​Glückstal Colonies Research Association celebrates 40 years

By Michael M. Miller

This month we join our colleagues in celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Glückstal Colonies Research Association (GCRA). It was founded in January 1986 by Margaret Freeman and Carolyn Wheeler, aided in consultation with Arthur Flegel and Gwen Pritzkau.

The purpose of the GCRA is two-fold. The first goal is to coordinate the efforts of individuals researching descendants of the Glückstal district colonies. The second goal is to locate, gather, organize and access all sources pertaining to researching descendants of the mother colonies of the Glückstal district — Bergdorf, Glückstal, Kassel, Neudorf and their daughter colonies.

“Much of the information is published in books that GCRA has released over its history and can be purchased through the GRHC bookstore,” said Duane Stabler, GCRA Steering Committee Chair.

GCRA has published two important books edited by Dr. Homer Rudolf, native of Wishek, N.D. The first book, “Glückstalers in New Russia and North America: A Bicentennial Collection of History, Genealogy & Folklore” (2004, 800 pages), includes these chapters: 1) “Mobility and Wanderlust of the Glückstal Colonists” 2) “Inheritance from Abroad” 3) “Monthly Chores in South Russia During the 1880s” 4) “Crop Reports 1820-1821” 5) “The Church in the Glückstal Colonies and Hoffnungstal” 6) “The Colonist Wife” 7) “Travel from South Russia to the U.S. and Canada” 8) “Early Glückstal Colonist Settlements in U.S.” 9) “Farming on the Steppes of Russia” 10) “The Glückstal Women and Their Lives” 11) “Handwork of the Women of the Glückstal Colonies” 12) “A German-Russian Midwife in the Dakotas at the Turn of the Twentieth Century and Beyond — A Personal Memoir” 13) “Brauche, Healing and Home Remedies” 14) “Causes of Death” 15) “Light Side, Dark Side — Glimpses of Germans from Russia life” and 16) “Church, School, and Holiday Traditions.”

In the chapter, “Brauche. Healing and Home Remedies,” by Carol Just, native of Berlin, N.D., she shares, “Most Germans from Russia emigrants homesteading on the Dakota Prairie were already versed in home remedies. Alpen Krauter (Swedish herbs), were used for whatever ailed you. Dried Chamomile flowers (grew well around chicken coops) and were made into a tea and used for stomach upset. Homemade Schnapps (many GR prairie farms had a ‘still’, so they could quietly make their own Schnapps or homemade wine from the various grapes available — think choke cherry).“Mentholina (precursor to Vicks VapoRub). Castor oil, mineral oil, baking soda, goose grease, kerosene, herbs, berries, and roots harvested from the prairie were often all the early settlers had available. Just as in their villages in South Russia, these remedies were the first line of defense for our emigrant ancestors. And — let us not forget Wormwood (called Wermut by the Germans from Russia). Smuggled through customs by our ancestors long ago — it grew freely in South Russia — and again on the Dakota Prairies. Wermut provided a variety of cures. It was a gray-greenish stinky weed that even the cows would not eat. Boiled in milk and served as a soup, it saved a few lives.

“As settlement on the prairie grew, so did the availability of Brauchers and Midwives. Medical Doctors were in short supply, expensive, but not always trusted.”

The second book is “Glückstalers in New Russia, the Soviet Union & North America” (2008, 760 pages). Homer Rudolf, editor, writes in the introduction, “Of particular significance are the memoirs that deal with life in the Soviet Union prior to 1944, the subsequent evacuation to present-day Poland, and the years that followed. A study of the migration in South Russia is included, as well as articles on the interim migration to Poland and Hungary that preceded that migration. The collection is greatly enhanced by the photos and documents contributed by Glückstalers.”

Some of the articles include: 1) “New Beresina” by Michael Rempfer 2) “My Memoirs of Early Pioneer Days in Dakota Territory and South Dakota” by Daniel D. Opp 3) “The 75th Jubilee Celebration of the Kassel Reformed Church, Menno, S.D.” and the “Passport of Joseph Kapp of 1901 is also a Brauche Document” by Homer Rudolf 5) “My Roosisha Grossmutter” by Elizabeth Egeland Hovland 6) “Memories of Wing, North Dakota” by Patricia Mueller Chapman 7) “Music of the Glückstalers” by Homer Rudolf 8) “The Great Terror in Odessa Province, 1937-1938” by Harold Ehrman 9) “Whispers in the Grass” by Gerda Fadden and 10) “March Destiny of Our Mother” by Helmut Meyer.

GCRA also produced the award-winning documentary, “Heaven Is Our Homeland: The Glückstalers of New Russia and North America.” The documentary shares the story of the settlement of colonies northwest of Odessa in 1809-1810 and of the 106 families that settled in Glückstal in the spring of 1810. Glückstalers began their migration to North America in 1874, first settling in Hutchinson County, Dakota Territory. Later they moved north and west as the railroads were completed and land became available. Migration continued to western Canada, the Pacific Northwest, and California.

Duane Stabler noted that there are two flash drives of research material that GCRA sells, as well as one children’s book. “For those interested in the genealogy, the GCRA Data drive may be valuable in tracking the family back into modern day Germany if the information has been found,” he said. “The second drive contains newsletters from Volume 1 through Volume 33. They contain many valuable articles and might help those who are just starting their journey of history and information about the Glückstal enclave. For those who wish to introduce their pre-school children or grandchildren to their heritage, the children’s book ‘Sophie’s Grandma’ is still available until sold out.”

Visit glueckstal.net for more information about GCRA publications and membership to GCRA.

For more information about donating family histories and photographs, or how to financially support the GRHC, contact Jeremy Kopp, at jeremy.kopp@ndsu.edu or 701-231-6596; mail to: NDSU Libraries, Dept. 2080, PO Box 6050, Fargo, N.D. 58108-6050; or go to ndsu.edu/grhc. Interested parties may also contact michael.miller@ndsu.edu or call 701-231-8416.