Journey to the Homeland Tour – Ukraine & Germany

North Dakota State University Library Sponsored Tour

18 May – 28 May 2011

Biographies of Tour Group Members

* Identifies Deceased

Delvin Dieterle, Seattle, Washington
Ancestral Villages: Friedenstal, Klöstitz, Kulm and Tarutino (Bessarabia); Tulcea (Romania); Fankoff (Poland); Freudenstadt (Germany)

The Dietterle’s origins start in Freudenstadt, Germany.  From there they migrated through Poland to Klöstitz in Bessarabia.

My great-great grandparents were Johannes and Luise “Drechsler” Dietterle of Klöstitz.  Luise Dreschsler was born on September 28, 1820 in Klöstitz.  The birth and death of Johannes is unknown.

My great grandparents were Ludwig and Christine “Siewert” Dietterle of Klöstitz.  Ludwig was born April 21, 1837 and died October 21, 1898 in Klöstitz.  Christine was born October 11, 1841 and died March 21, 1897 in Klöstitz.  She was the daughter of Ferdinand and Anna Marie “Forchert” Siebert.  Ferdinand Siebert was born in Melenek, Poland in December 1808.  Anna Marie was born in Fankoff, Poland in 1819.

My grandparents were Ferdinand and Margaretha “Ruff” Dietterle.  Ferdinand was born on October 13, 1879 in Klöstitz.  He died on April 15, 1943 in North Dakota.  His brothers and sister were Johannes (1867 – 1923), David (August 8, 1877 – 1911), and Katherine Dietterle “Mattick.”  Her children, we think, live in Wachendorf II, Scheiswig, Holsrein.

Margaretha Ruff was born December 6, 1879 in Friedenstal and died October 15, 1966 in North Dakota.  Her parents were Gottfried and Ellizabetha “Land” Ruff.  Her brothers were Henry and John.  Her sister’s names are unknown.  One died young and the other sister possibly moved to Poland.  Ferdinand and Margaretha married on November 11, 1901 in Klöstitz.  They immigrated from Klöstitz through Romania to North Dakota on December 11, 1901 onboard the S.S. Pennsylvania.

My mother’s parents were Friedrick and Magdalena “Mueller” Fandrich.  Friedrick was born on June 15, 1875 in Tarutino, Bessarabia and died June 4, 1944 in North Dakota.  Magdalena was born January 9, 1875 in Kulm, Bessarabia and died June 15, 1954 in North Dakota.  Friedrick lived in Tarutino until 1892 when his parents moved to Tulcea, Romania.  He served 3 years in the Romanian army.  They married on June 15, 1897.  They have two children who died and are buried in Tulcea, Romania.  They emigrated from Romania to North Dakota on March 16, 1902.

My parents were Reuben and Emilia “Fandrich” Dieterle of Drake, North Dakota.  We moved to Sunnyside, Washington in 1952.  I graduated from Sunnyside High School in 1955.  I served in the Air Force with SAC.  I retired in 1999.  I worked for Ford, GM, and Chrysler dealership as an ASC service technician.  I enjoy hiking, traveling, and working in my yard that contains flowers, fruit, and gardens.  I also enjoy ballet, symphony, and the Seattle Art Museum.  I have season club tickets to the Seattle Seahawks Football games and enjoy going to hockey games.

Roger Dieterle, Belfield, North Dakota

Ancestral Villages: Friedenstal and Klöstitz (Bessarabia)

I am the second born son of Henry and Alfhild (Person) Dieterle.  I was born June 1, 1951 in Minot, North Dakota.  I was raised on the family farm north of McClusky (class of McClusky High, ’69).  I majored in horticulture at NDSU (BS 1973); was ordained as an ALC Pastor in 1979 (M.Div., Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota) and trained as a Pastoral counselor/family therapist post ordination.  (MS, CDFS, NDSU, 1990; Luther Seminary PhD program 1990-1992.)

My dad’s biographical sketch shares the Dieterle family story.  My mother’s parents (Nels Person from Sweden and Jensine Jensen from Norway) both immigrated to North Dakota in 1903.  They homesteaded separately in Sheridan County and were married September 12, 1909.

