News

Archives Acquisition (AA) Committee

Ukrainian Archives During the past several months, we have experienced a major slow down in our records retrieval efforts in obtaining records from the Odessa State Archives and the Nikolaev Archives.

In April 2004 we were able to start a relationship with the archives in Nikolaev. This project called for us to provide funds for digital equipment in support of the archives so they could use a digital camera to make pictures of documents. The deal that was consummated was a sweetheart deal that has delivered many dozens of CDs filled with pictures of very important records at a very minimal cost for GRHS.

Bessarahian RIG Chapter

This winter we have had a team of volunteers working very hard to bring together a set of webpages that are loaded with data to assist the Bessarabian researcher.

Some of the Bessarabian data has been around for some time, but has been sorted with a different look to make it easier to use.

Black Hills Chapter Activities

"Gutes Essen und Gemutlichkeit" is Black Hills Chapter's objective for its annual German Dinner which will take place at the American Legion Post 22, Rapid City, on February 24. Chapter members are planning to sell 450 tickets for the dinner that includes German sausage, potato salad, knopfla, sauerkraut, kuchen, and a choice of beverages.

Censuses

So far, we have produced about 100 censuses for the Odessa and Bessarabian villages. The projects use teams, organized in progressive levels of translation ability. As these items are made available to the membership for purchase in paper form, they are available at the GRHS Bookstore.

We started providing this data in digital form on CDs in the Bookstore at the convention in 2006, sold only to the members of GRHS. The prices have been kept low so all of the membership will hopefully be able to procure their own copies.

Donations for HQ Furniture

In the last issue of the GRHS News there was a request for donations for office furniture for Rachel Schmidt. As any member of the organization probably realizes, Rachel is the lynchpin that keeps everything running smoothly. Ted Becker has good news to report: "Members of GRHS stepped forward to help out, and I am happy to report that there is now enough money designated for new furniture for her office in the Equipment Fund." The Board of Directors confirmed this expenditure in their February meeting.

GRHS Library Additions

Our GRHS library continues to receive new materials and grow office holder! Strong leadership at all levels of our Society is of vital importance. You can make a difference in shaping the future of our Society. In addition to chapter elections, there will be five positions open on the International Board of Directors which will be filled by election during the Annual Convention. Please consider running for office. Step forward and volunteer to be a candidate! You can do so by contacting Al Feist, Nominations Committee Chairman.

HFGR Report

The faith and trust in the mission of HFGR (Heritage Foundation for Germans from Russia) by many of you is very evident in the substantial gifts HFGR has received recently. HFGR extends a thank you to each of you who have gifted to the various funds HFGR is honored to manage. We extend a special thank you to GROW chapter of GRHS, to Don and Norene Schell, to John Gale, and to Arthur and Cleo Flegel for their recent substantial gifts.

Hoffnungstal-Odessa Parish (HOP) RIG Chapter

We are currently planning some additions to the HOP webpages.

We continue to bring back the annual St. Pete reports (1899-1917) for the parish of Hoffnungstal. As usual, our first issue of the newsletter this year will carry at least one year's worth of reports.

This past year we saw a re-publishing of the Leibbrandt Hoffnungstal book by the Hoffnungstal people in Germany. We did a group order and brought several copies to many of the HOP RIG members.

Many of us have read official correspondence relating to our ancestors in Bessarabia

We don't have to buy Botealgan because here they grow big and small. The corn [Babschen=Popuschoi=maize] is an excellent produce for it makes good cornmeal grits [Mameluek] which one eats with sheep cheese [Brinze]. It's our favorite meal. With Wildpret there's no want. Two men can eat to their satisfaction on one Rephuhn, and the nicest Arrihut. But the person who really wants to eat deer, let him come to Bessarabia. We don't need shelters for the cattle since they stay outside. We don't have severe winters.

New "KET" Regional Interest Group Formed

In October 2006 the GRHS Board of Directors announced the formation of a new GRHS regional interest group (RIG) chapter for researchers who have an interest in the German Russians who lived in the Kherson, Ekaterinoslav, and Taurida Provinces in Ukraine. This RIG will be known as the Kherson/ Ekaterinoslav/Taurida (KET) Regional Interest Group. The RIG was formed after discussions by Tim Janzen, Debbie Beick, Curt Renz, Dale Wahl, and others at the 2006 GRHS Convention held in Portland, Oregon. There were nineteen people who initially expressed interest in starting this new RIG and currently there are 34 members in the RIG.

Obituary Committee Report

By the time you read this, we hope to have placed the obituary index for the letter W onto the GRHS web site. This means that we have only one letter left to input, the letter S. We believe that we may complete inputting the S obits by the end of 2008. GRHS now has over 235,000 obituaries in total!

The computer has been a therapy for me also

Oct 3, 2004 Hi Elli,

The information you found matches in several important ways. Dates were right on......--THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!

The computer has been a therapy for me also. I got started when my youngest son was in High School. He took computer lessons so we bought our first computer. I was determined to follow up as best as I could. Lo and Behold, I started with the Family Roots program keeping records of the family.