Bettcher Family - German Colonists by the Black Sea (Familie Böttcher - Schwarzmeerdeutsche)

Our Bettcher Family (also Boettcher, Böttcher) came from Germany via Poland (Posen or South Prussia), then Bessarabia (today in Ukraine), then Dobruja (today in Romania), and finally to North Dakota. From there we have scattered across the midwestern United States and into western Canada. Our oldest known Bettcher ancestor is Michael Böttcher, born 1794 in Poland. He migrated to Bessarabia, South Russia in 1816, where he was a founding colonist of the the village Paris.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

German Colonies near the Black Sea

The Germans were welcomed to the Russian Empire during and after the Napoleonic Wars. Many settled at various locations around the west and northern coasts of the Black Sea. These people are labeled "Black Sea Germans", in German "Schwarzmeerdeutsche".
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwarzmeerdeutsche

Our Family settled in three primary areas:

Beresan Colonies, north of Odessa
Bessarabia, southwest of Odessa
Dobruja, south of the Danube Delta

1. The Beresan Colonies were founded around 1809-10

2. Bessarabia was colonized beginning in 1814
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessarabiendeutsche

3. The Dobruja area was first settled in 1842 http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dobrudschadeutsche