Submitted to "Die Huckere" by Glenn L. Sitzman of Naples, Florida

Part I

MY HUCK ANTECEDANTS

By Glenn L. Sitzman

Like Delores Schwartz, I cannot remember a time I did not know that we were German and that all my grandparents were born in Russia--Grandpa and Grandma Sitzman at Frank, Grandpa Schafer at Eckheim, and Grandma Schafer at Huck. As small children, more than sixty years ago, we loved to hear Grandma Schafer tell us stories from her early years at Huck. One day, when my younger sister Bonnie asked Grandma to tell her again about Huck, Grandma said she was tired of telling those stories over and over, that she would tell them one last time and Bonnie must write it all down.

Unfortunately, Bonnie's written record of Grandma's early life no longer exists, and Grandma died in 1934, when I was fourteen and Bonnie was ten. I remember Grandma well, because she and Grandpa always stopped to visit when they were in town to shop. And Grandma died in my home, where my mother nursed her in her last illness. But most of what I know about Grandma and her family I learned from my mother.

One thing I do remember that Grandma herself told us was that when the river froze in the winter, they skated on the ice. The story of ice skating fascinated us, because in Oklahoma winters were never cold enough to freeze even ponds solid enough for skating. My mother told some stories about my grandmother in an autobiography, some of which was published in the "Frank Village Newsletter" (summer 1996). But let me forget stories for the moment and go back to beginnings.

My grandmother was Marie Elizabeth Kindsvater, the youngest of three daughters of (Johann) Ostwald and Margaret (Weigand) Kindsvater. There were three sons as well, but they all died in infancy or early childhood. The three daughters grew up and raised families.

The Kindsvaters

Ostwald Kindsvater was (if my calculations are correct) the great-great-grandson of Hartmann Kindsvater, who was born in Germany, in the Bavarian Palatinate and who was one of the original settlers of the Colony Oleschna (Dietel or Dittel) in 1767 at age 46. Hartmann, who was apparently a widower, arrived at Dietel with six children: (1) Johann Phili age 22; (2) Johann Daniel, age 20, whose descendants moved to Kratzke; 3) Anna Elizabeth, age 17; (4) Sofia, age 15; (5) Augustina, age 10; (6) Johann Werner (Hanswerner), age 7, who later moved to Kratzke. Hartmann married a Widow Ruff in Russia, and they had a seventh child, Johann Peter, who was born at Dietel in 1768. The information given here has been taken from "The Kindsvater Record," written by Heinrich Kindsvater of Dietel in 1873, copied by Charlotte (Kindsvater) Kirsch of Russell, Kansas, in 1952, and translated by Arthur E. Flegel at Menlo Park, California, in May 1975. I believe that Mr. Flegel may have published an article on the early Kindsvaters in the AHSGR Journal, but I do not have the citation. So far as I am aware, Heinrich Kindsvater's "Record" has not been published, but a copy should be available from the AHSGR library.

Hartmann's oldest son, Johann Philip, married into the Village Huck, so that all Huck Kindsvaters were descended from this son. According to Heinrich Kindsvater's "Record", Johann Philip's descendant families numbered eleven in

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1873, with a total of 53 families living at Dietel, Huck, and Kratzke, plus two on the Wiesenseite. My grandmother's family would have been one of those eleven at Huck, and family tradition has held that her father had five or six brothers. Let us try to trace the family of Johann Philip, called Philip in the Huck census.

In the 1775 census Philip's age is given as 27, which would indicate a birth year of about 1748, whereas, if he was 22 on arrival at Dietel in 1767, the birth year ought to be about 1745. (Dates can vary, depending on whether age is given before or after a birthday.) In the 1798 census Philip's age is given as 50, which would make the birth year about 1748. In the 1775 census Philip's wife's name is given as Maria, and her mother's name as Anna Eigen, the translator not sure of the spelling. In the 1798 census Philip's wife's name is given as Anna Maria Geikh (with the translator still not sure of what her name actually was); and in the two censuses her ages are given as 23 and 47, making her birth year 1751 or 1752.

The children of (Johann) Philip and Maria in 1775 were listed in the census as Johann Daniel, age 5; Johann Philip, age 3; and Anna Elizabeta, age 2. Thus the household in 1775 consisted of two parents, three children, and one grandmother. By 1798 the three children had married and left the parental household. (A distinction needs be made between household and family, because a household may have included more than one family.)

Son Johann Daniel Kindsvater, 29 in 1798, had married Margareta Schuckman, age 28. They are listed in the census as being a separate household, with three sons: Philip, age 8; Ostwald, age 3; and Wilhelm, age 3 months. Son Philip, now 26, had married Magdalena Hoffman, age 24; and they, with their daughter Katarina, age 1, lived with Magdalena's parents, Wilhelm (age 61) and Margareta (Rehm) Hoffman (age 48).

