Freier from Marinkow
Hi, I hope it is okay to post here in English. I don't think it said in the forum rules or FAQ.
I'm looking for information on the village of Marinkow. In particular the family of Michael Freier (Freyer, Frier) and his wife Caroline Wesner (Weißner, Wessner, Woessner). I have found their marriage record and birth records of their children in the SGGEE database. I'm looking for information on what may have happened to them and the rest of their family in decades following. I cannot find any death or immigration records. Apparently they may have gone back to Germany in the early 1900s.
I believe their son Emil, born 1990, was my grandfather. He immigrated to Canada with his cousin, also named Emil born 1886, in 1911 from Antwerp. I found that his cousins Eduard and Reinhold also immigrated to Canada from Germany. They were the children of Ludwig Freier and Louise Stach from Marinkow.
If anybody could help me with a way to find out what happened to his parents and siblings it would be so much appreciated. Any information on the village of Marinkow or the Freier and Wesner families would be amazing.
Thank you.
Re: Freier from Marinkow
Horst Renz 
, Dienstag, 20.06.2017, 18:26 (vor 2706 Tagen) @ Jessie D
Hello Jessie D . The Marinkow you are referring to is the one north of Torczyn and west of Rozyszcze, in proximity to the town of Beresk. It is therefore most commonly referred to as Marinkow / Beresk, so as to distinguish it from several other Marinkows in Wolhynien. There is no trace of the colony /village of Marinkow nowadays, the fate of most other German colonies in Wolynien (Volhynia), now only empty tracts of land. In its nearly 80 year history as a German Colony, ending in the winter of 1940, it had at its height at most a population of only a few hundred. My paternal grandmother was born there in 1867, at a time when your Freier relatives were living there. My maternal uncle was also born there, in 1903. So I take it thatMichael Freier (oo Caroline Werner) and Ludwig Freier (oo Louise Stach) were brothers. Ludwig was born 2 Oct. 1855 in Klementinow / Petrikau according to my records, the parents being Johann Freier (*1823 +27.3.1876 Marinkow)--Catharine Betker (*1825 Malkow/ Petrikau--+3 Nov. 1887 Marinkow. Do you have a birth date / place for Michael? You stated that you've already recorded the children of Michael and Ludwig Freier in Marinkow from the SGGEE Database, but you may not have the marriage of Julius Freier (*10 Apr. 1888 Marinkow) , son of Ludwig Freier--Louise Stach, on 19 Feb. 1914 , to Pauline Ilgert (*4 Jan. 1893 Marinkow). They had at least 2 children: Hedwig Freier (*23.4.1915 Marinkow) and Ewald Freier (*23.10.1917 ). I don't have a birthplace for Ewald , but it cannot have been in Wolhynien (Volhynia), as all the German colonists there had been either verschleppt into far eastern Russia or escaped to East Prussia by that time and there was no German left in Marinkow by 1917. My grandmother Riedner who was born in Marinkow had 3 sisters who emigrated to the U.S. after they married in Wolhynien and one of her brothers moved to and stayed in Germany with his large family. I have a lot of other relatives that left Wolhynien for either Germany or South America. Late 19th. -- early 20th centuries saw a lot of emigration from Wolhynien as most of the German colonists had large families back then and economic opportunities were much more available abroad. The Russian govt. at that time was also becoming increasingly repressive towards the German colonists, who they were coming to see as a threat.
Regards, Horst from New York
Re: Freier from Marinkow
Jessie D , Mittwoch, 21.06.2017, 05:48 (vor 2705 Tagen) @ Horst Renz
Hello, Mr. Renz. Thank you very much for your response.
Do you know where I can find out more about the village Marinkow, especially the years up to 1917 where you say there were no Germans left? I know nothing of his life there, when he and his family left, or where they went to. Apparently he was the only one of his siblings to come to North America, out of at least 8 kids.
Yes, Ludwig was the younger brother of Michael. All I know of Michael and Caroline is from their marriage record in 1971. Rozyszcze. He was 22, so born around 1849. Caroline was 17, so born around 1854. Her parents are Gottfreid and Justina (unlisted maiden name) from Petrikau.
I was trying to find out if Ewald and Hedwig Freier were related to my Emil, so that is very interesting to me. He never spoke of any family in British Columbia, where he lived for 20 years, but I saw their death records searching in the BC archives. Did he have family so close and not know? They both had Marinkow, Poland listed as birthplace. Ewald's record says that he had head surgery in Germany "many years ago", so he was there at some point in his life. I know that a couple of Ludwig's children departed from Bremen to come to Canada, so they were there too.
Any other information or pointers would be really appreciated.
Cheers, Jessie
Re: Freier from Marinkow
Horst Renz , Mittwoch, 21.06.2017, 16:28 (vor 2705 Tagen) @ Jessie D
Hello Jessie,
the German residents of Marinkow were evacuated in 1916, during the First World War (1914-1918) and after the war, most of them returned and it was still a German colony until the winter of 1940, which was during the second World War. Ewald Freier (*1917) and Hedwig Freier (*1915) were the grandchildren of Ludwig Freier--Louise Stach, so would have been your grandfather, Emil's first cousins, once removed, the children of his cousin Julius. As far as further information re. Marinkow: There is a list of the residents in 1926 and also one for 1939. I don't have access to those lists, but could try to research that for you. If Michael Freier's parents or any of his siblings were still in Volhynia at the end of 1939, they would show up in the EWZ records , which are all on microfilm at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland. If they are in those records , it could prove invaluable in your genealogical research.
Regards. Horst
Re: Freier from Marinkow
Jessie D , Dienstag, 11.07.2017, 02:49 (vor 2685 Tagen) @ Horst Renz
Yes, that would be much appreciated thank you. I've been looking through some EWZ records and haven't found anything (yet). Kind of in a stand still.
Jessie