John was born in Elsivetpol, Russia (now Eastern Turkey). He is the son of Fyodor Abrosimovich Poppin (Bet. 1846–1850 and Abt. 1890) and Martha Savelivna Popoff (1852-1931). He was one of five children: John, Elmer, William, Jack, and Mary.
He married Hazel Nicholas Seminoff (1887-1968) on 01 Jan 1909 in Kars, Russia. They had eight children: John, Alice, James, Nell, Mary, George, Hazel, and Dorothy.
Below are several chapters from "Ack! Amerika" by George John Poppin and Nancy Poppin Posey. They give a rich portral of John Fred Poppin's life. There isn't room for the entire book.
"A Sketch Of A Proud And Wonderful Family
Once upon a time, a time in the not too distant past, there lived a legend whose name was upheld in pride. For a short while, there seemed to be a prosperous future, until the bubble burst in 1929. That was the year of the Great Economic Depression and Dad lost the huge ranch, truck horses one hundred head of thoroughbred Holstein milk cows, farm equipment and all that went with it. There went John Fred Poppin¡¦s dreams of a family, which eventually dispersed into the chasms of ¡§Americanization¡¨. That was my father who with Hanya Ivanovna, my mother, saw the ending of a dear and loving family which was always eager to give a helping hand to its brothers and sisters in love and hope, only to fade away into oblivion...gone with the wind into individual families. Each family tried to make the most of it with little or no support from their familial ties.
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CHAPTER 1
And Now I Begin
I recall when I was quite young and was living in Lincoln, California, Dad would often tell us about his trips in Eastern Turkey during the winter when he was hauling his freight with a team of three horses and a sleigh. His ability to describe his experiences and travels were so vivid and his voice was so clear and loud that his exuberant story telling enthralled us. What experiences he had and I still recall many pleasant memories of his story telling on cold winter nights before a roaring fire. After all the chores were done, dinner was over and dishes were put away, Dad would tell of his experiences in the old country.
I have written an account of some of those experiences as well as an account of our family from 1907 to present day. There have been several books written about the Molokans and areas have been cited that would best describe various points of interest. This is being done to supplement information provided by my parents as well as my own experiences. I have inserted key photos into the document to help provide a word picture in the minds of the reader. These photos will draw attention to the chronology of events that I am about to address. My family endured many hardships not only in their immigration to America, but also in their every day lives. They worked hard to provide for their families and it is with utmost respect that I acknowledge their contributions.
My father's name was John Fred (Ivan Fyodorovich) Poppin and his father¡¦s name was Fred (Fyodor Abrosimovich) Poppin. My father¡¦s mother was Martha (Matryona Savelivna Popov/Popoff) Poppin. They all resided in Kars, Russia, which is now part of Eastern Turkey. My father had three brothers and one sister. They are William Fred (Vasily Fyodorovich), Elmer Fred (Yermolai/Ermolai Fyodorovich) Jack Fred (Yakov Fyodorovich) Poppin and Mary Fred (Masha Fyodorivna) Poppin.
Grandfather Fred Poppin was an ill person and by the time Dad reached young adulthood, his father had died. This left Grandmother Poppin with four sons and a daughter to raise on her own. All of the boys pitched in, worked the land, and grew up in Kars, Russia.
My people were peasants or people of the soil. Dad's family had a small plot of land in Russia. Dad didn¡¦t describe his village but when I interviewed Mom, she was able to fill in some gaps for living arrangements, meals, etc. for her family. Some details may not be pertinent to Dad¡¦s family, but the description of the Molokan life in Kars could be construed for most inhabitants. Their home was typical of the Kars area. It was a small, earth-roofed house and built close to the ground. A Russian traditional style hut was called a peasant house and was made of mud, horse dung, and straw. It had a long entrance hall that served as an air lock against the cold. There was a kitchen with a big oven, called a petch. It served as the central heating system. The petch was similar to a large Dutch oven and was made from mud bricks. Some of the family slept atop of it during the winter. They ate and slept in the same room. The meals were cooked in the petch. Their meals usually consisted of a lot of potatoes and tea. Sometimes they might have vegetable Borsht without meat stock or Lapsha, but usually it was potatoes and tea for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The Lapsha or noodles were made by hanging thinly rolled out dough over long poles over heated coals. When dried, the dough would then be rolled and sliced thinly into noodles. Bread was made of wheat and/or rye flour and was dark. Breakfast usually consisted of potatoes, when they were available, that were peeled or unpeeled, fried, boiled, baked or mashed and a glass of tea. Occasionally there would be rice or Kasha, which is porridge with milk. That was a treat. Lunch might consist of potatoes and tea, or milk and brown rice. Supper would be potatoes and chai (tea) and vegetables when they were in season. Water was obtained from a well. It was brought into the home in buckets, slung over the shoulders on poles and then poured into large buckets inside the house. The beds were wooden. They slept on a Tyoofyakh, that is a feather mattress and covered themselves with a blanket. Their toilet was an outhouse. They bathed in their own Banya or sauna bath usually every Saturday afternoon and evening. Their childhood clothing usually consisted of a Roobaha, that is a big shirt and went Bishtanoff or without, literally without underpants. They had no shoes. One could not help but become very curious on certain occasions during Dad's storytelling. "Pahp, (Dad), what did you use for toilet paper when you were away out in the fields in Russia?" Good question. When nature called and they had to go, they would first pick out a bit of clodded soil or a smooth rock and go away as far as they could go from the group, if any was present, assume the position and let it fire away. They cleansed the area with the smooth rock or their finger and let it go at that. NATURE IN THE RAW IS SELDOM MILD!!
The Poppin family worked the soil, raised grains, and had a small herd of cattle. They were not large landowners but they had enough land to get by satisfactorily. When Dad became older, he took on jobs as a teamster for an added source of family income. He hauled freight with a team of horses for the government from one part of Eastern Turkey to another and was paid sufficiently. This helped to pay expenses and helped Grandma Poppin raise the family.
