Karl Gräber Additional Research

Location: Czolo, Masevckoe, Pruzanckogo, Grodno, Russia

Contents 1 Karl Gräber Additional Research 1.1 Notes from a descendant 1.2 Various notes from the original profile 2 Restored Research Notes 3 Transcriptions 4 Sources

Karl Gräber Additional Research

Notes from a descendant

I estimate that Karl was born about 1816. He died after 1893 in Czolo, Masevckoe, Pruzanckogo, Grodno, Russia. About 1911, the Czar bought out the entire village as it was surrounded by his hunting preserve and the Germans were causing him trouble.

Karl married Apolonia Kundt, the daughter of Michael Kundt and (UNKNOWN) Lange. They had five known children as shown in the attached family trees (for him and each of his known children). I have also attached family tree for Gottlieb Graber - assumed brother of Karl. Gottlieb is the ancestor of the Schefflers mentioned in notes below.

I also have a public tree at Ancestry.com of people with roots from Czolo. The tree name is "Czolo (Cholo, Tscholo) village in Grodno 2018" and my Ancestry name is annelace.

This is an explanation of my system of notes. For each person, I reference where I find different information about them. (B=birthdate; BP=birthplace; CHR=christening; BAP=baptism; D=deathdate; DP=deathplace; BUR=burial; F=father; M=mother; MD=marriage date; MP=marriage place; MEND= how marriage ended, example divorce or not). If I don't have this information, then the code will not be found in notes on that person. Also you may see a name such as Mary (poss. dau.) Smith. This means that she is only possibly the daughter of the father/mother given. "Prob." means probably.

Example: NAME:1-2 B:1-2 BP:2 D:1 BUR:1 F:1

1. His gravestone [345]

2. 1850 Census: Berrien Co. MI [350]

(This means that I found his name and birth date on his gravestone and on the census. His birthplace was from the census only. His death, burial, and the father/son link was from his gravestone. The numbers in brackets "[345]" following the source is the number I have that source filed under in my filing cabinet or saved on my computer if scanned. I hope to eventually have all sources scanned.)

Sometimes sources give conflicting information. In that case I usually note it as such: example - BP:2;1(NJ). This means that I have thought source 2 was correct, but I note that source 1 said he was born in New Jersey.

The below are the same notes as found on my attached family group sheet for Karl.

DNA matches indicate that Zeila Barrow, Fay Barrow, and Cindy Burnett match various descendants of Karl and Apolonia - common ancestor probably one to two generations before Karl and Apolonia. [20]

The earliest we know of Grabers in Cholo is 1859. Looking at children's marriages and grandchildren's births it appears the Grabers were still in Czolo in the early 1870s and back by the late 1870s. They were in Volhynia from 1875-1877 at least. [21,CAS]

Rod Rode's family said that Rode, Saul, Lang and Simpson families formed the Czolo colony. There was a fire in the church and many valuables were lost. [22]

I believe Czolo was located approximately at 52°49'20.41"N 23°57'23.17"E. See Source #17 for maps. [CAS]

Land sale to the Russian government in 1910 [12]

Masevsky District Government

Pruzhansky Region

Grodno Province

December 30, 1910

No. 2862

Narevka Post Office

CERTIFICATE

This certificate is issued to Daniil Karl Greber, a peasant of the village Cholo, Masevsky District, that his family consists of himself, 28, his wife, Augusta Gotlib, 20, and his son, Genrikh, 2. He and his father (whose ancestors have settled in the village Cholo 100 years ago that was registered in 9th and 10th censuses) as well as other peasants of the village Cholo equally titled to the allotting land sold this land to Belovezhskaya Pushcha District. (signatures of district)

NOTE: 9th and 10th censuses were in 1850 and 1857 [19]

  Karl Graber (the father) had twin daughters, Charlotte and Marie, born in 1852 (or they were 2 years apart in age - Marie's birth date does not match year calculated for Charlotte's age at marriage). Charlotte raised her family in Cholo. Marie raised her family in Volhynia. Augusta Rohde Graeber said her parents moved from Cholo to Volhynia because her mother's parents went there. Later her parents moved back to Cholo as did Karl and Apolonia apparently. This was all before Augusta was born in 1890. Augusta's parents married about 1868 and Marie about 1875. The first place that we can definitely place our Graber family however is in Cholo. Then Volhynia about 1868-1875 to sometime before 1890. [5,7,9]

