The Riehl family in Krasna

My genealogical research began between 1978 and 1982, when I researched four generations of my living grandparents. The information later proved to be true.

Interesting events on this topic were:

• A correspondence in 1979 with Eduard Ruscheinsky, one of Krasna's last teachers.
• A visit to Dr. Karl Stumpp in March 1980 in a retirement home in the Stuttgart area. He put me in touch with Prof. Jean Schweitzer, Strasbourg, for my intended research in Alsace.
• An exchange of correspondence in the summer of 1980 with Prof. Jean Schweitzer, Strasbourg. He looked through two church registers for me. Unfortunately without success. My specifications were two villages next to the later place of discovery.

Then the topic of genealogy disappeared into a drawer for the time being. Daily work has pushed the topic aside. The possibilities were also nowhere near as convenient as they are today in the age of the Internet.

In 2008, my mother-in-law died unexpectedly. This was the trigger for my wife and me to get back to the subject of genealogy. Some of the questions we wanted to ask later were no longer possible.

1814-1940 Krasna, Bessarabien

At the beginning of my research on Bessarabia, I assumed that there were four first settlers in Krasna named Riehl. My lineage named the immigrant Josef Riehl from tradition. The name Josef later turned out to be wrong. Instead of four, there was only one immigrant.

The immigrant's name was Johannes Diebolt Rühl, *13.11.1763 in Croettwiller, Wissembourg, Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France.

Picture 1: Immigrant family Johannes Diebold and Anna Maria Riehl

In the baptismal register of St. Joseph's Church, Krasna, Theobald appears once as godfather in 1826. There are three baptismal registers from Krasna for the period 1814 to 1837. The baptismal registers are in the Leipzig State Archives.

The first settlers in Krasna came from the Duchy of Warsaw (Warsaw colonists) in 1814. The book by Dr. Karl Stumpp¹ lists various Röhl, Rühl and Riehl with places of origin in Alsace (Bas-Rhin, France).

1804-1814 Wilhelmsdorf, Neuostpreußen

Wilhelmsdorf, Króle Duze, Ostrowski, Mazowieckie, belonged to New East Prussia.
After the third partition of Poland from 1795 to 1807, New East Prussia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia. From 1797 under the Prussian King Frederick William III.

After the Peace of Tilsit in July 1807, Wilhelmsdorf belonged to the Duchy of Warsaw.
The Duchy of Warsaw also included Western Galicia, and Zamosc and surroundings.

Around 1800, the settlements of Königshuld-Paproc Duza or Groß Paproc, Luisenau, Wilhelmsdorf and Mecklenburg were founded by mainly Mecklenburg colonists. The preachers from Chmielowka-Suwalki and Wengrow traveled to the villages of the Könighulder Sprachinsel on an irregular basis.
The King of Prussia had people recruited to populate the sparsely populated region of New East Prussia.
The first trace in Poland was found by Eduard Volk². I was able to continue my detailed research on this template.

1814 Emigration to Bessarabia

The settlers in New East Prussia did not fare well. Otherwise they would not have abandoned everything again after barely 10 years and moved on. The literature gives plenty of reasons for the failure of the settlement in Poland:

• From the very beginning, there was a lack of adequate support for the settlement from the authorities.
• In 1807, the area becomes part of the Duchy of Warsaw. Power lies with the French ambassador and not with the King of Prussia. Large landowners regain more power. Life becomes increasingly difficult for the small farmers.
• In 1812, Napoleon marched across the region towards Russia with the "Grand Army".
• 1813 During the retreat, the rest of the "Grand Army" also passed through Poland again.
  The requisition-based supply system plundered the country to such an extent that "the people were left with only their eyes with which to weep at their misery".
  An extract from Joseph Deifel's diary³ says enough:

  1812/13: A halt is made between Warsaw and Blozk and announced all around, posted everywhere, that every scattered or strayed Bavarian is going or should go there; many, however, go out via Groß-Glockau. We come to Kelbowo, a large German colony, we are told the largest in Bollen. Many Swabians live there, but far poorer than the Bollen themselves; many have already left again and moved on down to the Black Sea, Wallachia, Bessarabia, etc. Many of them have already died. Many of those who moved there in the 1990s have already died; the children thank their parents for taking them to a faraway land. What else I want to say, I won't say, because I'm a German myself. (Bollen = Poland)

The move from the Duchy of Warsaw to Russia is documented in the Hopf list⁴. The Hopf list names position 689:
Ryll Theobold, 1814, aus Herzogtum Warschau Dep. Lomza, Bez. Ostrolenka, Kolonie Wilhelmsdorf, nach Russland. Beruf Landwirt, Alter 48, Ehefrau Anna-Maria 46, Söhne: Adam 18, Martin 16, Johann 7.

