10 February 2025

The Gulf of My Patience

Today Google changed the name on Google Maps, but they made the change across the board to comply with a U.S. presidential executive order, not just for those viewing it from the U.S. as they indicated they would.
Way to obey in advance, Google. 
*sigh*

You know...in the before fore time...when maps were on paper and sometimes there were responsible, clear-minded if not still power-hungry adults in charge of countries...at this mythical time, there was no instant gratification/pacification when it came to changing place names to make one’s empire look bigger. It took a time to survey the land, to record the data, to update it, to draw it, to get it published, and to get it out to whomever needed it, be it to get in good with royalty, or to navigate to the neighbor country and invade it. 

The fact is, no one really even noticed in the latter part of the before fore time, like 30+ years ago, not that long ago. If you were old enough to drive then, you probably did not notice changes on paper maps because you were probably not buying a new atlas or maps that often, or even looking at maps at all. You might get atlas if you were going somewhere new, or driving across country and wanted to be prepared. With advent and maturation of online maps on the internet, particularly through the 2000s, this has all changed.

In Scientific American on January 28th, Innisfree McKinnon, Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, explains how place names on maps are decided and how this is an outlier. McKinnon writes: “The gulf is not within the territorial U.S. On the coast, the first 12 miles from shore are considered part of that country, but outside of that is international waters. The Board of Geographic Names could change the name to Gulf of America on official U.S. maps, but there is no international board in charge of place names. Each country decides what to call places. And there is no official way for the U.S. to make other countries change the name” other than asking other countries to do so or possibly imposing sanctions.

Cartographers have long used maps to gain favor and strengthen relations between kingdoms and empires. I suppose this is along the same lines. but it is no less disappointing. In Imperial Russia, maps and atlases from the time of Peter the Great were issued as a form of flattery to the emperor and empresses reigning at the time. Maybe maps were kind of an Hallmark greeting card. AI generated image below by Gemini. The map image is pretty bad, but you get the sentiment.

Dear Russia, 

Another part of the Ottoman Empire! How many is it now? Before long you’ll have a whole baseball team! Here is a map of your new empire. Look how big it is! We hope you’ll be very happy.  

Love, France 

Even Gemini could not generate an image for what happened today, so let’s just imagine the note inside the greeting card: 

Dear President of the USA,

Congratulations on your conquest in name only of a body of water that you still do not own. We took our last bit liberty and changed the name for everyone who uses our maps and will claim we cannot change it just for your subjects. Hence, everyone is now your subject! Here is a map of your new empire. Look how big it is! We hope you’ll be very happy.  

Love, Google

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07 February 2025

Giving Ground for a House Called Tomorrow

With all the chaos going on in the world, my own country now included, genealogy has simply felt unimportant in the past few months. 

I document the past in the present, the places where our German ancestors lived in the Russian Empire, where they both struggled and flourished, where they left on their own when they could, if they could. 

This is my thing. This is what I do. I admit it may be the smallest and least noticeable part of genealogy, but I still do it. 

In part, this project is to keep the ancestral names of our villages alive and attached to current place names and GPS coordinates, even if nothing remains. To give ground to the stories we tell about our ancestors and to be able to say “This is where my ancestor’s house was,” even if it no longer stands. “These are the fields that they farmed,” even if the fields have long been left fallow or are destroyed by recent war. “This is where their church was, where they were baptized, confirmed and married,” even if all that is left are desecrated ruins. “This is where the cemetery was and where they are buried,” even if all that remains are the lilacs planted long ago, which still bloom every spring. 

I will continue to do what I do even though I cannot help but hear the echoes of the past, history not repeating exactly but rhyming, and certainly giving me pause. 

This poem arrived in my email this morning, and it was just what I needed. It is by Alberto Ríos, the first Poet Laureate for the state of Arizona, where I live now. For those who read this in languages other than English, I hope it translates well.


A House Called Tomorrow

You are not fifteen, or twelve, or seventeen—
You are a hundred wild centuries

And fifteen, bringing with you
In every breath and in every step

Everyone who has come before you,
All the yous that you have been,

The mothers of your mother,
The fathers of your father.