  The John Graber family (Schefflers) remembers that the family spoke about leaving for Russia because of a big potato famine where they were living at the time. Apolonia, told her granddaughter, Augusta Rohde Graeber, that during a period of seven years they went in the woods and ate roots and trees. This may have been in 1816. Charlotte, one of Karl and Apolonia's twins, told her daughter, Augusta, that they came to Russia because a German girl married the son of a Russian Czar. Alma Graber Strebel Petersen (daughter of Karl (the son)), Augusta Rohde Graeber (daughter of Charlotte) and Olga Kort Steinke (Charlotte's granddaughter) said the same thing. The John Graber family (Schefflers) heard that it was John Graber's father that first got the land in Russia. [2,4-5,8]

  Supposedly, Czolo was founded by a man named Buch from Germany in 1806. [23]

  Cholo was in Masevckoe (Volost = County), Pruzanckogo (Uezd = District), Grodno (Gubernia = Province, north of Volhynia), Russia. This location information is from Gustav Adolf Graber's 1912 Russian passport. It is believed that Cholo was in the Narew River region (Karl Graber's (the son) wife was from there). The people of Cholo were all of German descent. Olga Kort Steinke, Charlotte's granddaughter, said her village was Narewka and that some Russian families and one Polish lady lived in their village. It was good furtile land. A large landowner had sold out. Some Russian peasants bought some of the land and the Germans took the rest. There were beautiful virgin forests. Cholo did not exist before the Grabers and the rest of the Germans arrived and made a clearing in the woods. Farming was the main occupation of the Grabers. The Germans could pasture their cows in the woods as far as they wanted. An empty spot in the woods (a good walk from the village) was a hayfield. They could cut as much wood as they wanted - for building, burning, or just clearing for farming. The village kept expanding as the children married and built homes and cleared land for themselves. It was all free, and they didn't have to pay taxes. The village was surrounded by woods. The Germans homes and gardens lined the main street (only street?) of Cholo. The land that they farmed was in strips - everyone had the same amount of land. The Grabers were no more poor or wealthy than the others. In strips across everyone's land different crops were planted. It was a checkerboard type of thing. The rows were separately owned, and the columns had different crops. They farmed the land together in this way. The crops were rotated from year to year, so that some land was left fallow. Cholo had two shoemakers that were brothers, a dressmaker and a grocery. The school teacher also was the minister on Sunday. There was a man that took care of everyone's cows, sheep, pigs, etc. He would board with a different family everyday. [2,4-5,7]

  Things changed in Cholo when a man came around and told the Germans that they should clear the land as far as they wanted - take more than they needed. The Germans wondered why they should do this when they could always get it when they wanted. The man told them that a fence was going to be built, and that they had to measure off what they wanted. The Germans didn't believe it and did nothing different. The fence was built and the Germans couldn't even take a little dry limb out of the woods. A watchman was put at the fence. This fenced area (or rather the unfenced area outside Cholo) was the Russian Czar's private hunting/game preserve (known as Puszcza Bialowieska [13]). The Czar put animals in the woods - buffalo, wild pigs, deer. For the wild pigs the Czar bought the best potatoes and best wheat. The deer had a picket fence with boxes of the best oats. The best clover hay was purchased for the buffalo. The Czar, Nicholas II, had a summer palace (about twenty miles from Cholo near Kiev) in the preserve and came about every hunting season. The roads were nice grass (seeded). There were cut green grass fields. A big shanty with a roof and three sides (the front was open) was in the preserve. It was packed full and wasn't far from the pathway through the woods used by the Germans to get to their hayfield. The Germans could see the animals eat at the shanty and at the picket fence. The men of Cholo always had work in the winter cleaning up the underbrush near the Czar's roads. The men dug stumps out. The children were paid to pick up brush. Not far from where the watchman was posted at the fence was a tall round storage building. Pipes went under the ground and in the middle was a little shack with two ovens where turpentine and tar were made. [4-5]

  The German men would hunt at night in the Czar's preserve (get through the fence). Because of this the Czar, Nicholas II, wanted the people in Cholo to move. They had two years to leave when the Czar told them that he was buying them out. They really didn't want to leave. They could have all moved to the same place, but the people couldn't agree. Carl Hintz, a Russian soldier, had grown up in their village and was in the Czar's household. He told the Czar to buy out the people separately and then they would have to leave as they wouldn't be able to pasture their land and farm together anymore. The Czar did this and within two years the village was empty. The Czar sold the houses which were then moved away. There was only one house left (a newer one) - the Granavisgus (spelling?) house. [2,4,6,9-10]

