Individual Profile

Emigration note: Applied to emigrate.

Note: He has been linked as the son of Michael Loewen and Katharina Hildebrand, but there is no evidence for this beyond family legend. In the 1772 census of West Prussia he is listed in Tiegenhof with his wife and one daughter (over 12 years old). He was a weaver at that time. He was classified under "Mietsgaertner oder Einwohner" and lived on Vorhoffsgasse. This means that he was either a renter of a small lot or was landless at that time. In the 1776 census of Mennonites in West Prussia he is listed in Tiegenhof with his wife, 3 sons, and 1 daughter, where he is stated to have been a "Eigenthumer" (property owner) and a weaver. In the 1789 census of Mennonite Landownwer in West Prussia he is listed in Tiegenhof. He was living in Tiegenhof at the time of his marriage to Justina Schellenberg in 1792 and his marriage was classified as that of a widower with a single girl. He appears to have been living in Tiegenhof, Prussia, between 1789 and 1803 as he had children who were baptized in the Tiegenhagen Geimeinde who were from Tiegenhof during those years.

Note: According to he emigration application he was a "Leinweber" [linen weaver] who owned a cottage and garden in Tiegenhof. He migrated from the Elbing area in Prussia to the Molotschna Colony, S. Russia in 1804 (P. Rempel, p. 84). His age is given as 56 in the 1804 immigration list, suggesting that he may have been born ca 1748 rather than in 1743. He must have died between 30 Jul 1804, when he arrived in Russia, and 27 Oct 1806, the date of the 1806 Molotschna colony census where his wife is listed as a widow. The Dorothy Huebert submission says he died enroute from Prussia to Russia. This is unlikely since he is registered in Grodno, Russia on 30 Jul 1804. One record says he was married on 3 Nov 1792 (This is obviously a "reversal" error : 11/3 vs. 3/11! The church record is clearly 11 Mar.). According to The Loewen Book by Betty Stansberry Michael Loewen and Justina Schellenberg also had a son named Franz and a daughter named Anna. However, these two children are not recorded in West Prussian or Russian records from that time period and it appears that Betty Stansberry incorrectly interpreted the reminiscences of Anna Koop (b. 5 Jun 1863) #10402 who was referring to Franz Loewen (b. 18 Aug 1812) #51656 and Anna Loewen (b. ca 1816) #51658.