Peter Hiebert
Born: December 20, 1819
Place: Prangenau, GrossWerder, Westpreussen, Prussia
Died: December 26, 1880
Place: SE of Tabor Church in a Kansas blizzard
Buried: Buried: 1 mile south and ½ mile east of Tabor Church
MOTHER:
Helena Wiebe (born: 1786)
FATHER:
Cornels Christon Hiebert (born: 1780)
SIBLINGS:
Johann Hiebert (8/13/1806 - 8/26/1806)
Helena Hiebert (2/7/1808 - 2/15/1808)
(twin) Helena Hiebert (7/7/1811 - 7/29/1811)
(twin) Maria Hiebert (7/7/1811 - 8/1/1811
Cornels Hiebert (8/26/1814 - 10/3/1814)
Franz Hiebert (7/11/1818 - 7/11/1818)
Franz (Frank) Hiebert (approx. 1820; died in infancy)
Franz (Frank) Hiebert (approx. 1822 - Unknown)
Ludwig Hiebert (approx. 1824 - Unknown)
Maria Hiebert (approx. 1830 - Unknown)
SPOUSE:
Katherina (Trincke) Nachtigal Voth (2/8/1801 - 1/8/1842)
Daughter of Andreas Nachtigal (5/?/1775 - Unknown)
and Maria Voth (1/25/1782 - Unknown)
Married: March 25, 1840
Place: Alexanderwohl, Molotschna, Ukraine, South Russia
CHILDREN:
Maria Hiebert (3/22/1841 - 2/12/1902)
STEP-CHILDREN:
Katherina Voth (4/2/1825 - Unknown)
Jakob Voth (12/12/1826 - 11/27/1826)
Maria Voth (9/3/1829 - Unknown)
David Voth (2/25/1832 - Unknown)
Johann Voth (12/13/1834 - Unknown)
Susanna Voth (9/15/1837 - Unknown)
Widowed: January 8, 1842
SPOUSE:
Anna Pankratz (3/8/1823 - 11/17/1886)
Married: February 17, 1842
Place: Alexanderwohl, Molotschna, South Russia
CHILDREN:
Elisabet(h) Hiebert (6/24/1843 - 12/4/1863)
Peter P. Hiebert (8/12/1845 - 10/21/1915)
Heinrich P. Hiebert (10/27/1847 - 2/14/1923)
Franz Hiebert (1/13/1850 - 12/31/1855)
Anna Hiebert (12/31/1851 - 10/10/1935)
Helena Hiebert (5/19/1854 - 5/10/1855)
Jacob P. Hiebert (3/29/1856 - 4/6/1911)
David P. Hiebert (11/15/1858 - 5/26/1933)
Susanna Hiebert (1/2/1861 - 10/24/1961)
Susana Banman [adopted] (1/6/1861 - 11/11/1941)
Johann P. Hiebert (3/22/1863 - 9/19/1915)
Franz Hiebert (5/11/1866 - 5/?/1886)
BIOGRAPHY
Peter Hiebert was born December 20, 1819 in the village Prangenau, Gross Werder, Westpreussen, Prussia on the Vistula river delta. His parents were involved in the initial settlement of Prangenau village, Molotschna colony, in the then province of Taurida of Southern Russia in 1823-24. Peter Hiebert married his first wife between January and March of 1840, since later in the year it would have interfered with farm work. She was the widow Katherina Nachtigal Voth born on February 20, 1801 in Klein Kunpat, Westpreussen in the Przechowka congregation along the Vistual floodplain in what is today Poland. She had married Peter Voth (born: March 24, 1787) in 1822 and migrated with the entire congregation to found the village of Alexanderwohl in the Molotshna colony in about 1820-23. She bore six children to her first husband:
~ Katherina Voth (born April 2, 1825)
~ Jakob Voth (born December 12, 1826 and on November 27, 1856 married
Helena Schmidt born February 1, 1826)
~ Maria Voth (born September 3, 1829)
~ David Voth (born February 25, 1832. On May 7, 1857 he married Maria Richert.)
~ Johann Voth (born December 13, 1834 and on December 3, 1857 married Maria Pankratz born August 6, 1834.)
~ Susanna Voth (born September 15, 1837 and on November 22, 1862 married Cornelius Wedel born July 28, 1836.)
In 1840 when Peter Hiebert married her, the oldest was 15 years old and the youngest was 2 ½ years old. In addition to the children, he acquired a home in Alexanderwohl village and fields to farm. Katharina bore him a girl child, Maria Hiebert born on March 22, 1841 (later married Abraham Konrat, perhaps a son of Peter's family friend). Katharina died before the end of the year 1841.
Peter Hiebert quickly searched out another candidate for wife, to care for the little baby and the other six children. He took Anna Pankratz of Friedensdorf for his second wife. She had been born March 8, 1823 in Friedensdorf to Heinrich Pankratz and his first wife. They were married February 17, 1842. She immediately became stepmother to 7 children, from age 11 months up to 17 years. She bore him 11 children of which 7 survived far enough into adulthood to bear their own children:
~ Elisabet(h), Peter, Heinrich, Franz, Anna, Helena, Jacob P., David P., Susanna, Johann P., and Franz Hiebert.
Later they adopted a baby girl Susana Banman (born January 6, 1861) about the same age as their youngest daughter (only 4 days difference). Susana Banman's biological parents were Heinrich Banman and Anna Hiebert Banman. It appears that Anna died as a result of complications in childbirth. The situation of adoption indicates that Susana was so young at her mother's death that she required breast milk to survive. Perhaps the two sisters-in-law (because both their names were Anna) decided to name both their daughters Susanna. Since Anna Pankratz Hiebert had just born her own Susanna Hiebert just 4 days before, she was the obvious choice, especially since the descendant mother was her husband's youngest sister. Those two girls must have had a delightful time enjoying life together, having been together from their mother's breast, perhaps, as would fraternal twins. That Susana Banman was loved by her new family is shown by the affectionate designations given her such as "little Susanna", persisting even into the next generation.
At some point in time, the Heinrich Goertz family moved into the house next door. These two families became very well acquainted with each other. Four of their children married four children of the Peter Hiebert family.
Because the Russian government threatened to remove their privileges of religious freedom, in particular their right to abstain from participation in war, the vast majority of Alexanderwohl residents decided to migrate to the United States. Nearly 2,000 persons migrated in 1874. Peter Hiebert and family left the Molotschna in mid-July, boarding the train at Halbstadt and heading for Hamburg, Northern Germany. En route they lost 12 days in shifting from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. He and his family boarded the S.S. Cimbria August 12, 1874 and disembarked New York harbor August 27, 1874.
The next day they went through customs. Their baggage was hauled across the Hudson to Castle Gardens where several days later they boarded trains leaving for Lincoln, Nebraska. From there they took trains to Peabody, Kansas where they disembarked, taking wagons to the settlement houses near the present location of Goessel, Kansas.
From here the settlers would look around in the surrounding countryside for property that was appealing to them. On one such trip at age 60, Peter Hiebert was caught in a sudden Kansas blizzard. He died December 26, 1880. His wife Anna died 6 years later on November 17, 1886.
