Mennonite Library and Archives

Michelsdorf-Horodyszcze church book

It is not clear where the original is now. It probably is at the Heritage Hall archives in Freeman, South Dakota.

Description by James W. Krehbiel in 1994: This book has numbered pages. The first 13 pages contain birth registrations from 1829 through 1834 which are in Polish and probably are copies of the civil registrations sent to the authorities when the people lived in Michelsdorf, Galicia, Austria, near Urszulin. These were translated in 1971 by a Polish-born Roman Catholic priest, Rev. Stephen Krawiec. I have included correspondence between Reuben Goertz and Rev. Krawiec relating to the translation of these pages. Unforunately, the leaves containing pages 1-2 and 7-8 are missing. He has mislabeled page 9 as page 8. Pages 14 through 49 contain family registrations. Pages 50 through 86 are blank. Page 87 contains a list of the ministers of the Horodyszcze church from 1839 through 1862. Pages 88-89 contain baptism "classes"in the church from 1838 through 1871. Most of the members of the Horodyszcze church in Volhynia moved there in 1837 from Michelsdorf.

One set of scans here is from a microfilm in the MLA (MF CHR 21) made in December 1955. At that time the original was in the possession of A. P. Waltner, Marion, South Dakota.

The other set of scans is from photocopies given to the MLA by James W. Krehbiel in June 1994.

If you notice any unreadable pages or bad links, please let us know and we can rescan.