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Date Posted: 07:29:34 11/01/07 Thu
Author: Margaret Mae Heart
Subject: This is the story of a Volga-German family named Krannawitter

Our forefathers who left Germany to go to Russia to make a better life for themselves and their children. It is dedicated as well to our brave forefathers who left Russia to make a better life for themselves and their children in the United States. It is especially dedicated to those of our relatives who stayed in Russia and endured over fifty years exiled in prison work camps for their crime of being of German ancestry.
Forward
Many books and papers about other Volga German families and their descendants, have been published over the last fifty years, and are treasured documents for not only the serious researcher, but also those with a passing interest as well. This book is one the descendants of one Krannawitter family that left Germany to go to Russia. While every effort has been made in this compilation to provide accurate and complete information, endeavors to acquire additional facts and details from both the United States and European sources continue. Any omission of person (s), places, or events that deserve inclusion berein is purely unintentional. This is the story of a Volga-German family named Krannawitter. In the chapters which follow, I have attempted to trace the development of the family from the 1766 migration to Russia, through the four-generation sojourn along the Volga River, to migration to America. While gathering genealogical information for this book, I have had the opportunity to contact many members of this family living in different parts of the U.S., in canada, and in Argentina. I have also corresponded with members of this family who remained in Russia. During my research, i have come across six different ways of spelling the surname among my relatives; Krannewitter, as spelled in the original Russian censuses; Krannawitter, as spelled by members of my own family; Kronewitter, as spelled by cousins descended from my great-uncle; Kronewitter, as spelled by by cousins in Colorado. Kronewitt; as spelled by relatives in Canada; and Kranewitter, as spelled by relatives in Argentina and by relatives who stayed in Russia. Members of all these families have contributed information making this book possible. Biographical sketches detail the lives of selected people from these different families and areas. Attention is also devoted to the hundreds of unrelated American and European families who bear surnames similar to Krannawitter--with such spellings as Kronawitter, Kronawetter, Kranebitter, Cronenwett, Kronebitter, Kronenwett, Kronewetter, and Kranawetter. Finally, maps and photographs provide a visual representation of the places and people referred to. I certainly enjoyed putting it together This book is the end result of years of research into the origin and dispereal of the Krannawitter family.
This INTRODUCTION contains a brief description of the twelve chapters and two final sections of this book. Within each chapter, in the even that any information was obtained from published material or from correspondence with official agencies, the particular source is cited. Much of the data used in this genealogical report was also taken from personal letters and family records; these sources, too, are duly cited. All of the sources used to compile this book, including those not specifically cited within the chapters, are recorded in the bibliographic list at the end of the book. The author wishes to express his sincere gratitude to all the people who made this report possible. Any omissions or mistakes are unintentional. Special care has been given to citing all the people responsible for the compilation of this work.The members of the Krannawitter, Kronewitter/Kronwitter/Kronewitt/Kranewitter families that came to America from the Volga-German colonies in Russia were among thousands of ethnic Germans from Russia who emigrated in search of freedom from 1875 up to the time of the Russian Revolution. The variant spellings of the Krannawitter surname evolved as family members who had moved to different parts of North and South America gradually lost contact with each other. In the earliest Russian records, the name was spelled Krannawitter. All the American spellings that eventually developed differed slightly from this original version. Later in this introduction, more attention will be given to the subject of the dispersal of this family and different spellings that ensued. For the make of simplicity, in this report the surname will be referred to generically as Krannawitter unless a specific family with an alternative spelling is being discussed. Evidence seems to indicate, although not incontrovertibly, that the Krannawitter family that migrated to the Volga colonies of Russia originated in Wiesbach, a small German village in lower Bavaria situated about 50 miles northeast of Munich. (See figure 29.)
