Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Dräger / Draeger / Dreger / Schmed / Beck

[Richard Stein]

Ken,

I can't help you directily, but I have two bits of information that relate. 
My Schmidtke family lived in Gotowka, just northeast of Chelm.  In 1915 they 
were sent to the Kustenai area as well and were there for three years before 
returning to Gotowka.  There is a Neu Berlin located near the 1800's border 
between Posen province and Congress Poland, near the town of Skulsk.  I 
extracted the German names from Skulsk Catholic parish records and noticed 
that there were some from Neu Berlin, although no Draegers.  Other records 
from Neu Berlin may be in nearby Catholic parishes or in Lutheran parishes 
in the area.

Dick Stein

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ken Powell" <kenpowell99 at sbcglobal.net>
To: <ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 23, 2008 10:09 AM
Subject: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Dräger / Draeger / Dreger / Schmed / Beck



My particular interest is to track information of my great-grandmother, 
Julianna Dräger, and her parents Mikhiel Dräger and Wilhelmina Schmed.



My starting point is her confirmation certificate from Kamien (Cholm parish) 
which show's that she is from the nearby village Kroczyn.  This is in the 
Lublin province of Poland.



My particular interest  is to attempt to locate the specific farm where 
Mikhiel and his family lived in Kroczyn.


My second priority interest is to confirm Mikhiel's place of birth, and 
perhaps identify other family members and records (parents, siblings, etc) 
from that area.  Oral history says that he is from Neu Berlin (Neuberlin, 
Berlinek) in the Posen province.  Details are below.  In Napoleonic times, 
the Dräger family ancestors lived in Pomerania, before moving to Posen.

Rgds,
Ken Powell
kenpowell at sbcglobal.net

------

My starting point of information is Julianna's Confirmation document in 
German from the Lutheran church in Kamien, Cholm parish, which shows she was 
from Kroczyn-Kamien and born 21 October/2 November in 188x, where the x is 
thought to be 1886, or perhaps earlier



[the document shows 1886, but for some reason, the last digit was erased and 
rewritten - Julianna was confused about both her day of birth and her year 
of birth - Her gravestone shows that she was born in 1888, but we believe 
this is incorrect, because her brother Gottlieb was born on March 18, 1889 
(d. July 1979) and there were two children born to Mikhiel and Wilhelmina in 
between Julia and Gottlieb; since Julia was older than Gottlieb, it is more 
likely that Julia was born in 1886 or before.  (I have the original 
certificate for reference, but note that on the original both the "6" in 
1886 of the birth date and the date of the confirmation 189x were erased and 
rewritten, so cannot be certain]



I also have oral history from the grandson of Mikhiel Dräger with many 
interesting parts.



1)     My particular priority interest and 1st priority is to attempt to 
locate the specific farm where Mikhiel and his family lived in Kroczyn, a 
village of a couple dozen farms, which I visited in 2007.  I also visited 
the parish church in Kamien, built in 1881, which is now used solely for 
Catholic services; I made contact with the assistant pastor there; they do 
not have access to the former Lutheran records.



I will provide additional information from oral and written sources based on 
memory, but none from official documents.

Mikhiel Dräger had a farm in Kroczyn, where he raised 260 Morgan horses.

Mikhiel's wife was Wilhelmina Schmed.

Mikhiel and Wilhelmina had 9 children (anglicized spelling): John, Paulina, 
Julia (Julianna), Helen, Rudolph, Gottlieb, Susan, Otella, Mike (named after 
his father).  John was born in 1882, Gottlieb in 1889. I believe the 
children are listed in order of birth.

Mikhiel was born in 1850 in Neu Berlin in Posen (thought to be Neuberlin, 
Neu-Berlin, Berlinek today located just south of Jeziora Wielka ("Großsee" 
in German)), which is south of Strzelno.  I also visited this settlement of 
a few farms in 2007.  Mikhiel died in 1924 in Berlin.

Mikhiel had 12 siblings.

2)     My second priority interest is to confirm Mikhiel's place of birth, 
and perhaps identify other family members and records (parents, siblings, 
etc) from that area.

[It is known that Mikhiel's children John, Paulina, Julia and Gottlieb left 
Kroczyn and went to Wisconsin at different times.  John left in 1903 via 
Dusseldorf.  Julia and Gottlieb left in 1906, and went to John's farm in 
Wisconsin.  It is not known when Paulina left.  Paulina later moved to 
Canada. Julia moved to Mancelona Michigan and married Frederick Conrad 
(known as Weiss before he left Germany), and later to Cadillac Michigan, 
where she remarried to Albert Mauritz Nyman.  Gottlieb and John stayed in 
Wisconsin, and today have many family descendants there, today spelling the 
family name as Dreger.  John married Katherine Beck.  It is also said that 
John's parents (Mikhiel and Wilhelmina) and Katherine Beck's parents, knew 
each other (from their time in Posen).]

