A West Prussian Mennonite Emigration List for 1803-1804

Transcribed by

The following is a list, compiled in Tiegenhof, West Prussia, of Mennonite emigrants for the years 1803/1804. The title of the document is Verzeychniß der im Jahr 1803 und 1804 aus dem Tiegenhöffscher Gebiet nach Rußland ausgewanderten Mennenisten und deren Familien. This document is not dated. A photocopy is available at the Center for Mennonite Brethren Studies in Fresno, CA. It is part of a collection of microfilms and photocopies obtained by Dr. Peter J. Klassen. Unfortunately the original document is badly damaged and, as a result, the exact number of families on the list is unknown. It is also unclear as to which families emigrated in 1803 or 1804. The headings of the last two columns are not readable but appear to be the value of each family's assets at the time of emigration; probably in Reichsthaler and Pfennig. Starting in 1788 the Prussian government imposed a 10% tax on the assets of each emigrating family.

I have tried to closely reproduce the original document but have taken some liberties in constructing the list below. I have reproduced the spellings of personal and village names exactly. My comments are in square brackets. In the last column I have added a reference to the immigration lists found on pages 336 to 354 of B. H. Unruh's Die niederländisch-niederdeutschen Hintergründe der mennonitischen Ostwanderungen. For example, "BHU341(03) means that Unruh has them listed on page 341 and indicates them as people who left West Prussia in 1803. The comment "not in BHU" indicates that the family is not found in these lists. The family could well be mentioned elsewhere in Unruh's book. It is obvious that this is not a complete list. Tiegenhof was just one of several administrative centers that kept track of emigrating Mennonites.

This emigration list is important because it is not one of the source documents used by either Benj. H. Unruh or Peter Rempel in compiling their immigration lists. Nor is it found among the lists previously posted to the Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society web site. A quick check against the most recent version of the Grandma database and against available West Prussian Mennonite church records shows that it contains some unique information.

Page created 11 May 2004; expanded 08 February 2006; HTML by Richard D. Thiessen

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