Catherine's first vague invitation, issued on December 4, 1762 only three weeks after her coronation, was largely ignored. But her second Manifesto, on July 22, 1763, offered the people of Germany a chance to escape their poverty with tangible benefits they could understand. The promise of farmlands, free transportation, a living allowance, and perpetual freedom from military service, among other enticements, caused many Germans to join the exodus which eventually brought about 30,000 emigrants to the lower Volga. The colonists were primaily Evangelical Lutherans although there were a few who were of the Reformed persuasion. Most who left Germany in the summer of 1766 and established the colony of Walter came from the upper and lower Hesse regions. Others came from the Rhineland, Mecklenburg, Palatinate and Saxony regions. A few families originated in Prussia and what is now Poland They would be able to keep their German language and their religion. They could educate their children as they pleased. They would be Germans - in Russia.

It took them a year to make the 1,600 mile trek to the Volga region as they moved from one emigration center to another along the route to the Volga. Many would die enroute. They left their villages and traveled to a central gathering place or "Sammelplatz" which had been designated to organize the departure. Since many of our Walter people came from the Hesse region they went to the village of Budingen located in the Vogelsburg hills northeast of Frankfurt. Catherine wanted to encourage families so she offered additional benefits to married couples. Many quick courtships lead to 375 weddings at St. Mary's Evangelical Lutheran Church [Marienkirche] at Budingen that spring and summer of 1766. A number of colonists who settled in Walter are found among those marriage records. Before they left Budingen, the newly- married couples went to a nearby hillside and planted a sapling oak tree. Many still remain near the castle.

The caravans made their way overland from Budingen traveling north for 250 miles. through Giessen, Cassel, and Hildenscheim to the Hanseatic port city of Lubeck where a few more would find someone to marry. From Lubeck, most would sail on the 900 mile journey through the Baltic Sea and into the Gulf of Finland to the Russian Naval port of Kronstadt located on an island near St. Petersburg. Next, the colonists would be taken to the mainland to Oranienbaum, now known as Lomonosov many would be greeted by Catherine the Great. From St Petersburg there were two major routes to Saratov. The first was overland to Moscow and then southeast to Saratov.The second route was to the upper reaches of the Volga River and then by boat via Kazan, and Samara to Saratov. Once at Saratov - they were taken out to the land that would be their home. It is not noted which route the colonists took to Walter.

Like most government projects, bureaucratic red tape and corruption turned the arrival of the colonists into a nightmare. They were expecting an established settlement with land parcels alloted, homes already built and farm tools available so they could start planting their crops immediately. Artisans had expected cities where they could ply their trade. Instead, most found absolutely nothing but the barren steppes. There were no houses waiting, so the colonists were forced to live in earthen huts or dug-out caves.

The first years were difficult - many did not survive the harsh conditions and marauding nomadic tribes who attacked some villages. Families had only what they had been able to carry with them and most families received 2 horses, 1 cow, 2 horse collars, 2 bridles, 23 sazhen of hemp rope [varied between 45 - 55 yards], and 15 rubles in the local currency. If they were unable to pay for this, the debt would carry for several years until it could be paid back. Until that time, they couldn't move from the colony without permission. Although greatly disillusioned by the lack of preparation for their arrival and the primitive conditions on the Steppes that they were forced to endure - the Germans adapted and finally, within a few generations even prospered. They would remain in Russia as long as the promises of the Manifestos were kept. Once the promises were broken - many felt they had to leave and so the exodus began once again, this time primarily to the United States and some to Canada.

Walter was located on the "Bergseite" or hilly side of the Volga River about 70 miles west of the city of Saratov, about three or four days journey by wagon. It was at Latitude 51 - 10' North and Longitude 44 - 50 ' East. Walter was in Saratov Gubneria - an administrative province. Walter belonged to the "Konton" or Canton of Frank - a county judicial division that included the villages of Frank, Walter, Kolb, Hussenbach, and later the daughter colonies of Frank Khutor, and Walter Khutor. Walter bordered the colonies of Frank, main city of the region, which was about 3 miles away and Kolb which was about 5 miles away.