  The people all moved to Volhynia, buying separately. The Grabers moved from Grodno to Volhynia by trains - two nights and one day because of transfers. Fred Bartz was living in the area to which the Karl Grabers moved in Volhynia (the Grabers were probably from this area previously). Fred said that Dan and Gustie were married already and that Gust was about 17 years old (1908). However, Henry (son of Dan and Gustie) was born and baptized in Cholo. The baptism occurred on March 1, 1909 (Russian calendar). Their next child Adolph was born in Risowata on May 15, 1911 (Russian calendar). Their land was sold to the government the end of 1910 - date 30 DEC 1910. Thus the family must have moved early in 1911. [5,7,11-12]

  Karl Graber (the father) was known as the "Potato King" in Cholo because he grew them so good and big. Even his grandchildren called him "Potato King." But he also raised beets, oats, rye, beans, and livestock. He was a smaller person (no bigger than his grandson, Henry). Apolonia was bigger. Karl and Apolonia were both Lutheran. When he was sick he lived with his son, Christian. He lived on one side and Christian on the other side. It was just a small house. He had water sickness - dropsy. His daughter, Charlotte Rohde, found him dead. Christian and Karl (the son) each got one half of Karl's land in Cholo when he died. [4-5]

Bialowieza [14,18]

Bialowieza, forest settlement, located in the middle of Bialowieza Forest the favorite hunting place for Lithuanian princes, Polish kings and Russian Czars. The central place in Bialowieza is :Palace Park where you can find Hunters Mansion, Czars Palace - the residence of Bialowieza National Park.

It`s worth to visit in Bialowieza:

Palace Park - trees, shrubs, buildings, remainings after Palace in English style from XIX century.

Directors Park - remainings after Park, old residence of Bialowieza National Park management, nowadays school and educational path Orthodox St. Nicholas Church, colourful iconostas inside, made of china. Roman Catholic Church - beautiful decoration of St. Hubert church; to decoration are used trees, roots and horns.

He died at age 78 [1], 92/93 [2], or 80-99 [4].

Religion: Lutheran [4]

They had 9 children. [1]

--- SOURCES ---

NAME:1-3,6,15-16 B:guess D:4 DP:4 BUR:4 Siblings:1,3

WIFE:1,6,15-16 MEND:1

1. Gustav Graber [71]

2. Alma Graber Strebel Petersen [70]

3. Caroline Ulm Freier [81]

4. Olga Kort Steinke [77]

5. Augusta Rohde Graber [76,79]

6. Robert Freier [240]

7. Cynthia Graber Schroeder

8. Natalie Scheffler Emhoff [57]

9. Gustav O. Graeber [66]

10. Hattie Strebel DeBruin [70]

11. Fred Bartz [62]

12. Certificate of land sale from Daniel Greber to the Czar (government) [2163,2375]

13. Albert Muth [5197]

14. website found 10 AUG 2010 at http://www.bialowieza.net.pl/eng/panel.php?hotel=wartozwiedz

15. Bialystok film 1191933 (LDS library) - Rode/Gräber marriage [5197]^[1]

16. Bialystok film 1191933 (LDS library) - Graeber/Flarkowski marriage [5197]

17. Grodno-Volhynia maps [2400]

Maps of Czolo and Tuszemla [3095]

18. Hattie Graeber Buckholtz [2446]

19. Russian researcher, Lyudmila "Mila" Koretnikova, in 2018

20. Cindy Burnett correspondence and DNA matches [2889]

21. Summary of Czolo vital records found [5197]

22. Charlotte Rode [3668]

23. Denis Koronchik [3881]

Various notes from the original profile

Note: German Settlements in Volhynia [13]. Prehistory (before 1800): Germans had been migrating into Volhynia since the Middle Ages and around 1800 small groups of Germans were living in 25 different places in the province. They assimilated into the native population. Earliest Permanent German Settlement (1801-1833): Zhitomir was the site of a German Protestant Pastorate set up by the Russian government in 1801. In addition to the Lutherans there were four small Mennonite colonies. The Mennonites later moved on to the Black Sea area. Annette and Josephine were the earliest colonies settled and still existed in 1942.

