The Joseph Schmidt Family of Otter Creek, N.D.
| On February 28, 1878 in Rosental Roman Catholic Church after triple publication in liturgy, and after finding out that the citizens of Rosental county have nothing against their marriage, Joseph Schmidt (single, 25 years old, from Rosental) and Margarita (Rita) Reinboldt (virgin, 17, from Neizau) became legal husband and wife.The priest of Rosental Church blessed their marriage in front of very estimable witnesses. Joseph and Margareta Schmidt were Germans who settled the vast steppes of Russia by the invitation of Catherine the Great.They came for many reason, the chief of which was free farmland. Under the rule of Alexander II, the privilages and freedoms granted by Catherine the Great were largely withdrawn and so began the immigration of German-Russians to the Americas. Joseph was from Speier, Russia founded in 1809-1810, one of the original Catholic villages of the Beresan. The Beresan region is now known as the Ukraine in the former Soviet Union. Speier was later destroyed by the Soviet Union. Following the manifesto (1804) of Alexander I, our ancestors left their homes in Alsace, Baden and the Rhinepalatinate regions of Germany and headed east to their unseen homes in Russia. It was late in the year when they arrived on the grass coverd Steppes.Speier was located on the left bank of the Beresan River, about 5 miles from its source and 3 miles north of Landau.The name Speier was given the new settlement in memory of Speyer, the ancient Palatinate capital on the left bank of the Rhine.The winter of 1809 and 1810 was bitter and their homes were primitive, damp and cold dugouts made of sod.Many became ill and died before spring. Rosental was a newer Catholic Village in the Crimea, a peninsula to the southeast of Odessa on the Black Sea.Germans often refer to the Crimea as "Krim".This is where Joseph and Marareta were married. Margareta Reinbolt was born in Neizau, a Lutheran village in the Crimea not far from Rosental. Joseph and Margareta had several children that died.The immigrates had to be quarantined in refugee camps before boarding the ships to America. The housing was cramped and unsanitary.There was little food and an out break of cholerawent through the camps. It took a years income to buy passage on the ships.For most of the immigrants, it took all of their profits of selling everything they owned. Joseph and Margareta and one son John, boarded the Normannia in November of 1891. It took about 40 days to cross the Atantic to New York, N.Y. They settled in Bismarck, North Dakota and later homesteaded near Otter Creek, N.D. Their family soon grew to included Adam, Katherina, Albert, Edward, Peter, Joseph, and Adolphe. Adam, the second oldest son married Halcyon Lulu Hanna in 1917.Halcyon was born in Noblesville, Indianna to Dr. Julian and Pella Hanna.She taught school near Beulah, N.D.Adam and Halcyon lived in New Salem, N.D. and later moved to the Yakima Valley.Their family included nine children, Julian, Gleela, Helen, Roger, Roy, Don, Bob, Roz, and Irene. I am the daughter of Roger Schmidt and have been working on the Schmidt genealogy. It has become an on going project. We have a reunion in Yakima every August.Friends and family are always welcome. | The Joseph Schmidt Family of Otter Creek, N.D. Updated August 27, 2003 |
| Lori Kay Randall 57 Oak Creek Way. Lebanon,Oregon 97355 A-United States 541 258-8186 [email protected] | |
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