The Volga colonies were first given a numerical designation before receiving an official Russian name so the name of the first "vorsteher" or mayor was often adopted by the colonists as their village's name. This was true for the colony of Walter. Walter's original Emigration List shows their first "vorsteher" was a 45-year-old farmer, Peter Walter, who came from the village of Kirch Beerfurth in the County of Erbach, Unterhessen (now Hesse-Darmstadt), Germany. At the 1798 census, the vorsteher was Peter Mahr. The official Russian name of Walter was Gretschinnaja-Luka which has been translated several different ways, including "Gretschin's pond or meadow" meaning that it had once belonged to a [Russian] family named Gretschin. Locally, it was nicknamed "Buckwheat Bend" since it was located on the bend of the river. In later years, it was more often known as "Buckwheat Meadows." Currently, the Russian name is Grechinaya Luka.

A census record of the first settlers was made on August 25 and September 10, 1767, shortly after their arrival in the colony. It lists 177 males and 199 females, totaling 376 persons. In the next few years, additional family members came from Germany to join those who had emigrated that first year. Other families immigrated to the new colony during the first few difficult years of settlement, some coming from other colonies on the Volga. Five years after its founding, Walter had a population of 431 in 1772. The census that was presumed to have been taken in 1777 [???] is missing. The revision or census taken on November 10, 1798, lists 413 males, and 349 females, totaling 762 persons in 199 families. There were 208 men able to work and 205 who were not able to work. By 1897, it had risen to 5,900 and in 1912 - the population had reached 6,660 even though many had already left for the counties of the Western Hemisphere. The last reported census figures in 1926 clearly shows the outward migration as the population had now dropped to 2,739. It is not known if these census figures include the daughter colony of Walter Khutor.

Walter was situated along the east bank of the winding Medweditza ("She Bear") River - a tributary of the Don River which was one of the Ukraine's major rivers. The Don led downstream to Kiev and the Black Sea, whereas the Volga River at Saratov flowed into the Caspian Sea. There was a legend in Walter that the Medwediza River was formed when a mother bear clawed into the ground to make a small cave to provide shelter for the winter's hibernation. Water from a hidden spring flowed and soon developed into a small river. The Medwediza River was important to the villages - especially Walter and Frank which were located on its banks. Although there were wells, drinking water was hauled from the river to the town. They only used their wells in winter when ice covered the surface of the river. Also, during this time, the men would go down to the river and cut blocks of ice from the frozen river. The ice was then stored in straw-filled dugouts where the ice blocks provided refrigeration nearly through the entire summer.

The river was also used by the women of Walter and Walter Khutor for washing their laundry. They went down to the river in groups - it was not safe to travel anywhere outside of the village by oneself because of the animals, the bandits, and the marauding tribes. The women had big tubs and they would boil water in which they washed their clothes - often pounding the clothes on the rocks. Then, they would rinse their laundry in the river and spread it on the nearby bushes to dry. On the outskirts of Walter, there was a mill located on the river. The townspeople brought their wheat to the mill which ground the grain into flour. The villagers were fortunate to have the river so close because some of the German-Russians colonies had to take their grain elsewhere to be processed. A reserve grainery was maintained and was available to widows and their families or by those who were ill or unable to work.

Walter was primarily an agricultural community and the area around Walter was surrounded by gentle rolling hills. At one time there was lots of timber available to the settlers. The land used for farming had rich, deep soil. Its inhabitants were virtually self-subsisting with local craftsmen providing needed services and families making their own furniture and utensils. There were carpenters, blacksmiths, tanners, millers, masons, bootmakers, tailors, tin workers and wagon makers.The women would spin their own fabrics and make clothing.

THE VILLAGE of WALTER

The village of Walter was narrow and about a mile in length though not as wide. It was divided into two sides - the "Heinerdorf" or "Hinterdorf" which was the oldest part of town and the "Federdorf" which was located on the east side. The middle of the village was the "town" with the church, blacksmith, and the general store. [At one point there were four store which was really the only "store" in town. It sold salt, sugar, coffee, tea. drygoods, and liquor. There were a few other shops located in people's homes including a woodworking shop, carpenter shop, tanner, tailor and bootmaker.