I’m traveling on this trip with my 94 year old father Henry so that we can visit Klöstitz and Friedenstal, the Bessarabian villages his parents (Ferdinand and Margaretha (Ruff) Dieterle) immigrated from in 1902.  Between April and June 1992, while I was in the PhD program in Pastoral Care and Counseling, at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota dad and I wrote and edited “90 Years in the Heartland” a pictorial history of the Dieterle families.  We gathered family stories in honor of the 90th anniversary of dad’s parents homesteading which we celebrated in conjunction with my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary in June 1992.  The book included stories and pictures shared by all dad’s living siblings and their cousin Anna (Schaeffer) Knodel.  Anna remembered life in Klöstitz, the trip to the United States, and my grandparents first 12 years in North Dakota.  Anna was in her late 90’s and an amazing family story teller.  We will be bringing a copy of the book on the tour.

I served the Zahl, North Dakota Lutheran parish (1979-87); was a part-time chaplain at St. John – St. Ansgaar Hospital and part time pastor at Messiah Lutheran, Fargo, North Dakota while in graduate school at NDSU; and did pastoral counseling in Burnsville and Edina, Minnesota while at graduate school at Luther Seminary.  In October 1992, I returned to western North Dakota to serve as an ELCA Parish Pastor at Bucyrus, North Dakota (1992-1994); Bison, South Dakota (1997-2000) and Belfield-Daglum-Medora congregations (2000-present).  I have provided part or full-time family therapy services at West River Regional Medical Center at Hettinger, North Dakota since November 1992.

My special interests include cross-cultural relations and storytelling, personal development and motivation, body/mind/spirit research, weight lifting, horticulture, photography, writing, music, and nature.  I greatly enjoy the beauty of the North Dakota Badlands.  I look forward to getting to know a fascinating group of sojourners while having the privilege of visiting my grandparents’ home village sites with my 94 year old father, Henry, their only living child; and my cousin Delvin Dieterle.  I trust this experience will help me understand the similarities of the experiences of the immigrants of the last century and today’s wave of emigrants to North Dakota’s oil patch.

Juel (Weist) Donner, Mahnomen, Minnesota

Ancestral Villages: Dennewitz, Hoffnungstal, Klöstitz and Paris (Bessarabia); Rohrbach (Beresan District); Karlstal and Schwabo (Odessa Region)

My maternal Grandmother, Pauline (Kleingartner, Hehr) Wutzke came to the United States with her family.

My Mother, Esther (Helen Hehr) Weist was the second daughter of Pauline & Emmanuel Hehr. My mom married my Dad, Albert Bernard Weist, on 29 September 1935.

I was born and raised in Jamestown, North Dakota.  I attended Jamestown High School and graduated in 1971.  The next day we moved to Bismarck, North Dakota.  I graduated from Bismarck State College (the former Bismarck Junior College) and then from the University of North Dakota in Grand forks, North Dakota with a BA in Business Education.  I taught for 3 years in Braddock, North Dakota and then 9 years in Neche, North Dakota.

I married William George Donner on July 2, 1988 in Bismarck, North Dakota.  We live on Donner farms near Mahnomen and Waubun.  When we were first married, the farm was a cow milking operations.  Today we rent the land and Bill works at the Shooting Star Casino in Mahnomen, Minnesota.

For the past 23 years, I have been a substitute teacher for 3 different school districts.  On weekends, I take care of a handicapped brother and sister that live in Mahnomen.

Bill and I have 3 children: Karl, 21, Kris, 16 and Katrina 18 who is with me on this trip.

Katrina Donner, Mahnomen, Minnesota

Ancestral Villages: Dennewitz, Hoffnungstal, Klöstitz and Paris (Bessarabia); Rohrbach (Beresan District); Karlstal and Schwabo (Odessa Region)

My Great Grandmother was Pauline (Kleingartner, Hehr) Wutzke.  My Grandmother was her daughter, Esther Helen (Hehr) Weist.  My Mother is Juel Hope (Weist) Donner.

My parents are Bill & Juel Donner; they live on Donner Farms near Mahnomen and Waubun, Minnesota.  I attended and graduated from Waubun High School in 2010.  I will have finished my freshman year at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks.  I am planning to major in Forensics Science and Psychology.

During the summer months, I am a lifeguard and I teach swimming.  I also take care of the handicapped brother and sister in Mahnomen.

Charles Eckroth, St. Cloud, Minnesota

Ancestral Villages: Karlsruhe (Beresan District)

I was born at home and grew up in Mandan, North Dakota, the 13th (and lucky) child of Louis and Hattie Eckroth.  My mother was of Swiss descent and my wife, Evelyn, and I have visited the ancestral village there, nestled in a lovely alpine valley.  My wife is of Norwegian and German descent and we have seen the area once farmed by her Norwegian grandfather.