From what Dad told me, there must have been an occasional dealing with tea smugglers by the local residents on the outskirts of the village wherein Dad resided. On a certain occasion, Dad had been herding his flock of livestock on the outskirts of the village when all of a sudden he saw a stranger appear who was coming toward him from a nearby hillside. "Ayeh, Ivan-ah-ha (as Dad was known to the local Turks and Tartars), I noticed from my past observances on the hillside that you have covered the tracks of traders by herding your flock over the tracks of their horses. You are considerate and I want to reward you. You be here this evening for I want to see you." Dad returned to that area that evening and there was the stranger all dressed in tribal garb who presented Dad with a good-sized bag of WHITE tea. So aromatic and delicious was that tea, said Dad. He has NEVER ever tasted the flavor of such a tea again.
Dad wasn't the tallest person in the world. He must have been about 5'8" - 5'9" and he had a red beard, blue eyes, and light brown hair. When he was a young man, during the course of his employment as a teamster hauling freight from one part of Eastern Turkey to the other, the sleigh had overturned and as a result, he had broken his hip. Due to improper medical facilities, his fractured hip was improperly set and as a result, his right leg was slightly shorter than the other leg. This made no difference in his ability to work hard. Several types of sleds are shown. The sled with three horses is called a troika. A flatbed sled would be more conducive to delivering freight.
In general, Dad was a pleasant and affectionate person. He was happy, warm, jovial, liked to sing a lot, got along very well with people, but he had his temper. He ran a good close family. We had a well-disciplined family but we were a happy family.
Dad was married twice. His first marriage was to Prascovia Andreyovna Bogdanov in Kars, Russia. Because of the Molokan belief that military conscription was contrary to their faith, Dad first moved to the United States of America in 1907. Several families had already moved from Kars and portions of the Caucasus to California, mainly San Francisco and Los Angeles.
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CHAPTER 2
Russia to America - Galveston, Texas (1907)
Cousin Ann Popoff Vereschagin wrote a very detailed description and account of the trip to America in her book, Spanning the Years (History of the Popoff and Vereschagin Families). She wrote that America was the land of opportunity and safety. Dad¡¦s brother, Vasily ¡§William or Bill¡¨ Fyodorovich Popin, had gone the year before to America and was in Los Angeles. Dad's other brother, Yakov (Jack)Fyodorovich Poppin had also moved to Los Angeles about 1905/1906. It is not known if Vasily and Yakov traveled together on the same ship to America. Vasily reported that everyone was doing very well and praised the virtues of living in California and that people in America worked for wages and work was plentiful. People lived in their own houses, food was easy to come by, and the climate was ideal. Ann wrote about the trip from Kars via horse and wagon beginning in the late autumn of 1906. [Vereschagin, Spanning the Years, page 25]
With the exception of Dad's brother Yermolai (Elmer), who remained in Russia with his family, the remaining Poppin family moved to San Francisco, California in 1907. Grandfather Poppin¡¦s nephew (Karpay Abrosimovich Poppin¡¦s son) also moved to America in 1905 and settled in Los Angeles. His name was Eftey Karpayovich Pappin. He has descendants who still live in Los Angeles. Their route was by train from Kars to Bremen, Germany where they boarded the vessel Professor Woermann for the trip to Galveston, Texas. Here they entered the United States on April 10, 1907. This is verified by documents that are on file with the United States Department of Immigration.
Dad¡¦s first wife, Prascovia Andreyovna Bogdanov Poppin was pregnant, so Dad¡¦s mother, my grandmother Matrona Savelivna Popoff Poppin, accompanied the family on the trip.
Dad's children by his marriage to Prascovia ¡§Alice¡¨ are:
Alex (Alexei Ivanovich) was born June 5, 1892 in Kars, Russia. He married Mary Slivkoff in 1908 in San Francisco, California. Alex died on July 03, 1979 in Vacaville, California. He is buried in the Vacaville-Elmira Cemetery. He has eleven children: John (deceased), Alice (deceased), Anna, Hazel (deceased), Vera, William, Steve, Samuel (deceased), Nicholas, Fred, and Michael.
Nick (Nicholai Ivanovich) was born October 10,1894 in Kars, Russia. He married Martha Lukianovna Conovaloff on July 25,1914 in San Francisco. Nick died December 11,1959 in Arizona and is buried in the Russian Cemetery in Los Angeles. He has 8 children: Nick (deceased), Alice, Andrew (deceased), Fae, Mary, Anne (deceased), Vera and William.
Fred (Fyodor Ivanovich) was born February 1,1896 in Kars, Russia. He married Hazel Nikiforovna Urin on November 19,1919 in Phoenix, Arizona. Fred died November 17,1981 in El Monte, California and is buried in the New Russian Cemetery in Los Angeles. He has 11 children: John (deceased), William (deceased), Mickey (deceased), Christine, David, Mary, Fred, Ann (deceased), Hazel (deceased), Verna and Priscilla.
Anna (Anna Ivanovna) was born January 13,1899 in Kars, Russia. She married Mom¡¦s brother Alex Nicholas Seminoff January 26, 1915 in San Francisco, California. Anna died May 21,1993 in Santa Rosa, California and is buried in Santa Rosa Memorial Park. She has 5 children: John (deceased), Nick (deceased), Elsie (deceased), William, and Nora.
William (Vasily Ivanovich) was born October 17,1904 in Kars, Russia. He married Irene Kroll sometime after 1937 in place unknown. Bill died April 30,1979 in San Ysidro, California. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered at sea. He did not have any children.