Supplies had to be brought in from Saratov. A stage coach went from Walter to Saratov and back on a regular basis. It was a two-seated "troika" rig drawn by three horses. It carried the mail and sometimes passengers as well as bringing back staples for the small stores. It took about four days each direction to make the trip to Saratov. The driver would rest overnight in the city and then make the return trip. He would spend about two days at home in Walter - then start back for Saratov. In winter he would use a "troika" sleigh. One of the reasons for the use of the three-horse troika was that if one horse was taken down by the hungary wolves - it could be cut loose and the other two horses could still continue on. Coal for the blacksmith was obtained by going into Saratov with a wagon and then it was necessary to cross the Volga River on a ferry which had 3 or 4 oarsmen on each side; then go to a coal mine which was located on the "Wiesensite" or meadow side of the Volga.

When Herman Butherus's family left for America in 1903 his father, Christian thought that there were about 400 houses and a population of 3,300. A story written by Herman in 1970 describes the village: "The village plan was laid out four families to a block so that each had adequate area for their house or houses, barns, sheds, and granaries." This was a typical layout for the Volga villages and was called the "Chessboard" arrangement.

Katherine Walter Iltz of Odessa, WA wrote about her life in Walter-Khutor. Katherine's parents were George Walter and Eva Katherine Kister and they were both born in Walter and married there. They later moved to Walter-Khutor or "little Walter". Katherine was born there and lived there until coming to America in 1900 a few years after her marriage to George Iltz who was from Dona. She remembered:

Life in Russia was different than we know it here in America. The family lived all together; all the children, even the married ones, sometimes 4 and 5 generations. The home usually consisted of 2 large rooms with a kitchen in the center. Each large room had a stove, made from blocks and bricks. Our beds were high-canopied beds, made by hand with drapes and ruffles. All bedsteads were hand-carved Gopher wood - quite ornate. Then came the loose straw mattresses, with covers made with goose feathers. When a girl married, she furnished the bedding for her new home.

Our homes had plastered walls which were painted with a whitewash made with lime and white sand. The roofs were thatched with long rye straw (the rich people had tin roofs).The barns were made with handmade bricks - 18" thick walls. The bricks were made from mud, straw, manure, etc. - molded into wooden forms in shape similar to cement blocks. They were divided into sections, similar to barns here.

RELIGION

The church has usually been the largest and most important building in the village. In the Volga region, the Lutheran and Catholic churches of the colonies were usually built in a very traditional architectural style that reflected the colonists' German heritage. All the colonists of Walter were Lutheran and the religious life of the community was tightly tied to the nearby larger Colony of Frank. Walter was in the parish of Frank and the pastors of Frank served Walter and Walter-Khutor and made scheduled visits to conduct religious services. Walter's youth went to Frank for religious instruction and for Confirmation. There was a large parish church in Frank, and later Walter built its village church. The proximity of the two villages of Walter and Frank, as well as others nearby, resulted in inter-village marriages and a blending of the surnames between villages. This was especially true with the villages of Frank, Kolb, and Hussenbach.

The village of Walter had only one church - which was fairly good sized - though certainly not as elaborate as the huge church in Frank which held several thousand people. The present-day Lutheran church in Walter was preceded by a series of earlier, wooden buildings - the last being a wooden prayer house for 1500 people. The new church was a large brick building about 60 feet tall. It was apparently built in the 1880's and mostly finished by 1894, however construction work continued until the church was formally dedicated in 1902. It had a steeple with a big gold cross on top and there were five church bells that were hung inside the tower. The bells were used to communicate with the villagers; ring a call to prayer and services; toll deaths in the community; as a fire alarm, and in the winter, during blizzards, they were rung through the night to help travelers locate the village. There were balconies all around inside so it could hold a lot of people. The church at Walter also had pews inside which was very unusual among the Volga German churches. As was the custom, people did not sit in families. The men would sit on one side and the women on the other. This was the way it had been done in Germany. There was also a big pipe organ and the people used their "Leiders" or songbooks. Walter-Khutor had a "Bethaus" or prayer house. By 1798, there was a school house in which the school teacher, or "Schulmeister", taught reading. writing and religion under the supervision of the pastor.