Chapter one of this book, WIESBACH, LOWER BAVARIA< GERMANY; THE PROBABLE PLACE OF ORIGIN OF THE VOLGA-GERMAN IMMIGRANT JOHANNES KRANNEWITTER (1731-EA. 1782), ANALYZES THE RESEARCH that led to this tentative conclusion (Pleve 1998).According to records contained in Catholic parish archives in Germany, Adam Kronawitter and his wife Anna _______-were parents of Michael Gronawitter (the surname was spelled differently even in the same baptismal entry.), baptized 3 May, 1731, at the church serving the parish of Obertrennbach, where Weisbach was located. The entry stated that Adam Kronawitter was a dragoneer in the army (presumably the Bavaarian army) and had been stationed at Mitterfels, a town about 40 miles north of Weisbach and about 20 miles east of the city of Regensburg (Mai (Dr. Paul) 1998). the Catholic archives referred to are the only source of records fo so early date in Germany. Johannes Krannewitter was the name of the man who migrated from Germany to Russia, as listed in the roster of the original settlers of the Volga-German colony of Obermonjou, where he settled in 1767. (See figure 30.) Upon arrival at the colony on August, 1767, he stated that he was 36 years of age, that he was a Catholic, that he was from Weisbach (Germany), and that he was a baker by trade. Anna _______-, his wife, was 29 years of age (Pleve 1998).The author corresponded with the directors of the diocesan archives that house Catholic parish records were the only records kept in these towns in the early years. The only Weisbach that had records of any Krannawitter (or any other similar spelling of that surname) families living in close proximity was the village mentioned above. Michael Gronawitter, baptized in 1731--according to records in Weisbach, Lower Bavaria--would have been 36 in 1767, as Johannes Krannewitter indicated that he was when he settled in Obermonjou in 1767. In German naming practice at the time of Johannes Krannewitter's migration, men were often given two names and would refer to themselves in official documents by either or both of these names. It is highly plausible that Johannes and Michael were one and the same. Johannes Michael was a common given-name combination. Since the Catholic church in Obermonjou available for that early a date, it is impossible to verify this claim using those sources (Pleve 1999). Only circumstantial evidence can be used to provide further support for the assumption that Johannes and Michael were the same person. Particularly relevant is the fact that the information about Johannes Krannewiter's place or origin was extracted from the list of the first settlers of Obermonjou (PLeve 1998).item The place of origin was extracted from the list of the first settlers of Obermonjou (Pleve 1998). The place of origin named in this source is by and large more specific and more reliable than that listed in the other principal source of information about the early German migrants to the Volga colonies; the Ivan Kuhlberg records, which were ship passenger lists prepared in 1766 when the first-settlers list is usually the place of birth, which makes it easier to find a connection in Germany (Schmidt 1998).At any rate, thanks to early Russian census records an unbroken line can be traced from Johannes and Anna Krannewitter to most of the families descended from them. Dr. Igor Pleve, who is on the faculty of Saratov State University and is an expert in Volga-German research, and the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (AHSGR) based in Lincoln, Nebraska, have been instrumental in providing information drawn from these early censuses. The AHSGR has published 1798 census data for Obermonjou and for the other Volga-German colonies (Rye 1995; Pleve 1998). Chapter Two of this book, EARLY VOLGA-GERMAN RECORDS USED IN THIS GENEOLOGICAL REPORT, focuses on four early sources that were referred to during the research process; and it summarizes the information taken from these records. Later censuses, or "revision lists" of earlier enumerations, were taken in the years 1816, 1834, and 1850 (Mai (Brent) 1998; Pleve 1998; Rye 1995; Leiker 1999; Rupp 1999). From this Russian data and from death, census, church, family, and other records of family members who later moved to America, pedigree charts have been made fro three related Obermonjou families; Krannawitter, Dechant, and Brull; these charts are included in Chapter Two (See figures 1, 2, and 3).A genealogical profile of Krannawitter families living in the U.S., Canada, Argentina, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Germany who aare descended from Johannes and Anna Elizabeta Krannewitter is contained in
