Victor Knell Collection

Photographs

The Victor Knell Collection was donated to the Germans from Russia Hertitage Collection in April 2002. Victor is a historian who has influenced identication and preservation of dialect-usage and folk traditions. Victor serves as village historian for Brienne and Teplitz, in Bessarabia; serves as editor for the well-informed Red River Chapter newsletter; and serves on editorial-publications projects at the Germans from Russia Heritage Society, Bismarck. The collection has photographs, musical artifacts, textiles, and ephemerals which reflect ethnic pioneer life in Mercer County, North Dakota.

Victor Knell has complied five family histories for Knoll/Knell, Breitling, Oster, and Adolf heritage. The Knoll/Knell family (from ancestral village of Necketailfingen, Wuerttemburg, Germany) were among the religious pietists of "emigration harmonium" to South Russia. They traveled by "ulmer barges" down the Danube River toward the Black Sea. The Oster family were reformed religionists at Lambsborn, Palatinate, Germany. They were tailors who immigrated in 1798 to Tscherwenka village (in Austria-Hungarian Empire, today Yugoslavia) as linen weavers, later moving near Odessa, South Russia. The Adolf family were printers in Berlin, Brandenburg, Germany. From Oderberg, Prussia, they immigrated in 1817 to (the former German village of) Brienne, Bessarabia, where the Adolf family erected and operated a wind-powered flour mill.

Photographs:

