Who is in the GRanDMA Genealogical Database?

The GRanDMA genealogical database includes individuals with Mennonite heritage whose biological and ethnic ancestry came through Prussia and Russia, which is modern Poland and the former Soviet Union. It also includes Hutterites who came through Russia. We might define them as "Mennonites and Hutterites from Prussia and Russia" (MHPR). MHPR is an ethnic designation, not religious, and merits a short explanation.

In the 16th and 17th century, Dutch Mennonite escaped persecution by migrating to Danzig (now Gdańsk), the Vistula River Delta, and further up-river. This region experienced shifting borders, but was mostly within Poland, then Prussia, and is now Poland. They formed close-knit congregations around a strong commitment to their Anabaptist faith.

These communities spoke Dutch in church until the later 18th century when they switched to "High" German. However, for daily life, they spoke Plautdietsch, a Dutch-infused Low German that developed in the Delta. It continually evolved as a Mennonite version, and Plautdietsch helped to define them ethnically. Over time, other Mennonite refugees from Moravia and elsewhere joined these Prussian Mennonite congregations and their Plautdietsch communities.

Migrations in the late 18th century and the 19th century brought many of these Mennonites south, including to a region near Warsaw (which was Poland, later Russia, and now Poland) and to Volhynia (now western Ukraine). The largest number went to "South Russia" (now southern Ukraine), prompted by offers of free land and special privileges from Catherine the Great.

Other refugee groups from central Europe with an Anabaptist heritage also found haven in Volhynia: Hutterisch-speaking Hutterites and German-speaking Swiss Mennonites. Ties formed with neighboring Plautdietsch Mennonites and with the larger Mennonite colonies. By the mid 19th century, Prussia and Russia were home to thriving communities of Mennonites and Hutterites.

The goal of the GRanDMA project is to enumerate the 19th‑century Mennonites-and-Hutterites-from-Prussia-and-Russia ethnic population, their ancestors and their descendants.

In the later 19th century, in search of land and religious freedom, many of these Mennonites and all of the Hutterites migrated, both to North America and throughout the Russian Empire. In the 20th century, they were nearly obliterated from South Russia and were scattered throughout the Soviet Union and later, over the western hemisphere and to Germany. Today, some are practicing religious Mennonites or Hutterites, and some are not. The GRanDMA database includes all because they share the MHPR ethnic heritage.

We note that there are many, many other people of many ethnicities in North America and throughout the world who are practicing religious Mennonites. They fully share the Anabaptist religious/spiritual heritage but do not share the MHPR ethnic heritage. Some of these have centuries of Mennonite heritage but have a different history, mostly out of central Europe. World-wide, the majority of Mennonites have joined more recently in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. At this time, they are simply not within the scope of GRanDMA.

So which individuals do we list in GRanDMA?

• Any individual who is or is descended from Mennonites or Hutterites in Prussia or Russia.
• The spouses of those individuals, whether or not they are descended from Mennonites or Hutterites in Prussia or Russia.

Further reading: Russian Mennonite - Wikipedia and references therein.