VGI Updates

Father Steidle was a member of the Order of the Society of Jesus (Jesuit Order). He served the parish of Mariental from 1 March 1809 to 15 September 1820.

Father Staub was born 5 July 1872 in Katharinenstadt. He was ordained on 24 May 1895. He served as the administrator in Neu-Kolonie.

Father Staub was born in May 1870 in Katharinenstadt, and died 3 December 1961 in Alt-Maikuduck, Karaganda.

He was ordained on 20 March 1894.

From 1894 to 1895, he served the Volga German parish in Louis. He served the Kamenka Parish from 1898 to 1906. In 1904 he also began serving the parish of Pfeifer. In 1906, he began service in Zug where he served until 1914. He also served the parish of Schönchen from 1911 to 1912.

He was exiled to Sevastropol in 1928.

Father Stang was born in Volmer. He was ordained on 18 August 1891. He served in Louis from 1895 until 15 November 1897.

Pastor Stahf was born 13 September 1861 in Katharinenstadt. He served the parish in Grimm from 1890 to 1910. From 1910-1918, he was in Dorpat and Riga. In 1919, he escaped to Germany. He died 28 June 1933 in Berlin, Germany. He married in 1890 to Julie Alma Arndt. Alma was born 6 January 1872 in Dorpat and died 23 February 1946 in Rittermannshagen (Mecklenburg).

They had 3 sons: Edgar (8 August 1891 - 18 December 1964), Roland, and Helmut.

The Rev. Wilhelm Stärkel was born in Norka on 13 December 1839, son of colonists Heinrich S. Stärkel and Amalie Knippel. Until 1859, the surname appears to have been spelled Störkel.

The Rev. Konrad Staab was born in 1891 in a Volga German colony. He served in Kamyshin from 1922 to about 1925. By 1925, he was serving in Frank and Hussenbach. He was arrested in Kamyshin in 1934 and died before 1938.

The Rev. Nikolaus Reinhold Sprekelsen was born 26 July 1829. He was ordained on 21 December 1858.

He served from 1859-1865 in Kamsko-Ishewsk. From 1865-1904, he served in Schöndorf.

The Rev. Michael Somelt was born 31 August 1868 in Palamuse parish (today located in Jõgeva County) in Estonia. He entered the University of Tartu in the fall of 1888 to study medicine, but changed to study theology.

He was ordained on 15 December 1896 and accepted a call to serve the Volga German parishes of Frank and Hussenbach from 1901-1914.

In 1914, he went to Siberia to found a new congregation.  He contracted tuberculosis there and died on 15/16 July 1915.

The Rev. Woldemar Emil Arthur Sibbul, son of merchant Georg S. Sibbul and Elisabeth Makkar, was born in Dorpat, Estonia, on 25 August 1869 and died 16 February 1947 in Berlin. He was married in Saratov on 10 January 1901 to Olga Kindsvater, daughter of Alexander K. Kindsvater and Natalie Müller. She was born in Saratov on 26 October 1878 and died in Hamburg, West Germany, on 14 December 1972.