CHAPTER THREE,,AN ELEVEN-GENERATION REGISTER OF SOME OF THE DESCENDANTS OF JOHANNES AND ANNA ELISABETA (SATTLER) KRANNEWITTER. This chapter consists of a computer-generated report of eleven generations. All the sources used to compile this data are included in the bibliographic list. Many of the families are traced through only a few generations. Before discussing any more of the content of the book, the author would like to present an abbreviated history of the Volga_German colonies and in this way provide a historical backdrop for the benefit of the reader. The information which follows was taken from two excellent books written about the Volga-German colonies: Wir Wollen Deutsche Bleiben, by George J. Walters, 1982; and The German Colonies on the Lower Volga, by Gottlieb Beratz, 1914, translated by Leona W. Pfeifer, LaVern J. Rippley, and Dona Reeves-Marquardt, edited by Adam Giesinger, all of whom worked in cooperation with the AHSGR (Walters 1982; Beratz 1914).The ancestors of the Volga Germans were among an estimated 27, 000 Western Europeans, primarily Germans, who migrated to Russia from 1764 to 1767 upon the invitation of the Russian empress Catherine II, better known as Catherine the Great. The Catholic settlement of Obermonjou, which was the home of all the Krannawitter families that later migrated to America, was one of 104 Mother Colonies--32 Catholic and 72 Protestant--established by these immigrants on both sides of the lower Volga River. Obermonjou was one of 27 colonies founded in 1766 and 1767 by Chevailer Caneau de Beauregard, a native of Switzerland who directed a French company employed by the Russian government to recruit colonists. The subdivision in which these 27 colonies were located was called the Fief de Catherine. Obermonjou, which was named for the French recruiting agent Otto de Monjou, was founded 5 March, 1767, by 82 families, including 160 males and 139 females, for a total of 299 (Stumpp 1978). Obermonjou was located about 40 miles northeast of the city of Sartov and was situated on the east side, or Wiesenseite (meadow side), of the Volga River. (See figure 30.) The west side of the Volga River was known as the Bergseite (hilly side) (Walters 1982; Beratz 1914).To temp the war-weary farmers, merchants, artisans, and soldiers of Germany and other European countries, Catherine the Great--a german herself--issued official edicts that offered free communal land, paid travel expenses, freedom of religion (as long as the people were Christians), freedom of self-government, and the opportunity to carry on one's particular trade (Walters 1982; Beratz 1914).Upon arrival in Oranienbaum, a seaport near St. Petersburg, Russia, the colonists--after a difficult land and sea journey from recruiting points in Germany--received the first of many setbacks they would encounter. They were informed by the Russian Commissar Ivan Kuhlberg, who served as Catherine's official spokesman to the settlers, that they would all have to become farmers, regardless of Catherine and her immediate successors. These pan-Slavic circles had grown suspicious and envious of the prosperous Volga Germans, who lost the liberty to rule themselves, to instruct their children in the German language, and to avoid conscription into the Russian army. The abrogation of these concessions prompted the Volga Germans to take advantage of an escape clause in the second of Catherine's two manifestos of invitations: the right to quit Russia at any time after paying a tax on profits made in the empire. One of the destinations this time, after careful consideration and exploration by a group of scouts appointed by the colonists, was North America--specifically the fertile Great Plains of the U.S. Others chose to migrate to South America, where they settled in Brazil and Argentina (Walters 1982).Typical of the movement was the settlement of Ellis and Rush counties in Kansas, where between three and four thousand Catholic Volga Germans eventually located. They founded the settlements of Herzog (Victoria), Munjor, Katherinestadt, (Catherine), Liebenthal, Schoenchen, and Pfeifer (Walters 1982).Several Krannawitter families and individuals from Obermonjou are known to have migrated to America. The following paragraphs detail the dates of their arrivals, their ultimate destinations, and the different spellings of the surname they utilized. The number in superscript between the immigrant's given name and surname indicate the number of his or her generation of descent from Johannes Krannewitter, the original Volga-German settler. The parentheses after the immigrant's surname enclose a complete list of the names and generation numbers of each of his or her Krannawitter ancestors leading up to Johannes Krannewitter. This is same pattern will be used throughout this book--except when the type must be single-spaced, in which event brackets will enclose the number of the generation of descent.