	Photo_Krem_ND_300: Christian and Theresa Oster Family Victor Knell's maternal great great Grandfather on his mother's side. The house was built in 1894. This picture was taken about 1900.
	Photo_Krem_ND_301: The Adolf Oster Family Victor Knell's maternal great Grandfather on his mother's side. Back: Emanuel, Pauline, Edward Front: Theresia, Adolf, Gustav, Herbert, Rosina, Magdalina The picture was taken in 1904.
	Photo_Krem_ND_302: The Philip Breitling Family Victor Knell's maternal great grandparents on his father's side. Back: August, Pauline, Jacob Front: Phillip and Caroline The picture was taken about 1905.
	Photo_Krem_ND_303: The Johannes and Katharina Knöll Family Victor Knell's paternal great grandparents on his father's side. Back: Georg, Heinrich, Elisabeth, Pauline, Marie, Friedrich Front: Andreas, Rebekka, Father Johannes, Mother Katharina, Johanna The picture of the family was taken on February 16, 1906 in Russia after the wedding of Andreas and Rebekka. Not pictured are: daughter Katharina, with her husband Johannes, who had gone with his family to America in 1902; and son Jacob, who left Russia in 1905 for North Dakota.
	Photo_Krem_ND_304: The Daniel Adolf Family Victor Knell's paternal great great grandfather on his mother's side. Back: Veronika, Pauline, Friedrick, Martin, Heinrich Front: Daniel, Katherine The picture was taken about 1908 in Oregon.
	Photo_Krem_ND_305: Wedding photo of Traugott and Hertha Knell Victor Knell's parents. September 29, 1940
	Photo_Krem_ND_306: Double wedding photo of Traugott and Hertha Knell and Arnold and Ida Knell. Victor Knell's parents and aunt and uncle. The picture was taken September 29, 1940.
	Photo_Krem_ND_307: Arnold and Ida, Hertha and Traugott Knell Studio double wedding portrait. Victor Knell's aunt and uncle and parents. The picture was taken September 29, 1940
	Photo_Krem_ND_308: The Reinhold Adolf Family Victor Knell's paternal grandfather on mother's side. Back: Frieda, Hertha, Ida, Violet Front: Erwin, Reinhold, Pauline, Clarence The picture was taken in 1941 at the 25th Wedding Anniversary.
	Photo_Krem_ND_309: The Friedrick Adolf Family Victor Knell's paternal great Grandfather on mother's side. Back: Reinhold, Henry, Gust, Ernest, Martin Middle: Ernistine, Anna, Emma Front: Friedrick, Christina (Kuch) The picture was taken in 1942 at the 50th Wedding Anniversary.
	Photo_Krem_ND_310: Elaine (age 5), Marvin (age 3), Victor (age 7) Knell Youngest brother, Gary, was not born until 1950. The picture was taken circa 1948.
	Photo_Krem_ND_311: The Katherine Neumann Family Victor Knell's aunt; his father's sister. LaRue, Father Michael, Byron, Mother Katherine, Paulette, Jacob, and Jaunite. The picture was taken about 1950.
	Photo_Krem_ND_312: The Jacob Knell Family Victor Knell's paternal grandfather on his father's side. Back: Walter, Deloris, Ida, Arnold, Hertha, Traugott Middle: Clara, Alvin, Marcella, Raymond, Lorentina, Katherina Front: Rudolf, Jacob, Pauline, Michael Newmann The picture was taken in 1959 at the 50th Wedding Anniversary.
	Photo_Krem_ND_313: The Clara Neuberger Family Victor Knell's aunt; his father's sister. Back: Leslie, Arlene, Allen Front: Rudolf, Clara The picture was taken circa 1960.
	Photo_Krem_ND_314: Victor Knell (center right) and friends at Hoffbrauhaus in Munich, Germany, 1962.
	Photo_Krem_ND_315: Victor Knell and friend in Munich, Germany. 1962
	Photo_Krem_ND_316: Victor Knell and army buddies on maneuvers in Germany. 1962
	Photo_Krem_ND_317: The Arnold Knell Family Victor Knell's aunt, uncle, and cousins; Father's brother, mother's sister. Back: Richard, Duane, Ardella Front: Arnold, Ida, Daniel The picture was taken circa 1963.
	Photo_Krem_ND_318: The Traugott Knell Family Victor Knell's immediate family. Back: Marvin, Elaine, Gary, Victor Front: Traugott, Hertha The picture was taken in 1963.
	Photo_Krem_ND_319: The Knöll Sisters and their Brother Victor Knell's paternal great-aunts and Great-uncle on his father's side. Sister Marie, Heinrich, Elisabeth, Pauline, Johanna Wacker Knöll The picture was taken in 1969.
	Photo_Krem_ND_320: The Heinrich Knöll Family Victor Knell's paternal great-uncle on his father's side. Heinrich was his grandfather's brother. Back: Heinrich, Jr., Erich, Traugott, Emma Knöll Schröeder, Gotthilf, Friedrich, Max Knöll Front: Heinrich, Marie Knöll The picture was taken in 1973 in Embsen, West Germany. This was Marie's second marriage, after she thought her first husband died in WW2. He was still alive and her marriage to Heinrich was not legal.
	Photo_Krem_ND_321: Elisabeth Knöll Richter, 1977. Victor Knell's paternal great aunt on his father's side. The ancestral chart in Victor's collection originally belonged to her. During the resettlement, the chart was needed to prove you were an ethnic German to get back into Germany.
	Photo_Krem_ND_322: Sister Emma Knöll, Traugott Knell, Sister Maria Knöll Victor Knell's second cousin, father, and great-aunt. The picture was taken January 15, 1977 Both ladies are Lutheran medical care sisters, which is a deaconess. Sister Emma still lives in Germany.
	Photo_Krem_ND_323: Goetz Cemetery, west of Krem, North Dakota. The picture was taken July 17, 1979.
	Photo_Krem_ND_324: Remaining walls of mill at Krem, North Dakota. The picture was taken July 17, 1979.
	Photo_Krem_ND_325: Mathew Benz building near Krem, North Dakota. The picture was taken July 4, 1980.
	Photo_Krem_ND_326: Reinhold Eisenbeiss of Germany visiting the North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies in Fargo. Michael Miller and Mr. Eisenbiess' wife, son and his American cousins from Martin, ND. The picture was taken circa 1980.
	Photo_Krem_ND_327: Hazen High School, Class of 1959