I retired from teaching physics and astronomy at St. Cloud State.  Evelyn taught school in parts of six decades before retiring in 1990.  We have children Heidi and Andy both living in Iowa.  My hobbies are stamp collecting and canoe-camping in the Boundary Waters.

My Eckroth grandparents immigrated to the United States in 1891, when my father was 2 years old, along with three older siblings.  His oldest sister, Mary, already married came over later.  Her husband, Zacharias DeChandt, was a school teacher in Karlsruhe until then.

The earliest known ancestor was Adam Eckroth who emigrated from Walsheim near Landau, in Pfalz and is listed among the initial settlers of Karlsruhe.

My father used to say that there were no more Eckroths living in Russia and I entered that claim on a security clearance form before receiving my army commission.  It turns out that Dad was mistaken.  The Karlsruhe 1944 map in Joseph Height’s book “Paradise on the Steppe” shows several homes with the Eckroth name – or spelling variations.  Lastly, the final year I taught astronomy at St. Cloud State (1998) a student asked me after the first class “Eckroth, that’s a German-Russian name isn’t it?”  He was, I believe, recently arrived from Russia.  “I knew an Eckroth down in the Caucusus” he said.  Not surprising as there was at least one other Eckroth man, Christian, among the original settlers in 1810, either a brother or older son of Adam who settled in Landau.

Rev. Leonard A. Eckroth, Bowbells, North Dakota

Ancestral Villages: Karlsruhe (Beresan District)

My dad (Louis Eckroth) was born in Karlsruhe, Ukraine in 1889 and two years later his parents moved to the United States and settled in Mandan, North Dakota.  His older brother, Gabe, and two sisters, Mary DeChandt (who arrived later) the wife of Zacharias DeChandt (a teacher in Karlsruhe), another sister Frances who died young from a fire accident, and Edith, all came to America.

My dad’s father was Andrew and his mother was Katharina Kopp, who also moved to North Dakota along with Katharina’s parents John & Caroline Kopp.  My parents had 14 children, three of whom died in infancy.  I was the third youngest.  Another brother and I became priests and two sisters became nuns.  The rest are all married. 

As a parish priest, I was stationed in various churches in western North Dakota, like St. Mary’s in Bismarck, St. Michael’s in rural Linton, St. John the Baptist in New Leipzig, St. Joseph’s in Bowbells, where I retired a couple years ago.  I also spent 8 years at St. Martin’s, Huff, rural Mandan and 8 years at St. Thomas in Tioga.  Also, 28 years at Sts. Peter & Paul Church in Strasburg and St. Mary’s in Hague as a Mission.  I’m looking forward to visiting especially the village of Karlsruhe, Ukraine, from whence dad came.  Our mother was German, Swiss, her parents having come from Switzerland.

*Alvina (Littau) Evans, Spearfish, South Dakota

Ancestral Villages: Bergdorf (Glueckstal District); Katzbach, Kulm and Tarutino (Bessarabia)

My parents had 12 children and I am the seventh in line.  I spoke German until I started school.  We still spoke German at home and around Grandma Littau.  When I finished I started teaching school.  My husband died in 2006.  We had two children.  One lives here in Spearfish and the other in Columbia Falls, Montana.

Inge (Hofer) Fryman, Upland, California

Ancestral Villages: Hoffnungstal (Bessarabia)

My parents are from Hoffnungstal, Bessarabia and immigrated to Chemnitz, Germany in 1940 where I was born in 1942.  From there we went to Gdond and eventually to Horumersiel in northern Germany where we lived till 1951.  In December of 1951 we came to North Dakota and resided with Kleingartner relatives till we moved to Gackle, North Dakota and then Jamestown, North Dakota.  I graduated from Jamestown High School in 1960.  I attended Winona State College in Winona, Minnesota from 1960-1964 and received a B.S. degree in Elementary Education.  I taught first and then second in South St. Paul, Minnesota while living in West St. Paul.  I met my husband, George, in scuba diving class and we were married in December of 1965 in Jamestown, North Dakota.

From West St. Paul, Minnesota we moved to Santa Monica, California in 1968 while my husband attended L.A. Trade and Technical College.  My son, Chad was born in Burbank, California where we resided for a short time, eventually moving to Upland, California where I have lived since 1972.

