Ludwig - June 2002 my Father-in-law posed a question to me, "what did I think we could find on the Internet
regarding his family tree." That question has resulted in the work that lies within these pages, the result of my
curiosity about my own family’s history. I began this project knowing my parents, uncles, aunts, cousins,
and my own grandparents. I knew that my family came from Russia to the United States in the early 1900’s
and I guessed that I wouldn’t get much further back than say maybe 1850 or so.
I was very mistaken.
Marianne - For years I dabbled in research but really had no clue where to begin. I knew my parents,
grandparents and great-grandparents and where they came from. Then I got a computer and the world
opened up. I found out about the LDS libraries and their microfilms. My Mom wanted to know who
her ancestors were so I concentrated on her family. There were on Long Island and I found a great
library in Patchogue that had census records back to 1790.
In 1995 I decided to take my camera and spend my vacation visiting all the old
cemeteries on Long Island. I was looking for my great grandmother, Sophronia Aldrich Still.
I'd found her in the 1850 census but there was nothing more. Every cemetery I visited had
Still's buried there, but no Sohpronia. I found myself walking around talking to her, asking
her where she went. After 5 days I was tired and ready to give up and go home but decided I had enough
energy left to try one more. This last cemetery was just to say I'd tried. Well, there I found my
great grandfather's grave, along with his parents and his first wife. All the while I kept asking Sohpronia where she was. I started to back up to take photos and this
little voice in my head said turn around before you trip. I turned around and looked down.
Sure enough, there was a headstone there and I would have fallen on it. It was hers. I'd found her.
Or she found me!
My Dad's side was a different story. I was stuck in 1884.
I knew my great grandfather, Clemens Feist, had gone to Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada around
1910 and disappeared.
On Nov. 14, 2000 I posted the following message on the Feist Family Genealogy Forum.
" My great-grandfather was Clemmons Feist, who was born on May 3, 1856 in Strassburg, S. Russia.
His father was Johannis Feist and his mother Maria Wellick. Clemmons had a brother, Johann, in Bismark,
North Dakota. Johann had five sons, Franz, Johann, Ludwig, Karl and Wanderlein.
They also had relatives in Alberta, Canada. Clemmons came to New York in 1884 from Strassburg
and went to Medicine Hat somewhere between 1900 and 1910. He was still alive in 1938,
living with an Anthony Feist, but I have no clue where."
Fast forward - July 26, 2002 This email arrives in my inbox.
Subject: Feists from strasburg russia
Date: Fri, 26 Jul 2002 06:16:15 -0500
I believe that your great-grandfather Clemmons is my Great-Grandfather's
brother. My Great-grandfather Johannes was born 3/5/1851 in Strassburg
Russia and he did have children named Franz, Johann, Ludwig (my
Grandfather) and Carl all born in Russia by his wife Margaretha. Only
thing that doesn't make sense is I've found no reference to a Wandelin
and according to the census they only had 6 kids. Through my research
I've determined that Franz, Carl and Ludwig immigrated about 1903 and
were followed by Johannes and Margaretha along with the rest of the kids
which are listed as Johannes (Jr.) Johanna, and Magdalena. Only other
thing that I have different is that they first went through SD and
settled and died in Grand Forks ND. If this gets through please respond
and give me your opinion. I've been having a heck of a time finding
Johannes' parents and this ones to close not to be considered. Ludwig H.
Feist Grand Forks ND
Lud emailed me a photo of his grandfather. There is no doubt his grandfather
is my great grandfather's nephew. I've got a brand new cousin and he is the only cousin
I've ever had. We discovered that we both have very old framed photos hanging
on our living room walls. Mine of my great grandfather, his of his grandfather.
I emailed him some photos of his grandfather, grand uncles and great grandfather.
He had never seen them and didn't know they existed. Finding me got him back one more
generation. Unknown to either of us at the time, much more was about to happen.
Ludwig now has a name and a place of origin. Johannis Feist from Strassburg, South Russia which
is part of the Kutschurgan colonies. He found a mail list dedicated to researching this
area and joined. A few days later I did too. The good people of this list shared with
us the information they had about our ancestors from Strassburg and Odessa.
He also found, still living, the daughter of Johannes George Feist and arranged to see her. She had quite
a few memories to share.
Thanks to Karl Stumpp's book "The Emigration from Germany to Russia in the years 1763 to 1862"
we found out our Feist family ancestors immigrated from Kuppenheim, Germany. This sent us both
searching, Lud for the church in Kuppenheim, me for anything about Kuppenheim on the web.
Each of us found the same web page on the same night. I sent him the page, he sent me
the page. To make a long story short, we discovered that the page belongs to another cousin
of ours, MaryAnn. And MaryAnn was on her way to look at the Kuppenheim church books. Not quite
one month has passed and we have gone from dead ends to the Kutschurgan colonies to
Kuppenheim, Germany. In addition to MaryAnn, I have now met several other cousins I never
knew existed. Some of them were researching too and we kind enough to share what
information they had found. Our files are getting larger and are going further back,
and I've filled in some blanks on the Maier side.
MaryAnn filmed the church book pages and sent them to us. It's now been two months since
Lud and I first met and now we are searching in 1659 for our ancestors. Do we think we are getting help and
guidance from somewhere? Are we amazed? You bet!
September 16 - less than 2 months later - the idea for this web site was born. We both
spent every free minute working on it and on October 3rd we had it up and ready for visitors.
We did the whole thing via email. You see, Lud lives in North Dakota and I live in
North Carolina and we never actually "met" each other. The funniest part about designing
the web site was the discussions we had about background colors. We weren't seeing the
same colors. Probably because he's got brown eyes and I've got blue eyes, as you can see
from our photos at the bottom of this page.
Stange things:
Ignatz Lauinger is put on our Russia page. The next day he shows up on the Kutschurgan Mail List.
We can't prove or disprove that Nicholas Feist is related but he keeps he keeps popping his head up.
A message is written in our guest book about an Anna Kambitz and neither of us can find her
in our tree. Then Lud finds a query about Anna Kambitz and a Valentine Feist. I had found a
Valentine Feist buying land in Canada in the early 1900's and we had been wondering who he was.
While searching for graphics I came across a web page that mentioned Medicine Hat. It was a
page I thought Lud would like so I sent him the URL. Turns out it's the same page he used when he created
his own web site.
Katherine Lauigner was born on the same day as Anton Lauinger and died on the same day 6 years later.
Katherine Feist was born in September and died in February. Her sister Madeline was born in
February and died in September.
Lud used the name Buddee on the first few emails he sent. My father's nickname was Buddy.