It was said that Mikhiel was known as a "wealthy peasant" and was also 
called the "rich Dräger".  He sold horses to the Russian army, and he owned 
mortgages on neighbor's farms.

Later it was said that during the Revolution, his land was confiscated by 
the Russians and he and his wife Wilhelmina spent time in the salt mines in 
Siberia. Wilhelmina died while at the salt mines.  Mikhiel later returned to 
Berlin in 1924 and died at the age of 74.

Mikhiel's son Rudolph was taken prisoner by the Russians during World War I 
and was sent to Siberia.

Mikhiel's mother was the sister of a German general.

3)     My third interest is finding information regarding Mikhiel's farm, 
mortgages, both while he raised horses and farmed, and later as his farm was 
confiscated "during the Revolution".



4)     My forth interest is locating any information regarding the 
deportation to Siberia for Mikhiel and Wilhelmina, either specific to them, 
or in general in the context of the history during this period.



5)     My fifth interest is identifying more information regarding Mikhiel's 
parents and grandparents.  Who was Mikhiel's mother? Who was her brother the 
German general? It was also said that "during Napoleonic times" the Dräger 
family had lived in Pomerania near the Baltic coast, and later moved to 
Posen.  Is it possible to identify earlier generations, perhaps in 
Pomerania?



6)     Several other questions arise - it is not likely that specific 
answers can be feasibly found from research, but I pose them here, in case 
information is more easily available than expected:

a.     Where was Mikhiel born, and when did he move from there to Kroczyn?

b.    When did Mikhiel Dräger marry Wilhelmina Schmed? Where?

c.     Where were the birthplaces of Mikhiel's children?

d.    Under what terms did Mikhiel obtain mortgages on neighbor's farms? For 
what purpose?

e.     On some old maps Kroczyn is shown as Kolonia Kroczyn (with other 
Kolonia villages in the area) - what is the meaning and history of these 
"Kolonias"?

f.     How much land did Mikhiel own? Where?

g.    Under what terms did Mikhiel sell horses to the Russian army? How many 
did he sell over time?

h.     What other information can be obtained about his farm or sales of 
horses or goods?

i.      Why was Mikhiel called the "rich Dräger" - is this a term such as 
"kulak" that basically means "landowner"?

j.      Why did Mikhiel lose his farm? When?

k.     When, why and how were Mikhiel and Wilhelmina sent to Siberia? To 
where? Why were they sent there? Who sent them? Were they part of a mass 
deportation? Or sent individually?

l.      When, why and how did Mikhiel leave the salt mines in Siberia and 
return to Berlin? How long were they there? How did Mikhiel get out?

m.   Where specifically did Mikhiel's parents have a farm (assumed) in 
Neu-Berlin (according to oral history)? Are there records of ownership? Are 
there records in the local parish (Grosssee; Strelno?)

n.     Who were Mikhiel's parents? Which generation lived in Pomerania, and 
where?

o.    What happened to Rudolph after he was sent to Siberia?  Did he return? 
Did he have family?

p.    Are there any other family members in Germany or Poland today?

q.    Were Katherine Beck's parents from Posen also? Where was Katherine 
Beck born? Where were her parent's born?



Information on Julia Dreger:

There has been some confusion as to when Julia was born. For years we 
celebrated her birthday in September, but later changed to November. Her 
tombstone says that she was born in 1888; however we think that is incorrect 
as Gottlieb was born in 1889, and there were two children born to Mikhiel 
and Wilhelmina Dreger between Julia and Gottlieb. Julia was older than 
Gottlieb, so more than likely Julia was born in 1886 or before.



[Here is information on Julia Dreger's Konfirmation certificate given to her 
by her local church in Kamien, translated from the original German - copy is 
available below]



Remembrance on the Day of Confirmation

Julianna Dräger from Kroczyn, born on 21 October / 2 November / 1886 and 
baptized in the

Parish Cholm has been confirmed, after receiving instruction in the Word of 
God, on 7/19 June

189? in the Lutheran Church at Kamien, and afterward participated for the 
first time in the Holy

Communion.

(signed)

Dein Seelsorger ("your soul-care-taker")

your Pastor

W. Kernitz

Lutheran Pastor



[The dual dates are due to two calendars in use - the first date is the 
Russian Orthodox eastern calendar, the second date is the German Lutheran 
western calendar - 12 days difference here. So Julia was in fact born on 2 
November, probably in 1886, or earlier. The year of confirmation appears to 
be 189x, but it is smudged and unclear, and this last digit was also erased 
and rewritten on the original document. This church is still standing in the 
countryside between Kamien/Kamien-Kolonia today, about 10 miles southeast of 
Chelm (Cholm), Poland - it was built in 1881.

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