A year ago, I was included in an email thread where I learned that Thanksgiving was celebrated by some people in Alsace in honor of American friends and cousins, and also in honor of the American troops who liberated Alsace in November and December 1944. I was a bystander in the conversation, but I was touched by what I thought was a truly lovely sentiment. I thought about it several times this year. There is much to be grateful for in both the present and the past.
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| "Have you seen the comet?" appears first among the happenings reported in Eureka, SD and surrounding areas. Die Eureka Post, 27 January 1910, p. 5 |
14 October 2024
The last few evenings, I’ve been out looking at Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS. I recalled seeing a reference to Halley’s Comet this past summer near an article about the 100th anniversary celebration of the founding of the Beresan colonies. Halley’s Comet was visible in May 1910.
I wondered...what did our ancestors think about the comet?
Around the turn of the last century, some German-language newspapers in areas where Germans from Russia settled in the U.S. ran letters to the editor written by Germans in both North America and South Russia. The correspondence was published in each issue and kept everyone in both the old and new countries up to date on births, deaths, marriages, crops, and other news of interest, including comets. A search of the digitized issues of the German-language newspapers that circulated in both North America and in South Russia turned up reports of not only Halley’s Comet but an earlier comet known as the Great January Comet of 1910, or the Daylight Comet.
Here are excerpts from a few letters.
…A comet is also visible in the sky. Its appearance was announced to us from St. Petersburg. The comet, with its long fiery tail, looks quite frightening. Those who are easily excited therefore predict much misfortune and even death…. [This was the Great January Comet. —SSP]
Michel Gerhard — Elsass, Cherson, Russia
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Letter dated 30 January 1910, published in Deutscher Herold, 10 February 1910, p. 10…For some time now we have been observing a comet here every evening on the western rim. Some people are superstitious and think it means the end of the world in a short time; but it will not be that bad. A large meteorite is said to have fallen in North Dakota, but we do not know whether it is true because we cannot believe everything that is written in newspapers (?). Hopefully everything will turn out well again because we still have use of the world, especially when there are good harvests. New officials have also been elected, and they want to have their share of the world first… [This was also the Great January Comet. —SSP]
J. Adam — Lucien, Oklahoma, USA
…It almost looks like spring, but our farmers haven’t settled in yet. The seed grain has not been cleaned, the harnesses have not yet been mended, the plows have not yet been sharpened, and yet they are supposed to go to seed in a few days! But it’s still too early! Should Halley’s comet perhaps have a hand in this?Alas! If it already has such an influence on Mother Earth, despite its infinite distance, what will it do in April, when it is supposed to be closest to the Earth? But I think the old God is still alive, and with His help, we will probably overcome the comet….
Martin Stroh — Ponjatowka [Langenberg], Cherson, Russia
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Letter dated 12 February 1910, published in Die Eurkea Post, 17 February 1910, p. 7...Dear Editor, I would like to know more about the comet that was recently visible on the horizon. Is it Halley’s comet, which is supposed to shatter the Earth by May, or does it have something else to prove? It’s the first one I’ve ever seen. [The editor responded that the comet was not Halley’s Comet but one that had never been seen before so it was called the “1910 comet.” Halley’s Comet would be visible at the end of April and May. —SSP]
John J. Huber — Hosmer, South Dakota, USA
The sowing has long since finished in this area, but unfortunately we are experiencing great drought, as the many winds and night frosts have dried out the soil thoroughly, making it difficult for Halley's comet to cause damage because Mother Earth has become very hard. The comet will therefore find a tough opponent when it hits the earth, which will certainly tear a huge hole in its body…I also read in No. 41 of the paper a correspondence written by J. Wall in Strassburg, South Russia, in which a young woman is reported to have spoiled 80 loaves of bread in a short time, as she did not know how to bake bread. This is of course very bad, but anything is possible in this world. I would like to say to Mr. Wall that, as we are in a comet year, perhaps even more strange things will happen…As I read in the same issue, wine is said to be the best in comet years...
Heinrich Scherr, son of Johannes — Allan, Saskatchewan, Canada
….There is not much news from here. However, the comet does give us something to talk about. The comet came and went and Mother Earth is no better and no worse as a result. The Earth did not pass through the comet's tail at all, as the astronomers predicted, nor did anyone suffocate from the gas. The fear of the comet and the earth's demise produced very peculiar results, so that some people threw away their money with both hands, buying all kinds of useless things because they thought that they would be of no value to them later. But these people would be happy to have their hard-earned money back now!…
Bernhard Pflueger — Hub, North Dakota, USA
....Our harvest and threshing time is now over, and we can be satisfied with the result. Unfortunately, the price of some crops is very low. Barley costs 9.40 Francs for 100 kilograms (1 kilogram equals 2 pounds. -Ed. Staats-Anzeiger.) Wheat from 14 to 20 Francs (depending on purity); flax was good and costs up to 42 Francs per 100 kilograms; rape 28 to 30 Francs and Welschkorn up to 12 Francs. Unfortunately, despite the comet year, the wine remained quite sour. The yield has decreased considerably compared to previous years. However, the gardens that were sprayed well with Kupvervitriol [copper sulfide solution] are an exception. Here, not only is the yield more satisfactory, but the quality of the wine is also better....
William Facius — Malcoci, Dobrudscha, Romania
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| 13 October 2024, 6:45 p.m., Oro Valley, Arizona, USA |
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| 14 October 2024, 6:43 p.m., Oro Valley, Arizona, USA |
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| 16 October 2024, 6:41 p.m., Oro Valley, Arizona, USA |
The fourth Saturday of November is Holodomor Remembrance Day.
Mike Brown of Wyoming began looking for Germans in Kazakhstan in 2016 and accidentally discovered a village that was founded by his relatives.
Brown knew the name of his ancestors’ colony was Bauer in the Volga region. Its Russian name was Karamyshevka, named after the river Karamysh that ran by the colony. What he didn’t know was that there was another Karamyshevka far from the Volga that was established in 1906 after land reforms had opened the area in Western Siberia for resettlement. He knew that it was likely that people from the Volga Karamyshevka who established the Kazakhstan Karamyshevka, and that some of them were probably his relatives. He was right.
Watch the AHSGR Treffen Tuesday presentation below where Brown tells the story of his visit to Kazakhstan this year and his visit to the village. A local TV news station also did a story on his visit, too.
The map has been updated to include the links to the videos.
Treffen Tuesday: A Quest for Relatives in Kazakhstan
Khbar News: An American Citizen Found the Cemetery of His Ancestors in Kazakhstan (English translation)