I worked for the Ontario, California Police Department in the records division from June 1972 till my retirement in September 2007. 

I have one grandson, Trevor James Fryman, born in 2004.

I keep busy with a multitude of hobbies including, birds, knitting and crocheting, selling Avon, reading, gardening, yard-saleing and taking care of Trevor after school.

I have never been back to Germany, so I expect this trip to be very enlightening.

John Henke, Gackle, North Dakota

Ancestral Villages: Bergdorf and Neudorf (Glueckstal District); Hoffnungstal (Bessarabia)

My great grandpa Henke, Wilhelm Jacob Henke was born January 22, 1850 in Hoffnungstal, Bessarabia in South Russia.  Grandpa Johann Henke was born April 15, 1876 in Hoffnungstal and married Elizabeth Henne.  My father Adolph Henke was born October 4, 1903 in Hoffnungstal.  When Johann became ill he encouraged his wife to go to America where more Henne’s had gone earlier.  Elizabeth came to America after her husband died with three small children.  Lydia born in 1902, Adolph, also spelled Adolf, born in 1903 and Christina born in 1906.  Elizabeth traveled to Coleharbor, North Dakota.  She married Ludwig Muller of Gackle who had lost his wife also.  They raised their families in Gackle, North Dakota.

Grandpa Johann M. Mayer was born October 4, 1896, in Neudorf, South Russia.  My mother was Rosina Mayer, born May 29, 1907 in Gackle, North Dakota.

I grew up on a farm in the Neudorf area.  Our church was named Neudorf Church (Lutheran) which was about six miles west of Gackle.  I married Janet Miller who also lived in the Neudorf area.

Janet (Miller) Henke, Gackle, North Dakota

Ancestral Villages: Bergdorf and Neudorf (Glueckstal District); Hoffnungstal (Bessarabia)

My great grandpa was Johann Müller born on March 3, 1843 in Neudorf, Odessa, South Russia.  He married Barbara Schmidt.  They came to America on September 19, 1891.  Peter, my grandpa, was born on December 11, 1881 in South Russia.  He filed a homestead in 1902, sixteen miles southwest of Gackle.  He married Magdalena Veil.  My dad was Peter Miller Jr., born December 27, 1905 in Logan County.  He married Emma Zenker who was born June 6, 1907.

Wilhelm Zenker, was born August 16, 1866 in Bergdorf, South Russia to August F. and Elizabeth (Jesser) Zenker.  He emigrated to the United States in 1891 and homesteaded near Long Lake, South Dakota.  He married Fredericka Klipfel.  They moved to North Dakota in 1900 and settled on a farm one and a half miles west of Gackle, North Dakota.

Patricia Diane Kenney, Pasadena, California

I am a native of southern California and went to high school at Eagle Rock, California.  I graduated from Chapman College with a B.A. Degree.  I graduated from Pacific School of Religion with a M. Div. Degree and was ordained in 1969 by the Christian Church, Disciples of Christ.

I served as a campus minister at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California and at Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio.  I served the last 28 years as campus minister at University of Southern California. 

I have not retired yet, but my hobbies include traveling with my husband, reading and the Hammer Dulcimer.

Anton Littau, Wasilla, Alaska

Ancestral Villages: Bergdorf and Neudorf (Glueckstal District); Rosenfeld (North Caucasus); Katzbach, Kulm, Neu Arcis and Tarutino (Bessarabia)

My paternal branch came from Prussia/Poland and were original settlers of the Tarutino colony in 1814.  My father emigrated to America in 1907 at age 14 from Rosenfeld, North Caucasus.  His parents, and three earlier generations were from the Tarutino, Bessarabia area.  My father lived in the south central area of South Dakota, moving westward as the Rosebud Indian Reservation was opened for settlement.  My family farmed in the Norris, South Dakota area known as Dutchman’s Flats, in honor of all the German-Russians living in the area.

My mother was born in the United States and became a United States citizen in the 1930’s.  (This is not a misprint and we have her citizenship papers to prove it.)  Both of her parents were from Bergdorf, Russia, coming over as young adults.  Her family came from southwest Germany and Alsace before moving to Russia in the early 1800’s.