WALTER KHUTOR [note - per AHSGR use Khutor, not Chutor]
With the Mir system of dividing land among the males in the colony of Walter, the individual parcels of land kept shrinking and housing became overly crowded as each succeeding generation received their allotment of land and many parcels were located further and further away from the main village. In the division of land, some farm land was located so far from the village as to make daily trips from Walter unrealistic as farmers often had to journey quite a long distance to reach their property. Some would stay out by their land, leaving their families in Walter - but this was impractical and soon led to the formation of a "khutor" or farmland. A small village would then spring up as families moved out to be closer to their fields. Families from Walter moved out to the smaller village where a number of farms, isolated from Walter, banded together in a small town which they named Walter Khutor. Walter Khutor is the first daughter colony of Walter and was also called "Neu-Walter. Its Russian name was "Grjagnaji Luka" [also Grjasnaja - Luka]. Another area, near to the main village of Walter was called Klein-Walter, and was founded by settlers from Walter considerably later.

We do not know exactly when Walter Khutor was formed - but probably at least by the middle of the 19th century. Walter-Khutor was much smaller than its parent colony of Walter.It was located across the Medweditza River about 12 to 15 miles from Walter - a two-hour trip by horse team. It was not on the Medweditza, but river seepage was dammed up and this seepage water was used to water stock. Presently there is a man-made pond. Walter Khutor had some wells, but their use was limited. For some years, Walter Khutor had a trading post. The village did not have a true church, but it did build a very nice brick building - the bethhaus or prayer house.

THE MOVE to OTHER COLONIES

By 1855, overcrowding in Walter led some to re-settle in other villages. As land became scarce, a number of people from Walter moved - some to Kautz on the Bergsite and others southeast to the villages of Brunnenthal and Neu-Hussenbach on the " Wiesenseite" or meadow side of the Volga River. All three villages have AHSGR village coordinators who maintain data bases which include former inhabitants from Walter and Walter Khutor. Some even moved to the Caucus region in the mid 19th century.It is difficult and often impossible to separate the information and families as to what and who belongs in Walter Khutor rather than Walter. Sometimes we can only rely on secondary references or by the family's "beinamen" or nickname.

IMMIGRATION FROM WALTER

During the mass immigration of the Volga Germans, in the period between 1880 and 1912, many people from Walter and Walter-Khutor left Russia - perhaps a much higher percentage than from some of the other villages. Upon reaching America, the Walter people settled primarily in the states of Nebraska, Colorado, and Washington and to a lesser extent in Kansas, Oregon, Wyoming, and Montana. They appear to have created small Walter enclaves in some communities like Lincoln, Nebraska; Greeley, Colorado; Walla Walla, Washington; and to a lesser extent, Ritzville and Odessa, Washington.

Their experiences are giving us a clearer view of what happened to those family members who remained behind. The stories of those who stayed are sad for many died of starvation and disease. They are bitter at having had their chance for a normal life taken away from them. But, these people crave contact with us - even though we may not be able to determine our exact relationship - only that they share our surnames and have their origins in Walter. We know that some of you have made contact - please share their stories with us.

PRESENT DAY WALTER and WALTER KHUTOR
Recent visits in the 1990's have been made to both Walter and Walter-Khutor. Visitors found that Walter had seriously declined - with the 1989 census showing 38 people. There is a single street of houses, most of which are new and only two old houses of log and brick remain. The once magnificent church is still standing in 1998, the largest of the few old structures that remain, but is in serious condition after 50 years of neglect. The Russians tried to destroy the church in the 1930's, but only succeeded in blowing off the steeple roof. After Stalin's deportation of the Volga Germans to the labor camps of Siberia in 1941 - the church has remained empty and the interior has been gutted. It is presently being used for storage and serves as a granary and machine shed, used for the storage of farm equipment. The pre-1912 map shows that Walter had blocks and blocks of houses. These blocks are now only grass-covered mounds in a huge pasture. The cemetery is overgrown and only one headstone remains - for the "Kaiser Baby".

The village of Walter Khutor, known as "Neu Walter" is a thriving community and has overtaken its parent colony of Alt-Walter [old Walter] in size and population. Walter- Khutor is now larger than Walter with several hundred homes and appears to be prosperous.The church [bethaus or prayer house] is still standing and was restored in 1992 as the community center, dance hall, and library.

