The countries:
* 1850 U.S. Territories
* 1870 U.S. Territories
* 1871 Germany
* 1849 - 1851 MN Territories
* Manitowoc Cty., WI history. Start at 1850 for life as Ferdinand & Friederike Olp knew it.
* The Olp church obits. Search in Edit, Find for the surname in your browser.
* About Wisconsin immigration
* 1920 United States
* Percent of MN German settlement
* U.S. Immigration timeline
* Why did they come?
The German kreis (counties):
Pommern
* MN Pommern Regional Group site. Excellent place to start.
* Pommern history
* 1938 Pommern kreis
* Pommern flag
* Pommern anthem
* 1939 Rummelsburg
* Rummelsburg cities w/chart
* Homeland Circle of Rummelsburg home page (select English at bottom of page)
* Groß Schwirsen church is now Catholic; they have put up this site with church and town history (incl. pictures). Not an english version; use Google translation. Worth the effort.
* Wolin for the kids (and adults) by Fact Monster
* Overview of Wollin the island and Wolin the city.
* Usedom-Wollin kreis (look for cities Wolin, Chinnow, Kolzow (displays slowly)
* Usedom-Wollin site, great pictures! Find url in Google, select translate, it will surf the site in English.
Silesia:
* Buckowintke/Buchenwerder history in Twardogora, Poland area
* Gminy Twardogora map detail, Bukowina on lower left
* Lower Silesia historical summary
* Lower Silesia (Niederschlesian) encyclopedia detail with flag and maps
* Mapquest of Poland, area of Olesnica, Bukowina/Buckowintke is by Biale Bloto
Pictures:
* The ORDUNA, 1924 immigration transport ship of Herman Ballenthin and friend, Paul Burzlaff.
* The NECKAR, immigration transport ship of Johann Gottlieb and Johanna Zeise family in 1875. Also Auguste Tischer Dostal.
* Pommern kreis
* Pommern costumes by kreis
* Groß Schwirsen cemetery, incl. Rummelsburgerland memorial to honor ancestors placed in 2000
* Usedom-Wollin site, great pictures! Find url in Google, select translate, it will surf the site in English.
* Map of Wollin Island church locations, click on our towns for picture and description (in German, need translator). Ferdinand & Friedericke Olp and their family probably would have celebrated personal events in these churches.
Religion:
* Primary religion of all our towns was Evangelisch Lutheran (also Evangelical, Evangelic).
* Lutheranism history
* Religion in modern Germany
* Records repository for Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany:
Evangelisches Zentral Arciv in Berlin. Also contains excellent definition of how the Lutheran religion evolved in Europe which explains why the first German emigrants to America left as early as 1683.
* Groß Schwirsen had their own parish church, many village/towns did not. Often if there was a building, pastors served several parrishes (same as in America). Residents travelled to the nearest town for baptisms, confirmations, etc.
* Trinity, Faribault, MN "125 Years of Tales", typical southern MN church history.
Interesting facts:
* 2005, Bukowina/Buckowintke/Buchenwerder is approx. 20 mi. NE of Wroclaw/Breslau.
* Wolin is the name shared by an island located in the Baltic Sea located just off the Polish coast, and a town located on the island. It is nearly connected to the island of Usedom.
* The very first printed copy of the official Declaration of Independence was in German, not English. It appeared in the Philadelphia newspaper Pennsylvania Staatsbote. Source: U.S. German Consulate.
There are many online translators producing the "gist" of a message. If anyone finds an "exact" translator, please let me know. These are my primaries; most do multiple languages. Most are free with daily word limit:
* AltaVista. An established, reliable translator; for the "rookie" researcher.
* Linguatec. A German product for multiple languages. Recommended by my German friends as "better".
* Poltran. Polish/English only. Easy.
* Polish-English chart for common words.
* MN Historical Society (History Center in St. Paul, MN)
* Castle Garden, NY Port passenger search
* Castle Garden, NY Port & Ellis Island experience, great pictures
Population chart:
| 1935 | Buckowintke/Buchenwerder | Oels | 164 |
| 1935 | Maliers/Malen | Oels | n/a |
| 1905 | Groß Schwirsen | Rummelsburg | 205 (600 by 1933) |
| 1905 | Pritzig | Rummelsburg | 36 (346 by 1936) |
| 1905 | Chinnow | Usedom-Wollin | 99 |
| 1905 | Wolin | Usedom-Wollin | 4414 |
| 1905 | Kolzow | Usedom-Wollin | 784 |
