"He
participated in the siege of Paris; he spoke at least three languages;
he
traveled thousands of miles; two of his sons were named Gotthilf and
Rudolph;
he was a ventriloquist; he sang in opera; he carved scenes in cork; he
worked
for the Lord; he settled in Kansas; he was my grandfather, and the
grandfather
of John and Barbara; he was Johannes Bartsch."
Paul W. Bartsch, Jr. (PWB)
"The siege
of Paris, that Johannes Bartsch participated in, was an action of the
Franco‑Prussian
War (1870‑1871). Paris
capitulated and
ceded Alsace and Lorraine to Germany.
King William of Prussia was proclaimed Emperor
(Kaiser) of Germany."
(PWB)
"Johannes
Bartsch was born in Heiligenbeil, West Prussia, where his father
Johannes
Bartsch and his mother Helene nee Isaac lived at the time. He spent his youth in the
parental home, and
attended school in his home village.
After his school time, an exciting life began for
him. Next he became
an apprentice to learn
business. At the
end of his
apprenticeship, he became an opera singer, in 1870 he was drafted from
this to
military service, went to France, and took part in the siege of Paris. At the end of the war he
was discharged and
was a traveling businessman for a time.
Then he traveled to his mother in Russia and there
became a colporteur
for the British and Foreign Bible Society and worked there with good
success. in 1881 he
went along to Asia
and was warehouse manager there for the Bible Society in Tashkent. From there he moved to
Auli Ata / Central
Asia and settled there, but sold out and moved here to America, where
he first
joined the Emmaus church and in 1902 joined the church here.... [Records of the six
Bartsch children are
listed.] Brother
Bartsch died on Sept.
30, 1915 after a long and difficult illness (liver disease) and was
buried on
Oct. 3." (From the Frontispiece of the unpublished Bartsch
Family Roots
including the Journal of Johannes K. Penner and genealogical
supplements. 161
pp., by Paul William Bartsch, Jr.
Photocopy of typewritten original. August, 1996)
[Gloss in the margin]:
"m. Anna (Hamm) Bergmann as per Emmaus Church record
No. 113."
Timeline of Johannes
Bartsch, Jr.
August 25, 1848.
Johannes (or Johann) Bartsch, Jr. was born in Heiligenbeil, East
Prussia. His parents were Johannes Bartsch, Sr. (1817-1859) and Helene
Isaac (1816-?).
Ca. 1868. Opera Singer. He
became an opera singer about 1868. Apparently
he was an unbelieving Mennonite with musical talent.
After his conversion he sold Bibles in Russia
on camel back.
1870-71. Military participation,
Paris, France. The
Prussians laid seige to Paris and Johannes Bartsch was part of this
conflict. "Kaiser
Wilhelm was highly
thought of. A lot
of Williams were named
after him and Wilhelminas as well."
(Bartsch Family Roots, p. 151. Also phone
conversation with Paul William
Bartsch, Jr. July 8, 1996.)
1881-1882. Great Trek.
He traveled to Serabulak, Bukhara, Central Asia.
Johannes took part in the Great Trek. Fred Belk states that a fifth
wagon train
of the Great Trek journeyed from the Trakt to Serabulak, Bukhara from
September
1, 1881 to June, 1882. Included
were
forty‑seven families, including Claas Epp himself and Johann Bartsch.
1882 - Bible Seller. Franz Bartsch was a brother of Johannes. Here is what he wrote about two of his brothers:
The
eldest of my brothers had
arrived at Syrabulak during the course of the year.
My second brother, formerly also an ardent
adherent of Epp, had been an itinerant bookseller for the British and
Foreign
Bible Society in Russia. He
had resigned
his job and had joined the exodus in Orenburg.
Because of some events during the trek he had become
disillusioned with
Epp and had stayed in Tashkent. He
submitted an application, had been welcomed back into the Bible Society
and had
been entrusted with establishing a depot in Tashkent (this was the
beginning of
the British Bible Society in Asiatic Russia).
I despatched a telegram to him from Kattakurgan,
asking him for a
job. I received a
positive reply. My
brother H. B. in Syrabulak lent me the
necessary money for the return trip....
We arrived at Tashkent without a mishap.
There we met my brother, J. B., who welcomed us
heartily. And so I
became a traveling salesman for the
British and Foreign Bible Society.
The speaker/writer is Franz Bartsch.
