Bechthold Genealogy

There are many different Bechthold Families in North America.  On this page I will attempt to bring some order to the various families, as I know them. None of these trees are complete.  In order to allay privacy concerns the majority of living individuals are not listed here.  I have more much more information for serious researchers or any interested Bechthold(t).

Please click on any of the underlined links to see family trees or more information.

My family begins with Michael born in the Belovesch Colony of Russia, in the vicinity of the present day city of Kiev.  He along with part of his family emigrated to the US in the 1870's settling first in the Dakota Territory, in the vicinity of Milltown, SD.  Michael's son Heinrich later moved most of his family to Lincoln Valley, ND.  Since then the majority of Heinrich's descendents  have moved to California, Nebraska, and Georgia. Michael's other son Christof moved to Canada where the majority of his descendants remain. Michael's ancestors.

There is another family of Bechthold's in the Central Valley of California today.  That family follows the same migration pattern as Michael's family to North Dakota.  The distinction of this family is that they moved directly to the Lodi, California in the early 1900's.  Heinrich, came from an area in the Crimea known as Temesch.

The next family of Bechthold's came from Donnhof in the Volga Region of Russia. The head of this family begins with Johann George born in 1741.  At least two branches of this family are in North America today. One family surname is spelled Bechtholdt and the other Bechtholt.

There is a family of Bechthold's centered in the Ontario, Canada area.  Sharon Bechthold maintains a page that references these Bechthold's.  Go to Sharon's Page.     Sharon's ancestors came directly from Germany.

Another group of Bechthold's live in Iowa.  They came from directly from Germany. I received this list from Sara Palmer. She can be reached at palmer@ykt0.attnet.or.jp


Exciting new information:  Thanks to Debbie I have reason to believe that my ancestors who emigrated finally from the Crimea in Russia were part of a migration pattern from Belowesch of the original Belowesh colonies near Kiev, Russia to Belowesch of the Maripol Colonies about 1831 and then in 1861 to the Crimea.  If that pattern is confirmed than I am most likely an a descent of W. or Konrad Bechthold who emigrated to Russia in 1766 (per Dr. Stumpp's book) from Germany.

In an effort to expand the Bechthold surname back into Russia I have been extracting birth, death, and marriage records. I am currently extracting Grunau Parrish  records from the St. Petersburg Records. As a minimum I am extracting all Bechthold , Seibel, and Reiswig names.  So far I have extracted the years 1833 through 1865, even though all those years are not included in the attached files.

If your are aware of any Bechthold's that are not listed or referenced on this page I would sure like to know about them.  If you are a Bechthold I would love to hear from you. You can always email me at   gbechthold@gmail.com   I can accept attachments at that address so if you have the information in electronic form please feel free to attach it to an email.

Last updated: 5/3/2009

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This page has been accessed at least several times since August 11, 1999.