The families crossed the Black Sea and arrived in Bremen, Germany in the wintertime. Ann explained how the families were housed while they waited for the German cargo ship, ¡§Professor Woermann,¡¨ to be cleaned and refitted to haul passengers on its next voyage to Galveston, Texas. The ship had arrived from its voyage to the United States with a carload of cattle. I don¡¦t recall Dad talking about the trip to America. He didn¡¦t even mention that the immigrant men waiting to leave on the ship were hired to help with the transition. The ship finally left on March 1, 1911. I strongly suggest you read Ann¡¦s book. You will enjoy reading about her account of the trip. [Vereschagin, Spanning the Years, pages 25-29]
During this migration from Russia to the United States, Dad's wife Alice died after giving birth to a baby girl on the ship. The ship¡¦s manifest stated Alice died of pneumonia on March 30, 1907. According to my brother Nick Papin, Alice was buried at sea on Easter Sunday, March 31,1907. It was such a profound tragic experience for him that he cried every Easter Sunday for years after his mother¡¦s death. The baby was named Hania, as per the ship¡¦s manifest. Grandmother Matryona Poppin was a midwife and she was able to keep the baby alive on the ship. The ship arrived in Galveston, Texas on April 10, 1907. Dad continued caring for his daughter, but shortly after arriving at their destination in San Francisco, Hania supposedly wasn't given very good "motherly" care and died shortly thereafter on April 18, 1907. She is supposedly buried in a plot for the poor who were unable to pay for the cemetery expenses at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Colma, California. The ship's manifest verifies their arrival. The manifest is on file with the United States Department of Immigration.
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CHAPTER 4
San Francisco - 1907-1910
After landing at Galveston, Texas, the family proceeded by rail to Los Angeles and finally to San Francisco, California. Several families had preceded Dad¡¦s arrival and had settled in San Francisco on top of Potrero Hill. The reason they had settled on top of Potrero Hill was the fact that it was close to their place of employment. It was also shortly after the 1906 earthquake and employment was plentiful due to the rapid rebuilding of San Francisco. Please refer again to Ann Vereschagin¡¦s book as she writes an excellent account of living conditions in San Francisco and the poorly constructed housing on Rhode Island, DeHaro, Carolina and the other streets on Potrero Hill. There was no indoor plumbing and no natural gas or electricity. Outhouses were built and food was cooked on wood stoves. Our people endured much in their new homeland. [Vereschagin, Spanning the Years, pages 42-44]
Many of the males of the Russian clan who came to San Francisco at that time were employed by the Union Iron Works which is on Third Street down below the eastern slope of Potrero Hill. It was easy to walk back and forth to work and it wasn't necessary to take any public transportation, which was very limited in 1907. The Union Iron Works built steel ships and was the first large, modern shipyard on the Pacific Coast. Union was also active in building machinery for mining and industrial use. [Kemble, San Francisco Bay, 1957, pgs. 71 & 73]
After working about a year and a half in San Francisco, Dad decided to return to Russia in August 1908. He wanted to find a wife and get married. (Note: This year was written on the ship's manifest for his return trip to the United States. He was asked if he had ever been in the United State and he stated San Francisco, August 1908.) He married my mother, Hanya Nikolaivna "Hazel" Seminishev on January 01,1909. This date was obtained from John Fred Poppin's naturalization papers. Today, our relatives do not call themselves Seminishev, but Seminoff or Semenoff. Their last name has been Americanized.
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CHAPTER 5
Russia to America - Ellis Island, New York (1911)
Dad's second trip to the United States of America was in 1911. Mom and Dad and several members of the Seminishev and Popoff families traveled by train from Kars, Russia to Hamburg, Germany where they boarded the ship Kaiserin Auguste Victoria. I recall Dad stated that on his second trip he had brought along most of my mother's family; however, the ship¡¦s manifest does not show any of her immediate family.
The ship's manifest lists the following information for each passenger:
Ethnicity: Russian
Place of Residence: Nowosyleni, Russia (Note: This means "New Village")
Point of Departure: Hamburg, Germany
Name of Ship: Kaiserin Augusta Victoria
Sailed from Hamburg: March 1, 1911
Date of Arrival: March 12, 1911
The ship's manifest lists the following family members who were on the ship:
1. Iwan (Ivan) Papin, male, 37 years, married, Yes, he had been to America in 1908 in San Francisco; relative: mother; Matrona Papina; San Francisco; 1332 Carolina St; fair complexion, dark brown hair and blue eyes; indicated he had an injury to his right hip and was lame.
2. Paraska Papin, female, 24 years, married; height: 5'4", fair complexion, dark brown hair, and gray eyes. [Note: This was Hazel Seminoff Poppin. It is not known why Paraska was used as her first name. It is not close to her Russian name of Hanya. Dad¡¦s first wife was Praskovia. Mom¡¦s height is also incorrect. She was at least 5'8".]
3. Nikolaj (Nicholas) Papin, male, 17 years old, single, height: 5'7"; fair complexion; dark brown hair and brown eyes.
4. Feodor (Fyodor) Papin, male, 11 years old, single, fair complexion, light brown hair and gray eyes.
5. Iwan (Ivan) Papin, male, 11 months, single, fair complexion, light brown hair, gray eyes [Note: this was my brother John, who was born in Russia]
Also on the ship as per the ship's manifest were Nicholas Daniel (Nikolai Danilovich) Seminishev's nephews, sons of Peter Daniel (Pyotor Danilovich) Seminishev, Alexay Petrovich (Alex) and Vasily Petrovich (William) Seminishev.
1. Alexej Semenyszow (Alexei Petrovich Seminishev aka Alex Peter Semenoff), age 18 years, married, Russian, height: 5'9"; brown hair and blue eyes relative: brother-in-law Timofe Popov; 1027 De Haro; San Francisco.
2. Anastasia Semenyszow (Anastasia Seminishev aka Nellie Maxim Popoff Semenoff), age 17 years, married; height: 5'4", fair complexion, black hair and brown eyes; relative: brother, Timofe Popov; 1027 De Haro; San Francisco.
3. Iwan Semenyszow (Ivan Seminishev aka John Alex Semenoff), son of Alex and Nellie, age 2 months, blond hair and gray eyes.
4. Wasyl Semenyszow (Vasily Petrovich Seminishev aka William Peter Semenoff), age 25 years, married; height: 5'11", dark brown hair and gray eyes; relative: Wasyl Loskutov, DeHaro Street, San Francisco.
5. Maria Semenyszow, age 23 years, wife of William, 5'6", dark brown hair and brown eyes.
Dad had children from his second marriage.