Chapter Three, entitled AN ELEVEN-GENERATION REGISTER OF SOME OF THE DESCENDANTS OF JOHANNES KRANNEWITTER AND ANNA ELIZABETA SATTLER, contains a complete description of each Krannawitter immigrant's family. Brothers Johannes and Raymond Krannawitter both move to the U.S. albeit at different times. Johannes came to Ellis County, Kansas as single man in 1876. One of the original settlers of Munjor, Kansas, he later married Helen Leiker. Raymond came to Ellis county 1901 with his second wife Mary Krapp, son John Krannawitter (who was Raymond's son by his first wife Maria Catherine Dechant--John is the author's grandfather), and daughters Julia and Rosa Kronewitter (who were the oldest children of Raymond and Mary). Later, another daughter, Katherine Kronewitter, and a son, Joseph Kronewitter, were born in the U.S. Joseph and his sisters spelled their name Kronewitter, as do their descendants today. Raymond's brother Johannes and his family migrated to the U.S. in 1901, they spent a short time in Ellis County, Kansas; then they, too, moved to New Mexica where Raymond worked with his brother. In 1907, Raymond and his family moved back to Ellis County and settled near Schoenchen. Many years later, one of Johannes' sons, Michael Krannawitter, also moved back to Ellis County and settled near Severin, located about five miles northwest of Catherine. Stories The rest of Johannes' children remained in New Mexico, but he and his wife also eventually returned to Ellis County where they settled in Hays, the county seat (Pleve 1998; Krannawitter (Michael J. 1993.)Margareta Krannawitter, widow of Johann Leiker, moved to Munjor, Ellis County, with her children in 1876. Her son, Peter Leiker, was one of the five scouts sent in 1874 by the Catholic Volga-German colonies to explore the possibilities of establishing settlements in the central plains of the U.S. (Pleve 1998; Leiker (Victor C. 1976.)Magdalena Younger, widow of Franz Krannewitter, accompanied her daughter Barbara Krannewitter and Barbara's husband John Pfannnensteil to Munjor, Kansas, by 1880. Franz was the brother of Johannes Krannewitter who was the father of Johannes and Raymond Krannawitter, discussed above. (Pleve 1998; Meyer 1976).Maria Elizabeth Krannewitter (Kronewitter) was the sister of Franz and Johannes mentioned in the paragraph above. She and her husband John Rohr also moved to Munjor by 1880 (Pleve 1998; Meyer 1976).In 1878, brothers Michael and Joseph Kranewitter--who were brothers of the U.S. immigrants Johannes and Raymond Krannawitter discussed above--migrated to the province of Entre Rios, Argentina, with their adoptive parents Joseph and Catalina (Unrein) Wendler. They were among the founders of the Volga-German settlement of Marienthal (Valle Maria), located about 25 miles south of the city of Parana (Wendler 1990; Kranewitter (Vicente) 1990). RaphaelKranewitter--who was probably the brother of Johannes, Raymond, MIchael, and Joseph--remained in Russia. His descendents are profiled in Chapter five (Dreher Katharina) 1995).Adam Kranewitter and his family moved to Valle Maria, Argentina, in 1878. They were also among the founders of that settlement (Pleve 1998; Kranewitter (Vincente) 1990.Johannes "Weisse" Kranewitter and his wife Margaretha C. Leiker migrated to Valle Maria in 1880. John Conrad Kranewitter and his family also migrated to Brazil in 1877 and then to Valle Maria in 1880 (PLeve 1998; Kranewitter (Vicente 1990).Raymond Kronewitt moved first to Ellis County, Kansas, in 1902, and later to the Peace River valley of Alberta, Canada, in 1913. Raymond's aunt Anna Maria Krannewitter and her husband John Boos and their children migrated to Ellis County in 1892. Raymond Kronewitt's first cousins Peter and Frank Kronwitter moved to the U.S.--Peter in 1903 and Frank in 1904. Peter and his wife Dorothea Boos returned to Russia in 1924 and died there. One of their daughters Anna Kron (e)witter and her husband John Dechant moved to the Peace River valley of Alberta in 1915. Peter's brother Frank Kronwitter and his family settled in Pueblo, Colorado. (See Chapter Five). (Pleve 1998; Krapp; 1986; Dechant 1987).Present-day descendants of the five Krannawitter/Kron(e)witter families who migrated to North America, the six Kranewitter familes who migrated to South America, and two of the Kranewitter families stayed in Russia are listed in Chapters Four and Five. Chapter four, current listings of related Volga-German families and individuals, as well as the many U.S. families that have variant spellings of the surname and do not have an obvious connection to the Volga-German families. The families are ranked according to the frequency of appearance of each particular spelling in the U.S. telephone diretories or in other U.S. indexes. Also discussed are the areas in the U.S. where there are high concentrations of these families. Various immigration records, the social security Death index, and listings found on the internet were also used to compile this data.

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