Hutterites
The Hutterites who came to Russia were forced from Switzerland,
Southern Germany, Austria, Hungary, Moravia. They gathered members
from such places as Carinthia, Austria; Alwintz, Transylvania;
Sabatisch, Hungary as they migrated from place to place to escape
religious persecution. They were part of the Anabaptist movement.
The "Community of Goods" which separated them from most other
Anabaptists was actually begun under the leadership of Jacob Wiedeman
in 1528.
All of the Hutterite colonies as well as all those of Hutterite
descent in the US & Canada today can be traced back to a small
band of settlers who first came to Wischenka, Russia in the 1770's.
They lived at Wischenka for 32 years and moved to the village
Raditschewa close to the river Desna. In 1818 half of the colony
moved to Chortiza and in 1819 the entire Radischof dorf burned.
They scattered living mostly in private ownership and then in
1842 began the move to Molotschna in Taurien. Some Mennonites
joined them through marriage and by joining their group. They
established colonies at Hutterthal, Johannesruh, Hutterdorf, and
Neu Hutterthal between 1842 and 1868. Then in 1874 the Russian
government began the mandatory conscription into the Russian army
and almost the entire community of Hutterites moved to Hutchinson
County, South Dakota between the years 1874-1879. Some settled
in private ownership, which are my ancestors, and some established
the Bruderhof which have moved and expanded throughout the US
& Canada.
A group which consisted of two Hutterites and ten Mennonites
made a preliminary trip to the US in 1873 to check out opportunities
for land. Lorentz Tschetter and Paul Tschetter were the Hutterite
members of the group which met with President Grant to be petition
exemption from military service.
This is fascinating research because they brought their church
books with them and for the most part intermarried among themselves.
When I do relationship checks in FTM my sister is also my fourth
cousin!
Charlotte Tschetter Perry
Researching WALZ, PFEIFFER, HUBER, DUBS, MESSMER, MAIER, SCHÖPF,
SCHURR, OESCHLE, FUTTERER, DACHTLER, SPIESS, KRIEG, KOCH, MOHR,
LAUSSER, TSCHETTER, WIPF, HOFER, KLEINSASSER, MANDEL;
Zuerichtal and Heilbrunn, Crimea, and Neu Hutterthal, Taurien;
