Raile Family History

Raile Cousin Reunion

Mark your calendars!  Save the date!  The cousins of the Gottlieb and Regina Raile family are getting together in September (12-14) in St. Francis, Kansas.  The thirty cousins are a tight-knit group who grew up in the mid-west and are now spread across the country

The three day event will include a lot of eating and a lot of story-telling.  I understand there will be activities, but beware - you could find yourself dressing chickens or butchering a pig.

Jeff Raile Family

I recently heard from Jeff and Desiree Raile.  Jeff is the son of Stanley Raile of Hoxie, Kansas and Carol Raile of Colby, Kansas.  Jeff's grandparents are Ted and Thelma Raile.  Thelma still lives in St. Francis, Kansas.

The family now lives in Cheyenne, Wyoming.  If you would like to contact them, send me an email and I will forward it to you.  (I don't like to post emails on this blog for privacy and to avoid the spammers.)  I still see the Raile resemblance in Jeff!  He looks very much like Gottlieb Raile, Sr.

Family Update

Sherrie Chase-Ryan, daughter of Larry Raile, grandchild of Ernest and Esther Raile, sent me some wonderful pictures of her family.  This one is of Larry Raile and his two grandsons Billy and Tom. 

Sherrie's oldest son, William, and his wife Betty gave birth to Jaelynn Marie Chase on July 13, 2007.  Her other son Thomas and his wife Tawny were married last August 10th and recently found out they are expecting.

Surviving the Quarantine Camp at Ismail

After the long voyage in the middle of the summer from Germany to Russia, the immigrants that survived the the precarious conditions on the boat were place in quarantine camps at Ismail, Turkey.  We do know that Katharina Barbara Raile's brother, Jakob Lutz died in the camp.  He is listed on page 35 of Homesteaders on the Steppe.  Katharine Barbara and some of her children could have died at the camp also or on the river.

We do know that Jakob (age 22), George (age 19), Gottlieb (age 17), Rosina Barbara (age 15) and Katharina Barbara Raile (age 12) made it from Ismail, Turkey to the Glueckstal Colonies.  (History of Plochingen and Gluekstal Orphan Fund papers).  We also know that the oldest sister, Johanna Fredericka (age 26) and her baby Johanna Rosina made it to the colonies.

However, Johanna Fredericka died two years later (1819) and  Gottlieb died shortly after arriving in Glueckstal on October 5, 1817 (History of Plochinghen). 

Please note that I had, and still have, a hard time keeping all these names straight.  It was customary much more than it is today to name a baby after a relative.  So we have lots of Johann, Rosina, Barbara, Gottlieb and George's.  Plus, I was piecing this together from several sources.

The bottom line is Jacob and George were the men that carried the Raile name on in Russia.  But don't forget there were Raile's still living in Germany.  So at the moment, I am following just this one line.

Next: Getting to the colonies - another difficult journey.

Family Update

Bryan Raile writes "My son, Richard Raile is engaged to marry Shaina Crotteau on May 30th in Minneapolis."

Richard is the son of Bryan Raile; Bryan is the son of Ernest Raile; Ernest was the son of Gottlieb Raile, Jr.

The entire Raile family wishes the couple the very best.

The Oetlingen Harmony Letter

I just re-read some excerpts of letters and diaries of the German travelers down the Danube River (published in Homesteaders on the Steppe by Joseph S. Height).  One of the letters was written by Johann Christian Bidlingmaier, a fellow traveler of Katharina Barbara Raile and her family of the Oetlingen Harmony.  His letter was written to friends back in Germany six weeks into their journey.  He documented their various stops along the river and some of the problems they encountered.  He compared the swarm of mosquitoes that kept them from sleeping one night to the Egyptian plague of insects.

I thought of Katharina Barbara's children when he mentioned passing through the rapids near Alt -Balanka.  He said they could hear the roar of the water an hour before they reached the rapids.  Once they passed through safely, the children were hoping the whole trip would continue that way.

He was overwhelmed with the plentifulness of the areas they were visiting on their trip and remarked how cheap everything was compared to what it was in Germany.  He was especially impressed with the "splendid good wine with fire."

The letter was written half way through their trip while delayed in Galatz.  At that point, the trip had proved to be an adventure, but nothing compared to the last half of the trip that brought enormous difficulties with the majority of them dying either en-route on in quarantine in Ismail, Turkey.

Who Survived The River Journey?

After my October 8, 2007 post, I believe I have left you dangling long enough in suspense about which Raile's survived the Danube River trip to Russia (Ukraine). 

As you know, Katharine Barbara Lutz Raile was traveling with her six children and one grandchild from Germany to Russia (1817).  The trip proved to be dangerous and difficult.  The majority of the travelers died.  From several sources, (The History of Plochingen and documents retrieved from the Odessa State Achieves in Odessa, Ukraine), I have determined that Katharina Barbara died en-route, in the quarantine camp in Ismail or shortly after arrival in the colony of Glueckstal.  There are no records documenting her death. 

