THE SECOND SECTION

Who Penned This?

It seems reasonable to assume that Christoff Griep (sic) was the author of this second section of text because his address is given at the bottom of the document. At the very least, he was among several people who wrote the letter, and was therefore the sender. It appears that the DAI typist who prepared this transcription made a mistake in spelling his name, however. Bessarabian census documents, extracted church records, and immigration lists include a "Christoph Grieb" as a colonist in Arzis. There is no "Griep" surname found in these sources.

It is noteworthy that Grieb doesn't refer to himself by name only. He is a colonist (i.e. "Col."), with special rights and privileges worthy of that title—and it appears he wants his readers to know it!

Pinpointing the Date

Although we are assuming this text was written as part of a larger letter in 1818, we can't be certain because of what appears to a missing middle section in this entire passage of text. We can probably assume it was written no later than 1824 since Grieb's address is still written "Arzis," not "Neu Arzis." The 1848 chronicle says this second colony was created in 1824, by 41 of the families from Arzis (i.e. Alt Arzis), because of difficulties based on the inconvenient distances between the homes and fields in the original colony. It is likely that Grieb moved with the 41 families, because the Neu Arzis census of 1835 lists him (aged 70) and his wife Dorothea (aged 49).

It does seem likely, though, that this text was written well before 1824, because of phrase in the longest paragraph: "... we have plowed the land once and harvested twice." Let's assume the worst case scenario: the land around Arzis was plowed in one year, but wasn't actually harvested until the next. Let's also assume conservatively that though Arzis was founded in 1816, it was at least a year before the colonists began working the land. Putting these assumptions together, then, leaves us with a guesstimated date of 1819 (give or take a year) for this second harvest referred to in the text.

In any event, we again have correspondence from very early in the existence of a Bessarabian German mother colony.

The Mailing Address?

As in the case with the first section of transcribed text in this DAI microfilm, this excerpt we are calling the second section seems to be originally directed at friends still remaining in Poland. References to Warsaw and Polish currency ("Groschen") are likely used because these are relevant to readers of the correspondence. Grieb most certainly wasn't writing to another colony in Bessarabia; there isn't anything in the text they wouldn't already have experienced themselves (i.e. the yield of sheep tallow, the abundance of fruit, a list of garden produce, popular meals, wild game, weather information). As a result, for other Bessarabian Germans, there would be no point in receiving such a letter. And, of course, there is the phrase, ". . . come to Bessarabia"—this seems to make sense as part of writing directed at outsiders such as those left behind in Poland.