The 1789 Land Census/General-Nachweisung of
West Prussian Mennonites

Compiled by Adalbert Goertz

The oldest Census of Mennonites in Prussia was taken in 1776, by order of King Frederick II the Great ("Old Fritz"), and for most practical purposes it marks the barrier for most family researchers which is difficult to overcome.

After his death in 1786, his successor and nephew King Frederick William II was not nearly as tolerant as his great uncle. Since the Prussian army was based on the landowners and their resources in manpower and horsepower and since the Mennonites were granted religious freedom and exemption from military service, it became increasingly worrisome to the military that Mennonites kept increasing their land holdings and, thus, would decrease the military land base which was called the canton system. The new king agreed to the suggestion that land holdings of Mennonites be frozen and issued the Edict of 1789 which regulated and limited Mennonite land ownership. Each land acquisition from non-Mennonites was made dependent on a special permit (Consens). A Consens was not necessary for transfer Mennonite-to-Mennonite or if the Mennonite purchaser would relinquish his military exemption Privilegium. Whether Consens was granted or refused depended largely on local government recommendation and on how much land was sold by Mennonites to non-Mennonites.

From 1789 on, we have periodic land censuses up to 1867 when the Edict of 1789 was repealed.

Some regional land censuses (1824, 1829, 1845) have been published in Ostdeutsche Familienkunde. Whether another General-Nachweisung (for 1802-1805?, 1824) exists, is uncertain, but possible.

Since these land censusus counted the land unavailable as a military resource, we find data only which pertain to the land like:

H-M-R (Hufen-Morgen-Ruten)
where 1 Culmisch Hufen = 16.8 hectares = ca.41 acres = 30 Morgen,
1 Culmisch Morgen = 300 Ruten (square rods).

This is in contrast to the 1776 census which has nothing to do with land ownership and which counts Mennonite family members.

Since it was the land in Mennonite hands which was counted and recorded it is not surprising that we find Mennonites who were counted more than once when they owned two or more plots of land, and it is not obvious whether two or more names mean different individuals or the same person holding more than one piece of land. If the locations associated with the same Mennonite name are close together, we can assume that we deal with the same individual. If the locations are far apart, we probably deal with different individuals.

Since the legal status regarding land ownership of Mennonites in the Western parts of the kingdom (i.e. Rhineland, Krefeld, Koblenz) was different from that in West Prussia, we do not find similar Nachweisungen of Mennonites there: Mennonites were not permitted to own any land, they all were Paechter (tenants).

The data of the 1789 land census given here were transcribed from a microfilm obtained from the Prussian archives at Merseburg. The records have been transferred since from Merseburg to Berlin and have the Signatur:

II. HA. Gen. Dir. Abt. 9. Westpreussen. Materien. Tit. 109, No. 1: Mennonitensachen vol. 2, 1787 - 1798, 389 Blatt, Auswanderung,Grundstücke etc.: Ad Nr.1: vol. 2: General-Nachweisung von den in dem Marienwerderschen Dept. befindlichen Mennonistischen Besitzungen, seit wann und wie dieselbigen die Grundstücke besitzen und was für Abgaben zu den Kirchen etc., de anno 1789.

This transcription of the 139 film pages contains 2443 name entries. Since according to official Prussian census figures, there were 2207 "possessionierte" Mennonites in West Prussia in 1789, we must conclude that the excess numbers in this listing are duplicate name entries.

Alphabetical Index of Individuals in this Census
Text version of Census
Text version of Census (Alphabetical)