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Krause Ancestry Tour 2007
by
Mrs. Jane Teschke

Brief description of tour. Purpose, route traveled etc.

My Polish guide,  Katarzyna "Kasia" Grycza, took me into 14 Krause villages, starting with former Strelno, Schubin, Polichno, Debenke (former Posen); Pr. Friedland, Kramsk, Mauersin, Friedrichshof, Elsenau, Richenwalde, Hammerstein (former Kreis Schlochau, West Prussia); Sparsee, Storko, Gramenz
(former Kreis Neustettin, Pommern).  Dr. Hermann Seils was my tour guide in Viartlum and Treblin (former Kreis Rummelsburg, Pommern).

I could not have gone through all the villages in such a short time without my expert guides and drivers, taking me into the villages without hesitation.  Only when trying to find Mauersin in a very wooded area did Kasia need help...and we covered roads of all types through forests, highways and byways, including cobblestone roads.  I would judge a distance of 300 miles was covered in two days  with Kasia, beginning at the Malbork Castle and ending at Hotel Arkona,  Szczecin (Stettin, Poland).  She is highly recommended should anyone care to go into this area of Poland: Katarzyna "Kasia"  Grycza  info@discovering-roots.pl

While traveling in Poland with both Kasia and Dr. Hermann Seils throughout the countryside, I felt an aura of tranquility.  The small villages are not developed as we would see them in America, and some of the homes date back to the 1800's.    Vinyl and steel siding are definitely out!  And I actually
saw only one home with wood siding throughout Poland.  Stucco is their style for exterior structure.  It's was gratifying to see churches retained dating
back to the 16th Century.

Since the fall of Communism in Poland, one can see progress and pride in ownership.  When approaching former Bromberg, I felt like I was in America
again traveling on a four-lane highway with bustling traffic.  The main industry in that area is the manufacture of a cement-type mixture.  Salt mines south of Bromberg are no longer in operation.   Urbanization is in progress with the rural area flowing with "milk and honey."  One can view countless fields of rape seed, the product used to make canola oil, in both Germany and Poland.  Grain fields appeared to be less numerous.

My greatest thrill on the Polish tour was going into Debrzno (former Pr. Friedland, Kreis Schlochau, West Prussia)   where my Grandfather Gustav Krause lived in 1884 before immigrating to America.  My other forebears lived in various villages in Kreis Rummelsburg, Pommern before immigrating to America, and I had traveled in that area in 1996.  However, on this trip I saw the villages where my Grandmother Augusta (Schwichtenberg) Krause was
born (Bruennow) and where her mother was born (Seelitz), just  a few miles apart in Kreis Rummelsburg.     My Krause grandparents lived about 50 miles
apart before immigrating to America and met in St. Paul, Minnesota where they were married in 1890.  The tour was a triple bonus adventure tour for me.

The following link provides an insight into the area that these Krause families were from and the area covered in Jane's tour of the Krause Ancestral Villages. The majority of these villages are in either Pommern, Posen, or West Prussia which is now Poland as shown in this Google Map or an even closer view. For detailed information on these different Krause DNA-Cousins go to the WorldConnect database.

The photos from this trip are arranged according to the Branch-One Krause lines that Jane visited. A separate webpage is devoted to each of the sub-branches (A-G) that have been found from Y-Chromosome DNA results.

Back to Photos page This is the Unknown, Known Photos, and Scanned Documents page.

Last Modified: 27 June, 2007

Visitors to this page:   since 22 June 2007.