Last Updated 22 April 2003
Schweikert Family continued....
Migration of Wuerttemberg German Separatists to South Caucasus
My ancestors migrated into the Caucasus for several reasons. One of the reasons was religious. Apparently the Wuerttemberg Protestants like my Roedels [Reddel/Rettel] and the Stehrs [Stoehr, Staer] ancestors were on a religious pilgrimage to see the Second Coming of Christ whom they believed would use Mt Ararat for his descent to earth.
When reading text books by Giesinger and other German-Russians, I find most of them frown upon those who believe in the "Second Coming", therefore, people like the Reddels and the Stehrs are given labels such as "fanatics", "follwers of men who had served prison terms for their obnoxious religious opinions", "extremists", "heretics", "trouble makers" and "Revolutionary Separatists".
The believers like Reddels and Stehr concentrated on the visions of St. John and they believed that saw each prophecy being fullfilled. Everything from Napoleonic wars to a comet was seen. They left Wuerttemberg for the "Holy Land" in Sept. of 1816. They traveled down the Danube to Ismail.... After a 24 day quarantine they arrived in the Swabian colonies in Odessa. They convinced some of their fellow Wuettembergers to join them. They traveled to Grosslibental Colony which is next to Odessa, a Black Sea port town. Here they remained for the winter. Here they caused headaches for the local ministers. They had to get government permission to continue their trek eastward. Permission didn't arrive until July of 1817. Thirty-one families traveled by land along the northern coast of the Black Sea to Kherson [Cherson] to Taganrog then on to Rostov to Stavropol and into the Caucasus Mts. to Tifilis. The Russian authorizes told the group they could not continue because of the trouble with Persia. According to Baedecker's travel book, a number of them settled in what was to be called the German Quarters in Tifilis which was on the northern edge of town in 1817.... about 60 families. Giesinger's book, tells us that the village of Marinefeld in a mountain valley village about 20 miles from Tifilis was founded in 1818 and the first residence celebrated their first days during Easter. Having reached this far, they spread the word quickly to the other Wuerttemberg Separatists. Some 500 families arrived in the fall of 1818. But, the Russian authorities continued to hold the Wuerttemberg Separatists back from continuing their journey. Seven villages were set up near Elizavetpol from 1818 to 1820. By 1823 there was estimated some 500 more families appeared and they were a mixture of Lutherans and Catholics. Added to this were 400 Mennonites who settled in the seventeen colonies northwest of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov... And, still they came. But, all of them were disappointed. There was no one who witnessed the "Second Coming of Christ".
With permission, the Reddels, who were not to lose sight of their beliefs, hired guides and on camel back rode into Persia and "Holy Lands" and stayed for a time in Jerusalem. 1833 came and 1836 passed. They would return to Russia and settle in Beresina / Bessarabia, S. Russia.
My ancestral Kranzlers were part of the wine business, however, they left no record as to why they left Glueckstal about 1817 to settle in the German Quarters in Tifilis and then in Katherinfeld, which ended up being destroyed by the Turks in 1826. It is understandable why some members of this family returned to Glueckstal/Od. and Hoffnunstal/Od areas, which was part of the Black Sea Colonies. One of my Kranzler ancestors married into the Henke family of Glueckstal/ Od. I believe some members of the Henke family had, also, been part of the religious movement in the South Caucasus. The records are limited and in years to come more information may be found. Because of the dates, one may assume, they, two, were Separatists. Or, they [Kranzlers and/or Henkes] could have gone to help redeem the "lost souls" of the Separatists.... with hopes to return them to the flock of Lutheranism. I do not know.
Those who returned to the Bessarbian and Odessa areas were not warmly greeted by the local religious leaders who continued to eye them as "trouble makers". Many refused to record the births, marriages and deaths. But, in time, these families blend into the society of the colonies and ill feelings faded.
| I still have one of the original booklets of the Separatists who
believed in the 13th book of Sibylla which talks about the prophecies of
Queen Michalda of Saba [Sheba] made to Solomon some 587 years before Christ
and was first published in Germany in 1619. It is falling apart
with age.
When Roland Wagner learned I had a copy, he offered to translate it for me. I believe he wrote an article about it and spoke about it since. Here are a few lines he wrote to me:"...Among many things she revealed to Solomon..... prophesied that after his death his people...would be divided. However, the kingdom would be restored through the "wood of a cross" made from a tree growing by a pond on which the future Messiah would be crucified." |
|
"...There will be seven signs of impending "Last Day", " [Judgment Day], "will happen." "The Messiah will descend to the valley of Josephat and sit upon is throne."
The Revelation of St. John the Divine. Chapter 8, Verses 6 and 7
"And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. The first angel sounded and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burt up."
I can almost hear the deep throated deeply religious man shout out these words over his followers spurring them forward across Wuerttemberg to the bank of the Danube where they boarded wooded boats and traveled on this watery road through Europe to Ismail near the coast of the Black Sea. [See maps and drawing with a little history of the Danube Route.] And, with these same words rallying the people to push eastward to South Caucasus Mts. to Tifilis..... I can almost see those exhausted, weary and disappointed faces when they were told they couldn't go any farther east..... It doesn't take my kind of imagination to know how they must have felt when the "Second Coming of Christ" didn't occur. The religious leaders must have felt more than disappointment, they must have been filled with panic as each day passed to another day without anything happening. I understand, some claimed their calculations were in error. The year wasn't 1833 OR 1836 but ....... It didn't matter what year they proclaimed, their disappointed followers divided and withdrew into their own religious thoughts.....
According to Stumpp the following are names of some of the "peaceful Separatists" and "revolutionary Separatists", as well as the Wurttemberg Pietious Groups:
|
Remmick Home Site |
Borodino Home Site
|
Schweikert Genealogy
|