I am the youngest of a family of twelve.  All but the youngest of my siblings spoke German as their first language, often learning English in the 1st grade.  I was born at the outbreak of WWII, so speaking German was not encouraged.  I grew up in the Gregory, South Dakota area where the majority of people were recent emigrants from eastern Europe, with Germans from Russia and Bohemians making up sizable portions of the population.  I farmed in the Norris area for ten years before going north to Alaska in 1970 to teach high school in a remote, isolated area on the Britsol Bay coast.  I started commercial salmon fishing in the area in 1980, and continue to this day.  My wife of 43 years is not a German-Russian, but we do celebrate her Luxembourg roots among others.  We have one child, a wonderful daughter and our son-in-law, and two grandchildren.

Darlene M. (Kleingartner) Lobenstein, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin

Ancestral Villages: Hoffnungstal, Klöstitz, Neu Elft and Paris (Bessarabia)

I am the youngest of fourteen children born to Emanuel and Ottilia (Kuhn) Kleingartner on a farm outside of Gackle, North Dakota in 1944.  My father was born October 25, 1898 in Hoffnungstal, Bessarabia.  He emigrated to the United States with his family in 1903.  My mother was born October 11, 1898 on a farm near Kulm, North Dakota.  Her parents Gottfried and Olga (Keller) Kuhn were born in Paris and Neu Elft, Bessarabia respectively.

I grew up in Jamestown, North Dakota graduating from high school in 1962 and Westmar College in 1966.  I taught for several years in Wisconsin before staying home to raise my two sons.  I returned to the work force in the insurance industry and retired in 2010.

I am excited to experience this once in a lifetime trip.  Several of my family members are also on the tour and I look forward to sharing this piece of our heritage with them.

Richard Mastio, Carmel, California

Ancestral Villages: Selz (Kutschurgan District); Landau (Beresan District)

My grandparents were George Joseph Mastio, who was born October 27, 1872 in Selz, Beresan District, Odessa, Ukraine and Frances Elizabeth Reichert Mastio, who was born October 24, 1877 in Landau, Beresan District, Odessa, Ukraine.  My grandfather died April 28, 1942 in St. Joseph, Missouri and my grandmother died October 10, 1977 in El Cajon, California.

My grandparents immigrated to the United States from the Ukraine in 1890 or 1891, first to New York, on to Plantersville, Texas, and finally St. Joseph, Missouri.

My parents are Ralph Charles Mastio, who was born on October 24, 1908 and Elizabeth Margaret Calnan Mastio, who was born on March 31, 1911.  My father died on November 15, 1981 and my mother died September 12, 2007 in Monterey, California.

My father, Ralph Charles Mastio, was the eighth of seventeen children of George Joseph Mastio and Frances Elizabeth (Reichert) Mastio.

I am 65 years old and retired from the plastics, chemicals and energy industries.

My wife Susan and I live in Carmel, California.  I have two children; David Matthew Mastio and Kathleen Sarah Mastio Caldwell.  I also have six grandchildren; Azalea, Rachael, Allen, Talbot, Elizabeth and Lucas.

Susan G. Mastio, Carmel, California

Ancestral Villages: Selz (Kutschurgan District); Landau (Beresan District)

Daniel M. Pietz, Fayetteville, North Carolina

Ancestral Villages: Kassel (Glueckstal District); Teplitz (Bessarabia)

I was born in Parkston, South Dakota on October 14, 1951 and spent my childhood living in several southeastern South Dakota towns.  I graduated from South Dakota State University with a degree in Wildlife Management in 1973 and entered the Army.  I spent nearly three years in the Army stationed at Fort Devens, Massachusetts before being accepted to dental school at the University of Iowa.  I graduated from there in 1980 and entered the Army and spent the next 25 years traveling throughout the world.  I spent two separate three year tours in Germany, one in Munich and one in Heidelberg. 

I am married to the former Patricia A. Schnieder from Tripp, South Dakota and we have two sons, Adam age 30 and Bryan age 27 and one grandson, Hudson who is 6 months old.  I retired from the Army in 2005 and have worked at a local Veterans Affairs Hospital from 2006 to present. 

I became interested in researching my family roots around 1995 and have spent the last 15 years researching the Kurtz and Pietz family lines.  I am interested in the following areas: Odessa and the former colonies of Teplitz and Kassel.  My hobbies are golfing, traveling and enjoying nature.

