Schoenchen, Kansas
Est. April - May, 1877

 Schoenchen is distinctive among Unsere Leute for it was the last settlement founded by the Volga-German immigrants in Ellis and Rush Counties.  It is the only one which was established in 1877 and the sole community created by spinoff from an original because of conflict among the first settlers.

The story of Schoenchen begins at Liebenthal.  Founded on February 22, 1876, Liebenthal was the creation of a part of the Volga-German group which left Saratov, Russia on October 24, 1875, sailed from Bremen, Germany on the Ohio November 2, landed in Baltimore on November 23 and spent the winter in Topeka, Kansas after arriving there by train on November 28, 1875.  On February 21, 1876 the Liebenthal group came to Hays and the following day moved to the present townsite in Section 21, Township 16, Range 18, in Rush County.  Among the Schoenchen founders were the following who participated in the establishment of Liebenthal share in the added distinction of having been involved in the founding of the first Volga-German community and being among those of Unsere Leute who actually founded two of the original settlements:

Heinrich & Elizabetha (Hermann) Bieker - Maria, Maria Katharina, Margaretha
Johann & Maria Eva (Wasinger) Bieker - Anna Katharina, Maria Katharina, Clemens, Johannes, Franz
Johann Joseph & Maria (Mayer) Bieker - Gottlieb, Konrad, Anna, Elizabetha, Alexander
Nikolaus & Anna Maria (Hardinger) Bieker - Katharina, Sophia, Elizabetha, Anna Maria,
                                                                     Maria Elizabetha, Katharina Elizabetha, Alexander
Wilhelm Bieker - Peter, Elizabetha, Kaspar, Joseph, Margaretha
Paul & Christina (Schueller) Dinges
Franz Waldschmidt - Nikolaus, Katharina Elizabetha, Johannes, Katharina, Adam, Alexander,
                                 Anna Katharina
Philip & Maria Elizabetha Wolf - Margaretha, Philip, Johannes
Johann & Anna Katharina Zimmerman - Katharina

On August 14, 1876 a second, all from Schoenchen, Russia settled in Liebenthal.  Included in is number were the following families which later moved to Schoenchen:

Agnes (Maria) Hepner (Grandmother)
Helena Herklotz
Karl Anton Herklotz
Jakob Munsch
Joseph & Anna Elizabeth (Lang) Munsch - Anton
Michael & Maria Agnes (Hepner) Schmidt - Dorothea, Julila, Paulina, Anna
Alois Werth
Friederich & Lucia (Ebel) Werth - Anton, Johannes
Jakob & Maria Barbara (Munnsch) Wwerth - Jakob, Johannes
Johann & Maria Elizabetha (Munsch) Werth - Maria Elizabetha
Johann Peter & Maria (Zimmerman) Werth - Theobald
Karl & Anna Margaretha (Wendler) Werth - Nikolaus, Jakob, Heinrich, Maria, Eliz., Katharina
J. Jakob & Maria (Werth) Zimmerman -Theresia, Benjamin, Nikodemus, Maria, Alexander
Katharina Zimmerman (Grandmother)

In September, 1876 a third group, all from Neu-Obermunjou, Russia settled in Liebenthal.  Of that party all but the Philip Dreher family later moved to Schoenchen.  They were:

Adam & Katharina (Sauer) Bieker - Franz, Katharina, Elizabetha
Franz & Maria Julia (Gross) Dreher - Anna, Alexander, Peter, Katharina
Johann & Anna Maria (Unrein) Dreher - Johann, August
Konrad & Anna Elizabetha (Wendler) Dreher - Maria
Anna Katharina Graf (Grandmother)
Friederick & Anna Maria (Kohlmeyer) Graf - Katharina, Clementina, Barbara, Florian
Joseph Rumbach
Joseph & Anna Katharina Zimmerman - Paul

Research Materials
Available

Our Ancestors' Quest For Freedom Realized In Schoenchen, Ks.
By: Fr. Alvin V. Werth

Life Eternal
Record of deaths and burials 1884-2001
by Orlinda A. Werth