If someone in your family tree was trouble,
A hundred were not:

The bad do not win—not finally,
No matter how loud they are.

We simply would not be here
If that were so.

You are made, fundamentally, from the good.
With this knowledge, you never march alone.

You are the breaking news of the century.
You are the good who has come forward

Through it all, even if so many days
Feel otherwise. But think:

When you as a child learned to speak,
It’s not that you didn’t know words—

It’s that, from the centuries, you knew so many,
And it’s hard to choose the words that will be your own.

From those centuries we human beings bring with us
The simple solutions and songs,

The river bridges and star charts and song harmonies
All in service to a simple idea:

That we can make a house called tomorrow.
What we bring, finally, into the new day, every day,

Is ourselves. And that’s all we need
To start. That’s everything we require to keep going.

Look back only for as long as you must,
Then go forward into the history you will make.

Be good, then better. Write books. Cure disease.
Make us proud. Make yourself proud.

And those who came before you? When you hear thunder,
Hear it as their applause.


Copyright © 2018 by Alberto Ríos.
Source:  Poets.org


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21 January 2025

MyHeritage Suspends Service in Russia

MyHeritage users from Russia will no longer be able to use the service as of 1 February 2025 when the company suspends service to the entire country. 

Per Russian law, MyHeritage must delete accounts and data, including DNA tests. This means if you have any DNA matches with those Russian MyHeritage users, you will no longer be able to see or research your matches. 

Ground News, an aggregator of news stories from multiple sources, has a number of articles about it, including some from Russian media outlets. Researcher Vera Miller outlines in her blog, Find Lost Russian & Ukrainian Family, steps to take between now and then. 

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11 January 2025

Map Update — De-Russification of Ukrainian Place Names

A cup of tea, three mandarins, a few leftover Christmas cookies, and whole bunch of map updates this afternoon. All of relate to the former German colonies in Ukraine today. Here’s the rundown:

  1. De-Russified place name changes
  2. Fürstenland Colony update
  3. A few new places
  4. Odessa to Odesa update for current place names
  5. Russo-Ukrainian War frontline
  6. Father William C. Sherman Photograph Collection (NDSU GRHC) 

In total, 933 places were updated. If you want to see the full list, search the map for 20250110 (this is the last update date) to see the full list. The Sources page has also been updated. 

Place Name Changes
The primary reason for the update was the toponym or place name changes that went into effect in Ukraine on 19 September 2024. Numerous place and district name changes were proposed to de-colonize or de-Russsify names that were still in place from the Soviet Russian era that no longer reflected Ukraine’s present or future, or did not comply with Ukrainian language standards. Among these changes were some of the former German colonies. Some of the original names of the German colonies were replaced, while other German names returned with their Ukrainian spellings. The old names have been moved to the “Other Names and Spellings” field for each colony.

If interested, you can view the list in English or Ukrainian on Wikipedia. The English version does not have links to village pages. The Ukrainian version does, including coordinates, which I used to verify I had the right places. 

Within the modern oblasts or regions listed below are listed the German ancestral place name (colony name with the enclave or former province) followed by the current place name and oblast. In some instances, the old name is still on Google Maps along with the new one. 

Dnipropetrovsk Oblast  
  1. Nowo-Moskowa (Ekaterinoslav), now Samar, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine 
Donetsk Oblast
    1. Elisabethdorf (Mariupol enclave)now Nova Karakuba.
    2. Grüntal (Mariupol enclave), now Hrintal. Ukrainian spelling of the German colony name was restored. 
Kharkiv Oblast
Kherson Oblast

  1. Dornburg (Taurida), now Dornburg. Original German name restored.
  2. Eigental & Schöntal (Kronau enclave), now Olzhyne
  3. Judendorf (Jewish Agricultural enclave), now Stiike.
  4. Neu-Landau (Kronau enclave)now Nezlamne.