1. John (Ivan Ivanovich) was the oldest. He was born February 1, 1910 in Russia. He married Jean Evanikoff (Tanya Dimitrivna) on May 20, 1934 in San Francisco. We lost him in the Second World War in Truro, England on December 01, 1943. He was in the United States Navy with the Construction Stevedore Battalion. We brought his remains back to San Francisco after World War II and he is now buried in the Russian Molokan Cemetery in Colma. John has two children, John and Myrna.
2. Alice (Prascovia Ivanovna) was born April 12,1911 in San Francisco, California. She married Errol Pettibone July 23, 1939 in Yuma, Arizona. Alice died in San Jose, California on January 13, 2000. Her ashes were scattered off the Pacific coast. Alice has a daughter Joan.
3. Jim (Timafay Ivanovich) was born July 12,1912 in Potter Valley, Mendocino County, California. He married Estelle Bessie Klistoff on June 30,1935 in San Francisco. Jim died May 06,1990 in South San Francisco, California and is buried in the Russian Molokan Cemetery in Colma. Jim has two sons, Jim and Nick
4. Nell (Nastya Ivanovna) was born May 08,1914 in San Francisco, California. She married Billy Ward Payne on June 22,1935 in San Diego, California. Nell died December 09,1980 in San Francisco, California and is buried in the Russian Molokan Cemetery in Colma. Nell has three children, Stewart (deceased), William and Hazel.
5. Mary (Masha Ivanovna) was born August 16,1916 in Potter Valley, Mendocino County, California. She married George Page Andrews in 1941 in Carson City, Nevada. Mary died April 19,1991 in San Francisco, California and is buried in the Russian Molokan Cemetery in Colma. Mary has two sons, George and John.
6. George (Giorgi Ivanovich), was born August 31, 1918 in Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona. I married my sweetheart, Dorothy Edith Ritter on June 24, 1944 in San Francisco. We currently reside in San Francisco, California. We have four children, Nancy, Tom, Joan and Debbie.
7. Hazel (Hanya Ivanovna) was born October 30,1920 in Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona. She married Jack Gray Thompson on May 19, 1944 in Monroe, Louisiana. Hazel died March 31,1987 in Saratoga, California. Hazel has three daughters, Diana, Paula and Myrna.
8. Dorothy (Doonya Ivanovna) was born September 15,1926 in Sheridan, Placer County, California. She married John William Hollandsworth on July 09,1945 in San Francisco, California. Dorothy is currently residing in San Francisco, California. She has three children, Billy, Mary Jane (deceased) and Steven.
While Dad was in Russia, the family experienced their first federal census in 1910. Dad¡¦s brother Jack Fred Poppin was married to Fenya ¡§Fannie¡¨ Patapoff and had a son William who was born several months before the census on February 8, 1910. The census shows that Jack and Fannie had been married about 5 years. There had been two other births and the children died. Jack and his family were living in San Francisco at the time of the census. Dad's brother William Fred Popin had been living in Los Angeles when the family first moved from Russia in 1907. There wasn¡¦t a census record, so I do not know where Dad's brother William resided in 1910. There is a clue that Dad's brother William went to Potter Valley because he was one of the landowners. There is a picture of the Union School and below the picture, it says that two of the children were Anna Popin and her sister. At that time, William's daughters were Anna born in 1901, Hazel born in 1908 and Martha born in 1910.
Mom was pregnant when she and Dad arrived in America on March 12, 1911 and she gave birth to Sister Alice on April 12, 1911 in San Francisco, California. It is hard to fathom my dear mother traveling across the Atlantic Ocean seven to eight months pregnant and caring for my brother John who was one year old. The conditions aboard the ship were no doubt uncomfortable for a pregnant woman. Although the boat trip took about two to three weeks, the family still had to take a cross-country train trip to California and train conditions were no better.
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CHAPTER 6
Potter Valley (1911-1917)
After living in San Francisco on Potrero Hill for a short time, someone spread the word that the ideal place to live was Potter Valley, which was north of San Francisco, about a 100 miles just outside of Ukiah in Mendocino County. So it happens in 1911, Dad packed up lock, stock, and barrel and moved the whole family to purchase some land in Potter Valley and go into farming. The Potter Valley caravan must have included Dad, Mom, Brother Nick, Sister Anna, Brother John, Sister Alice, Brother Alex, his wife Mary and family and Grandmother Martha Poppin.
If you get a chance, visit Potter Valley. It is beautifully located and I have often wondered why Dad didn't remain in such beautiful surroundings. In the book From Acorns to Oaks, a Potter Valley History 1855 to 1985, written by Delight Corbett Shelton, it is mentioned that in March 1911, property was transferred to a Russian Colony. It is assumed by the author that Max Popoff was the negotiator for the other Russian families and their transactions. The Russian people cut one of their farms into long narrow subdivisions, half a mile long and a few rods wide, after the old country style in Russia. They built their homes on the worthless hill ground on the west side. The women did much of the farm work while the men worked in San Francisco or over at the coast mills. Several of my brothers worked in San Francisco. This is apparent when looking at the San Francisco Polk Directory. Brother Fred was an ironworker in 1913, Brother Nick Papin was also an ironworker in 1916 and 1917 and Brother Alex was a riveter in 1916.
On March 28, 1919, all the property was sold, except for the Popoff family living at the Pine Avenue farm. According to the author, the Russian families went from Potter Valley to the Sacramento Valley, Texas, Arizona, Southern California, and one family returned to Russia. [Shelton, From Acorns to Oaks, pages 93-94]
According to the 1911 property transfers, John Papin aka Poppin was given a deed from his son Alexay Papin on November 18, 1911. Dad farmed until about 1917 and then decided to move to Arizona. I would also like to note that Dad¡¦s brother William Fred ¡§Vasily¡¨ Popin also owned some property in Potter Valley and sold his share on March 28, 1919. The final memorandum does not show Dad or his son Alex selling their property, and it is assumed they moved to Arizona before the other families. Dad¡¦s brother William Fred did move to Arizona after 1919. The other families who had property in Potter Valley were Homotoff, Loskutoff, Bogdonoff, Conovaloff, Susoeff, Botaeff, Slivkoff, Buchnoff , Corboff, Konigin and Fetisoff.
