Some Family History

Joseph John Merck, my grandfather, wrote in a letter to der Staats Anzeiger (a German language newspaper published in Bismarck, North Dakota) in 1913:

My parents died in South Russia when I was six years old, and so I had to hire myself out to strangers and work hard. When I was 21, the lot fell on me and I served the Russian czar for five years. Then I came back home and got married in 1887, and now I have reared six sons and two daughters. Four years ago I emigrated from Russia to Brazil in South America, and settled in the Province of Santa Catharina. There I saw dense virgin forests and mountains such as I had never seen in my life. The soil is red clay and the climate is unhealthy. In addition to that, there are all sorts of wild animals, snakes etc. in the forest. I stayed there only two months and then went on to Argentina. Here there are plains that have been settled by Germans and Spaniards, who raise grain, like they do in North Dakota. I stayed here for three years, and then immigrated to North Dakota, where I have now lived for one year. But I'm not sorry to have traveled so far and wide, for one learns a lot about the world and about people while traveling.

As one of those we now refer to as Germans from Russia, he demonstrates the migratory tendency of many of the ethnic German people. For after spending about ten years in McHenry County, North Dakota, he and his family (except for two sons, Felix and ‘Tony’) moved again to Portland, Oregon. Past generations of Mercks had moved from the Black Forest area of Austria and Germany to Alsace (France) and then to South Russia. These very hard working people experienced difficult times and, fortunately for us, they were not afraid to pull up stakes and move on in hopes of finding better conditions elsewhere.

Joe Merck (1858-1939) and his wife, Katherine Cecilia Eberle (1866-1938), raised nine children in South Russia, South America and later in the United States. Among them were sons Felix (1889-1968), Joseph (1890-1944), John (1896-1979), Anthony (1898-1964), Mathias (1901-1987), Jacob (1903-1975), and daughters Lucy (1892-1957) and Magdalena (1905-2002). They all were born in South Russia in the area now known as Ukraine. Mercks had been among the ethnic German people who emigrated to settle that area in the early 1800s at the invitation of Russian leaders who wanted to develop agriculture and improve economic conditions in the region. (1) The Mercks were Roman Catholic who helped establish the village of Elsass in the Catholic Kutschurgan colonies of the Odessa Province, near the Black Sea. The Eberle family were settlers in Mannheim, a nearby village.

Joe Merck's father Joseph (1819-1964) and mother Lucy Hagele (ca 1819-ca 1864) lived their entire lives in South Russia. His grandparents Engelhard (1783-?) and Margaritha Elchinger (1783-?) were born in Alsace, Bas-Rhin, France, and moved to South Russia in the early 1800s. With hundreds of others, they escaped trying conditions which followed the French Revolution and Napoleon capturing the territory where they lived. (2) (3)

It should be noted that the Mercks who moved to Russia were not Germans, but citizens of France, although they did not speak the French language. One such condition which motivated their departure from Alsace was the conscription of local young men into Napoleon's army. Later, the conscription of local men into the Russian army was one of the reasons these ethnic Germans escaped South Russia to North and South America in the early 1900s. Of course there were other conditions influencing their decisions to make the moves. But it is significant to note that in later generations of the Merck and Eberle families many served proudly in the armed forces of the United States; some died performing that service to their country.
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(1) Following Austro-Hungary’s lead, Russia under the Czars tried to attract settlers to clear the vast territories of the Steppes- land formerly under Turkish control. Once again, Alsatians responded to the lure of a foreign land. But as in the past, they were part of a grander migration scheme which would once more affect all the Rhine provinces.

Using the same tactics as the Vienna Court several decades earlier, the Czarist government-now at the dawn of the Napoleonic era- delegated agents to the Rhine to recruit colonists for the Ukraine area. Highly praising the new country in a bid to recruit new settlers, the immigrant agents sold more lots than were available. As a result, success was a long time coming. Thus at the dawn of the 19th Century, nearly every village in the North of Alsace lost dozens of families- in search of a better life whether in Podole, Tauride or the Crimea. But rarely were they aware of their final destination.
Emigration to Russia at the Beginning of the 19th Century. Article by Professor Jean Schweitzer, Strasbourg, France

(2) The trouble began when the Prussians and Austrians who, to support the Royalists, had occupied Lower Alsace from the Lauter to Moder before the year's end were driven back over the border by the Revolutionary army. With the retreat of the troops, the terrorized inhabitants hurriedly fled from house and yard in panic and fright to cross the Rhine. That was the “great flight” of 1793 during which at least 40,000 people became homeless.

It was not until years later (1795-1798) that these so called “Emigrierten” [emigrated persons] set foot on home soil again. But they never found their own homes. The government had sold their goods to those who remained and to new arrivals. Since the new regime was “enemy-minded,” it was hard for them to reconcile with the changed conditions. Dispossessed, uprooted and discouraged, the farmers, once owners of goods and property, now had to serve as hired men and field workers to earn their miserable bread.

Employment opportunities were rare and unsure. Money was scarce and wages were highly taxed. For those who returned there was no possibility of owning property since all community property had been divided among those who remained. In addition there were the abuses. The poor people complained about the unjust demands for outstanding taxes, the increased demands for contributions, and especially the severe strictness in supervising the community forest lands. . . . . . . . . . .
The real and deepest reason that convinced the Lower Alsatian to move was his unshakeable desire to own ground.
The Alsace Emigration to Russia. By Dr. Joseph S. Height, Franklin, Indiana

(3) The Revolution years were followed by the conquests of Napoleon who ruled over a great part of Europe from 1805-1814. His campaigns and conquests added much to the turmoil in this region. And it is easy to imagine why many young men avoided enlisting.

These few main reasons added to many others were combined with overpopulation, which periodically causes an important emigration. It must be pointed out that these reasons -political and economical -were closely interrelated. And in many cases we may add secondary reasons, such as domestic, family or law troubles etc.

The Migration from Alsace to the Black Sea Region and the Location of the Genealogical Materials in the Homeland Area. Professor Jean Schweitzer, Strasbourg, France