The First Reinforcements (1833-1863): The uprising against Russian rule in 1831 resulted in Germans (from "Poland") migrating in Volhynia along with settlers from Germany. Rozyszcze became a textile manufacturing colony since many weavers, cloth manufacturers, and dyers were included in the immigrants. Agricultural colonies also arose bringing the German population to around 6000. Mass Migration from Poland (1863-1870): There was another Polish uprising in 1863 which resulted in a bigger emigration than the first one. Also, in 1861 serfdom was abolished in Russia and landowners in Volhynia were looking for people to rent or buy their land. This brought the number of Germans up to 40,000.

Years of Prosperity (1870-1915): Immigration came to a gradual halt in the 1870s. The birth rate in this group was very high resulting in daughter colonies being established. The German population was estimated at over 100,000 in 1881 and by 1911 reached over 200,000. The population was 85% from North German roots and 15% from Southwest Germany. The Volhynians were mostly farmers and were scattered over the province in small settlements. They were ambitious and introduced the German plow and wagon as well as good breeds of animals to the province. Textile manufacturing was important in the towns of Tozyszcze, Tuczyn, Yemilchin and Korostychev. There were foundries making necessary farm equipment. There were many windmills.

The Grabers moved from Grodno to Volhynia by trains - two nights and one day because of transfers. Fred Bartz was living in the area to which the Karl Grabers moved in Volhynia (the Grabers were probably from this area previously). Fred said that Dan and Gustie were married already and that Gust was about 17 years old (1908). However, Henry (son of Dan and Gustie) was born and baptized in Cholo. The baptism occurred on March 1, 1909 (Russian calendar). Their next child Adolph was born in Risowata on May 15, 1911 (Russian calendar). Thus the family must have moved between these two dates. [6-7,11]. Karl Graber was such a strong man he could squeeze someone to death in his arms - a bear hug - a good wrestler. He was probably about 5' 10" and bigger built. One of his eyes was somehow injured and he could not see out of it. His house in Cholo was divided by a large chimney. Entire logs could be thrown into the fire and the house would be heated on both sides. He was a farmer and served as a judge in his area - riding horse back on his rounds. He always had very beautiful horses. He read the Bible (German) to his children in the morning and evening. His children were all raised Lutheran (his religion). He helped his children with school work. His children had more schooling than many of the others. Karl played the accordion for dances on Sunday evenings. He had blue eyes, auburn hair, and a fire red beard. At the time that Dan had his family's picture taken with his mother, Anna, his father was out looking for land with another man. When his father (Karl - the son) came home he had his family's picture taken (this is the picture in which Henry was inserted). These pictures were taken by a Jewish teacher (a young boy). [9-11]. Karl was Lutheran, and when asked why he married a Polish Catholic, he said "But she was so pretty!" [9].

Karl and Anna's children [10-11]: -Amelia (resembled Karl). -Daniel (resembled Karl, blue eyes, medium brown hair, and bigger. featured like Karl). -Henry (resembled Karl, was taller than Dan and Gust, fine featured. like Anna). -Gustav (resembled Anna, blue eyes, medium to light brown hair,. 5' 10", weighed about 160 - thin, fine featured like Anna -. more than others). -Alma (resembled Anna/Karl?, blue eyes, light to medium brown hair,. about 5' 6"). -Rheinhold (medium brown hair, sickly with TB, fine featured).

