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Board of Guardians Committee for Foreign Settlers Records
(original records found in Odessa Archives, Fund (Collection) 6, Inventory 1 Microfilms

by Tim Janzen

Researchers interested in early Russian Mennonite history and genealogy will be pleased to learn about the availability of recently microfilmed materials from the Odessa Archives in Odessa, Ukraine. This material was microfilmed in 2000 and 2001, at the request of the California Mennonite Historical Society and microfilm copies have recently been distributed to various Mennonite archives.

There are a total of 8 microfilms in this collection and they contain a total of 24,236 frames made from a total of 15,149 pages of original material. The materials microfilmed are 184 selected files containing Mennonite related documents that date between 1799 and 1820 found in the records originally held by the Board of Guardians Committee in Fund (Collection) 6, Inventory 1 in the Odessa Archives.

Extracted Documents from the Eight Microfilms

I have begun extracting the information from these eight microfilms and researchers should carefully review and utilize the documents I have already extracted. In particular, I suggest that researchers utilize the merged and combined databases of these records.

One of the most valuable items in these microfilms is a complete 1801 census of the Chortitza Colony, listing 1,665 Mennonites from nine villages.

Also of high interest are vital records of all births, marriages, and deaths in the Chortitza Colony for much of 1801 and 1802 and for the periods from January to May, 1803, from January to May, 1806, from May to October, 1807, and from October to December, 1813 as well as vital records for the Molotschna Colony for May to August, 1811, from January to April and from September to December, 1813, and from May to July, 1814. The microfilms also include an 1802 Neuenburg village census, an 1803 Hutterite Colony census, 1801 and 1806 Hutterite Colony censuses, an 1801 Kronsgarten census, and lists of all children vaccinated (see 1809 and 1814 lists) against smallpox in the Chortitza Colony in 1809 and 1814. There are also various voters' lists for the Chortitza Colony and for the Molotschna Colony during the period 1801 to 1814 among other items.

Inventory of the Eight Microfilms (184 Files)

A series of three books entitled The Guardianship Committee of Foreign Settlers in South Russia, 1799-1876 has been published in Russian by the Odessa Archives in conjunction with Dr. Alfred Eisfeld and contain file descriptions of all the files found in Fund 6, Inventory 1 in the Odessa Archives.

Volume 1 of this series was published in 1998 and contains descriptions of the files that date between 1799 and 1818. The file descriptions of the 184 files included on these eight microfilms were translated into English by Tatyana Makarenko and were edited by me to create a year by year inventory of this material.

I have added to this inventory the frame numbers where particularly valuable material may be found on the microfilms. It is suggested that researchers interested in obtaining an overview of the material included in these microfilms carefully read this inventory first as well as the accompanying introduction which is a translation of the introduction found in Volume 1. The file descriptions are grouped by the year that the file was started.

Frame by Frame Inventory of the 1st Microfilm (8 files)

In addition, I have compiled a more detailed frame-by-frame inventory of the first microfilm of this series of 8 microfilms.

This inventory covers the material found in the 8 files in the first microfilm. This microfilm includes some of the most valuable of the documents including the 1801 Chortitza Colony Census, the 1801 Kronsgarten Census, the 1803 Hutterite Colony Census, and the 1801-1807 Chortitza Colony vital records. It is suggested that researchers interested in obtaining more detailed information about the material included in this microfilm carefully read this inventory.

Significance of the 8 Microfilms

The material found in these 8 microfilms gives us significant new information about early residents of the Chortitza and Molotschna Colonies that had previously been unavailable. When this data is reviewed in conjunction with the 1795 Chortitza Colony census and the portions of the 1802, 1808, and 1814 Chortitza Colony censuses previously published by B. H. Unruh as well as the information published in Peter Rempel's recent book Mennonite Migration to Russia, 1788-1828 it will give us a much more complete picture of the settlers in the Chortitza Colony prior 1820 than we had available to us previously, as well as to a lesser extent the settlers in the Molotschna Colony.

A fair number of the files relate to criminal cases or other situations where legal documents were generated due to some type of problem or conflict in the colonies. Other files contain primarily statistical information about the colonies. The files also provide considerable information about how the Office of Guardianship governed the colonies.

The documents found in the files are located on the microfilms as follows:

  1. Microfilm of selected files of great importance: Files 42, 65, 67, 92, 98, 138, 179, and 195.
  2. Microfilm #2: Files 6-48 (not including File 42).
  3. Microfilm #3: Files 49-124 (not including Files 65, 67, 92, and 98).
  4. Microfilm #4: Files 129-201 (not including Files 138, 179, and 195).
  5. Microfilm #5: Files 208-679.
  6. Microfilm #6: Files 688-850.
  7. Microfilm #7: Files 852-973.
  8. Microfilm #8: Files 1018-1236.

Availability of Microfilms

Copies of these microfilms are now on deposit at the following archives and historical societies:

The California Mennonite Historical Society will retain the master copy of these microfilms. CMHS will allow Mennonite researchers or archives that are interested in owning a personal set of these microfilms to purchase additional copies at the cost of film duplication, postage, and handling. The cost per microfilm for those interested in purchasing a copy of any of the microfilms will be $20 (USD). Feel free to contact , the archivist for the California Mennonite Historical Society, if you are interested in purchasing copies of any of these microfilms.

If you note any errors that I have made in extracting this data from the original documents I would appreciate being notified about them. Alf Redekopp and Jake Wiens at the Mennonite Heritage Center, John Thiesen at the Mennonite Library and Archives, Rick Rye from AHSGR in Lincoln, Nebraska, Hans Winofsky of Portland, Oregon, and Elli Wise of Frankfurt, Kentucky have assisted in translating selected items I found difficult to translate. Tatyana Makarenko of Houston, Texas spent many hours translating the inventory of the file descriptions. If you have any questions about any of this data feel free to contact me.

© 2001-07 Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta
Last Updated 16 Jul 2007

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