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About GenCircles
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| Diane Balko nee Hager |     |
| Pfaffenroth/Poffenroth Descendants |
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My line of Pfaffenroth/Poffenroth's immigrated from Germany to Yagodnaya Polyana/Jagodnaja Poljana, Saratov, Volga, Russia beginning in 1767. I am continuing to search for records for the Pfaffenroth line and will be happy to share whatever I find. Within these files you will notice that there are many individuals that seem to have the same first name as other brothers and sisters. This is not the case. I am including information concerning the nameing practices that Germans and German Russians used untill the late 1800's. German nameing Practices At baptism, if two given names were given to the child, the first given name was a spiritual, saint's name. The second given name was the secular or call name, which is the name the person was known by, both within the family and to the rest of the world. This custom was originally adopted in Germanic and other regions in Europe from Roman Catholic tradition and continued by the Protestants in their baptismal naming customs. The spiritual name, usually to honor a favorite saint, was used repeatedly and was usually given to all the children of that family of the same sex. Thus the boys would be Johan Adam Pfaffenroth, Johan George Pfaffenroth, etc., or Philip Peter Pfaffenroth, Philip Jacob Pfaffenroth, etc. Girls would be named Anna Barbara Pfaffenroth, Anna Margaret Pfaffenroth, etc., or Maria Elizabeth Pfaffenroth, Maria Catherine Pfaffenroth, etc. But after baptism, these people would not be known as John, Philip, Anna, or Maria, respectively. They would instead be known by what we would think of now as their middle name, which was their secular name. Thus these people would be known respectively as Adam, George, Peter, Jacob, Barbara, Margaret, Elizabeth, and Catherine in legal and secular records. For males, the saint's name Johan or John was particularly heavily used by many German families. The child's secular name was really John, usually spelled as Johannes, with no second given name ie: Johannes Pfaffenroth. Because of this naming practice it is important to realise that when searching for these individuals, that the only time a spiritual name is used is for baptism and that any in legal document and census records would not use a spiritual name but their secular name. ie: Baptised as Philip Adam Pfaffenroth Found in marriage and census documents as Adam Pfaffenroth. German Russian Naming Practices Men The men's naming system used in Yagodnaya Polyana was unusual by today's standards and can significantly affect genealogy research if not understood. If a male was given two names at birth, the first name was the baptismal name. It was usually Johan(n) for John the Baptist. Other saints’ names were used including Georg and Heinrich. These "first" names were not used in everyday life in Russia. The name the person actually went by was their "second" name. So if a male was named, Johan Heinrich at birth, he went by Heinrich in Russia. His name could appear as either Johan Heinrich or Heinrich on a Russian census. It often varied from census to census. Another example would be Georg Peter. He would be commonly know as Peter but his name could appear as George Peter or Peter on a Russian census. The only name that was not used in combination with another name was Johannes. This was always a single name. Actually nicknames were used everyday but these were not on any documents. Women The most common women's names were: Anna, Catherine, Elisabeth, and Marie. That’s correct, just four names, talk about confusing! Uncommon women's names were: Sophia, Eva, Juliana, Magdalena and Margaretha. The women's naming system in Yagodnaya Polyana was very different than that of the men. Nearly all women were give two names, and they were commonly known by their first name or their first and middle name. Examples would be Anna Marie, Anna Catherine, Catherine Elisabeth, and Marie Catherine. Marie Elisabeth was often referred to as Marilies and Catherine Elisabeth often became Katrilis. Elisabeth was used as a first name less often. It was exceptionally rare that a first name would be dropped and the middle name used alone although it occurred sometimes with Eva Catherine If you want additional information about these nameing practice I do have a bit more that could aide in your research. Just let me know and I will be happy to send it to you. Interesting Facts About the Russian village were the majority of the Poffenroth/Pfaffenroth ancestors lived: About the Village The village of Jagodnaja Poljana is located in the Volga Region of Russia. It is situated about 40 miles northwest of Saratov Gubernia/Oblast on the west side of the Volga River. The words, "Gubernia" (past used) and "Oblast" (presently used), are the equivalent of a province/State in Canada and the United States. Saratova is found in the sub district of Jagodnaja Poljana. The sub district is equivalent to a parish or county in other countries and is called "Uezd" or "Rayon" in Russian. Jagodnaja Poljana, also known as Yagodnaya Polyana. Many Volga villages had multiple names, including a German and Russian name. Jagodnaja Poljana was established in 1767 by German immigrates. The total population went from 225 - 250 people in 1764 - 1767 to 8,845 in 1920. It is believed that the village did not get much larger after that period. It is also interesting to know that most Russian villages were of a single religion, although a few had both Evangelical (Lutheran and Reformed) and Catholic. The religions in the Volga valley were Evangelical (Lutheran and Reformed), Catholic and Mennonite. There were only a handful of Mennonite villages which were established at a later date than the Evangelical and Catholic villages. In the case of Jagodnaja Poljana the practiced religion was Evangelical. I have additional information on life in this village during the 1700's and 1800's.
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