The compilation is focused on those Russian Mennonite immigrants named Dirksen, Fast, Friesen, Funk, Gaede, Gossen, Guenther, Harder, Heinrich, Hiebert, Loewen, Neufeld, Richert, Sperling, Thiesen, Toews, Unruh, Voth, Wall and Wedel who, from 1873 to 1883, immigrated to Brotherfield Township in Turner County South Dakota.
Brotherfield settlers Boese, Gossen, Dirksen, Funk, Guenther, Kunkel, Wall, Voth (and others who settled elsewhere) came on this ship in 1876 and 77. Click it for complete ship lists.
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Portraits of
Brotherfield Immigrants
1881-1885 Parker, SD
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Brotherfield
German Russian
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Contains GRANDMA links.
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Your participation in the Mennonite DNA Project might resolve much confusion about early Duerksen history (below). A simple (FREE) DNA test is available from the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation.
Questions about the Mennonite DNA Project can be directed to
MUCH CONFUSION has arisen from Alvin Gaede's widely distributed genealogy misleadingly named "Johann Duerksen 1750-1840". Gaede's work was based on John F Duerksen's type-written 1928 documents which contain these errors:
| 1. Johann's name was Kornelius. See the June 1995 MHSB. 2. 1750 and 1840 were not his birth and death years. ...ungefaehr (approximately) zwischen (between) den Jahren 1750 bis 1840..."). 3. Cornelius and Sara, attributed to a second marriage, were not his, but David Diercks' children! 4. Gerhard, attributed to a third marriage, was a son of David Dirks whose wife is shown in GRANDMA as the third wife of David Duerksen! |
Three generations of told and retold, but unwritten, family histories appear to have combined Kornelius Duerksen's children with those of David Diercks (probably closely related) and David Dirks, two men from the same area in 1818 Prussia.
1819 Prussian passports and visas show Johann Kornelius Duerksen, 54 years old, and 58 yr old David Diercks' son Cornelius David Duerksen, 30, settled farms #11 and #3 in 1820 Alexanderthal. Then about 1844 Gerhard Duerksen came to farm #14. Was he related to the Kornelius Duerksen and David Diercks?
Tim Janzen's Doerksen DNA Report states, "There are at least partial results back for 5 different unconnected Doerksen families. The haplotypes are consistent with each other with the exception that the haplotype of the grandson of Abraham Dirksen (b. 28 Mar 1883) #33906 is inconsistent with the haplotypes of the other 4 Doerksen and Dirks lineages that have been tested. This suggests that either there were two original Doerksen progenitors, one for Abraham Dirksen (b. 28 Mar 1883) #33906 who was a descendent of Kornelius Duerksen (1750-1840) #70539 and one for the other Doerksen lineages, or that there was a non-paternal event (NPE) that occurred at some point in Abraham Dirksen (b. 28 Mar 1883) #33906 lineage."
DNA results from a descendant of David Duerksen (GM#14628) may clarify the issue further.