Saturday 12 May 2012

Interesting facts from individual Russian history



In a Facebook post yesterday I mentioned that it was fifty years since my great-grandmother died. I got several comments on this post, including: “why not give us more info about her life as there's always interesting facts coming from individual Russians history?”

For people who read Swedish, I provided a link to my memoir that gives an account for interesting facts from my family history. But this book is unlikely to be translated into English, so for my English-language friends I can tell the story again.

It is, however, impossible to tell any family history out of context so I need to start a long time ago, as long as the family chronicle goes, which is 1788 when a forefather, Paul Tietz, twenty years old and poor as a church mouse, came to Russia from Germany. At that time, Catherine the Great of Russia invited skilful Germans to come and contribute to Russia's well-being, which they doubtless did. But my ancestor was not part of that diaspora, who are better known as Volga-Germans. He belonged to a religious sect who were wandering to Palestine by way of Russia, but often got stuck somewhere in the steppes of Northern Caucasus where they could rent or buy land from local dukes and start wine production. Actually, I have already told part of this story.

Within two generations, the Tietz family got rich beyond imagination on wine and grain. My great-grandfather Jonathan Tietz was the youngest son of a miller, but he didn't have to rely on a trickster cat to make his fortune. His older brothers did try to cheat on him, but he was clever enough to resist. He wasn't particularly interested in the family business but preferred to use his share of income to support young artists and musicians. He was a good musician himself and even sang for a while in an opera house in Moscow.

At that time it was usual for a young man to marry whoever their parents chose for them. Jonathan's father told him to travel to a particular little town where one of his business partners lived. He had two daughters. Jonathan was to choose one of them as his bride. Before he left, his mother told him: “When you have chosen, give her a box of chocolates, but tie it very hard with a ribbon and watch closely. If she cuts the ribbon with scissors, don't marry her, but if she ties up the ribbon no matter how hard the knot, she will be a good housewife”. Jonathan chose the older sister, Maria, and she untied the knot carefully and put the ribbon away in her sewing box. This does sound like a fairy tale, but no one in our family has ever cut a knot with scissors.

They were married and lived in the mill before Jonathan build a house of his own in the town of Pyatigorsk in Northern Caucasus. They had six children, but only three survived infancy. The oldest was my grandmother Elizabeth, or Elly.

To be continued.




8 comments:

Tanya said...

OMG, Masha, what a beautiful dacha you would have .. Oh, well. C'est la vie. Both my great grandfathers also had a few houses in Moscow...T

Stroppy Author said...

Oh, this is great! Thank you, Maria for helping out those of us who don't speak enough (or the right) languages.

That detail about the chocolates - it is, as you say, very like a fairytale test. It's making me think about that kind of folk pyschology. Inclined to drag my dusty Bettelheim from the shelf (but I have work to do).

I can't wait for the next installment.

Bessarabia said...

Searching about Paul Benjamin Tietz I found your story written with great love. I would learn more about the story. Paul Tietz was born in Gdansk (Prussia). Was he a mennonit? How did he got a fellower of the Templers (temple society)?
Maybe you ask who is this lady who writes me? I am a descendant of Bessarabia Germans and two sisters of my gr-gr-grandfathers were followers of the Temple society and in 1868 emigrated with their families from Sarata in Bessarabia to North Caucaso where they were among the founders of the colony Orbeljanowka.
In my family tree I have some of the Tietz family.

Maria Nikolajeva said...

This is incredible! Yes, my ancestors founded Orbelianovka (named after Prince Orbeliani of Georgia) and Tempelhof. Paul Tietz was from Danzig/Gdansk. I have a substantial family tree. Please write to my email address maria.nikolajeva@gmail.com.

Anonymous said...

This is so interesting. My father lost both his parents Paul and Schweika Tietz (from Elbing ) in the war. I am desperately trying to find out more about my grand parents and the Tietz family tree. After the war my father was adopted by a family in South Africa.

Unknown said...

Hello, I am just reading the life story of my friend's father who ended up marrying a Erika Tietz in Palestine. They both joined the Templers. I too belong to the Templers who were a religious group from the Ludwigsburger area of Germany, who set up colonies in the Holy Land. This is what my friend's father writes about his wife Erika Tietz. Erika was a descendant of the rich Tietz family, the mill owner, merchant and singers as well as councillors who lived in a multi story villa in the town of Pjatigorsk in the North Caucuses. The father of Erika was Waldemar and he and his wife Lydia migrated to Palestine and lived in Jerusalem. I know my friend constantly told me that her family was from Danzig, Gdansk.

Unknown said...

I just reread the comments of Besserabia and have gone back to the book I am reading. You mention the association with the Templers.
Well the founder of Gnadenfeld in Besserabia was Wilhelm Lange. It appears that over time they broke away from the the Besserabians and began an association with the Templers. It appears Johannes (could have been son o Wilhelm Lange) studied in Kirchenhardthof (where the Templers had their first community) and then later his brother Friedrich went to settle in the Templer communities in Palestine. In 1866/1867 two colonies Tempelhof and Orbelianowka were established in the North Caucuses. If you write to me I may be able to find out more.
resi.schwarzbauer@gmail.com

Unknown said...

I am amazed at the amount of informal knowledge that is out there. My great-great-grandparents were (I think) Templers --- at least all their children for whom I have religious information and my father and grandparents were Templers, and some of them lived in Palestine (Jaffa, mostly).
Right now I am researching the movements of a Karoline Strecker, who was the sister-in-law of my great-grandfather. Her parents came from Wurttemberg and settled in Lichtental (Sarata). They married (and settled) in Bessarabia, must have moved to Orbelianovka some time later, and somehow Karoline made it to Haifa, where she met her husband. They were married in 1882 in Beirut. I wonder how much of these movements can actually be documented.