By the wells of Josephsberg

I grew up in what was known as the "Josephsberg District", north of Grenfell, Sask. The district derived its name from a village in the Austrian province of Galicia, from which early settlers had originated.
Recently I had the privilege of visiting this village, now called Korosnica, Ukraine.
Several years ago while writing the background section of my early life story I began to have a desire to research my family ancestry. My research at first was stymied because I couldn't find information on the Lowenberg family history dating earlier than my great grandfather, Valentine Lowenberg. Valentine and his immediate family had immigrated to Canada from Josephsberg, Austria in 1887.
Unfortunately many of Valentine's descendants didn't know the names of his parents, nor could they pinpoint the exact location of what once was Josephsberg, Austria.
One day in the summer of 2002 while going through some old family papers, I discovered my grandfather Frank Lowenberg's baptismal certificate. This certificate included the names of his parents and grandparents. The discovery encouraged me to dig deeper, so I turned to the internet for help. I entered my great, great grandfather's name (Wilhelm Lowenberg) on my favorite search engine (Google), and then waded through hundreds of leads. I was like a hound dog on a foxhunt! I also posted messages on the Ancestry.com bulletin board, asking for help locating my "lost ancestors".
My first solid lead yielded the names of three Lowenberg families who, in 1783 had emigrated from Standenbuhl, Germany to Josephsberg in the Austrian province of Galicia. Posting these names on the same bulletin board resulted in the receipt of Galician German church records pertaining to the name Lowenberg. These records contained all the pertinent dates including birth, baptism, confirmation, marriage, and death. I knew I had hit pay-dirt when in one Lowenberg lineage I found the correct statistical dates for Valentine, his wife Katharina (Daum) and their first three children; Philip, Elizabeth and John.
Further research on my ancestral lineage took me back to Ulrich Lowenberg who emigrated from Switzerland to Dreisen, Germany sometime prior to his death in 1681. At this point my curious nature kicked into gear and soon I was planning a trip to the lands of my ancestors, to walk where they walked and see some of the things they saw.
The long awaited trip took place May 19 - June 1, 2009. I arrived in Frankfurt, Germany on May 20, rented a car and by 7:30 a.m. was on my way to the neighbouring villages of Dreisen and Standenbuhl, some 70 kilometres southwest of Frankfurt.
In Dreisen I spent some time at the Evangelical Reformed church which was built in 1781, just a couple of years before my ancestors left the area. Around the perimeter of the church yard were a number of old grave headstones. None of the inscriptions on the headstones are decipherable. Also in the church yard was a WWI memorial which included the name of John Lowenberg.
In Standenbuhl an individual with a good command of English helped me access the church registry which contained over 80 Lowenberg entries. The earliest entry was from 1800, seventeen years after my family line left the area. Currently there are no Lowenbergs living in the immediate area of Standenbuhl or Dreisen.
Next I drove to Brehna, a small town near Leipzig, Germany, where I joined a heritage bus tour to the former Austrian province of Galicia. We travelled across Poland, stopping overnight in Krakow. After a two hour delay at the Ukrainian border we arrived at the Hotel Dnister in L'viv at 5:30 PM May 24th. The primary destination of the tour was the Austrian era village of Konigsau (now Rivne), just 5 kilometres from my destination of Josephsberg (now Korosnica).
Josephsberg was one of many villages created by a colonization program initiated by the Austrian Emperor Joseph II beginning in 1782. Houses and out buildings were built in the villages with outlying tracts of land assigned to each house. Emperor Joseph II invited German farmers to migrate to the area, live in the villages and farm the land. Farm equipment, livestalk, seed grain and everything necessary to begin farming was supplied by the government. By 1880 the population of Josephsberg was 750.
At the onset of WWII Germans still living in these villages were resettled into German occupied territories.
Monday morning May 25th I was up early and the first one to the bus. This was the day I would finally visit the village that was often referred to during my childhood years. I felt like a child on the way to the circus. The bus made its way to Konigsau where we participated in a welcoming ceremony and Mass. Following Mass a very nice lunch was served which included many Ukrainian specialty dishes.
