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| Zion, North Dakota (48.5011, -99.3843) Top: Former townsite in 1909 Bottom: 2020 |
Karl Stumpp indicated on his map of German-Russian settlements in North Dakota that Zion was a settlement of Black Sea Mennonites. The town was originally called Dunker Colony when it was founded in 1894 and was the first settlement of Dunkard colonists in North Dakota. It was later renamed Zion when the post office was established in 1899.
None of the usual sources (newspaper indexes, German-Russian genealogy societies, etc.) reported Germans from Russia in Zion at all. There were a handful of Germans born in Russia in the 1900 U.S. Federal Census for the township in which Zion was located. They came from everywhere except the Black Sea. While the Zion Township still exists, the town of Zion does not. The map marker is at the crossroads of the cemetery (NW), the school (NE), the church (SW) and the post office (SE).
Note: This was originally a Twitter post, 6 July 2020.
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Sources and Further Reading:
- “Karte der russland deutschen Siedlungen in den USA und Mexiko” (Map of Russian-German settlements in the USA and Mexico), North Dakota & Sonderkarten, Karl Stumpp (no pub date), https://photos.app.goo.gl/3A8bsYiGJS6Xiyud7
- Ancestry.com. United States Federal Census, 1900 and 1910, Family Trees.
- Ancestry.com. Russia, Lutheran Church Book Duplicates Index, 1750-1891 [database on-line].
- Ancestry.com. U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925 [database on-line].
- GeoHack, Wikimedia Toolforge, accessed July 6, 2020, https://geohack.toolforge.org/geohack.php?params=48_30_3_N_99_23_3_W
- Google Maps, Google, accessed July 6, 2020, https://www.google.com/maps/place/48%C2%B030'04.0%22N+99%C2%B023'03.5%22W/@48.5011035,-99.3848525,189m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d48.5011!4d-99.3843
- Jim Forte Postal History, North Dakota, accessed July 6, 2020, https://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?task=display&searchtext=Zion&state=nd&county=&searchtype=word
- Historic Mapworks, accessed July 6, 2020, http://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/US/62721/Zion+Township/Towner+County+1909/North+Dakota/
- North Dakota Place Names, Douglas A. Wick (1989), p. 215