Brother Jim was born July 12, 1912, shortly after the family arrived in Potter Valley. The Union School was where everyone went to school. Sister Anna was probably a student at this school as she was about 13 years old. Brothers Fred and Nick probably helped Dad in the fields. By 1914, Mom had 4 babies to care for (John, Alice, Jim and Nell). Most of the children from Dad's first marriage were either married and raising their own families or planning to get married, except Fred and Bill. Alex married Mary Slivkoff in 1908 in San Francisco and they already had three children: John, Alice and Anna. Nick married Martha Conovalov on July 25, 1914 in San Francisco and Anna married Alex Seminoff on January 26, 1915 in San Francisco. Fred would marry Hazel Urin on November 19, 1919 in Phoenix Arizona. Bill lived with us for several years before he married Irene Kroll sometime after 1937.
The next event is based on fact, but parts are unclear and therefore inconclusive. Mom¡¦s father Nicolai Danilovich Seminishev aka Nick Seminoff yearned for his homeland and wanted to go back to Russia. The dates are sketchy, but an estimate has been identified about 1914. The family must have traveled from Potter Valley to San Francisco in 1914. It is not known from which port Grandfather Nick Seminoff embarked to Russia. The fact remains that Mom was pregnant with Sister Nell and Sister Nell was born May 8, 1914 in San Francisco.
Dad and the family traveled back to Potter Valley from San Francisco. Sister Mary was born August 16, 1916. Nothing is known about the years between Sister Nell and Sister Mary's births. Neither is it known the circumstances of why Mom was in San Francisco to give birth to Sister Nell.
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CHAPTER 7
Arizona (1917-1921)
About this time, shortly after Sister Mary was born, word was spreading that one could make a good living in Arizona. So once again, the barest hint of prosperity lured our family to pack up and move about 1917. They sold their property in the beautiful Potter Valley and moved by train from Ukiah to Maricopa County, Arizona. The place of settlement in Arizona was referred to as Phoenix, but is just outside the area of Glendale, Tolleson, and the Phoenix area. It was right in that triangle. Bear in mind that World War I was in progress. A few families had already moved to Phoenix, Arizona and discovered that this beautiful valley, due to the building of the Hoover Dam, provided plenty of water for irrigation. According to Fae Veronin in her book, Molokans in Arizona, there were about 60 families who moved to Arizona to join other families that already been eking out an existence for the past five years. Cotton and maize were good key crops and were profitable due to the high prices during World War I. [Veronin, Molokans in Arizona, pages 85-86]
Molokans from all parts of California moved to the Phoenix area. The purchase of land was a communal affair. The groups of families would purchase anywhere from a half a section to a full section, that is anywhere from 80 acres to 160 acres. Then twenty acres was allotted to each family. They would literally pace off the twenty acres and say, this is your twenty acres, this is my twenty acres and that's the way they handled it. Purchasing the land in a communal manner enabled more people to have land.
He married Hazel Nicholas Seminoff (1887-1968) on 01 Jan 1909 in Kars, Russia. They had eight children: John, Alice, James, Nell, Mary, George, Hazel, and Dorothy.
Below are several chapters from "Ack! Amerika" by George John Poppin and Nancy Poppin Posey. They give a rich portral of John Fred Poppin's life. There isn't room for the entire book.
"A Sketch Of A Proud And Wonderful Family
Once upon a time, a time in the not too distant past, there lived a legend whose name was upheld in pride. For a short while, there seemed to be a prosperous future, until the bubble burst in 1929. That was the year of the Great Economic Depression and Dad lost the huge ranch, truck horses one hundred head of thoroughbred Holstein milk cows, farm equipment and all that went with it. There went John Fred Poppin¡¦s dreams of a family, which eventually dispersed into the chasms of ¡§Americanization¡¨. That was my father who with Hanya Ivanovna, my mother, saw the ending of a dear and loving family which was always eager to give a helping hand to its brothers and sisters in love and hope, only to fade away into oblivion...gone with the wind into individual families. Each family tried to make the most of it with little or no support from their familial ties.
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CHAPTER 1
And Now I Begin
I recall when I was quite young and was living in Lincoln, California, Dad would often tell us about his trips in Eastern Turkey during the winter when he was hauling his freight with a team of three horses and a sleigh. His ability to describe his experiences and travels were so vivid and his voice was so clear and loud that his exuberant story telling enthralled us. What experiences he had and I still recall many pleasant memories of his story telling on cold winter nights before a roaring fire. After all the chores were done, dinner was over and dishes were put away, Dad would tell of his experiences in the old country.
I have written an account of some of those experiences as well as an account of our family from 1907 to present day. There have been several books written about the Molokans and areas have been cited that would best describe various points of interest. This is being done to supplement information provided by my parents as well as my own experiences. I have inserted key photos into the document to help provide a word picture in the minds of the reader. These photos will draw attention to the chronology of events that I am about to address. My family endured many hardships not only in their immigration to America, but also in their every day lives. They worked hard to provide for their families and it is with utmost respect that I acknowledge their contributions.
My father's name was John Fred (Ivan Fyodorovich) Poppin and his father¡¦s name was Fred (Fyodor Abrosimovich) Poppin. My father¡¦s mother was Martha (Matryona Savelivna Popov/Popoff) Poppin. They all resided in Kars, Russia, which is now part of Eastern Turkey. My father had three brothers and one sister. They are William Fred (Vasily Fyodorovich), Elmer Fred (Yermolai/Ermolai Fyodorovich) Jack Fred (Yakov Fyodorovich) Poppin and Mary Fred (Masha Fyodorivna) Poppin.
Grandfather Fred Poppin was an ill person and by the time Dad reached young adulthood, his father had died. This left Grandmother Poppin with four sons and a daughter to raise on her own. All of the boys pitched in, worked the land, and grew up in Kars, Russia.