Daughter Elizabeta Kindsvater, age 23 had married Johannes Schneider, age 25. They had no children yet and lived in the household of Konrad Schneider, widower, age 61, along with the older son Georg Schneider, age 28, Georg's wife Elizabeta (Schultheis), age 27, and their two daughters, Anna Maria, age 5, and Elizabeta, age 1. The 1798 census reveals a Johanneta Kindsvater, age 19 (and

so born after the 1775 census) married to Philip Sack, age 21. They are listed as living in the household of Eberhard (age 52) and Anna Eva (Michael) Sack (age 63).

The household of Philip and Anna Maria (Geikh?) Kindsvater, now ages 50 and 47 respectively, included three younger sons: Johann Ludwig, age 15; Johann Lorenz, age 11; and Georg, age 3.

Using the lineage of Heinrich Kindsvater (of "The Kindsvater Record") as a guide, I think that my Great-grandfather Ostwald Kindsvater's lineage might have been: Hartmann (1720?) - Johann Philip (1748?) - Johann Daniel (1770?) - Philip (1790?) - Ostwald (1837). But I must stress that this is only a guess, as we need more documentation to establish Ostwald's father and grandfather.

The Weigands

Dietrich Weigand was apparently one of the original settlers of Huck, when the colony was settled on 1 July 1767. The census of 1775 gives his age as 47, which would make for a birth year of about 1728; but the 1798 census gives his age as 74, indicating a birth year of about 1724. His wife's name in the 1775 census is Katarina, age 45, suggesting a birth year of 1730. In

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the 1798 census her name is given as Charlotte Messer, age 68, which age again indicates a birth year of 1730. Some questions arise. Did Dietrich marry two women born the same year? Or did he marry one wife who was called by different names in early and later life? Two factors lead me to believe that it was the latter, that her name was Katarina Charlotte. There was a precedent for the, names Katarina Charlotte, though it was not common, as we will see below. But the conclusive argument for me is that in the 1775 census the household of Dietrich and Katarina included an orphan, Johann Jost Messer, age 15, who was probably Katarina's younger brother.

The children of Dietrich and Katarina (Messer) Weigand listed in the 1775 census were: (1) Johannes, age 20; (2) Anna Katarina, age 16; (3) Johann Ernst, age 9; (4) Johann Konrad, age 6; and (5) Anna Magdalena, age 18 months.

In 1798 the Dietrich Weigand household consisted of himself, his wife Charlotte Messer, two sons: Konrad, age 30 (no wife); and Johannes, age 43, along with his wife Elizabeta Eisenhut, age 42, and their five children: (1) Peter, age 17; (2) Elizabeta, age 14; (3) Ernst, age 12; (4) Eleonora, age 5; and Katarina, age 3 months.

In a separate household lived son (Johann) Ernst, age 32 in 1798, with wife Katarina Brotzman, age 27, and their daughter Katarina, age 2.

The names of two Weigand women that are not listed in the 1775 census appear as married in the 1798 census. Katarina Weigand, age 20, had not yet been born in 1775. In the 1798 census she is listed with the household of Jakob Dietz, married to Jakob's oldest son, Konrad, age 24. They had a three month-old daughter, Katarina Dietz. Unless there is evidence to the contrary, we probably can assume that she was the daughter of Dietrich and Katarina.

The second Weigand woman was probably also a daughter of Dietrich and Katarina, but some questions need to be answered. Katarina Weigand, age 41, is listed with the household of Konrad Zitterkopf, age 85, and his wife Charlotte (Gemer?) Zitterkopf, age 81. She was married to their son Peter, age 45. An interesting observation at this point bears on the question above with regard to two names (?) or two women? In the 1775 census the wife of Konrad Zitterkopf is called Katarina Charlotte, but in the 1798 census, Charlotte Gemer [?]. In 1775 Katarina Weigand would have been about 18; the puzzle is why she was not listed in the Huck census if she was the daughter of Dietrich and Katarina? Nor was she listed with the household of Konrad Zitterkopf, whose son Peter was listed without wife.

There is a puzzle here. Katarina, age 41 in 1798, would have been born about 1757, which ought to put her between Dietrich's son Johannes (1755) and his daughter Anna Katarina (1759). The question to be answered here is whether she was overlooked in the Huck census of 1775? or whether she married into the Colony Huck from another colony? There were, for instance, Weigand families at Norka. It will take records not available to me now to resolve this puzzle.

In 1798 Peter and Katarina (Weigand) Zitterkopf had seven living children. They were (1) Elizabeta, 1779; (2) Charlotte, 1783; (3) Marie Elizabeta, 1787; (4) Adam, 1791; (5) Johannes, 1793; (6) Michael, 1795; and (7) Regina, 1797. (Approximate years of birth were determined by subtracting ages from 1798.)

I have learned recently that one Daniel Weigand, b. 1725, founded the Weigand line at Norka. There were also two others mentioned without reference to colonies: Johann Conrad Weigand, b. 1733, and Casper Weigand, b. 1732. I have received no information that relates the four families. More than likely, the services of professional genealogists will be required for that.

- to be continued -

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