Karl Graber came to Marianowka, Volhynia, with his family. They bought their farm from the Dowers. They purchased livestock and everything. Farming was different here. Everyone farmed their farm as they wished. Most of the people living around there were Germans. Fred Bartz was living in Risowata a couple of miles north of Marianowka. He went by the Grabers each day on his way to school. All the homes were wood with straw roofs. The barn was attached to the house. It was a long building with three doors. The house was at one end, then the chimney and storeroom, next the stairs, then the potato storeroom, then livestock, and at the opposite end hay was stored. The church was in Marianowka. The school and teacher's home were in the same building with the church. The church was at one end, the teacher's home at the other, with the school between. The big church was in Dermanka (spelling from a Karl Stumpp map). See village map of Dermanka [17]. There were two grocery stores (run by Jews - Yunkel and Nookem) and one clothing store (run by a Jew - Mendel). This was in Risowata or Marianowka. [7,11]. In 1914, when the world war broke out, the Germans of military age in Volhynia were called to fight with all other Russian citizens. At first they were sent to the German front, but later they were withdrawn from there and sent to the Turkish front. When the armies of the Central Powers were approaching Volhynia in 1915, the Russians thought that the time was ripe for a final solution to their Volhynian German problem. It was alleged that the Russian Germans were carrying on espoinage for Germany. At the end of June came an order from Nicolai Nicolayevich, the Russian commander-in-chief, that Germans were to be evacuated from Volhynia. This affected all Volhynian Germans, with the exception of the few who had given up their German identity and German women living in mixed marriages with Russians. Allowed to remain also wer wives whose husbands and parents whose sons were serving in the Russian forces. At the end of June western Volhynia had to be evacuated, at the beginning of July central Volhynia, and by the midde of July easter Volhynia. Once the deportation order arrived in a place, the inhabitants had to move out in just a few hours. They were not given time to sell their farm equipment and livestock nor time to make needed preparations for the journey. Only a few German families in western Volhynia succeeded in hiding themselves in the dense forests to await the arrival of the armies of the Central Powers from Galicia. These surfaced again behind the German lines and were taken to Austria or East Prussia, where they spetn the war years. [16]. The Russians had not counted on the German colonists submitting so meekly to the deportation. They had therefore previously arrested the pastors, teachers, village mayors, and other leading men and put them in prison as hostages. This appalling injustice had so stunned the Germans that the thought of resistance never occurred to them. They were not conscious of any treasonable acts. [16]. No one had told them where they were to go. They had to start their journey on their own wagons. After weeks, sometimes months, of this kind of travel, they looked forward to being allowed to go by train. They traversed swampy and sandy regions to the Pripet river, where they were put in to river freighters, in froups of hundreds, and taken downstream through the most desolate regions of Polesia. Only when they reached Kiev were they finally allowed to travel by train. [16].

There were scarcely a fmaily in which half of the members or more did not die from diseases on the journey or suffer damage to body and mind. the dead were buried along the route; large cemeteries grew up at the halting places. Beyond Kiev, they travelled in dirty cattle cars and were at least sheltered from the weather. They finally left the trains when they reached Siberia, Central Asia, and the Ural region. [16]. At the end of the year 1915 the last German families previously allowed to remain were finally deported. Only south and west Volhynia became an actual war zone. [16].

After the Karl Graber family left Volhynia during the 1915 deportation they lived in tents for three years during which time Rheinhold died. It is unknown if they ever traveled by train as described above and it is unknown where they went. Karl had a Russian man stay in his house when they were driven out. The other Germans didn't do this; they just left. Karl had trouble getting the Russian to leave when the family came back. [8,11].

The few fortunate ones, who managed to get back to Volhynia early in 1918, fared the best. To the extent to which their farmsteads still existed, they were able, with the help of the German military authorities, to take possession of them again and begin a new struggle for existence. Many, however, found nothing at their old hoemsteads except a old well hole or a pile of rubbish. These preferred to emigrate to Germany. Only about one half of the deported Volhynia Germans returned home. [16].

Karl and Anna starved [12], "their hearts just gave out." [2]. In the winter of 1919-20 famine swept over Russia for the first time. At that point it was predominantly the city population that suffered. In spite of the new government's urgent orders, accompanied finally by violent threats to compel the peasants to deliver their farm produce, the farmers openly ignored both orders and threats and refused to part with their grain. The main reason for this non-compliance with government orders was the fact that they were offered ridiculously low prices, hardly enough to pay for their seed. The government sent out detachements of the Red Army into every town, village and hamlet, collecting at gun-point all the grain they could find, paying nothing for all of it. Under the existing conditions, this desperate was necessary not only to save the people in the cities, but, above all, to save the new government itself, for Communism then was supported chiefly by the city population. By the time the grain was gathered, however, shipped to the cities and milled, the winter had advanced so far that even the new influx of food was too late to prevent tens of thousands of people from perishing. Millions, therefore, became desperate, packed together whatever they could carry, left the cities and moved into the country. Arrived in the villages, they somehow crowded in with the farmers and paid for their food and shelter with the few clothes and valuables that they had brought with them. As yet there was no great need among the village population, for, though the government had deprived them of their grain, they still had their vegatables and their domestic animals, which were butchered and consumed. During the winter of 1920-21, however, the situation was reversed. This time it was the turn of the farmers to starve, while the people in the cities were amply provided for by the government. Early in the fall of 1920, the Bolsheviks, taught by their experience of the previous year, sent out their collecting agents with strict orders to take all the farm produce including vegetables and fruits. All the grain and other edibles were collected at the nearest city, where regular distribution was made to the city workers and Soviet officials, while the farmers, relying of the promises of the collectors, waited impatiently for their just shares, which never arrived. Famine spread quickly over the poverty-stricken countryside. The save their lives the farmers had to butcher their last cows and sheep, and after these were gone, their horses also had to be sacrificed. Throughout that long, dreary, and exceptionally cold winter, they existed on a diet that consisted exclusively of meat and, what was worse, meat which had to be prepared without salt. Lake salt, many other necessities of life were lacking; items such as sugar, soap, matches and kerosene were unobtainable by the people in the villages.

