Re: Elisa Adoptivtochter Koehn (Kieve 1864 )
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In reply to:
Elisa Adoptivtochter Koehn (Kieve 1864 )
7/14/00
Robert,
From the histories I've studied, I think we can say that Elisa would most certainly be Mennonite... her ancestry would be part of the group that left Germany at the invitation of Catherine the Great to farm the wheat fields of the Ukraine. When traced back far enough, all of these Mennonite families go back to the same families originally in Switzerland. In any case, the Koehn family is a major mennonite name in the MacPherson County, Kansas area, and they did indeed come from the Ukraine; here the Ukraine Mennonites came and made a permanent influence on the future of the USA by bringing the hard winter red wheat.
The German notation quoted by cousin Mike is "war pflugekind", meaning "foster child". I suggest further research in Kansas for other Koehns who may have come over about the same time as Elisa. Perhaps her parents had died before she came, or perhaps she came ahead of her parents as a teenager or young child, and they never joined her in the USA. In any case, it may be assumed that at some point she made her home with the Schowalters, and met their cousin Edward Henry.
Your sister,
Liz
More Replies:
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Re: Elisa Adoptivtochter Koehn (Kieve 1864 )
4/09/01
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Re: Elisa Adoptivtochter Koehn (Kieve 1864 )
Elizabeth Osborn 4/10/01
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Re: Elisa Adoptivtochter Koehn (Kieve 1864 )