Johann Carl REIFSCHNEIDER

                   Family Story  Taken from Reifshneider Family Cookbook, compiled in 1993 by

Table Prayer
Komm Herr Jesu, Sei Du unser Gast, Segne uns, und alles was Du uns bescherest
hast.  Amen
(Come, Lord Jesus, be Thou our guest, and let these gifts to us be blest.
Amen.)

    Family Story
This is the story of courage, of Love and of a deep and abiding
Faith.  This is a story of our ancestors, not an Historical account.  Let the
story begin in a country called Germany.  There lived a Princess named
Katherine, who married a Russian prince and became the Russian Emperess
Katherine II, and ruled over Russia from 1762-1796.
    During that time, a homesick Katherine wished to recruit skilled German
farmers from her native land for the colonization of the vast areas east and
west of the Volga River.
    To encourage German emigration, she made many wonderful promises in her
famous proclamation of 1763-free transportation, free land, no taxation for 30
years,liberation from the military services, plus intrest free money for the
building of homes and the purchase of agriculural implements.
    Obviously, her efforts were not in vain.  Some 8,000 families (27,000 souls)
from all parts of Germany, especially Hesse, eagerly accepted her invitation
and immigrated into Russia and settled on both shores of the lower Volga River
in the governorship of Saratow.
    The courage of our people was tested again and again those first years.
There was drought and disease and, yes, home sickness.  There were many who
wished to return to Germany, but were prohibited from doing so by the Russian
government.
    They stayed on and continued to work, to love one another and to pray, praise
and give thanks for what they had.  With determination an perserverence, their
situations began to improve.  The villages became over-populated and new
settlements had to be established./  Records showed that by 1910, there were
192 German villages with 552,207 inhabitants.  Amoung them were Carl and
Katherine'nee Amen Reifschneider and their children and the first of their
grandchildren,
    A large majority of the German settlers belonged to the Evangelical Lutherine
Church., they were very religious people.  They loved their church and led a
pious life.  Despite the great distance from Germany, they kept their German
Language, dietary habits and traditions.  In their churches and schools, the
German language was used.  Most of the German colonists never learned the
Russian Language.
    They provided large and beautiful weddings for their children, who married
other German children.  No child would have been allowed to marry a Russian.  It
was considered an insult to be called a Russian.
    By 1874, the Russian government had broken her promise and began drafting the young sons of the German Colonists into the Russian army.  Because of this and other broken promises, threats and fears, many families began to immigrate to
North and South America.  The exodus reaching it's highest number during the
years 1905-1914.
    On to America -