A brief history of the John B. Goering – Jessie Schrag family through 1874, part V

by Rannie

back to Part IV

The Trip to America

The Mennonites had flourished with relatively little outside interference for three quarters of a century. Some had become wealthy landowners and businessmen, employing large numbers of the native people as fieldworkers and house-servants. They were essentially self-governing. However, Czar Alexander II came to power and he initiated reforms that were to pressure the Mennonite society. He was particularly concerned about the foreign German influence caused by the German nationals (including the Mennonites) who had settled in the Ukraine. There was a growing spirit of nationalism in Russia during this time. In 1861, the czar emancipated the serfs. He also issued reforms to revoke the special privileges under which the Mennonites were living. Reforms included the teaching of Russian language in all schools, universal military service, and the restoration of Orthodox Christianity.

In 1871, the Swiss-Volhynian Mennonites along with the Dutch-Prussian Mennonites in the Ostrog area, sent representatives to St. Petersburg to negotiate with the government. After several weeks during which they were not allowed to meet anyone in authority, they returned home. They met with a government official in Ostrog who told them that all former privileges were to be discontinued, and that the Mennonites would be subject to military conscription. The Mennonites decided to emigrate because of this. They considered moving to Turkestan, Australia, and South America. However, they knew about other Mennonites who had gone earlier to North America.

A group of twelve representatives were sent in April, 1873 to examine options for settlement in America and Canada. These included Andreas Schrag (I believe he was a great-uncle to my grandmother, Jessie Schrag Goering, brother to her grandfather, Jacob Schrag.) They were particularly impressed with the Dakotas, and part of the Swiss-Volhynian group subsequently emigrated to establish the current community of Freeman, South Dakota. The group met with President Ulysses S. Grant on Aug. 8, 1873. They requested exemption from military service for 50 years, their own schools, right to vote after having been naturalized – although they had the right to not vote as well, and a written statement of all these privileges. President Grant took their petition under consideration, giving it to Secretary of State, Hamilton Fish, who advised that they should direct the request to Congress. (There was lots of red tape, even in that day, in Washington!) The petition was introduced as House bill 2121 and Senate bill 655, but was tabled and did not pass the Senate. The Mennonites cam anyway. In fact, before he left Russia, Andreas Schrag was given a letter to present to American Mennonites requesting aid and loans to help pay for passage to America.  (See letter on page 121 of Stucky’s book)

The delegation returned to Russia in the fall of 1873. Mennonites of the Western District Conference of the General Conference of Mennonites met in Summerfield, Illinois, on Nov. 17, 1873 to establish a “Board of Guardians” to help the Russian emigrants with their travel. They arranged for rail transport in America, as well as the Inman Steamship line for sea transport. They also obtained loans from Mennonites living in America for those who could not afford passage from Russia. Later, representatives met the Volhynian Mennonites in New York , and David Goerz helped to guide our Goering ancestors via the Santa Fe Railroad to Kansas to settle.

In Russia, preparations were made for the emigration the next summer (1874). They had to obtain legal documents proving residency and giving their reasons for coming to and leaving Russia, the number in their group, and their destination. A Russian lawyer named Iliasiwicz was hired to help. Eventually they obtained passports, one to a family, for 50 rubles each. The congregations issued birth and marriage certificates. Steamship tickets were obtained through the Board of Guardians in American at the cost of $42 per ticket. They had to sell all their land, homes, livestock and many other possessions. Because they were committed to emigration, they were forced to sell even if they could not get a good price. Anything which could not be sold was brought to a big public auction for the whole village. When they sold their homes, they reserved the right to stay in them until they left, often having to share the space with the purchasers.