1804 Settlement in Prussia

Es gibt eine Liste der Ansiedler⁵, die bis 1806 ansiedelt waren. Der Riehl war bei der Kolonie Wilhelmsdorf⁶ (Króle Duze, Króle) auf Position 12 verzeichnet. In bester Schrift steht da:

Theobald Riehl., Hüfner, 1 Mann, 1 Frau, 1 Sohn und 1 Tochter über 12 Jahre, 1 Sohn und 2 Töchter unter 12 Jahre, Herkunft Elsass; Ansiedlung 1804.

The following link shows on #50 the baptismal entry of Ryll Anna Marianna 29.09.1804: #50 Christening entry of Ryll Anna Marianna

The following link shows on #57 the baptismal entry of Ryll Jan 02.09.1806: #57 Christening entry of Ryll Johann

At that time, Wilhelmsdorf belonged to the Jassenica Domain Office, Kingdom of Prussia. An excellent source for reading up on the events of the time is the book by August Müller⁷.

Two links from 1808 with the respective signature of Diebold Rühl.

• Signature in section #28
• Signature in section #62

He writes "Rühl" in his signature, while the Polish version is used in the text.

1758-1802 Bechhof, Trimbach, Bas-Rhin

The search in Alsace got off to a difficult start. I had very little initial data. The digitized parish registers and civil status registers⁸ of Bas-Rhin are an excellent source.

In 2012 I wrote to the AGAWE ⁹ in Wissembourg and asked whether anyone had come across the name Riehl in the Wissembourg district. After a few weeks, an Alsatian got in touch. His name was Riehl, he lived in Lembach (Bas-Rhin) and was related to me at the 8th level. We exchanged our previous research results and continued our search together.

The places of residence of the Riehl family under consideration here were in the canton of Seltz, Arrondissement Wissembourg, Département Bas-Rhin, Region Alsace, France from around 1750 to 1804.

1801 Kaidenbourg, Wissembourg, Bas-Rhin

Kaidenbourg, Siegen, 48° 56' N, 8° 1' O

1798 Schleithal, Wissembourg, Bas-Rhin

Schleithal, Kanton and Arrondissement Wissembourg, Département Bas-Rhin, Region Alsace, France, 48° 59' N, 8° 3' O

1795 Söllingen, Baden; French war turmoil Revolution

Pfinztal (Söllingen), Baden-Württemberg, Germany, 48° 59' N, 8° 33' O

Baptismal entry: * 25./~ 27.11.1795 Franz Adam Riele, Sohn v. Diebold Riele, Emigrant from Katenburg and Anna Maria Wüstin.
Copy of the baptismal register of the Lutheran church in Söllingen. In the birth entry dated Nov. 25, 1795, the father Diebold Riele is described as an emigrant from Katenburg (probably a misspelling for Kaidenburg); his wife is Anna Maria née Wüstin.

The name Riele or similar does not appear in the church register of Söllingen either before or after.

French emigrants were sent far into the Baden hinterland because the Rhine region could not accommodate all the emigrants. Although the area around Söllingen was Protestant, this applied to the entire area around Karlsruhe. Refugees from Alsace therefore had little choice but to have their children baptized Lutheran. For a Catholic baptism, they would have had to travel long distances in uncertain times.

1758 Bechhof, Trimbach, Bas-Rhin

Bechhof, Trimbach, Kanton Seltz, Arrondissement Wissembourg, Département Bas-Rhin, Region Alsace, France, 48° 56' N, 8° 2' O

More about Bechhof, Trimbach

20.11.1758 Johann Georg Riehl, *21.09.1729 in Schaidt, marries Margaretha Conrad from Trimbach,
The Bechhof is named after the French. Revolution, then disappeared.
The farm was owned by the von Vitzthum family until the beginning of the French Revolution. Vitzthum was a neighbor in Schaidt, three houses away from the Riehl farm.

1584 - 1758 Schaidt, Bienwald, Südpfalz

Schaidt (today a district of Wörth), Germersheim district, Germany.
The church register of Schaidt provides information up to 1685. In the baptismal entry of July 13, 1685 for Maria Apolonia Riehl, her parents are named as Johannes Jacobus Rühl and his wife Magdalena. Johannes Jacobus is therefore the oldest documented Riehl.

The church register of Schaidt can be viewed in the Speyer diocesan archives.

Notes by Manfred Bouquet, local historian in Schaidt

In 1584 and 1592, Hans Rihl is mentioned first. He must have died before 1607, while Hans Rihlen Witib (widow) is still mentioned in the records until 1618. She owned (1609) an estate in the lower village, field side (see Urban Burg). Hans Rihl himself is mentioned (1592) as the owner of a property in the lower village, Waldseite.