The eldest of his brothers is Herman Bartsch. His second brother is
Johannes Bartsch. This quotation is from Our
Trek to Central Asia, by Franz Bartsch, pp. 103, 104, 105.
(CMBC
Publications and Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society, Winnipeg,
Manitoba,
1993. Translated
from the original
German version of 1907.
Available from
The Canadian Mennonite Bible College, Winnipeg, Manitoba 204 888‑6781.)
Independent confirmation of Johannes Bartsch's
occupation as a Bible
seller is gained from John T. and Florence Bartsch:
Johannes had been an opera singer, but after
his conversion had sold Bibles in Russia by camel back.
1882.
Missionary, Tashkent, Turkestan.
"The
trinitarian problem did not diminish the zeal of young men such as
Johann
Bartsch, however. Because
of his earlier
work with the Kirghiz while but a teenager, he was invited by the
English Bible
Society to start a Bible center in Tashkent.
The main objective of this body was to put the Holy
Scriptures of
Christianity into all the languages of the Turkestan area and actively
seek to
win the natives to the Christian religion.
Bartsch gained the permission of the government to
evangelize among all
the native peoples. Franz
Bartsch, his
younger brother, was hired to sell books and Bibles to the natives and
discuss
the meaning of Scripture with them.
Becoming quite involved in teaching the natives, he
gained for himself a
profound understanding of many aspects of theology.
During this time
of religious change, innovation, and missionary activity by men like
the
Bartsch brothers, one principle of their faith remained unaltered: a strong belief in
nonresistance." (From
The Great Trek of the Russian Mennonites to Central Asia
1880-1884, by
Fred Richard Belk p. 146.)
1882. Marriage. Johannes
was married to Anna Hamm Bergman in
1882. This date obtained from Anna Hamm Bergman Bartsch's obituary. Some record exists in
Emmaus Mennonite Church
(Record No. 113), NE of Whitewater, Kansas. Unfortunately this latter
record
was probably destroyed in a fire that burned Emmaus Church to the
ground Jan.
29, 2008.
Ca. 1886. Traveled to Aulie Ata,
Turkestan.
"...plans
were quickly made to leave for Aulie Ata, a region 150 miles northeast
of
Tashkent but still within the borders of Turkestan....
It was learned by the Mennonites ... that the
Talas River basin could become a productive area for raising grain and
cattle
if enterprising farmers would diligently work the land.
This (beautiful) valley, about 25 miles wide
and almost 200 miles long, was enclosed by the perennially snow‑covered
Alexander Mountains."
Belk indicates
that fifty families have been identified as settling at Aulie Ata,
including
Franz Bartsch and Johann Bartsch. (Belk, The Great Trek,
pp. 138, 139,
225.)
1893. Traveled to Newton, Kansas.
Johannes Bartsch brought
his family to Newton a year or two after we arrived.
They consisted of the artist, John [Hans] Bartsch,
St. Louis, Paul Bartsch, Newton, Sister Helen Bartsch of Bethel
Deaconess
Hosp." (From Bartsch Family Roots, p. 150; also From the
Steppes of
Russia to the Prairies of Kansas - 1893, by Rev. J. B. Epp,
The memoirs of
the coming to America of the two families ‑‑ Rev. Johann Epp and family
and Mr.
John Wiebe and family. Written
in German
by Rev. J. B. Epp in 1942; translated into English by Arnold C.
Claassen.)
1915.
Died at the age of 67, Newton, Kansas.
Johannes
Bartsch and Anna Hamm Bergman Bartsch had six
children:
Johannes Herman ("Hans")
Bartsch, born June 3, 1884 in
Tashkent, Turkestan. He died in 1959 in St. Louis, Missouri at the age
of 75.
Gotthilf Jacob Bartsch, born December 24, 1885 in Tashkent,
Turkestan. He died August 29, 1886 in Tashkent at two years of age.
Rudolf Bartsch, born June 5,
1887 in Aulie Ata, Central
Asia. He died in Aulie Ata in July of 1888 at the age of one year.
Herrmann Bartsch, born August
27, 1888 in Aulie Ata, Central
Asia. He died in Aulie Auta on February 8, 1890 at one and a half years
of age.
Paul William Bartsch, Sr., born
May 13, 1891 in Aulie Ata,
Central Asia. He died in Topeka, Kansas on December 1, 1967 at the age
of 76.
Helene Marie Bartsch, born
December 9, 1894, probably in
Newton, Kansas. She died in June of 1966 in Newton, Kansas at the age
of 71.