| Notes |
- “Andreas and 11 others representing diverse religious groups made a land-scouting trip to North America from mid-April to September of 1873.11 They departed from Hamburg on the Frisia, arriving at New York May 29, 1873.12 From there they traveled to Fargo (now in North Dakota); Winnipeg, Manitoba; South Dakota; and Sioux City, Iowa before returning. On Aug. 16 at Lancaster, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Andreas became the first of the Volhynian Mennonites to meet with American Amish Mennonites. He met with minister/elder Samuel Yoder of Mifflin County and Samuel Kauffman of Lancaster County.
“On Aug. 21 Schrag and others boarded the Hammonia to return, arriving in West Prussia Sept. 6. He reunited with his family Sept. 21. The following spring the reunited Schrag family boarded the S.S. City of Richmond at Liverpool with Müller, Schwartz, and Waldner relatives, arriving at New York May 18, 1874. The passenger list shows farmer Andreas Schragg, 53; Barbara, 48; farmer Jno., 24; Ann, 22; Andra, 1; Barbara, 27; Jacob, 24; and Katharine, 24; all born in Russia.
“Upon arrival the Schrag and Ewert families split off from the main group and went to Philadelphia. There they met with an agent of the Santa Fe Railroad who accompanied them the rest of the way.
“According to Bernese Anabaptists, “During 1874 most of the Volhynian Swiss migrated to America. Andreas Schrag, who was sent by them a year before to investigate possibilities in America, led the first group of 10 families to near Yankton, South Dakota. Other larger settlements were made near Pretty Prairie, Kansas, and near Moundridge, Kansas.”
“Eventually at least 159 families came in four groups: the first three to Turner and Hutchinson Counties in South Dakota, and only the fourth to Kansas (many of the German-speaking families in Kansas migrated to Manitoba during World War I). Though many of the families had lived as Amish Mennonites when they first left the Pfalz, by the time they migrated they would be described as Mennonites.
“In Russia Andreas’s older brother Joseph Schrag had been an Amish Mennonite minister. Joseph’s son Johannes Schrag attended the assembly of Amish Mennonite ministers [Ger. Diener Versammlung] at Hopedale May 16-19, 1875. He was accompanied by Volhynian immigrant Jacob Stucky of Kansas. Jacob delivered the opening day Sunday morning sermon, and Johannes the afternoon sermon. Johannes also attended the assemblies at Archbold, Ohio in 1876; and Eureka, Woodford County in 1878 (the last major assembly of ministers). Christian Nafziger of Hopedale reciprocated by visiting South Dakota in 1877.
“Andreas is also known for a trip to Pennsylvania he took with minister Joseph Graber in 1878. There they secured a $7,400 loan at six percent to tide over the Turner County settlement; it was repaid in three years.
“They are found on the 1880 census of Township 98 Range 55, Turner County, South Dakota (in the southeastern corner of the state) as farmer Anders Schrag, 60, born in Russia to Swiss parents; and Barbara, 59, born in Russia to Swiss parents.
“Andreas and Barbara are buried in Salem Zion Mennonite Cemetery in Turner County. Wooden markers there were destroyed by a prairie fire in 1889, and the Schrags are listed on a group memorial.” [1]
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1821 - 1899 (78 years)
