The story of my paternal grandmother’s family might has been preserved, partly, through the efforts of my grandmother’s diligent and faithful recording of her family’s genealogy. It was partly through examination of her notebooks that I became attracted to the Eitzen family story. This information has been supplemented over the years by other sources, particularly the GRanDMA database, as well as correspondence with several descendants and distant relatives of mine. My grandparents had many photographs, which I scanned, and over the years, I have been able to put names to faces, as well as individual stories. Here then, is a brief overview of this family’s timeline.

     The place of origin at the time Daniel von Eytzen and Margaretha arrived in Chortitza colony in 1793 was Wengeln, Kleinwerder, Marienburg district (West Prussia). They were both 36 years of age and had at least four children, including Nathaniel, who was 9 years old at the time. A 1797 list contains specific information about the Daniel von Eytzen family. The family consisted of 7 children, with 4 horses, 8 cattle, and 2 sheep.

     The 1801 census of Schoenwiese lists the von Eytzen family at #11. Nathaniel was 17 years old at this time. Schapansky’s book shows that Daniel von Eytzen had been a deacon in the Kronsweide church from 1794. An interesting note found in papers relating to the “Welfare Committee for Foreign Peoples in Southern Russia” (1789-1803), indicates that Daniel von Eytzen was one of three colonists making a request about money that had not been paid out for food. Daniel von Eytzen died May 20, 1808. The 1816 census shows that his widow, Margaretha, was living with her married son, Johann.

     Nathaniel Eytzen is not mentioned in the 1816 census. It is assumed that he left Schoenwiese for a period of time, as records show that he had received a passport, with permission to leave the colony for a certain period of time. Nathaniel is one of nine residents of Schoenwiese, listed in 1833 as a “prosperous farmer“. Nathaniel married in 1806 for the first of his three marriages. It is from his second marriage to Margaretha, in abt. 1813, that I am descended. He had two children from this marriage – Daniel Daniel Eitzen and Heinrich Eitzen. (At some point of time during Nathaniel’s lifetime, his surname’s spelling changed from “Eytzen” to “Eitzen”. Nathaniel Eytzen served as an elected “assessor” in Schoenwiese for the years 1808 – 1809, and as mayor for the village of Schoenwiese for the 1809-1810 term.