Records found in Cholo [5]. Insurance statement of real estates of peasants of Cholo. Compiled by O. Werbizki, the Volost foreman, and A. Grinevizki, the Tikhovolskoye village. candidate, on 21 OCT 1909 (Note: dimensions are in arshins; one arshin = 2.333. feet; one Rouble = 50 cents). #1091 Karl Karlov Greber owns a house 24x10x3,. a granary 9x5x3, a barn 33x6x3, a threshing barn 15x10x4. Value 460 Roubles. Insurance payment per year = 3 Roubles. Note: all the buildings were old and. with thatched roofs. (Note: He is not in the list of Cholo householders circa 1910.).

He was in his 60's when he died. [3]. Karl was 19 when he married Anna. [3?].

Sources: NAME:1-12;14(Carl Graber) B:2 BP:? D:3 DP:3 F:1,3-5 M:1,3-4. WIFE:1-12,14 MD:3? MP:1-3. 1. Gustav Graber [71]. 2. Jadwiga Grygolec Gorski [80,261]. 3. Alma Graber Strebel Petersen [70]. 4. Caroline Ulm Freier [81]. 5. Russian-American Geneal. Archival Service (RAGAS) Cholo research [798]. 6. Cynthia Graber Schroeder. 7. Fred Bartz [62]. 8. Teresa Graeber Elsner [65]. 9. Hattie Strebel DeBruin [70]. 10. Olga Kort Steinke [77]. 11. Augusta Rohde Graber [76,79]. 12. Christian Petersen [76]. 13. American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, Southwest Michigan Chapter Newsletter, April 2011. 14. Information written down by Gust and/or Olga (Freier) Graber [1897]. 15. "Escape from Starving Russia" by Edward John Amend [5531]. 16. The 1915 Deportation of the Volhynian Germans by Alfred Krȕger [2056]. 17. American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (AHSGR) Journal, Summer 1993 - A Tour of Volhynia [2059].

Restored Research Notes

Note These may be the same as above. Someone restored them to the profile, but they may have added something, so I don't want to lose anything.

Buried Czolo, Masevckoe, Pruzanckogo, Grodno, Russia.

Note: !Looking at children's marriages and grandchildren's births it appears the Grabers were in Czolo in the early 1870s and back by the late 1870s. They were in Volhynia in 1875-1877 at least. [CAS]. 2

!Land sale to the Russian government in 1910 [12].
Masevsky District Government.
Pruzhansky Region.
Grodno Province.
December 30, 1910.
No. 2862.
Narevka Post Office.

CERTIFICATE
This certificate is issued to Daniil Karl Greber, a peasant of the village Cholo, Masevsky District, that his family consists of himself, 28, his wife, Augusta Gotlib, 20, and his son, Genrikh, 2. He and his father (whose ancestors have settled in the village Cholo 100 years ago that was registered in 9th and 10th censuses) as well as other peasants of the village Cholo equally titled to the allotting land sold this land to Belovezhskaya Pushcha District. (signatures of district).

! Our Grabers were first in Volhynia, probably near where the Karl Graber family moved back to from Cholo. Karl Graber (the father) had twin daughters, Charlotte and Marie, born in 1852. Charlotte raised her family in Cholo. Marie raised her family in Volhynia. Augusta Rohde Graeber said her parents moved from Cholo to Volhynia because her mother's parents went there. Later her parents moved back to Cholo as did Karl and Apolonia apparently. This was all before Augusta was born in 1890. Augusta's parents married about 1868 and Marie about 1875. The first place that we can definitely place our Graber family however is in Cholo. Then Volhynia about 1868-1875 to sometime before 1890. [5,7,9].

The John Graber family (Schefflers) remembers that the family spoke about leaving for Russia because of a big potato famine where they were living at the time. Apolonia, told her granddaughter, Augusta Rohde Graeber, that during a period of seven years they went in the woods and ate roots and trees. This may have been in 1816. Charlotte, one of Karl and Apolonia's twins, told her daughter, Augusta, that they came to Russia because a German girl married the son of a Russian Czar. Alma Graber Strebel Petersen (daughter of Karl (the son)), Augusta Rohde Graeber (daughter of Charlotte) and Olga Kort Steinke (Charlotte's granddaughter) said the same thing. The John Graber family (Schefflers) heard that it was John Graber's father that first got the land in Russia. [2,4-5,8].