The soil could still be rich for farming - but now there is no fertilizer available so crops are poor. Still, everyone now living in the villages of Walter and Walter Khutor must have gardens - otherwise they would starve. Pictures of the Medwediza River at Walter show it to be a small creek now - although the river is much wider at the nearby village of Frank. The few Germans there still wear "felstivel" or felt boots and they still cut hay with scythes and gather it with wooden- tyned rakes.

[Material on Walter reprinted with permission from author Jean Roth, AHSGR village coordinator who retains previous copyright.]
Thank you so much Jean!!

RECORDS of WALTER

Initial reports indicate that the records of Walter have survived fairly well, though scattered in various archives. There is no information on how accessible these records are (although it is known that it is limited at best to a few researchers) and to what extent they may be consulted. There appears to be a problem in doing research on more than one person at a time. We can be more positive about the census records. American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (AHSGR) in Lincoln, Nebraska received the 1776 census records for 31 Volga villages - but Walter is not among them and the records for that year have not yet been located and may be lost. However, the Walter census records for 1798 have been translated and are available from AHSGR. Soon to be available from AHSGR, possibly by mid-1998, from will be the comparative census records from 1798 to 1850. Some census records were used to allot land and do not list women. A few list maiden names of wives.

The original emigration list for the village of Walter has been secured and fortunately, the clerk interviewing villagers took the time to record the German cities of origin and not just the region for each of the colonists. It was compiled during the first year of settlement in 1767. It is not yet ready to be published - but the general information is available, but cannot be listed yet in toto due to contracts. Many places of origin in Germany have been identified. A great deal has been accomplished in clarifying names and villages of origin. This is not an easy task - even with an English translation of the list which was originally written in an old, non-standardized form of Russian. It must be remembered that the German names were spelled phonetically by Russian clerks and locations from the mid 18th-century that may or may not still exist by that name. Some villages are so small that they cannot be located except on extremely detailed maps. Some names are only identified by region - like "Isenburg" (state of Isenburg/Budingen) or "Hesse-Darmstadt" (not necessarily in the same location as today's region of Hesse-Darmstadt). Unfortunately, the records for a number of the Hesse villages are not available on microfilm from the LDS Family History Library and are not accessible to us. Some village coordinators have solved this problem by researchers pooling funds to hire local researchers to search the church records.

The 1798 census is available from AHSGR and probably within the next year the society will have a book available which will compare families from census to census between 1798 and 1858. Unfortunately, after 1798 the census records are limited in recording female members of the colony who were not entitled to benefit from the land distributions.

Gradually, we are learning more about the village as a few former residents of Walter have returned to the Volga. Others called the "Ausslieder"have made their way out of Russia to Germany to begin a new life. Unfortunately, most of these people who can remember anything at all are in their late sixties, seventies, or eighties. The time is growing very short for us to obtain more oral histories from these last survivors of our villages of Walter and Walter-Khutor. Soon it will be too late, and it is imperative that we each write down what we remember or what we were told by our parents and grandparents - and then share the stories

THE WALTER VILLAGE PROJECT includes a number of people working together to record as much information about the villages of Walter and Walter-Khutor and the people who lived there since 1767. The project also is recording the history of our people in Germany who left their homes starting in 1766 to make the year-long journey to the German colonies on the Volga River. Finally, we are recording the story of our Germans from Russia who came to North and South America to preserve our heritage for future generations.

AHSGR WALTER VILLAGE COORDINATORS

Please send a copy of your information on your families from Walter - including group sheets, obituaries, stories, and folklore to:

JEAN ROTH 515 North 79th Seattle, WA 98103

MARY MILLS 2226 S. Clermont St Denver, CO 80222

This should be in addition to sheets sent to AHSGR Headquarters at Lincoln and posted on the Walter web page.

WALTER GENEALOGY COMPUTER DATA BANK:

Mary Mills is doing all the work on this monumental project. Gradually she is adding more and more names and there are over 15,000 names to date. Much of what has already been gathered will make more sense when we are able to compare our earlier families with the census compilation becomes available.