My people were peasants or people of the soil. Dad's family had a small plot of land in Russia. Dad didn¡¦t describe his village but when I interviewed Mom, she was able to fill in some gaps for living arrangements, meals, etc. for her family. Some details may not be pertinent to Dad¡¦s family, but the description of the Molokan life in Kars could be construed for most inhabitants. Their home was typical of the Kars area. It was a small, earth-roofed house and built close to the ground. A Russian traditional style hut was called a peasant house and was made of mud, horse dung, and straw. It had a long entrance hall that served as an air lock against the cold. There was a kitchen with a big oven, called a petch. It served as the central heating system. The petch was similar to a large Dutch oven and was made from mud bricks. Some of the family slept atop of it during the winter. They ate and slept in the same room. The meals were cooked in the petch. Their meals usually consisted of a lot of potatoes and tea. Sometimes they might have vegetable Borsht without meat stock or Lapsha, but usually it was potatoes and tea for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The Lapsha or noodles were made by hanging thinly rolled out dough over long poles over heated coals. When dried, the dough would then be rolled and sliced thinly into noodles. Bread was made of wheat and/or rye flour and was dark. Breakfast usually consisted of potatoes, when they were available, that were peeled or unpeeled, fried, boiled, baked or mashed and a glass of tea. Occasionally there would be rice or Kasha, which is porridge with milk. That was a treat. Lunch might consist of potatoes and tea, or milk and brown rice. Supper would be potatoes and chai (tea) and vegetables when they were in season. Water was obtained from a well. It was brought into the home in buckets, slung over the shoulders on poles and then poured into large buckets inside the house. The beds were wooden. They slept on a Tyoofyakh, that is a feather mattress and covered themselves with a blanket. Their toilet was an outhouse. They bathed in their own Banya or sauna bath usually every Saturday afternoon and evening. Their childhood clothing usually consisted of a Roobaha, that is a big shirt and went Bishtanoff or without, literally without underpants. They had no shoes. One could not help but become very curious on certain occasions during Dad's storytelling. "Pahp, (Dad), what did you use for toilet paper when you were away out in the fields in Russia?" Good question. When nature called and they had to go, they would first pick out a bit of clodded soil or a smooth rock and go away as far as they could go from the group, if any was present, assume the position and let it fire away. They cleansed the area with the smooth rock or their finger and let it go at that. NATURE IN THE RAW IS SELDOM MILD!!
The Poppin family worked the soil, raised grains, and had a small herd of cattle. They were not large landowners but they had enough land to get by satisfactorily. When Dad became older, he took on jobs as a teamster for an added source of family income. He hauled freight with a team of horses for the government from one part of Eastern Turkey to another and was paid sufficiently. This helped to pay expenses and helped Grandma Poppin raise the family.
From what Dad told me, there must have been an occasional dealing with tea smugglers by the local residents on the outskirts of the village wherein Dad resided. On a certain occasion, Dad had been herding his flock of livestock on the outskirts of the village when all of a sudden he saw a stranger appear who was coming toward him from a nearby hillside. "Ayeh, Ivan-ah-ha (as Dad was known to the local Turks and Tartars), I noticed from my past observances on the hillside that you have covered the tracks of traders by herding your flock over the tracks of their horses. You are considerate and I want to reward you. You be here this evening for I want to see you." Dad returned to that area that evening and there was the stranger all dressed in tribal garb who presented Dad with a good-sized bag of WHITE tea. So aromatic and delicious was that tea, said Dad. He has NEVER ever tasted the flavor of such a tea again.
Dad wasn't the tallest person in the world. He must have been about 5'8" - 5'9" and he had a red beard, blue eyes, and light brown hair. When he was a young man, during the course of his employment as a teamster hauling freight from one part of Eastern Turkey to the other, the sleigh had overturned and as a result, he had broken his hip. Due to improper medical facilities, his fractured hip was improperly set and as a result, his right leg was slightly shorter than the other leg. This made no difference in his ability to work hard. Several types of sleds are shown. The sled with three horses is called a troika. A flatbed sled would be more conducive to delivering freight.
In general, Dad was a pleasant and affectionate person. He was happy, warm, jovial, liked to sing a lot, got along very well with people, but he had his temper. He ran a good close family. We had a well-disciplined family but we were a happy family.
Dad was married twice. His first marriage was to Prascovia Andreyovna Bogdanov in Kars, Russia. Because of the Molokan belief that military conscription was contrary to their faith, Dad first moved to the United States of America in 1907. Several families had already moved from Kars and portions of the Caucasus to California, mainly San Francisco and Los Angeles.
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CHAPTER 2
Russia to America - Galveston, Texas (1907)
Cousin Ann Popoff Vereschagin wrote a very detailed description and account of the trip to America in her book, Spanning the Years (History of the Popoff and Vereschagin Families). She wrote that America was the land of opportunity and safety. Dad¡¦s brother, Vasily ¡§William or Bill¡¨ Fyodorovich Popin, had gone the year before to America and was in Los Angeles. Dad's other brother, Yakov (Jack)Fyodorovich Poppin had also moved to Los Angeles about 1905/1906. It is not known if Vasily and Yakov traveled together on the same ship to America. Vasily reported that everyone was doing very well and praised the virtues of living in California and that people in America worked for wages and work was plentiful. People lived in their own houses, food was easy to come by, and the climate was ideal. Ann wrote about the trip from Kars via horse and wagon beginning in the late autumn of 1906. [Vereschagin, Spanning the Years, page 25]
With the exception of Dad's brother Yermolai (Elmer), who remained in Russia with his family, the remaining Poppin family moved to San Francisco, California in 1907. Grandfather Poppin¡¦s nephew (Karpay Abrosimovich Poppin¡¦s son) also moved to America in 1905 and settled in Los Angeles. His name was Eftey Karpayovich Pappin. He has descendants who still live in Los Angeles. Their route was by train from Kars to Bremen, Germany where they boarded the vessel Professor Woermann for the trip to Galveston, Texas. Here they entered the United States on April 10, 1907. This is verified by documents that are on file with the United States Department of Immigration.