Dr. Eric J. Schmaltz, Alva, Oklahoma

Ancestral Villages: Kandel and Selz (Kutschurgan District); Katharinenthal (Beresan District); Alt-Postal, Beresina, Borodino, Dennewitz, Klöstitz, Sarata and Wittenberg (Bessarabia)

I am a tenured associate professor at Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva, where I teach Modern European and World History.  Both sides of my family claim some Black Sea German ancestry (Lutheran and Catholic), and their odyssey across half the globe influenced me to pursue the history profession.  Though born in North Dakota, I have lived in several states over the years (in some of them more than once), including Maryland, Arizona, Nebraska, Iowa, and Minnesota as well as time abroad as an exchange student at the University of Paderborn in Germany.  I earned a B.A. (1994) in History and German language with honors at Saint Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.  After receiving my M.A. (1996) in History at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, I completed a Ph.D. (2002) in History at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln.  I specialize in Modern Germany and Modern Russia with an emphasis on ethnic and nationality studies.

Besides speaking at numerous conferences and public events for the past fifteen years, I have produced a variety of articles and German-and Russian-language translations for publication in the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (AHSGR) in Lincoln, Nebraska, the Germans from Russia Heritage Society (GRHS) in Bismarck, North Dakota, and the Germans from Russia Heritage Collection at the North Dakota State University (GRHC NDSU) Libraries in Fargo.  Other articles, reviews, and translations have appeared either online or in newsletters, local newspapers, interdisciplinary journals such as Ethnic and Racial Studies, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Journal of Genocide Research, Nationalities Papers,and Oklahoma Politics as well as major international anthologies on the Holocaust by Berghahn Books and K.G. Saur Verlag.  In 2003, my first monograph, An Expanded Bibliography and Reference Guide for the Former Soviet Union’s Germans: Issues of Ethnic Autonomy, Group Repression, Cultural Assimilation and Mass Emigration in the Twentieth Century and Beyond was published by the GRHC NDSU Libraries in Fargo.

I serve as the editor of the GRHS Heritage Review, an editorial board member of the AHSGR Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia and a member of the Board of Academic Advisors at the Center for Volga German Studies at Concordia University in Portland, Oregon.  I am a longtime member of the Society for German-American Studies (SGAS), as well as co-executive director of the newly endowed Northwestern Oklahoma State University (NWOSU)-Masonic Institute for Citizenship Studies.  I am co-editor of the NWOSU Institute’s forthcoming annual publication, Civitas: The Journal of Citizenship Studies.

I continue to labor on various short-and long-term research and translation projects for possible publication as articles and books, most of them in connection with the history of the Germans from Russia.

Kathryn (Olson) Slama, Boise, Idaho

Ancestral Villages: Hoffnungstal, Klöstitz, Neu Elft and Paris (Bessarabia)

I am the daughter of Archie Olson and (Olga) Lorraine Kleingartner Olson.  My siblings are Carolyn Fischer, Karen Zaffke, Susan Domingo, Jenine Lysne, and Barbara Zerface.  I am the granddaughter of Oscar Olson and Gusta Bjerke Olson; Emanual Kleingartner and Ottilia Kuhn Kleingartner.

My biography echoes much of my sister, Karen Zaffke’s biography.  I was born January 7, 1949, one year and one day after she was born.  As young children many people thought we were twins.  Growing up we were very close and enjoyed doing many of the same things.  That hasn’t changed.  Karen and I, as well as two of our sisters, became lifelong teachers.  Our oldest sister became a registered nurse and our youngest sister became a county tax assessor.

I got my first teaching job in Kalispell, Montana in 1971.

I met Rick, my husband of thirty six years, there.  We had two sons and one daughter while living in Kalispell.  In 1988 we moved to Boise, Idaho.  All three of our children and Tony’s wife Jen graduated from the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho.  Tony and Jen have been working for Boeing in Seattle since their graduation in 2001.  On June 9, 2010 they had Margret Grace who is a wonderful blessing to our whole family.  Nick works as a civil engineer for URS.  He worked for four years on the Eastside-Metro Gold Line Extension transit system in Los Angeles.  He just finished working on a light rail project in New Jersey and is returning to L.A. for his next project.  Melissa works for a company in Boise called Inclusions where she hires and supervises people who work with adults with developmental disabilities.  I retired from teaching last spring and I am enjoying having the opportunity to do many things I wasn’t able to do while working.