The Swiss-Volhynian congregations left in several stages during that summer. Ten families of the Sahorez congregation, including our Schrag ancestors, arrived in New York from Liverpool, England on the City of Richmond on May 18, 1874. The ship record lists the last name of one family as “Schaff”. Andreas and Barbara Schrag were the leaders of this family. (I’m not certain whether this is the Andreas Schrag with the wife Barbara Göring who is my grandmother’s grandfather (the family included daughter Ann listed as age 22, spinster in the ship record), or the Andreas Schrag who is my grandmother’s great-uncle with his wife Barbara Miller. Listed with them is Jno (age 24, farmer) who could be John G. Schrag, Jessie’s father. This latter would be true according to the Schrag family record, but neither the birth dates and ages, nor the family groupings seem to match).

The other Swiss-Volhynian congregations all left that summer. Our Goering ancestor left with the last and largest group. This was the Kotosufka Gemeinde under the leadership of Elder Jakob Stucki (brother of our direct ancestor, Anna-Katherine Stucki Krehbiel). 78 families of 441 persons left Kotosufka on Aug 6., 1874. Included in this group were Grandpa’s parents, Johann and Freni Goering (both age 23) along with his oldest sister, Anna (age 1); and his mother, Elizabeth Gering (age 42, according to the ship list) who was widowed. I believe the ship listing also includes Grandpa’s uncles and aunts: Peter Gering (age 25), Elizabeth Gering (age 16, listed as “spinster”), Jacob Gering (age 12), Marie Gering (age 10), and Anna Gering (age 8). Also listed is Catherine Gering, age 1, who is not found on the Gering family tree. They traveled a total of 26 days before reaching Peabody, Kansas. The first leg of the journey was a two day trip by wagon for 50 miles to the town of Strabanow. Many of them saw a train for the first time when they boarded there to go by train another 50 miles to the Russian border at the town of Padwolotschisk. They had their baggage and passports checked, then got on another train to Lemberg (in Galicia) where they stayed overnight. They traveled on by train to Breslau, Berlin, and then to Hamburg. They had to wait for 3 days in Hamburg. They then took a boat across the North Sea to Hull, England. They went from Hull by rail to Liverpool where they boarded the City of Richmond a few days later. The ship had both sails and coal-fired steam engines. The reports were that the voyage was pleasant, with only one day of storms at sea. The captain was German, and very friendly and accommodating. Apparently one child died during the voyage and had to be buried at sea. Land was finally sighted, and they arrived in New York on Aug. 31, 1874. (Several other sources set the date as Sept. 3) There they met members of the Horodischtz and Waldheim congregations who had arrived a week earlier. Several members of the community had to go to Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio to work off the debt to the Board of Guardians who had helped to fund their passage. Others went directly west to settle. The group was split, with some going to Dakota where our Schrag ancestors settled in Yankton. Others including our Goering ancestors went on the Peabody, Kansas, by rail.

Sources

“History of the John Goering Family – July 19, 1939 Reunion Report”

“Kurze Geschicte Der Aus Wolhynian Ruszland Nach Kansas Ausgewanderten Schweizer, Mennoniten”, by R. P. Wedel. Translated to English: A Short History of the Swiss Mennonites Who Migrated From Volyhnian, Russia to America and Settled in Kansas by Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin B. J. Goering. Published 1960 by Mennonite Press, Newton, Ks.

The Challenging Faith. Centennial Publications of the First Swiss-German (Volhynian Congregation in Kansas) by Menno S. Kaufman and committee. 1975.

The Mennonite Encyclopedia Vol II (1956) p. 535.

An Introduction to Mennonite History. C.J. Dyck, ec. Herald Press. (1967(

The Heritage of the Swiss Volhynian Mennonites. Solomon Stucky. Conrad Press. 1981.

The Johann Goering Family Record 1850-1979. Mennonite Press, 1979.

The Johann and Anna Schrag Family Record 1848-1976. Compiled by John B. Goering and Roma Schrag Stucky.

Brothers in Deed to Brothers in Need, A Scrapbook about Mennonite Immigrants from Russia 1870-1885. Compiled and ed. by Clarence Hiebert.

Prepared for reunion of the John B. Goering family, July 4-5, 1992 by Randall V. Goering