Dad¡¦s first wife, Prascovia Andreyovna Bogdanov Poppin was pregnant, so Dad¡¦s mother, my grandmother Matrona Savelivna Popoff Poppin, accompanied the family on the trip.
Dad's children by his marriage to Prascovia ¡§Alice¡¨ are:
Alex (Alexei Ivanovich) was born June 5, 1892 in Kars, Russia. He married Mary Slivkoff in 1908 in San Francisco, California. Alex died on July 03, 1979 in Vacaville, California. He is buried in the Vacaville-Elmira Cemetery. He has eleven children: John (deceased), Alice (deceased), Anna, Hazel (deceased), Vera, William, Steve, Samuel (deceased), Nicholas, Fred, and Michael.
Nick (Nicholai Ivanovich) was born October 10,1894 in Kars, Russia. He married Martha Lukianovna Conovaloff on July 25,1914 in San Francisco. Nick died December 11,1959 in Arizona and is buried in the Russian Cemetery in Los Angeles. He has 8 children: Nick (deceased), Alice, Andrew (deceased), Fae, Mary, Anne (deceased), Vera and William.
Fred (Fyodor Ivanovich) was born February 1,1896 in Kars, Russia. He married Hazel Nikiforovna Urin on November 19,1919 in Phoenix, Arizona. Fred died November 17,1981 in El Monte, California and is buried in the New Russian Cemetery in Los Angeles. He has 11 children: John (deceased), William (deceased), Mickey (deceased), Christine, David, Mary, Fred, Ann (deceased), Hazel (deceased), Verna and Priscilla.
Anna (Anna Ivanovna) was born January 13,1899 in Kars, Russia. She married Mom¡¦s brother Alex Nicholas Seminoff January 26, 1915 in San Francisco, California. Anna died May 21,1993 in Santa Rosa, California and is buried in Santa Rosa Memorial Park. She has 5 children: John (deceased), Nick (deceased), Elsie (deceased), William, and Nora.
William (Vasily Ivanovich) was born October 17,1904 in Kars, Russia. He married Irene Kroll sometime after 1937 in place unknown. Bill died April 30,1979 in San Ysidro, California. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered at sea. He did not have any children.
The families crossed the Black Sea and arrived in Bremen, Germany in the wintertime. Ann explained how the families were housed while they waited for the German cargo ship, ¡§Professor Woermann,¡¨ to be cleaned and refitted to haul passengers on its next voyage to Galveston, Texas. The ship had arrived from its voyage to the United States with a carload of cattle. I don¡¦t recall Dad talking about the trip to America. He didn¡¦t even mention that the immigrant men waiting to leave on the ship were hired to help with the transition. The ship finally left on March 1, 1911. I strongly suggest you read Ann¡¦s book. You will enjoy reading about her account of the trip. [Vereschagin, Spanning the Years, pages 25-29]
During this migration from Russia to the United States, Dad's wife Alice died after giving birth to a baby girl on the ship. The ship¡¦s manifest stated Alice died of pneumonia on March 30, 1907. According to my brother Nick Papin, Alice was buried at sea on Easter Sunday, March 31,1907. It was such a profound tragic experience for him that he cried every Easter Sunday for years after his mother¡¦s death. The baby was named Hania, as per the ship¡¦s manifest. Grandmother Matryona Poppin was a midwife and she was able to keep the baby alive on the ship. The ship arrived in Galveston, Texas on April 10, 1907. Dad continued caring for his daughter, but shortly after arriving at their destination in San Francisco, Hania supposedly wasn't given very good "motherly" care and died shortly thereafter on April 18, 1907. She is supposedly buried in a plot for the poor who were unable to pay for the cemetery expenses at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Colma, California. The ship's manifest verifies their arrival. The manifest is on file with the United States Department of Immigration.
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CHAPTER 4
San Francisco - 1907-1910
After landing at Galveston, Texas, the family proceeded by rail to Los Angeles and finally to San Francisco, California. Several families had preceded Dad¡¦s arrival and had settled in San Francisco on top of Potrero Hill. The reason they had settled on top of Potrero Hill was the fact that it was close to their place of employment. It was also shortly after the 1906 earthquake and employment was plentiful due to the rapid rebuilding of San Francisco. Please refer again to Ann Vereschagin¡¦s book as she writes an excellent account of living conditions in San Francisco and the poorly constructed housing on Rhode Island, DeHaro, Carolina and the other streets on Potrero Hill. There was no indoor plumbing and no natural gas or electricity. Outhouses were built and food was cooked on wood stoves. Our people endured much in their new homeland. [Vereschagin, Spanning the Years, pages 42-44]
Many of the males of the Russian clan who came to San Francisco at that time were employed by the Union Iron Works which is on Third Street down below the eastern slope of Potrero Hill. It was easy to walk back and forth to work and it wasn't necessary to take any public transportation, which was very limited in 1907. The Union Iron Works built steel ships and was the first large, modern shipyard on the Pacific Coast. Union was also active in building machinery for mining and industrial use. [Kemble, San Francisco Bay, 1957, pgs. 71 & 73]
After working about a year and a half in San Francisco, Dad decided to return to Russia in August 1908. He wanted to find a wife and get married. (Note: This year was written on the ship's manifest for his return trip to the United States. He was asked if he had ever been in the United State and he stated San Francisco, August 1908.) He married my mother, Hanya Nikolaivna "Hazel" Seminishev on January 01,1909. This date was obtained from John Fred Poppin's naturalization papers. Today, our relatives do not call themselves Seminishev, but Seminoff or Semenoff. Their last name has been Americanized.
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CHAPTER 5
Russia to America - Ellis Island, New York (1911)
Dad's second trip to the United States of America was in 1911. Mom and Dad and several members of the Seminishev and Popoff families traveled by train from Kars, Russia to Hamburg, Germany where they boarded the ship Kaiserin Auguste Victoria. I recall Dad stated that on his second trip he had brought along most of my mother's family; however, the ship¡¦s manifest does not show any of her immediate family.