Dorothy E. (Kleingartner) Soruco, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Ancestral Villages: Hoffnungstal, Klöstitz, Neu Elft and Paris (Bessarabia)
I was born in Gackle, North Dakota to Emanuel Kleingartner and Ottelia (Kuhn) Kleingartner.  My father and paternal grandfather, Frederick Kleingartner, were born in Hoffnungstal, Bessarabia.  My paternal grandmother, Dorothea (Heck) Kleingartner, was born in Klostitz, Bessarabia.  My father and his family arrived in the United States in 1903.  My mother was born near Kulm, North Dakota.  Her parents, Gottfried Kuhn was born in Paris, Bessarabia and Olga (Keller) Kuhn was born in NeuElft, Bessarabia.

I attended school in Gackle and Jamestown, North Dakota.  I moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota where I met my husband, Rubén Soruco.  We have three children.  After retiring, my husband and I have been traveling throughout the world.  We continue to enjoy exploring new places.

This tour will provide me with the wonderful opportunity to see the land where my ancestors lived.  I will be traveling with my sister Darlene (Kleingartner) Lobenstein, two nieces Karen Zaffke and Kathryn Slama and five other relatives.

DarEll T. Weist, Pasadena, California

Ancestral Villages: Dennewitz, Hoffnungstal, Klöstitz and Paris (Bessarabia); Rohrbach (Beresan District); Karlstal and Schwabo (Odessa Region)

I was born in Bismarck, North Dakota and lived in Jamestown, North Dakota.  I graduated in 1958 from Jamestown High School.  From there I went to Westmar College, LeMars, Iowa and graduated in 1962 with a B.S. Degree.  In 1965, I graduated from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary with a M. Div. Degree.  In 1972, I graduated from Claremont School of Theology in Claremont, California with a Doctor of Religion Degree.  I retired in 2006 after 45 years as a United Methodist Clergy.

During the 45 years I was a campus pastor in Nebraska, California and Arizona.  I taught theology in Sierra Leone, West Africa and helped found a Theological Hall in Sierra Leone.  I served on the Program Staff of the California-Pacific United Methodist Annual Conference.  I also served on the staff of the Los Angeles District of the United Methodist Church.  For 15 years I was the Senior pastor of First United Methodist Church, Los Angeles.  While there, I was the President/CEO of the Los Angeles Urban Foundation and the founding President/CEO of the 1010 Development Corporation which built 225 units of affordable housing in downtown Los Angeles.

In retirement I am traveling with three to four trips a year.  I travel to the Holy Land and West Bank once each year.  My most recent overseas trip was to Rwanda to visit a family of Gorillas (the fuzzy kind).  I serve as the Webmaster for the Cal-Pac Commission on Archives and History.  I also manage the Middle East email network and send out 3-5 articles a week about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

Karen (Olson) Zaffke, Pine River, Minnesota

Ancestral Villages: Hoffnungstal, Klöstitz, Neu Elft and Paris (Bessarabia)

I was born in Valley City, North Dakota to Archie and Lorraine (Kleingartner) Olson on January 5, 1948.  My father was of Norwegian descent and my mother is German from Russia.

My mother was born in Gackle, North Dakota on January 1, 1921.  She was the oldest child of Emanuel and Ottilia (Kuhn) Kleingartner.  Emanuel was born October 25, 1898 in Hoffnungstal, Bessarabia, Russia.  He came to America with his family in 1903.  His parents (my great-grandparents) were Friederich and Dorothea (Heck) Kleingartner.  Friederich was from Hoffnungstal and Dorothea was from Neu Elft.  My grandmother, Ottilia, was born on October 11, 1898 near Kulm, North Dakota.  Her parents (my great-grandparents) were Gottfried and Olga (Keller) Kuhn.  Gottfried was born on October 15, 1875 in Paris, Bessarabia and Olga was born on September 2, 1875 in Neu Elft, Bessarabia.

I grew up on a farm near Pillsbury, North Dakota.  I graduated from Pillsbury High School and attended college at Valley City State University.  I was a teacher in Brainerd, Minnesota for 34 years and am now retired.  I married my husband, John, in 1972 and we live in Pine River, Minnesota.  I have five sisters, and one of them, Kathy Slama, is on this tour with me.  In addition, there are two of our aunts, Dorothy Soruco and Darlene Lobenstein, and several other relatives sharing this experience.

