Fred Richard Belk, The Great Trek of the Russian Mennonites to Central Asia, 1880–1884 (Scottdale: Herald Press, 1976; Studies in Anabaptist and Mennonite History 18). Found through Smith (1981) pp. 294–299. Built on letters in the Christlicher Bundesbote, Mennonitische Rundschau and Gemeindeblatt, family memoirs, and papers at the Mennonite Library and Archives, North Newton.
What it gives for the family (read 2026-10-31):
- Am Trakt villages and founding years, with a 1897 map: Hahnsau 1854, Köppental 1855, Lindenau and Fresenheim 1856–59, Hohendorf 1862, Lysanderhöh 1864, Orloff 1871, Ostenfeld and Medemtal 1872, Valuevka 1875.
- “Johann Bergmann at Lysanderhöh”: in April 1884 the Beatrice, Nebraska relief committee (L. E. Zimmerman, Peter Jansen) planned to send money through him to help the stranded Lausan trekkers reach Germany. A Bergmann of the same village as Johanna Fieguth (1851–1931)‘s first husband, Abraham Bergmann (d. 1875), and her son Johann A. Bergmann. Probably a Bergmann relative; not identified.
- The first returning trekkers sailed Bremen–New York on the Ems (arr. 9 Sep 1884); “Gerhard Wiebe of Nebraska” met them (an adult Beatrice leader, not Gerhard A. Wiebe (1873–1942), then 11).
- Appendix B: trekkers who later settled at Beatrice (1894–95) and Newton, including Johannes Fieguth (b. West Prussia; Aulie Ata 1892; Newton 1895) and his wife Louise Toews of Orloff, Trakt: a Fieguth relative to place.
- Notes cite Wolfgang G. Fieguth, a 1948 Bethel College term paper on nonresistance among the Prussian Mennonites (MLA).
Record compiled 31 October 2026.
About this research
Supporting documentation is linked throughout. This project is an exercise in AI-assisted research and development, and I haven’t manually verified every link or conclusion. All transcriptions and translations of Swiss parish records were made with AI, and their accuracy should be treated accordingly.