From: Krasna, Bessarabia
7 September 1929

Dear Editor:

Sorry to make you wait so long for my report. We were up to our ears in work, and that’s good news, because we had a real good harvest.

On the average, the barley yield was 110-120 Pud/Desjatine. Oats and summer wheat also did very well, but not enough of it was sown. Rapeseed only produced 30-40 Pud because of the caterpillar damage, as I reported earlier. There will be no wine grapes, just table grapes because most of the vines either froze or dried out. Potatoes and other hoe produce did not do very well as the late summer was too dry. All would be well if the prices were better. We only receive 50 Lei/Pud for barley, although we had to pay 100-110 Lei/Pud in the spring. However, the farmer has to sell in order to pay off the debts he made through the failed harvest.

I met Raimund Ihli a short while ago. He asked to send greetings to the Dakota Rundschau editor and staff as well as to his brother-in-law Magnus Steinke. He would be very happy to receive a subscription to the paper. His children, especially, love to read interesting articles from the Rundschau aloud whenever they get the chance from borrowed papers. Thank Mr. Brendel for the excellent job he is doing by keeping the paper easy to read and understand.

There are many instances where the paper received high compliments. American and Canadian subscribers should take heed of this and remember that a subscription to the Rundschau would be a cherished gift to their friends here. I would also urge the Americans of Krasna origin that do not get the Rundschau to subscribe if they are still interested in the goings-on of their old homeland.

I will begin with the description of the village of Krasna, which shall be submitted in installments. I will go from farm to farm and begin at the upper village end, towards the railroad, as follows:

• The first farm belongs to the late Johannes Boot. The buildings were lost in the flooding of 1927, but the land was distributed among his three sons who built there: Friedrich Boot and wife Klara, daughter of Wendelin Paul who went to Brazil. Rudolf, the second son, has died and left behind his widow Marianna, daughter of Johannes Kuntz. The third son, Zachäus and wife Marianna, daughter of Pius Tischler. With the latter is also the old mother, Elisabetha nee Lauderbach. All three homes are roofed in brick.
• 2. Zachäus Ternes and wife Barbara, daughter of Georg Müller.
• 3. Widow of the late Thomas Kopp, Etelinda, daughter of Franz Rückert.
• 4. Anton Mathias Söhn and wife Amalia, daughter of the late Anton Herrman.
• 5. Widow of the later August Bachmeier, Theresia, daughter of Herrman Johannes
• 6. Martin Krams and wife.
• 7. Jakob Koch and wife, daughter of Thomas Wagner.
• 8. Rochus Dirk and wife and their married son Maximilian with wife Anisia, daughter of the late Martin Müller
• 9. Formerly the home of Peter Klug. Now home of Stefanus Krams, son of Josef and wife Semfrosa daughter of Peter Gedak.
• 10. Friedrich Heinrich and son Michael and wife, daughter of the late Blasius Kopp.
• 11. Vinzens Heinrich and wife, daughter of Simon Koch.
• 12. Jakob Gedak and son-in-law Johannes Speicher.
• 13. Reinhold Riehl and wife, daughter of Martin Müller.
• 14. Formerly the home of the late Michael Ternes, now property of Mathias Wuitschik with wife Angelina, daughter of the late Anton Herrman.
• 15. Georg Söhn and wife nee Müller.
• 16. Albertus Riehl and wife Derfilia, daughter of Jakob Koch.
• 17. Widow of the late Blasius Kopp.
• 18. Adolf Koch and wife Karolina, daughter of the late Johannes Boot. The old building standing in its entirety.
• 19. Widow of the late Reinhold Habrich, Germana, daughter of Martin Ternes, new building.
• 20. Johannes Habrich, son of the late Michael Habrich, wife Katharina, daughter of late Max Hein.
• 21. Peter Söhn, son of August, who left with his family a short while back and sold the property to Albertus Marthe.
• 22. Simon Folk, his wife is Franziska Tschismack [Tschischmak].
• 23. Widow of Rafael Folk (who fell in the World War), Katharina nee Ternes.
• 24. David Löb, house burned down due to lightning strike in 1915.
• 25. Formerly property of Peter Löb who went to America, now inhabited by Anton Söhn and his wife nee Materi.
• 26. Ludwig Braun and wife nee Waleria Tschismack [Tschischmak].

(To be continued with the Mühlegasse on the creek side.)

We buried Marianna Ternes today at the age of 69. Her first husband was Peter Dirk and she was the daughter of the late Mathias Haag. The poor lady was no longer in possession of her full faculties. She was found dead with a bashed in skull on the train tracks between Krasna and Beresina. No one knows how she got there into the steppes. May the Lord grant her eternal peace.

Greetings to the readers here and there as well as the editor and staff.

Joseph Braun