enough so they could do the farming.  What
> > the elder
> > said was followed.
> > When the German Church of God did some evangelizing the elders
> > tried to stop
> > it.  They
> > sure didn't want anyone taking away theiir people.  A school was
> > built in
> > Cuahctemoc and
> > about 200 children have been attending every year.
> >
> > There are hundreds of GR villages in the northern plains, south of
> > Chihuhua.It was very
> > picturesque to drive down the only road from north to south and
> > see the
> > mountains when
> > you looked either east or west.  Every few miles there was a dirt
> > road that
> > went to
> > the villages.  Each village had a number but also a German name like
> > Gruenthal etc.
> >
> > Now the area has been built up more since industries have come to
> > Mexicofrom Canada
> > and the USA so there's more money and work for everyone.
> >
> >
> > http://www.mcc.org/themes/mennonites/
> >
> > In 1922, approximately 6,000 Mennonites left Manitoba and
> > Saskatchewan,destined for Mexico. They left in response to gradual
> > erosion of the
> > educational freedoms they had been promised by the federal
> > government when
> > they first immigrated to Canada from Eastern Europe.
> >
> >
> > http://collections.ic.gc.ca/humboldt/journal/setl303a.htm
> >
> > http://collections.ic.gc.ca/prairie/ethchpt5.htm
> >
> > http://grebel.uwaterloo.ca/mao/Oral%20History/Hist.Mss.22.3.htm
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: <gloriah4 at juno.com>
> > To: <esonnenburg at sympatico.ca>
> > Cc: <ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org>
> > Sent: Friday, April 28, 2006 4:11 AM
> > Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] -Political "Standardized"
> > Language-
> >
> >
> > > Ed,
> > >
> > > Your mention of "GRs from Mexico" really perked my interest. Do
> > you have
> > > other information about them in addition to "language"?
> > >
> > > I ask because my husband's family immigrated into the U. S. via
> > Mexico> and yet we can locate nothing that links them back to the
> > Ukraine. Their
> > > passports show that they left the Ukraine by way of LeHavre and
> > the next
> > > (and last) stamp shows their disembarking in Vera Cruz Mexico.
> > This was
> > > in 1926.
> > >
> > > One of our main research questions is, how did they get from the
> > Ukraine> (and from where in the Ukraine) to LeHavre? Also, we have
> > been unable to
> > > locate a ship manifest since we have been unable to find that
> > their ship
> > > ever sailed to Mexico. It did indeed sail from LeHavre that year
> > but only
> > > landing in New York it seems.
> > >
> > > Were there many GRs in Mexico? Somehow I've always pictured our
> > family as
> > > being exceptions and we can't figure why they went to Mexico of all
> > > places.
> > >
> > > Any scrap of help is appreciated.  Thanks.
> > >
> > > Gloria Hoppe (wife of Al HOPPE)
> > > East Texas, USA
> > > Researching: HOPPE, TOBER, SAWATZKI, Neudorf Volhynia, Novograd
> > Walinsk>
> > >
> > > On Wed, 26 Apr 2006 11:16:53 -0400 "Ed  Sonnenburg"
> > > <esonnenburg at sympatico.ca> writes:
> > > > When translating old letters I always found it a challenge
> > when the
> > > > writer
> > > > threw in words or phrases from another language.  When people live
> > > > in a certain place for a generation or two they pick up local
> > > > words.
> > > > My GR relatives and friends would flawlessly speak German but
> > > > then curse in either Russian or Polish.
> > > >
> > > > I always found it a challenge to understand the low German
> > > > but when the GRs from Mexico spoke low German and
> > > > threw in Spanish words it was almost impossible to understand.
> > > >
> > > > It is pretty hard for me to speak German today without throwing
> > > > in an English word -  Ich geh und leere aus den Garbage.
> > > > I'm going to empty the garbage can.  It was too hard
> > > > to say Muell Eimer.
> > > >
> > > > _______________________________________________
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>
>
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