Around the same time, a Rihl family is also mentioned in Lauterbourg, to whom the Schaidter Rihls were obviously related.

In 1621, a Wendel Rihl was named as a neighbor of the property.
From 1623 to 1667 Jakob Rihl the Old is mentioned, of whom a promissory note for 100 fl. from 1623 has been preserved.
In 1631 he owned a house in the lower village on the field side. For this, he buys a right of passage through Lorenz Weber's farm right on the side of the stream.
Before 1667 he also owned today's Rihl estate (next to the former Getto nursery), which was later owned by the municipality of Schaidt and later still by Hans Adam Eckert.

From 1654 to 1667, Hans Georg (Jörg) Rihl is mentioned, who served as village court alderman in 1665 and 1667. He was a co-heir of Hans Langohr in 1667 and also inherited from Peter Seifried (see there).
In 1662, he owned the second house east of the lower village moat (forest side) as his residence.
In 1662 he agreed with Stefan Heintz and Hans Jakob Dresch (s.d.), who lived on the field side, a reciprocal right of passage through their estates.
In 1654 he owns another property in the upper village on the forest side (neighbors until 1654: Sebastian Becker and Hans Dreschen.
Around 1680 there is only mention of Hans Georg Rihlen Erben.
Hans Jakob Rihl must have been born before 1680 and died around 1733. He was married to Maria Magdalena (née Schehr?) and was related by marriage to Christoph Wilhelm.
In 1691 he inherited a house in Ring Feldseite, which once belonged to Urban Burg dem Jungen. As it later passed into the hands of the municipality, it was probably the Rihlsche Haus mentioned by Jakob Rihl the Old and Hans Jakob was a son of Jakob the Old.
A small cottage near Vogelgäßchen, which was owned by Michael Grieß in 1690 and by his daughter Anna Barbara Grieß in 1705, was later owned by our Hans Jakob Rihl (adjoining owners in 1690: Michael Grieß himself and Antoni Gärtner).
Until 1819, the property belonged to the community and was used as a "common shepherd's house". Around 1715, the shepherd Hans Georg Martin lived here "rent-free".
In 1819, the master baker and innkeeper Franz Weber had a restaurant here called "Zum Hirschen". He had his main house elsewhere in the village.
Towards the end of the 19th century, the unmarried siblings Philipp and Gretel Böhles acquired the property.

Franz Joseph Rihl, who was related to the Böhles through his wife, took over the estate and passed it on to his son Ernst Rihl.

Notes by Prof. Erich Getto

• Beethbuch der Gemeinde Schaidt [1713]
  (Im Beethbuch sind bürgerliche Grundbesitzungen, Äcker, Wingert, Wiesen und Gärtchen zu finden.)
• Ergänzung zu den Sterbeakten der Gemeinde Schaidt (1704-1793)
• Die Bürgermeister der alten Zeit (1581-1773)
• Verzeichnis der Einkünfte der Schaidter Kirche (1723-1738)
• Verzeichnis der Geldzinsen der Schaidter Kirche (1723)

Rühl: (Ruel, Riehl, Riel). Representatives of this name can be found early on in various villages in the southern Palatinate:

• 1477 in Freckenfeld/Minfeld
• 1582 in Steinfeld
• 1584 in Schaidt, where the family managed to survive the turmoil of war right up to the present day.

Reflections on the surname Riehl

Otto Riehl
Kirchlinteln, April 2014

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Quellen:

1. Die Auswanderung aus Deutschland nach Rußland in den Jahren 1763 bis 1862
2. Eduard Volk; Krasna - Ein deutsches Dorf in Bessarabien
3. Joseph Deifel; Mit Napoleon nach Russland - Tagebuch des Infantristen Joseph Deifel - Verlag Friedrich Pustet
4. Hopf-Liste; 9. Verzeichnis von Dr. Hopf Krakau) über die Auswanderung aus Polen (Herzogtum Warschau) nach Russland (Allgemein) vom 27.10.1941.
5. Ansiedler 1806; Nachweisungen der Kolonisten auf dem platten Lande, 1806, II. HA Generaldirektorium, Abt. 11 Neuostpreußen, VI, - Nr. 1104.
6. Wilhelmsdorf: heute Króle Duze, Gemeinde Andrezejewo, Bezirk Ostrowski, Provinz Mazowiekie, Polska. Nordöstlich von Warschau.
7. August Müller, Die preussische kolonisation in Nordpolen und Litauen (1795-1807), K. Curtius 1928, mit einer Karte des Domänenamtes Jassenica
8. Zivilstandsregister Bas-Rhin
9. AGAWE, Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Genealogie des Kreises Wissembourg und seiner näheren Umgebung