FAMILY CHARTS
A number of charts on Walter families are coming out of Russia - and there are usually heavy expenses involved to get them. No one can blame the hesitation by individuals to give the information away for free to others after having paid so much. BUT, we cannot stress how helpful it would be to know what families have had charts done and who has them. Many would be willing to share the cost so that they could obtain a copy. PLEASE....let us know if you have had a chart done and if it is possible for others to obtain a copy. Of course, Mary would love to have a copy to add into the computer data base. Each chart helps clear up many mysteries - especially since the intermarriages involve a number of Walter names and we also have intermarriages from other villages shown on the charts that would be very helpful to the village coordinators for those areas. We ALL benefit when everyone shares.

MAPS
A map of Walter is available and may be ordered from AHSGR. It will undoubtedly be revised at a later date as more and more information is being received and we have now had people actually travel to Walter and report back to us. We especially need more information about the house and family locations in Walter-Khutor. Even a simple comment that you know that a particular family lived next door to your family is helpful. We know that there are many errors. The quickest way to discover that is to do a map - then wait for everyone to say what is wrong with it. That is how progress is made.

TRANSLATORS
Can you help us translate old letters and obituaries? We have material but can't read it. Those who can read old German script and handwriting are especially needed.

NEBRASKA RESEARCHER NEEDED:
The Nebraska State Historical Society has records kept by Jacob Volz from the American Relief Assoc. and the Volga Relief Society which list the people who received relief packages in the Volga villages that were sent from America and Canada in the 1920's to our starving relatives. They are probably in the manuscript [MS 1872] files. This will need to be verified and then we need a Walter researcher in the Lincoln, Nebraska area who will volunteer to go obtain photocopies of the Walter recipients.

FUTURE PLANS

FAMILY PROFILES:
We are trying to get the information on the early colonists in the computer by family, using the original emigration list, 1798 census, German research if available; and the future census comparison when it becomes available this next year. It is a very time- consuming project, but will eventually make it much easier to supply you with information on the Walter families.

HISTORY of WALTER
Jean Roth is compiling a much-needed history of Walter and Walter-Khutor. There is still quite a bit to do on it, but this part of the village project came to a temporary halt when the original emigration list and the 1798 census became available and needed our more immediate attention. We would like to have many more "PERSONAL STORIES" to add. It is preferable that these be stories of life in Russia, the trip to America, or word from those left behind. We also need little tidbits of information that you may have about life in Walter. We also would like to obtain negatives of pictures of buildings or people taken in Walter or Walter-Khutor. Our collection is growing and will be included in the book once it is completed. It is still a year or two before it is completed.

WALTER NEWSLETTER:
Plans are underway to begin a Walter newsletter by next year.

SURNAMES OF WALTER including Walter-Chutor

As given by Mr Jacob Alles of Flint, Michigan in "Die Welt Post", Thursday, 14 December 1939, p. 5. Reprinted from "Clues" 1978 edition by AHSGR. This list was sent to Mr. Jacob Volz of York, Nebraska who had asked his countrymen to list the family names of their home village in Russia. No date is given for the time period in which these families lived in Walter and it must be assumed that Mr.Alles was listing those names with which he was familiar when he emigrated.

01. Albert
02. Alles
03. Amen
04. Bartholom„e(y)
05. Bauer
06. Baum
07. Beck
08. Beckel
09. Benner
10. Bretthauer
11. Burgardt
12. Buttirus
13. Dietz
14. D”ll
15. Dorn
16. D”rr
17. Geist
18. Gies
19. Gisick
20. Gratwohl
21. Grunwald
22. Hamburg
23. Hausch
24. Heberlein
25. Hergert
26. Hill
27. Hoffmann
28. Ils
29. Karla
30. Kechter
31. Kissler
32. Klippert
33. Koch
34. Kr„ning
35. Lackmann
36. Lamm
37. Lembert
38. Lichtenberg
39. Link
40. Linker
41. Mahr
42. Maier
43. Melcher
44. Miller
45. Mohrland
46. Reiswig
47. Rohn
48. Rossmann
49. Roth
50. Schossler
51. Seibel
52. Steinmetz
53. Streck
54. Vogel
55. Volz
56. Wagner
57. Walter
58. Weber
59. Widerspahn
60. Windecker
61. W”rt
Note:

Winter

Additional names for Walter-Chutor:

1. Reiswig
2. Kammerzell
3. Doell
4. Gerringer
5. Hamburg

VARIATIONS:

The following are some of the alternate spellings of the above listing of surnames that have appeared both in Russia and after the families left Walter. Names were shortened, "Americanized", or spelled to eliminate omlauts which are not used in English. It is important to pay attention to the variations as this was often used to differentiate between family branches.

