Germans from Russia Heritage Society Convention

Adeline Elhard Banttari, Cottage Grove, MN and Jamestown, ND native, researches her ancestral village of Alt Posttal, Bessarabia and the family names of Elhard and Ruff.	Myron and Mabel Knittel Kusler, Pierre, SD, research the villages of Bergdorf, Glückstal, Kassel, Friedenstal, Burtschi, and Worms.
Gwen Pritzkau, Riverton, UT assists Roland Nies, Wahpeton, ND and Ashley, ND native (left) and Herbert Tabert, Salt Lake City, UT. Nies searches the villages of Glückstal, Black Sea and Wittenberg, Bessarabia. Tabert researches Bergdorf, Black Sea and Neusatz, Crimea.	Margaret Zimmerman Freeman, coordinator of the Glückstal Colonies Research Association, assists Clarence Lippert, Bismarck, ND and Beulah, ND native with one of the new GCRA publications locating his Neudorf ancestors.
(l-r) Max Riehl, Koblenz-Güls, Germany, Corinne Becker, Jamestown, ND and Leonard Kopp, Las Vegas, NV review research materials at the Krasna, Bessarabia table. Riehl was born in Krasna leaving the village in 1940. Becker and Kopp have ancestors who came to North Dakota from Krasna.	(l-r) Murray Gauer, New Westminster, BC, and Winnipeg, MB native, Lucy Simpson, Cheyenne, WY and Glen Ullin, ND native and Ed W. Schulz, Bakerfield, CA and Beulah, ND native consult resources on the Bessarabian villages. Simpson is GRHS village coordinator for Rohrbach, Waterloo and Worms (Beresan District); Schulz is GRHS village coordinator for Arcis and Brienne, Bessarabia and Rohrbach and Worms, Black Sea.
(l-r): John Oster, Tacoma, WA and Emmons County, ND native, his Albert Oster, Seikum, WA and J. Albert Oster, Richfield, MN and Manango, ND native complete research on the Black Sea villages of Neu Glückstal, Freudental, Hofnungsberg and Rohrbach. They are researching the family names of Geist, Mertz, Breckel, Bachmann, Dupper, Pfeifle and Pfeifer.	(l-r): Norma Junker Ochs, Aberdeen, SD and Britton, SD native, and Ida Morast Giesinger, Mercer County, ND review the obituary files. Both have ancestors from the Black Sea German village of Peterstal near Odessa, Ukraine.
(l-r): Author Pauline Neher Diede and Rachel Schmidt, GRHS office manager at Bismarck, ND and Streeter, ND native, review new family histories donated to the GRHS Library.	Gary Bettcher, Minneapolis, MN and McHenry County, ND native and Adalene Derman Dockter, Brooklyn Center, MN review the Dobrudscha German publications. Bettcher is GRHS village coordinator for Katalui and Atmagea, Dobrudscha. Dockter reseaches villages of Black sea village of Johannestal, Atmagea and Katalui in Dobrudscha.
Ted Becker, Williston, ND and Selfridge, ND native and Rosemary Ternes Mack, Bienfait, SK, review new files for the Bessarabian village of Krasna. Becker is the GRHS village coordinator for Krasna and Mack does extensive Krasna research.	Theophil Tesky, Billings, MT and Venturia, ND native, researches family names of Tesky, Steiger, Heinle, Sayler and Delzer with ancestry to Bergdorf, Glückstal, Johannestal, Kassel, Michaelstal and Neudorf, South Russia.
(l-r): LaRue Goetz, Bismarck; Lillian Oster Gebhardt & Erving Gebhardt, Eureka, SD, and Harold Ehrman, Pacific Palisade, CA, researching family names from the village of Hoffungstal, South Russia.	(l-r): Attending the GRHS convention were sisters and brothers Joseph Weisgerber, Weyburn, SK; Katharina Weisgerber, Las Vegas, NV; Rose Weisgerber Fritsch, St. Thomas, ON; and Matilda Weisgerber Jansen, Humboldt, SK. Their parents were born in Landau, Beresan District, South Russia, immigrating to Weyburn, SK in 1911. They are researching the family names of Helbling, Schanner and Weber.

Photos by Michael M. Miller