Cholo was in Masevckoe (Volost = County), Pruzanckogo (Uezd = District), Grodno (Gubernia = Province, north of Volhynia), Russia. This location information is from Gustav Adolf Graber's 1912 Russian passport. It is believed that Cholo was in the Narew River region (Karl Graber's (the son) wife was from there). The people of Cholo were all of German descent. Olga Kort Steinke, Charlotte's granddaughter, said her village was Narewka and that some Russian families and one Polish lady lived in their village. It was good furtile land. A large landowner had sold out. Some Russian peasants bought some of the land and the Germans took the rest. There were beautiful virgin forests. Cholo did not exist before the Grabers and the rest of the Germans arrived and made a clearing in the woods. Farming was the main occupation of the Grabers. The Germans could pasture their cows in the woods as far as they wanted. An empty spot in the woods (a good walk from the village) was a hayfield. They could cut as much wood as they wanted - for building, burning, or just clearing for farming. The village kept expanding as the children married and built homes and cleared land for themselves. It was all free, and they didn't have to pay taxes. The village was surrounded by woods. The Germans homes and gardens lined the main street (only street?) of Cholo. The land that they farmed was in strips - everyone had the same amount of land. The Grabers were no more poor or wealthy than the others. In strips across everyone's land different crops were planted. It was a checkerboard type of thing. The rows were separately owned, and the columns had different crops. They farmed the land together in this way. The crops were rotated from year to year, so that some land was left fallow. Cholo had two shoemakers that were brothers, a dressmaker and a grocery. The school teacher also was the minister on Sunday. There was a man that took care of everyone's cows, sheep, pigs, etc. He would board with a different family everyday. [2,4-5,7].

Things changed in Cholo when a man came around and told the Germans that they should clear the land as far as they wanted - take more than they needed. The Germans wondered why they should do this when they could always get it when they wanted. The man told them that a fence was going to be built, and that they had to measure off what they wanted. The Germans didn't believe it and did nothing different. The fence was built and the Germans couldn't even take a little dry limb out of the woods. A watchman was put at the fence. This fenced area (or rather the unfenced area outside Cholo) was the Russian Czar's private hunting/game preserve (known as Puszcza Bialowieska [13]). The Czar put animals in the woods - buffalo, wild pigs, deer. For the wild pigs the Czar bought the best potatoes and best wheat. The deer had a picket fence with boxes of the best oats. The best clover hay was purchased for the buffalo. The Czar, Nicholas II, had a summer palace (about twenty miles from Cholo near Kiev) in the preserve and came about every hunting season. The roads were nice grass (seeded). There were cut green grass fields. A big shanty with a roof and three sides (the front was open) was in the preserve. It was packed full and wasn't far from the pathway through the woods used by the Germans to get to their hayfield. The Germans could see the animals eat at the shanty and at the picket fence. The men of Cholo always had work in the winter cleaning up the underbrush near the Czar's roads. The men dug stumps out. The children were paid to pick up brush. Not far from where the watchman was posted at the fence was a tall round storage building. Pipes went under the ground and in the middle was a little shack with two ovens where turpentine and tar were made. [4-5].

The German men would hunt at night in the Czar's preserve (get through the fence). Because of this the Czar, Nicholas II, wanted the people in Cholo to move. They had two years to leave when the Czar told them that he was buying them out. They really didn't want to leave. They could have all moved to the same place, but the people couldn't agree. Carl Hintz, a Russian soldier, had grown up in their village and was in the Czar's household. He told the Czar to buy out the people separately and then they would have to leave as they wouldn't be able to pasture their land and farm together anymore. The Czar did this and within two years the village was empty. The Czar sold the houses which were then moved away. There was only one house left (a newer one) - the Granavisgus (spelling?) house. [2,4,6,9-10].

The people all moved to Volhynia, buying separately. The Grabers moved from Grodno to Volhynia by trains - two nights and one day because of transfers. Fred Bartz was living in the area to which the Karl Grabers moved in Volhynia (the Grabers were probably from this area previously). Fred said that Dan and Gustie were married already and that Gust was about 17 years old (1908). However, Henry (son of Dan and Gustie) was born and baptized in Cholo. The baptism occurred on March 1, 1909 (Russian calendar). Their next child Adolph was born in Risowata on May 15, 1911 (Russian calendar). Their land was sold to the government the end of 1910 - date 30 DEC 1910. Thus the family must have moved early in 1911. [5,7,11-12].