After lunch I was given a ride to Josephsberg by Anatloy Tschunis who serves as priest at three area Greek Catholic churches: Medenice, Josephsberg and Konigsau. His daughter Vitalia, who is studying English at university in the nearby city of Drohobycz, was my translator. Because I had read reports and seen photos taken by others who had previously visited Josephsberg I knew what to expect, so I was excitingly watching for the first glimpse of the Josephsberg church steeple.
Since my driver was a priest it was only natural that the church would be our first stop. The original Evangelical Reformed church built in 1805 has recently been renovated and changed to a Greek Catholic church to serve the current population of the village. Interestingly, assistance for the renovation project was provided by residents of the town of Josephburg, Alberta. The church exterior is nicely finished with light gray stucco and the interior is beautifully decorated with many paintings and murals. The parsonage, located next to the church is in fair condition but appeared to be vacant.
Of course my greatest points of interest were the properties that had been owned by my ancestors. My research shows that ten lots in Josephsberg had been occupied by Lowenbergs at some point during the Austrian era. Of most interest were lots #40 and #87. Lot #40 is where my ancestor, Johann Jacob Lowenberg settled upon arriving in Josephsberg. Lot #87 is where my great grandfather, Valentine Lowenberg was born in May 1844, 165 years before my visit.
Two ladies who now live on the property formerly owned by my great grandfather spoke of how the old house had finally fallen in and had to be replaced. Even with different buildings on the property I experienced a feeling of "coming home". For souvenirs, I picked up a few smooth pebbles from the yard.
Across the street from the birthplace of my great grandfather is one of the famous five wells of Josephsberg. The concrete cribbing of the well stands about one meter above the ground, and it is about two meters in diameter. An apparatus supporting a heavy pole with a metal crank at one end straddles the open top of the well. A cable is wound around the pole in such a way that one pail is lowered into the well while the other pail is raised. The well is very deep and a long way to the surface of the water. There is a distinct echo when one speaks directly into the well. I was pleasantly surprised when my words "Hello! There is a Lowenberg back in town" were repeated back to me. How refreshing it was to take a mid afternoon sip of this very good-tasting cool water.
The old German cemetery is located just north of the village on the eastern slope of a hill next to a grove of trees. The outline of many graves can be seen; however most of the headstones have toppled and are laying helter skelter in the grass and small shrubs. The inscriptions on some headstones from the late 1800s and early 1900s can still be deciphered.
Sadly, the population of Korosnica (Josephsberg) is declining. Throughout the village are numerous empty lots and many of the Austrian era houses are beyond repair. A few houses have been well maintained and one or two have been recently renovated. However, it is my impression that in a few years Korosnica will have very little resemblance to the old German village of Josephsberg.
The economy of the village seems depressed. Some of the people have jobs in nearby larger centers, others in more distant locations, and one as far away as Poland.
On the day of my visit there were only a few village people at home. The children were at school in Medenice about four kilometres away. There is no school bus, so their only way to get to school is on foot or by bicycle.
Most of the gardens in the village were in very early stages of growth. Some plants were just beginning to come through the ground. Various livestock such as cows, horses, chickens and geese were at large in and around the village.
During the last evening at my hotel in L'viv I had an experience that I view as the highlight of the entire trip. By total chance, or by what I would term the providence of God, I met a man from Germany who has ancestral roots in Josephsberg and who turned out to be related to me.
I had just been to Josephsberg that day and he and his family were on their way to visit Josephsberg the next day. What are the odds? His ancestors by the name of Dexheimer lived across the street from my ancestors. His great grandfather George Lowenberg was a brother of Valentine. Dexheimer boy meets Lowenberg girl and the rest is history.
This trip together with my research has given me a greater understanding of my heritage. It was meaningful for me to visit the sanctuary where my Lowenberg ancestors worshiped. To walk the same streets, to draw water from the same well, and to visit the cemetery where some of my ancestors are buried made the experience even more than I had hoped.

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