The latest version of the GCRA Points-of-Origin is now available on the Glückstal Colonies Research Association's 2021 Data Drive [Glückstal-2021]. See Store for purchase options.

The full list of primary names contained in the file is available, i.e., families who were known to have lived in the Glückstal colonies. Those without full names often have more identifying information in the B and C entries. The narrative contains even more surnames through marriages, spouse's parents, etc., along with places they lived in Russia and the Americas. If your family's name is listed here, then there is an entry for it in the Points-of-Origin file that may significantly help your research.

History of the Points-of-Origin

The GCRA Points-of-Origin file has been in development since the 1990s, initially prepared as a typed list by Margaret Freeman and Gwen Pritzkau. The list's primary purpose initially was to record identified points of origin for every family living in the Glückstal Colonies, often starting with the origins published in Dr. Karl Stumpp's The Emigration from Germany to Russia in the Years 1763 to 1862, either verifying or correcting the origins that Stumpp had published, based on research Gwen had done on microfilms at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

In 2002, Tom Stangl took over as the Editor of the GCRA Points-of-Origin, and he has been updating and expanding the file ever since from a list into 1,019 sourced family narratives.

The basic file structure of each family narrative is as follows:

A. NAME [listed in alphabetical order]

B. ORIGINS from Stumpp

C. ENTRY from Stumpp EMIGRATION LIST OR OTHER DATA, INCLUDING EDITOR'S ANNOTATIONS

D. AUTHENTICATED ORIGINS

E. AUTHENTICATED KREIS/STATE

F. FHL film # or other source

The part of the file structure that has been greatly expanded over time is "C. ENTRY from Stumpp EMIGRATION LIST, OR OTHER DATA, INCLUDING EDITOR'S ANNOTATIONS".

A lot of additional data was added about each family, beyond just the place of origin in locations before the family arrived in South Russia. Tom was able to access the LDS St Petersburg Lutheran Consistory microfilms which became available in 1994. These films, and the extractions from them which were posted on www.odessa3.org [Odessa3], provided information which allowed him to reconstruct a lot of the families after they arrived in Russia, allowing GCRA to improve data published in Stumpp about the 1816 Revision Lists and some available 1858 Revision Lists. Death records in the St Petersburg records often revealed points of origin for families. As time passed, more sources were identified and published. Any that provided data about the families who lived in the Glückstal Colonies, including passenger lists, U.S. census data, community history hooks, etc., were used to add to the narrative.

Over time, newer sources were identified: the LDS FamilySearch.org site [FHL]; Steve Morse's ships lists website; South Dakota State on-line sites, including the 1905 SD Census and SD Birth Records (all over 100 years); North Dakota State online sites, including the ND Death Index; German War Documents, et al.; GCRA extractions of Einwanderzentralstelle (EWZ) records from the U.S. National Archives; post-1885 Russian records of births, marriages & deaths, obtained from the State Archives of the Odessa Region (SAOR); online Bas-Rhin records; Ancestry.com; and many other sources. Many family researchers in the U.S., Canada, and Europe have provided data about their families which has been added to the narratives, with their contribution noted.

In 2009-2012, new information was obtained from files archived at an "unnamed Ukrainian Archive," which agreed to digitally copy their files covering many of the colonies in South Russia. At that time, the archive did not want to be publicly identified. Subsequently, the archive has been identified as the State Archives of the Dnipropetrovs'k Region (SADR). Our priority was for the files which provided information about the Glückstal Colonies. However, over 120 files regarding colonies throughout South Russia were obtained. GCRA shared non-Glückstal Colonies files with the Germans from Russia Heritage Society (GRHS), and other Mennonite-related files with an independent Mennonite researcher, Tim Janzen.

GCRA opted to go the digital route and did not publish these data on paper; translations of these data were originally published on the GCRA 2015 DVD/Data Stick and are re-published on the GCRA 2021 Data Drive [Glückstal-2021]. Files included in this collection: the 1810, 1811 and 1813 Name Lists; the 1810, 1811 & 1814 Crop Reports (Heads-of-Household named, with number of males & females indicated; in 1814, the number of workers over age 12 in each household was also indicated); and images of the original Russian language 1816 Revision Lists which were extracted and published by Stumpp.

The GCRA Points-of-Origin file was first published in 2004 on a CD-ROM, Disc #1, which accompanied the book, The Glückstalers in New Russia and North America (library|purchase), and was republished in 2008 on the DVD which accompanied the book, The Glückstalers in New Russia, the Soviet Union, and North America (library|purchase). These 2008 records were extensively revised by the Editor based on new information obtained after 2004 and 2008, and new Points-of-Origin entries were added for surnames not included in the 2004 and 2008 files.

An updated version of the Points-of-Origin was published on the GCRA 2015 DVD or Thumb Drive (Data Stick) [Glückstal-2015] in July 2015. The Editor, with the assistance of numerous contributors, has continued to make additional modifications since 2015, which has been republished on the GCRA 2021 Data Drive. The cutoff date for data entry for the 2021 publication was May 2021. However, work continues to add data as it becomes available for a future republication.