Karl Graber (the father) was known as the "Potato King" in Cholo because he grew them so good and big. Even his grandchildren called him "Potato King." But he also raised beets, oats, rye, beans, and livestock. He was a smaller person (no bigger than his grandson, Henry). Apolonia was bigger. Karl and Apolonia were both Lutheran. When he was sick he lived with his son, Christian. He lived on one side and Christian on the other side. It was just a small house. He had water sickness - dropsy. His daughter, Charlotte Rohde, found him dead. Christian and Karl (the son) each got one half of Karl's land in Cholo when he died. [4-5]. 2

!Bialowieza [14].
Bialowieza, forest settlement, located in the middle of Bialowieza Forest the favourite hunting place for Lithuanian princes, Polish kings and Russian Cars. The central place in Bialowieza is Palace Park where you can find Hunters` Mansion, Cars` Palace - the residence of Bialowieza National Park.

It`s worth to visit in Bialowieza:

• Palace Park - trees, shrubs, buildings, remainings after Palace in English style from XIX century.
• Directors` Park - remainings after Park, old residence of Bialowieza National Park management, nowadays school and educational path.
• Orthodox St. Nicholas Church, colourful iconostas inside, made of china.
• Roman Catholic Church - beautiful decoration of St. Hubert church; to decoration are used trees, roots and horns.

2

! He died at age 78 [1], 92/93 [2], or 80-99 [4].

Religion: Lutheran [4].

They had 9 children. [1].

2 !--- SOURCES ---.
NAME:1-3,6,15-16 B:guess D:4 DP:4 BUR:4 Siblings:1,3.
WIFE:1,6,15-16 MEND:1.
1. Gustav Graber [71].
2. Alma Graber Strebel Petersen [70].
3. Caroline Ulm Freier [81].
4. Olga Kort Steinke [77].
5. Augusta Rohde Graber [76,79].
6. Robert Freier [240].
7. Cynthia Graber Schroeder.
8. Natalie Scheffler Emhoff [57].
9. Gustav O. Graeber [66].
10. Hattie Strebel DeBruin [70].
11. Fred Bartz [62].
12. Certificate of land sale from Daniel Greber to the Czar (government).
13. Albert Muth [5197].
14. website found 10 AUG 2010 at http:/www.bialowieza.net.pl/engpanel.php?hotel=wartozwiedz.
15. Bialystok film 1191933 (LDS library) - Rode/Gräber marriage [5197].
16. Bialystok film 1191933 (LDS library) - Graeber/Flarkowski marriage [5197].

Transcriptions

Transcription by Jason Rennie of Rode/Gräber marriage from Białystock church records:
"Gottlieb Rode, Tischler in Czolo gebürtig daselbst, evangelisch-lutherisch, alt 28 Jahr, Sohn des verst. Landwirts Christian Rode und dessen Ehefrau Marie geb. Lempke letztere lebt
mit der Jungfrau
Charlotte Graeber aus Czolo evangelisch-lutherisch, alt 17 Jahr gebürtig aus Czolo, Tochter des Landwirts Carl Graeber und dessen Ehefrau Apoallonia geb. Kend, bde leben"
Date: 19 Jun 1867

On the same page as the Rode/Gräber marriage:
"Carl Flarkowski der Landwirt in Czolo gebürtig daselbst, evangelisch-lutherisch, alt 25 Jahr, Sohn des verst. Landwirt Andreas Flarkowski und dessen Ehefrau Caroline geb. Hauge
mit der Jungfrau
Friederike Menzel aus Czolo gebürtig aus Berlin, alt 22 Jahr, römisch-katholisch, Tochter des Schneidermeisters Fried. Menzel und dessen Ehefrau Louise geb. Binder"
Date: 19 Jun 1867

Sources

1. ↑ Poland, Białystok, Białystok, Białystok, church records: "Poland, Białystok, Białystok, Białystok, church records"
   Catalog: Poland, Białystok, Białystok, Białystok, church records Belostokas, Poland - Belostokas Draudze Birth, Marriage, Death 1867-1867 Belostokas, Poland, LVVA-000292-0001-000025, 1867
   Film number: 105913037 > image 50 of 58
   FamilySearch Image: 3Q9M-C3QB-L394-C (accessed 1 April 2023)