Dianne (Wendlandt) Zaiser, Birchwood, Wisconsin

Ancestral Villages: Neu Elft (Bessarabia)

Although I personally do not have a German from Russia heritage, I am very interested in the history and struggles of these people because of my husband’s ancestry.  The Zaisers went from Germany to Neu Elft in the early 1800’s and lived there for over one hundred years until their forced departure around 1940.  After working on the Zaiser genealogy and gathering family stories for over 10 years and then finally putting this into a book of Zaiser Family History, I am very excited about actually seeing the places that I have heard, read and written about.  Interestingly the Neu Elft census of 1859 lists a Wendland (my maiden name) as a resident.  So far I have found no connection in my own family tree to this Wendland.

My interest in genealogy started as a child in Bloomer, Wisconsin, where I was born in 1942.  All four sets of my great grandparents came to this area in Chippewa County between 1865 and 1875.  Some were homesteaders.  Most are buried in cemeteries around Bloomer and I learned their stories when I went with my mother, aunts and grandmothers to decorate their graves.  They would tell me about the children who had died in a diphtheria epidemic in 1882 and about others who came to America from Germany.  I felt like I already knew some of these people when I started doing research into their lives about 10 years ago.  Family names that I am researching in addition to Zaiser and Wendlandt are Krenz, Bansemer, Fritz, Kuhn, Schroeder, Schmidt, Kelm, Preuss and Mohns.  After the Journey to the Homeland trip is ended, we will continue on to Poland.  With the help of a driver/researcher/guide we will see the ancestral villages of other people in our family.  Most of them came from Posen or Pomerania in Prussia.

I am a retired registered nurse, active volunteer, mother of three daughters and grandmother to seven grandchildren.  My husband Ed and I have been married for 48 years and spent our married life in Iowa and Wisconsin.  Now we are retired on a lake in northern Wisconsin about 50 miles from my hometown of Bloomer.  This trip to see the Homeland is the culmination of many years of research and has long been a desire of ours.

Edward R. Zaiser, Birchwood, Wisconsin

Ancestral Villages: Neu Elft (Bessarabia); Tarutino (Alt Elft)

My paternal grandfather, Jacob Zaiser, was born in Neu Elft, 1870.  He and two brothers came to North America through New York in 1888.  They sought residence in Canada.  Jacob married Maria Unterschutz (born in Brigadau, Galicia).  They had nine children, the seventh being my father, August Jacob.  He was born in Pine Ridge, Manitoba and was raised in Kipling, Saskatchewan.  I have 27 living cousins, mostly in Canada.  The earliest Zaiser we can identify is Jerg of Schwieberdingen near Stuttgart (153?).  The first Zaiser in Bessarabia was Johann Michael, who married Barbara Reichert on January 11, 1817.  An interesting side bar is Life in Neu Elft, a book written by two of my father’s cousins in 1975.  They lived through the migrations back to Germany during WWII.  The book, written in German, describes life in Neu Elft and is in the Germans from Russia library collection.  The Zaisers in North America received copies of the book in thanks for the material support given to the German Zaisers post WWII.

My father was a Lutheran pastor mostly in the state of Wisconsin.  My mother, Arline, was from Elroy.  Her father was an immigrant from Pomerania and her mother was from Elroy, Wisconsin.  Her maternal grandmother was born in 1862 in upper New York State (her parents came from Darmstadt).  I was born in Ripon, Wisconsin in 1939.  I have one sister, Kathryn.  We lived in Harrisville, Cedarburg, Bloomer, and Oshkosh, Wisconsin.  I graduated from Wartburg College and Wartburg Seminary.  My graduate studies were done at Wartburg Seminary and Aquinas Institute (A Dominican House of Studies).  Most of my pastoral ministry was in Iowa and ended with a 10 year ministry in Ashland, Wisconsin.

Dianne and I were married in 1962.  Dianne was an R.N. Her career included a number of years in management with long term care nursing facilities and hospice.  We have three daughters (M.D., Nurse, Social worker).  All are married with two living in the Twin Cities and one in Ankeny, Iowa.  We have 7 living grandchildren and one deceased at age 5 months.  Currently, we are living on Long Lake north of Rice Lake with a Birchwood address.  We retired in 2001.

Both of us are deeply interested in our heritage.  Dianne has led the way in doing considerable research.  We are truly excited about this trip to Bessarabia and Stuttgart, the Zaiser locations.  We will be extending our tour in order to visit various sites of other ancestors (mainly Dianne’s), especially those in what is now Poland (Posnan and Pomerania).  This is my fourth trip to Germany.  I was on a six week tour with the Wartburg College choir in 1959, a Lutherland tour (including the Passion Play) and a cruise on the Rhine, Main and Danube Rivers.  But this is a special one!