Genealogy Society learns Sask. German history
It might come as a surprise to you but when it comes to ancestries of people in Saskatchewan, Germans are actually just as numerous as English.
In fact, the two ancestries are essentially tied, when it comes to one and two in the overall population. Even more interesting?
Let’s have long-time genealogical educator and researcher David Wessel explain that...
“I got curious about it for genealogy purposes, because when I looked at the early census it would say 20 per cent of the people in Regina speak German, but one per cent of the people who speak German are from Germany,” Wessel said.
“So they came from places other than Germany, primarily the part of Russia that is part of Ukraine, as well as the Austria-Hungary empire and places like that. So we’re going to go back 500 years and talk about how did they get outside Germany, outside Austria before they got here.”
The Regina-based Wessel was in Moose Jaw to speak to the local branch of the Saskatchewan Genealogy Society, during their most recent meeting at the Moose Jay Public Library. His presentation discussed German settlement and history in the province and how the changing borders of Europe led to the unusual stat of non-German German speakers in Saskatchewan.
The general answer is the wide combination of famine and wars that led to changing borders over hundreds of years, spreading the German population throughout Europe. Wessel’s talk went into the deeper intricacies of how it all came together and led to the kind of migration into Saskatchewan that created today’s census numbers. “It’s all embedded in the bigger flow of history,” Wessel explained. “We might be here because of some war that happened in 1871, or some proclamation that happened in 1603 or 1709.”
Wessel is a computer programmer by trade, but, like so many others interested in genealogy, he became curious about where he was from going back in history further than just his grandparents. That led to genealogy, in general, and his fascination with the subject.
“It was just something I got curious about, the history of my own family, which doesn’t include any Germans from Russia,” Wessel said with a laugh. “Back in the 90s, I got involved in the studies and just kept at it.” Having Wessel speak to their branch was something local president Marge Cleave hoped would potentially help other researchers find threads that could help them in their own historical quest.
“It’s always interesting to get new ideas and new thoughts on different nationalities, we haven’t German for a long time,” Cleave said. “It’s good for those who are researching Germany to get some more information, every little bit can help.”
The Moose Jaw branch of the Saskatchewan Genealogy Society meets the fourth Tuesday of every month, featuring a special guest speaker providing information on various topic of interest to those researching their own family trees and beyond.