The hiking instructors Mathias Müller and Peter Becker

According to the Krasna community report of 1848, two traveling schoolmen led the Krasna colonists from Poland to Bessarabia: "Following this call, the aforementioned settlers - 133 families in poor and oppressive circumstances, but looking forward to a better future - left their Polish settlements of Orschokowin and Schitonitz¹ in 1814 under the leadership of Mattheis Müller and Peter Becker".

Both Mathias Müller and Peter Becker came from the Principality of Nassau, Mathias Müller was born in Büdingen/Bellingen in the Westerwald, Peter Becker came from the village of Lindenholzhausen near Limburg.

The Nassau princes had many estates to the left and right of the Lahn in Germany (especially in the Westerwald as far as Siegen and in the Taunus as far as Wiesbaden). In the period of interest to us, around 1790/1800, most of the Nassau territory was in the possession of the Princes of Nassau-Orange with their seat of government in Dillenburg. Wilhelm Friedrich, Hereditary Prince of Nassau-Orange, lived during this period².

The coalition wars between 1792 and 1815 led to the impoverishment of many families in this region. In order to escape this situation, people emigrated to South Prussia, including Mathias Müller and Peter Becker.

The area west of the Vistula as well as Danzig and Thorn, known as "South Prussia", was gained by Prussia as a further immigration area through the second partition of Poland (1793).

The Prussian state transferred colonist positions to newly established state domains, especially to many southwest German emigrants.

But private landowners also settled German colonists, including Wilhelm Friedrich Hereditary Prince of Nassau-Orange. He was related to the Prussian rulers and acquired several estates in southern Prussia in the Posen Chamber Department between 1793 and 1798, including the Czeszewo estate (Wreschen district) with the villages and outbuildings of Mikuszewo, Chlebowo, Radzitowko and Orzechowo.
He intended to settle colonists there in his homeland. The country's plight as a result of the French wars benefited his plans. By April 22, 1799, 553 families with around 2,500 people had registered "with the intention of moving to South Prussia as colonists"³.

There is evidence of later Krasna families, including Baldus, Dressler, Heidrich, Hein, Hartmann, Wagner, Wingenbach and also

• Johannes Mathias Müller Büdingen, 30 J, unmarried, day laborer (172/2677, S.14/ # 223),
• Peter Becker, 25 J., ledig Lindenholzhausen, Trierisch, Amt Limburg (172/2677, S.10 # 148).

On May 5, 1799, the order was given to set off; on the way via Marburg, Hersfeld, Gotha, Erfurt, Leipzig, Mühlberg, Cottbus, Krossen a. O., the settlers reached South Prussia by horse-drawn carts or on foot, the journey taking approx. 6 - 8 weeks.

The estate administration settled the emigrants in the winter/spring of 1800 in the above-mentioned villages of the estate of Wilhelm Friedrich Erbprinz von Nassau-Oranien, in particular in Orzechowo⁴. It is located approx. 26 km south of Wreschen (Polish: Wrzesnia), not far from Posen (Polish: Poznan). Orzechowo is located approx. 4 km southwest of Czeszewo, which was the parish of Orzechowo around 1800.

According to previous findings, Orzechowo was the northernmost place of origin of Krasna Warsaw colonists. The first group of onward migrants began their journey to Russia here, and Mathias Müller and Peter Becker lived here until they moved on to Krasna in Bessarabia in 1813/1814.

We have a document from 1808 that proves this: "Acta der Fürstlichen Oranien-Nassau-Fuldaschen General Administration betreffend die Orzechowoer Kolonisten 1808-1811)⁵". In it, the colonists ask

• Georg Wagner,
• die Witwe Heidrich,
• Mathias Baldus,
• Mathias Müller,
• Peter Becker

the princely administration to defer their interest/tax payments.

Mathias Müller

Mathias Müller * 26. 08. 1773, parents Johann Adam Müller and Anna Catharina from Bellingen. He is mentioned several times in Orzechowo documents:

• Mathias Müller was already in Budy Czeszewo on January 4, 1800, on that day he was godfather, on January 22, 1801 witness at the wedding of Martin Dressler.
• He married there: Catholic parish of Czeszewo (Wrzesnia) Entry 4 / 1802 October 05, 1802 Matthaeus Miller (28 years old, born around 1773/74) oo Anna Heytrych (20 years old)
• Document about an inheritance: "Der nach Orzechowo in Südpreußen emigrierte Theis Müller von Büdingen hat von seinem Schwager Henrich Hubertus zu Büdingen noch einige Erbschaftsgelder zu fordern davon 100 (Gulden) zu Neujahr dieses Jahres fällig waren (1804)".
• On April 27, 1808, he and other colonists asked for the payments to the administration to be postponed.

The couple Matthias Müller and Anna Heidrich had five children in Orzechowo, five of whom appear in Krasna: Elisabeth * 26.08.1804, Mathias * 08.09.1807, Anna Maria * 08.07.1810, Rosina * 12.05.1812.

The Mathias Müller * before 1792 mentioned in the Krasna database must be the traveling schoolmaster Mathias Müller. He must have died shortly after arriving in Krasna.
His widow Anna Maria Müller, who married Karl Hein on September 12,1815, was probably his wife. She would have been 33 years old when she married Karl Hein. This matches Anna Maria Heidrich * 26.05.1782 in Büdingen, parents Johann Heidrich and Elisabeth

Peter Becker

Peter Becker from Lindenholzhausen near Limburg emigrated in 1799 and lived in Orzechowo near Wreschen/Posen until 1814.

• He appears in the church register there with several baptism entries for his children and as godfather.
• He is listed in the document on the deferral of interest/tax payments.