However, one of the most exciting moments of my research was when a friend in Odessa, Ukraine found a document in the Odessa State Archives recording the financial support from the Glueckstal Orphans Fund for Jacob Raile, Gottlieb Raile, Barbara Raile and Rosina Raile (dated August 1821).  This was the first written link between the time the family left Germany to the time they were settled in Russia.  Since they were listed as orphans, we can only assume their mother died along with their siblings.  (Click on the link to see a copy of the actual document.  If you can read old German, I would love to have the whole thing translated.)

A side note:  The retrieval of the document by my friend Serge in Odessa was pure luck.  The Odessa State Archives in Odessa is in such a poor repair that the public is not allowed to enter it.  The few that are allowed in have discovered a niche market of Americans like myself who are willing to pay for old family documents.  This revenue source is protected by paying off officials and guards to keep others out.  A number of genealogy groups have contracted with people like Serge and slowly the records are being copied.  I had not asked Serge to look for anything for me.  However, he remembered my family name, and he said the document jumped out at him.  He sent the document out with the next American visitor he had so they could send it to me.  He did not trust their postal system.  And of course I in turn sent money back to him with the next American tourist I knew that was going to Odessa.

To summarize this post:  There were only two Raile males (Jacob and Gottlieb) that survived long enough to carry on the Raile name in Russia.  George Raile died a few months after they arrived in Russia at the age of 19

Family Update

When I receive current family news, I will post in a different color so you will be able to keep Raile History seperate from Raile News.

Lou Colborn, granddaughter of Sophie Raile Walters is in the middle of receiving chemotherapy.  She has posted her story and some photos on the Caring Bridges web site.  You can leave Lou messages at the site, and I am sure she would love to hear from family (and there are lots of you out there).

Posted above is a photo of Lou with her husband Mark and daughter Cora.

Journey to the Caucacus

In the last post, I mentioned the creation of various "harmonies" that were going to leave Wurttemberg (Germany) in the early 1800's to escape the miseries caused by the Napoleonic wars and for religious reasons.  The Chiliasts (part of the Separatist Movement that began in 1785) believed that Jesus Christ would return to earth in 1836 and that he would reappear on a white horse on Mt. Ararat in the Caucasus. 

The Oetlingen Harmoney, led by Johann Jakob Lutz, Katharina Barbara Raile's brother joined other harmonies (a total of 1,300 individuals) in early 1817 in Ulm to start their journey down the Danube River to Russia.  The travelers packed themselves into makeshift river barges crudely designed to float lumber, not people, downstream. 

Here, one woman with six children and one grandchild, drastically changed the history of many Raile descendants.  Katharine Barbara Raile, Johanna Friedericke (with child Johanna Rosine), Johann Jakob, Johann George, Johann Gottlieb and Rosine Barbara crammed into the roofless, single-deck boat (Zillen)with standing room only.

The seven were exposed to the raw elements on the river for five long, torturous months.  They were burned by the hot sun and drenched by sudden downpours.  At night, they would hastily set up makeshift camps on the shore infested with gnats, mosquitoes and flies making sleeping nearly impossible.

The lack of sanitary conditions and the consumption of too much raw fruit and spicy Turkish wine soon caused dysentery and other illnesses.  By the end of the trip down the Danube, the plague had broken out.  When the immigrants arrived in Ismail, Turkey they were placed into a quarantine camp and confined up to 50 days.  Of the 1,300 traveling with the various harmonies along with the Oetlingen Harmony, 1,200 died.

Next post:  Who of the Raile's survived?

Of the 1,300 on this particular journey, 1,200 died

The Swabian Expedition

Surprising to many will be the reason why the Raile's left Plochingen, Germany to migrate to Southern Russia.  Many emigration movements around the early 1800's were motivated by economic and political reasons.  However, our ancestors were involved in the revival of Chiliasm, a doctrine which proclaimed the imminent coming of the millennium, that led them to Russia. 

These religious zealots believed that the end of the world would come in 1836 and the thousand-year kingdom would be established in the East.  When Alexander I of Russia vanquished Napoleon in 1812, the Chiliasts believed it was a sign and considered Alexander the "white eagle"  mentioned in the Bible in the book of Revelations.  In 1815 a prophetess of Chiliasm proclaimed that Russia would be "the haven of refuge for the faithful of the last days."

After a successful "emigration harmony" in 1815 from Germany to Southern Russia, Chiliast leaders eagerly organized a number of "fraternal emigration harmonies of the children of God."  One of the principal groups included the harmony called Oetlingen led by Jakob Lutz - brother of Katharina Barbara Lutz Raile whose husband George Raile was killed in 1812 in the war.

Reference for this post: Homesteaders on the Steppe, Joseph S. Height.