The Etzel Family – From Germany to Russia to Kansas

The research on the Etzel family history goes back to Wertheim, Baden-Wuerttenberg, Germany where Anton Etzel was born in 1734. Not much is known about his life other than he was a farmer.

On July 22, 1763, Russian empress Catherine II (Catherine the Great) issued a manifesto inviting foreigners to settle in Russia. She particularly recruited Germans who were nearby farmers. Her efforts were aided by poor economic conditions. The Seven-Year’s War had ended in 1763, and during that time, hunger was prevalent and former soldiers were looking for employment. Many Germans already had emigrated to America, Poland, and Hungary. During the 4 years from 1764 to 1767, 7,000 families (about 25,000 people) left Germany for Russia. Many came from Hesse, but other parts of southwest Germany were well represented. Russia also attracted settlers from Italy, France, and the Netherlands, but their populations never approached that of the German’s. 

Catherine the Great promised the settlers freedom of religion, the ability to choose an occupation, and the freedom to live anywhere in Russia including leaving at any time. No military service would be required and the Germans would have the ability to govern themselves. The Germans also were promised payment for traveling expenses, given interest-free loans to make a new start, and were exempted from taxes (30 years for farmers, 5 years for inhabitants of large cities, and 10 years for everyone else.)

Catherine the Great was motivated to attract permanent settlers to the area to help protect Russians against the marauders who periodically attacked the area. The indigenous population typically either joined the attackers or returned further inland to flee the violence. Russian manifestos were nothing new; they continued the recruitment policies of past Russian leaders including Peter the Great. However, the manifesto’s attractive terms, and the unstable situation in Europe, ensured that it was very successful. (The first manifesto issued a year earlier failed because it offered few incentives.) 

Typically the German settlers established communities based on religious beliefs including Lutherans and Mennonites. On August 20, 1767 Anton Etzel moved to Pfeifer, Russia, which was established as a Roman Catholic community. The community was located near the Volga River, and the settlers become known as the Volga Germans. Because they were given the ability to govern themselves, they retained their German language and customs.

Before moving to Russia, Anton had married Elisabeth, a German from Baden-Wuerttenburg, Germany, who was born in 1751. They had one daughter, Katarina, born in 1751, and a son, Burgardt, who was born in 1754. Both children were born in Wertheim. Burgardt married Anna Elisabeth Prediger, who was born in 1763 in Pfeifer, and they had three children: Elisabeth, born in 1781, Anna Maria, born in 1784, and Johann, born in 1787. It is unknown when or where they got married, other than it likely occurred in Pfeifer.  

Johann married Katherine Dukart, who was born February 24, 1853. They had 8 children. One of their children was Joseph, who was born March 19, 1854 in Pfeifer. (Johann died December 19, 1829 in Pfeifer, Saratov, Russia.)

Joseph married and had a son, George P. Etzel, who was born Mary 26, 1876 in Pfeifer. George is the entry point for recent generations of Etzels. He emigrated from Pfeifer in 1876 as an infant with his parents, Joseph Etzel and Katharine Dukart.

For 100 years the Etzels had lived in Russia. Catherine the Great’s manifesto had led to the establishment of nearly 200 German villages and towns. However, in the early 1870s, Alexander II revoked the privileges that Catherine the Great had bestowed on the Germans. In particular, military service was now required and living conditions worsened due to war and famine. It didn’t help that there was a growing hostility towards Germans and a push to make them conform them to Russian ways. Russia experienced a large wave of German emigration beginning in 1872. (See the American History Society of Germans from Russia at http://www.ahsgr.org for additional information.)

In the 1870s, railroads in the United States were actively recruiting men to build the railroad across the growing country. The wages attracted many emigrants from Europe who were looking for economic opportunity. Joseph and Katherine decided to emigrate. They sailed on the SS Main from Bremen, Germany to New York City. They came to Topeka, Kansas.

On May 2, 1899 George married Katherine Stadler in Topeka. She was from Russia but was a fellow emigrant. They had 9 children who were born between 1900 and 1921: William Joseph, Clarence Henry, Annamarie R., Henry John, Francis John, Aloysius W. “Al,” Clara E., Sophie, and Rose Marie. Both Sophie and Rose Marie died at 14 months and 8 months, respectively. The others lived into adulthood and are the grandparents of the adult Etzels currently living.

George, who was the oldest child, had 12 siblings who were born during the 1881 to 1890 period in Topeka, with the youngest five born in Sublimity, Oregon. Sometime after Rosa Etzel was born September 3, 1890 in Topeka, George, his parents, and siblings decided to move to Sublimity, Oregon. To this day, the majority of the Etzels from the Volga River area live in Sublimity and many of them can be found at the St. Boniface Catholic Church.  

After about a decade of living in Oregon, George and his wife Katherine left the rest of the family behind and came back to Topeka where they settled in Oakland, an area of East Topeka. They owned land in the area with fruit trees and a big garden. They also ran a dairy farm. George also worked some of the time for Santa Fe Railroad and as a blacksmith. The children’s baptisms are documented at Assumption Catholic Church and St. Joseph’s Catholic Church.

George and Katherine had nine children who were born from 1900 to 1921. Henry John Etzel was born December 22, 1906 in Topeka. He married Marguerite Best, which is the connection between the Etzel and Best family.