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Aim of this Study
In order to research my own (Danny Gutknecht's) family history, it is sometimes necessary to leave the traditional method of archival research and take new paths. Especially in the areas of today's Poland and Ukraine, which were previously heavily colonized by German settlers, it is very difficult to find documents and relationships, due to constant migrational movements, the numerous wars of the 19th and 20th centuries, and since one often doesn't know where to look in the first place. These difficulties can lead to ancestral dead ends that are difficult or even impossible to break through.
However, modern DNA analyzes opens up the possibility of researching "from both ends". If you can identify a genetic relative and trace their family origins to a progenitor in the locale of your dead end, and then trace the descendants of that progenitor, you might be able to break through your dead end, "from the top" as it were. This study attempts to utilize this approach to get past a dead end in the historical Poland described above.
The Dead End
I am stuck right now around 1820-50 in all my Polish lines since I do not know where the settlers came from. The history is that starting around 1700 the Prussian kings colonised their territory mainly with settlers from their territory within the Holy Roman Empire, since they were Elector of Brandenburg at the same time. Then later the offspring of these settlers, were used to populate the new territory that fell to Prussia after the several divisions of Poland. Last of these divisions was in 1793 and circa 1810 my ancestors settled in the region of Łódź, but I have no clue where they may have been prior to that. Since 1815 Congress Poland was founded and 1836 occupied by Russia, the settlers were forced to give up their German culture, at least officially. The State also forced them to either serve in the military or help colonize new regions further southeast (now Ukraine). Because of this, I also lost track of many side lines of my family since I don't know where they went and what happened of them. Due to all this oppression many settlers either emigrated to America or returned to Germany, especially after WW I when Germany became Republic. My own line emigrated back to Germany in the person of a young man of 20 years trying his luck to find a good Job. He also found a nice wife in Germany and they became my great grandparents.
Limiting the Research Space
Obviously, two genetic relatives can be related through any progenitor in any geographic locale at any point in our long historical timeline, so it is necessary to limit the number genetic relatives to research.
First, I check to see how closely related we are. If we're too distantly related, then our common ancestor is too far back in time to fit our target timeframe. So I selected genetic relatives with more than 20 cM shared DNA, suggesting the common ancester is close enough to be found.
Then, given the historical details of the region described, I chose to further restrict my search space, for now, to genetic relatives in the United States, thinking to trace back through settlers who ended up emigrating to America. And of them, I searched for those that had a Polish line of descent.
Emigrants to America who are genetically linked
All of the people listed here are "key immigrants" whose descendants are genetically confirmed to be related to me according the the criteria described.
Common ancestor couple Lusch - Leske
The following migrating relatives could be traced back to the miller family of Gottfried Lusch married Dorothea Elisabeth Leske in the Tokar mill, parisch of Kociszew, Łódź, Poland.
- Adolf Cerecki (1874 - 1960); born in Grabów near Lubartów, Poland/Russia, but might have lived later in and emigrated from the region around Chełm, Poland. His marriage to Paulina Krüger ca 1896 as well as two confirmed child-births in Poland before emigrating ca 1899 to Ohio have not yet been found.
Unknown Link - no Common ancestor identified as of now
- Gustav Reich (1890 - 1982); born Poland/Russia, emigrated ca 1910 to Wisconsin. His obituary said he had a sister named Florence, whose birth name might have been Florentina Reich. Her Social Security Application lists her parents as Martin Reich and Paulina Nehrling. No exact origin has been identified yet.
- Heinrich Schiewe (1878 - 1951); born in Poland/Russia, immigrated 1903 to Illinois. No exact origin has been identified yet.
- Karl Leopold Pidde (1886 - 1937); born in Poland/Russia, emigrated 1907 to North Dakota. His roots can seemingly be traced back to the greater Łódź region, maybe somewhere between Kalisz and Konin in Poland. Several siblings emigrated as well and might also be traced for more information.
- Lydia Klan (1924-2014); born in Poland/Russia, emigrated 1950.
- Hellen Ruff (ca1908 - 1982); born in Poland/Russia,