Peter Becker * 21. 08. 1771; parents Johannes Jokob Becker and Catharina Jung (church register, 1674-1899 Catholic Church Lindenholzhausen Kr. Limburg p. 67).

Peter Becker was married to Elisabeth Hartmann. Since their first child was born in October 1801, there is much to suggest that they were married in 1800 or earlier, when they had not yet arrived in Orzechowo. He and his wife appear in Krasna.

The Hartmann family also emigrated from the Principality of Nassau to Orzechowo.

The church register of Czeszewo contains six children of Peter Becker under "neo colonia Orzechowo", three of whom lived in Krasna: Anna Katharina * 27.12.1803, Friedrich * 01.08.1805, Elisabeth * 04. 04. 1813

The migration to Krasna

The starting signal for the onward migration to Bessarabia was Tsar Alexander's appeal of 29.11.1813. The Tsar's manifest promised the emigrants in Bessarabia religious freedom, exemption from military service, ten years of tax exemption, 60 desjatines (= 66 ha) of land for each family and money to build a house. This sounded very tempting in the bleak situation of the Germans in Poland.

It was probably during the winter or spring of 1814 that the prospective colonists heard of the Tsar's offer.

When the Russians came to Poland in 1813, many German settlers found themselves in a desperate situation. These settlers had been through very troubled/difficult times:

• 1807 and 1809 change from Prussian or Austrian rule to Polish rule. They suffered greatly under the large landowners of Poland.
• The Napoleonic wars brought them much suffering.
• In 1812, troops marched through, requisitioned and plundered during Napoleon's campaign to Russia and the return of the defeated French army to the west.

This situation gave rise to the reasons for the people's onward migration to Bessarabia. The Krasna parish report of 1848 describes it as follows: "The all-destroying war campaigns of the French to Russia via Poland deprived the colonists of almost all their possessions. The colonists felt that the torn Poland could not give them any security and protection for the future."

The colonists' journey and itinerary

In the spring of 1814, the recruitment and registration of those interested began. To this end, the Russian government sent a special commission to Poland to make preparations for the journey of the recruits to Bessarabia. It was headed by the Russian civil servant Krüger; he was the recruiter and was also in charge of the transportation.

The colonists had to gather at assembly points specified by the Russian recruiters, e.g. in Lodz and Warsaw. Here they were given instructions and travel documents and divided into columns.

The people set off in groups/divisions after electing guides, the transport or wandering schoolteachers, from among themselves. Wanderschulzen served as guides, signposts and protectors. This position was open to experienced men (aged between 30 and 50). For Krasna, as stated in the 1848 Krasna community report, Peter Becker and Mathias Müller were the Wanderschulzen⁶.

The emigrants probably began their arduous journey overland to Bessarabia in the summer of 1814. According to the Krasna community report of 1848, the journey was made "partly on their own poor carts, partly on rented wagons. Many also came on foot."

There were no comfortable and efficient means of transportation available for the long and arduous journey. At that time there were no paved roads, no railroads and certainly no cars. It was difficult to make progress over daily distances of around 20 - 25 km, and they often camped in the open, far from any villages.
According to various sources, the itinerary led from Warsaw and other places in Poland to the Russian border in the Volhynian Governorate by order of the Russian government. This bordered the Polish governorate of Lublin, where many of the later Krasna people lived in the Zamosc region. There, the people were received and passed on by Russian authorities.
According to the Krasna community report of 1848, the later Krasna residents crossed the border at Uchiluk on the Bug. In 1814, the Polish Bug formed the border between the Duchy of Warsaw and Volynia, which belonged to Russia. The village lies on the eastern side of the Bug and today belongs to north-western Ukraine in the Volhynia oblast.
From there, the journey continued north-east along the Carpathian Mountains via Podolia to the river Dniester to Tiraspol. Principal Albert Mauch from Tarutino says: "The grandfathers of the Bessarabian colonists from Poland probably took the route via Brody, Mogilev on the Dniester, Balta, Tiraspol and Bender."
The shortest route on foot from Orzechowo to Tiraspol via the places mentioned is approx. 1300 km. With a daily mileage of 20 km, it would have taken 42 days to cover the distance without a break. With breaks, just under 2 months is probably the lower limit.
After much hardship, suffering and deprivation, our emigrants arrived in Tiraspol in September 1814⁷. The journey initially ended there. All the formalities were completed there, the settlement site was assigned and temporary accommodation was organized.

Our emigrants were not able to move to their new colony immediately, as the Russian government had not yet completed its preparations for accommodating the colonists.

• There was a lack of accommodation. The Russian authorities had not managed to make the promised preparations in time.
• The steppe areas intended for settlement were still leased. These pieces of land could only be allocated to the settlers after the leases had expired.

Eduard Volk
Neuwied, Juni 2024
Eduard's ancestor is Klemens VOLK

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1. We now know that the places are correctly called Orzechowo and Sitaniec in Polish
2. He was King of the Netherlands from 1815 as William I.
3. (Main State Archives Wiesbaden: HHStAW, 172, 2677: Lists of persons and households who were planning to move to South Prussia as colonists)
4. This is the place referred to in Krasna documents as "Orschokowin". We must bear in mind that it has come down to us in the spoken version, from which the correct spelling differs.
5. Archiwum Panstwowe w Poznaniu 53/4823/0/3.15/280
6. Another group of the later Krasnaers came from the Zamosc area (from Sitaniec/Schitanitz). It could not be determined whether the Russians brought them together with the group from Orzechowo on the way, or whether they moved to Krasna separately.
7. Tiraspol was later the seat of the Catholic bishop responsible for Bessarabia and Krasna