Starting in 1997, the Krause research we were doing was gathering information about the immigrant family and trying to identify more about their starting point in Russia. I remember knowing that they were from Odessa. Of course, then I learned that Odessa was just the big city near where they lived.
As the immigration, naturalization and passenger records came to light, we were able to find the Krause’s in a brief sojourn between their Russian starting point and their eventual landing spots in the Dakota’s and Wisconsin.
Between 1904 and 1909, the Krause and Zerbe blended family lived in Bukowitz, Schwetz, West Prussia. In fact, that is where August marries Caroline Otto, John marries Bertha Pumplum and Emanuel marries Marie Buechler. I’ve never been able to determine why they chose to stop in Bukowitz. Was it near their families’ place of stay prior to the time in Russia?
Historical location of Bessarabia. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
With the release of the German church records stored in St. Petersburg, I was able to track down the Krause family in Alt Elft, Bessarabia (now a part of Romania). While specific records were hard to track down, the Alt Elft Familienbuch proved to be a treasure trove, providing us with more details about Johann Krause (who died back in Russia).
The Familienbuch of 1883-1903 shows entries for the Krause family as late as 1898 while previous research of the birth records indicated that they may have left the area as early as 1892 (when all the birth records switch over to the Russian Cyrillic alphabet, the Krause families info doesn’t appear).
Additional research in the Familienbuch allowed me to trace the Krause family back one more generation – to Martin Krause in Kloestitz, Bessarabia. Recent searches have indicated that Martin is the son of Michael Krause of Paris, Bessarabia – but I’m trying to get more details on that. Paris is in the same area as Alt Elft. Of course, Michael Krause shows up in that time period in two other families – are they all the same man?
That’s what I’m working on now…
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