Odesa Oblast 

  1. Alt-Posttal (Bessarabia), now Yaroslavove.
  2. Bairamtscha (Bessarabia), now Bairamcha. Original name restored.
  3. Beresina (Bessarabia), now Soborne.
  4. Borodino (Bessarabia), now Budzhak
  5. Milliardowka (Kutschurgan enclave), now Miliardivka
  6. Neu-Paris (Bessarabia), now Novyi Paryzh. Original name restored. 
  7. Neu-Tarutino (Bessarabia), now Novodolynske
  8. Stern (Kutschurgan), now Svitanok
  9. Tarutino (Bessarabia), now Bessarabske.
  10. Wittenberg (Bessarabia), now Prykordonne
  11. In March 2024, Hoffnungsfeld (Bessarabia) in Odesa was to be renamed Champagne. However, the French Embassy objected to this—France is very protective of this particular name—and the decision was reversed. It still stands as Nadezhdivka.  

Rivne Oblast

Volyn Oblast

Zaporizhia Oblast

    1. Rosenfeld (Ekaterinoslav), now Adrianivka.   
    2. Petershagen (Molotschna), now Petershahen. German name restored. 
    3. Kleinwerder (Mariupol), now Malyi Verder. Ukrainian spelling of the original German name.  

Zhytomyr Oblast


Few New Places
As I find or am told about new places, I try to update the maps manually. But sometimes they pile up. This was a small pile from some indexing I have been doing of deportation locations. The indexing will no doubt bring more places to light, and I will write about it more as things progress. I also just got a list of khutors to look for that came from church records in the Beresan enclave around Christina. Those should be ready for next month’s update. 

Fürstenland Colony Update
The Mennonite Fürstenland Colony locations have been updated. Thanks to Brent Wiebe over at Trails of the Past for that update. 

Odessa to Odesa
The spelling of Odesa oblast has been updated for current place names. This was long overdue. 

Russo-Ukrainian War Frontline
Updates have been made to those former colonies that are in Russian-occupied territory at this point in the Russo-Ukrainian war. I’ve been updating the notes of each colony since early in the war. To the Black Sea Region and South Russia maps, I have added a frontline so that you can see where it is in the context of our past. I cannot update this daily as some sites do, but I will updated it monthly if anything changes. 



Father William C. Sherman Photograph Collection (NDSU GRHC) 

Digital Horizons has digitized color slides of a few Ukrainian villages from what appears to be late 1995. These are a part of the Father William C. Sherman Photograph Collection from North Dakota State University’s Germans from Russia Heritage Collection. You may be familiar with the 1970s Germans from Russia homesteads Father Sherman photographed in North Dakota. 

As more of the German villages in Ukraine get scanned and added to Digital Horizons, I will add links under each village in the Sources and Further Reading. These were taken right after Ukraine’s independence and certainly have historical value as perhaps the first snapshot in time after the fall of the U.S.S.R.

Search the map for “Father William C. Sherman” to get a list of places with these photos, or skip the map and view the collection on Digital Horizons. There are links for each place back to the map. 

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08 January 2025

Social Media: A Prescribed Burn

In case you find yourself here wondering what happened to my page on Facebook, the answer is I removed all of this project’s social media content from Meta (Facebook, Instagram, Threads) and X (Twitter). 

In the past several days, Meta made some (presumably) business decisions that prompted me to remove all my content from those websites. Their decision last week to let loose a bunch of AI chatbots to converse with humans on the platforms was enough to get me thinking about pulling back. The tipping point came with yesterday’s announcement by Meta included dissolution of their fact checking, content moderation, and changes to their “Hateful Conduct Policy” that gave specific examples of how to be hateful.

These are their websites. They can do as they please with them. This is my content. I can do what I please with it. 

While I carefully curated the Germans from Russia Settlement Locations page on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (dumped that account last year), weeds still popped up. Meta has now fertilized the weeds, and I anticipate that things will get worse sooner than later. Rather than continue to pull them as they appear, I decided to torch the lot. Sometimes a prescribed burn is necessary. 

This project and research continues, right here, like always. 

People often ask “what is the one question you would like to ask an ancestor?” Mine is not about a specific relation or brick wall or way of life. My question is this: “How did you know when it was time to leave?” I imagine the answer was, “When the time comes, you just know.”

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