03. Amend, Ament
08. Boekel, Boegel, Bagel, B”gel, Beger
11. Burkhardt, Burkhard
12. Budderius, Buderus, Buderas, Butres, Butherus (most common)
14. Doell, Dell, Doll, Dill, Theil
16. Doerr, Darr, Derr, Daire
18. Geise
19. Giesick
20. Gradwohl
28. Ells, Els, Ills, Iltz 32. Clippert, Clibert, Glibert
38. Lichtenberger, Litzenberger
41. Moor, Mohr, Moore Marr
44. Muller
49. Groth [may be an entirely separate name], Wroth, Wr”th, Roth, Rothe
50. Schoessler, Schessler, Schissler, Schizzler, Sch”szler
55. Voltz, Fols, Foltz
59. Wiederspon, Witherspoon
61. Voite, Woitt

Addional names to list of Walter and Walter-Chutor from other sources

01. Kaiser, Keisor
02. Kusster, Kuster
03. Winter

Jean Roth writes:
(1) Mary Mills continues to add to the Walter Computer Database, and now has over 13,000 names. With the addition of the names from the 1798 census and from charts prepared by Dr. Pleve, we are finally beginning to make significant progress in linking families from the immigrant ancestor back to the original emigration list of 1767.

(2) "I am going back to working on the Walter Book. The description of Walter at the beginning of the 1798 census is a valuable addition, and I have about 40 hours of taped oral history interviews to transcribe. These were taped twenty years ago with a number of 'born in Russia' Walterites.

(3) "Lucille Gies Whitman, of Walla Walla, is still carrying on an active correspondence with Christian Gies and his younger sister, Bertha Neufelt, who are now in Germany after being exiled to Siberia in 1941. Christian was born in Walter in 1921. He has been helping us with information on Walter during the period between the famines and exile. He has helped to clarify locations in the village and the families who were left behind and is writing down what he remembers of life in Walter prior to exile. He was away at school when the people of Walter were exiled, but his sister, Bertha, remembers the day well.

(4) "Most of the Walter people settled in Nebraska, Colorado, and Washington. Both Mary and I have spent much of this year extracting records from these states. Mary has copied many of the church records in Colorado. Elaine Frank Davison, coordinator from Kautz, has given me the Walla Walla church records which have many Walter people. Extensive obituary files in both Walla Walla and the Yakima Valley are being searched.

(5) "I am returning to the project on the original immigration list of Walter. After the 1994 convention I spent three weeks at the Salt Lake Family History Library checking German parish records to establish that the families on the 1767 original emigration list for Walter could be found in those villages. I sent Vol. 1 Walter - the Places of Origin in Germany to Lincoln. We have since located several more of the unidentified villages. I am now trying to compile the church records on Vol. II - The People as there were many families that I did find in the LDS microfilms for the German villages. We can often find several more generations prior to their emigration to Russia. It is very slow and tedious work. Since that time, we now have several researchers who have spent considerable funds in hiring researchers in Germany to translate church records on their families. Both the Engel and Derr families are nearly completed.

(6) "In preparation for the 100th anniversary of Christ Lutheran Church in Walla Walla, I prepared a set of notebooks on the families of the 'RusseEck' Russian German community. This included family group sheets, copies of the naturalization records, and the 1910 census. At least half the church members were from Walter and Walter Khutor. We hope to add the 1900 and 1920 census records this year.

(7) "We are continuing to collect photographs, both old and new, for the two villages and their people, as well as postcards which feature photos of Saratov, the Volga River, and villages in Germany that had Walter colonists.

(8) It is our hope that we will be able to find someone willing and able to take over the job of doing a village newsletter. Neither Mary nor I have time to do that as well as doing the data base and the record extractions.

(9) "Eventually we will be on-line. Elaine Davison's nephew has volunteered to set up a Walter Web Page when we are ready." Jean concludes by saying that she is looking forward to the San Jose Convention night.