The ship's manifest lists the following information for each passenger:
Ethnicity: Russian
Place of Residence: Nowosyleni, Russia (Note: This means "New Village")
Point of Departure: Hamburg, Germany
Name of Ship: Kaiserin Augusta Victoria
Sailed from Hamburg: March 1, 1911
Date of Arrival: March 12, 1911
The ship's manifest lists the following family members who were on the ship:
1. Iwan (Ivan) Papin, male, 37 years, married, Yes, he had been to America in 1908 in San Francisco; relative: mother; Matrona Papina; San Francisco; 1332 Carolina St; fair complexion, dark brown hair and blue eyes; indicated he had an injury to his right hip and was lame.
2. Paraska Papin, female, 24 years, married; height: 5'4", fair complexion, dark brown hair, and gray eyes. [Note: This was Hazel Seminoff Poppin. It is not known why Paraska was used as her first name. It is not close to her Russian name of Hanya. Dad¡¦s first wife was Praskovia. Mom¡¦s height is also incorrect. She was at least 5'8".]
3. Nikolaj (Nicholas) Papin, male, 17 years old, single, height: 5'7"; fair complexion; dark brown hair and brown eyes.
4. Feodor (Fyodor) Papin, male, 11 years old, single, fair complexion, light brown hair and gray eyes.
5. Iwan (Ivan) Papin, male, 11 months, single, fair complexion, light brown hair, gray eyes [Note: this was my brother John, who was born in Russia]
Also on the ship as per the ship's manifest were Nicholas Daniel (Nikolai Danilovich) Seminishev's nephews, sons of Peter Daniel (Pyotor Danilovich) Seminishev, Alexay Petrovich (Alex) and Vasily Petrovich (William) Seminishev.
1. Alexej Semenyszow (Alexei Petrovich Seminishev aka Alex Peter Semenoff), age 18 years, married, Russian, height: 5'9"; brown hair and blue eyes relative: brother-in-law Timofe Popov; 1027 De Haro; San Francisco.
2. Anastasia Semenyszow (Anastasia Seminishev aka Nellie Maxim Popoff Semenoff), age 17 years, married; height: 5'4", fair complexion, black hair and brown eyes; relative: brother, Timofe Popov; 1027 De Haro; San Francisco.
3. Iwan Semenyszow (Ivan Seminishev aka John Alex Semenoff), son of Alex and Nellie, age 2 months, blond hair and gray eyes.
4. Wasyl Semenyszow (Vasily Petrovich Seminishev aka William Peter Semenoff), age 25 years, married; height: 5'11", dark brown hair and gray eyes; relative: Wasyl Loskutov, DeHaro Street, San Francisco.
5. Maria Semenyszow, age 23 years, wife of William, 5'6", dark brown hair and brown eyes.
Dad had children from his second marriage.
1. John (Ivan Ivanovich) was the oldest. He was born February 1, 1910 in Russia. He married Jean Evanikoff (Tanya Dimitrivna) on May 20, 1934 in San Francisco. We lost him in the Second World War in Truro, England on December 01, 1943. He was in the United States Navy with the Construction Stevedore Battalion. We brought his remains back to San Francisco after World War II and he is now buried in the Russian Molokan Cemetery in Colma. John has two children, John and Myrna.
2. Alice (Prascovia Ivanovna) was born April 12,1911 in San Francisco, California. She married Errol Pettibone July 23, 1939 in Yuma, Arizona. Alice died in San Jose, California on January 13, 2000. Her ashes were scattered off the Pacific coast. Alice has a daughter Joan.
3. Jim (Timafay Ivanovich) was born July 12,1912 in Potter Valley, Mendocino County, California. He married Estelle Bessie Klistoff on June 30,1935 in San Francisco. Jim died May 06,1990 in South San Francisco, California and is buried in the Russian Molokan Cemetery in Colma. Jim has two sons, Jim and Nick
4. Nell (Nastya Ivanovna) was born May 08,1914 in San Francisco, California. She married Billy Ward Payne on June 22,1935 in San Diego, California. Nell died December 09,1980 in San Francisco, California and is buried in the Russian Molokan Cemetery in Colma. Nell has three children, Stewart (deceased), William and Hazel.
5. Mary (Masha Ivanovna) was born August 16,1916 in Potter Valley, Mendocino County, California. She married George Page Andrews in 1941 in Carson City, Nevada. Mary died April 19,1991 in San Francisco, California and is buried in the Russian Molokan Cemetery in Colma. Mary has two sons, George and John.
6. George (Giorgi Ivanovich), was born August 31, 1918 in Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona. I married my sweetheart, Dorothy Edith Ritter on June 24, 1944 in San Francisco. We currently reside in San Francisco, California. We have four children, Nancy, Tom, Joan and Debbie.
7. Hazel (Hanya Ivanovna) was born October 30,1920 in Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona. She married Jack Gray Thompson on May 19, 1944 in Monroe, Louisiana. Hazel died March 31,1987 in Saratoga, California. Hazel has three daughters, Diana, Paula and Myrna.
8. Dorothy (Doonya Ivanovna) was born September 15,1926 in Sheridan, Placer County, California. She married John William Hollandsworth on July 09,1945 in San Francisco, California. Dorothy is currently residing in San Francisco, California. She has three children, Billy, Mary Jane (deceased) and Steven.
While Dad was in Russia, the family experienced their first federal census in 1910. Dad¡¦s brother Jack Fred Poppin was married to Fenya ¡§Fannie¡¨ Patapoff and had a son William who was born several months before the census on February 8, 1910. The census shows that Jack and Fannie had been married about 5 years. There had been two other births and the children died. Jack and his family were living in San Francisco at the time of the census. Dad's brother William Fred Popin had been living in Los Angeles when the family first moved from Russia in 1907. There wasn¡¦t a census record, so I do not know where Dad's brother William resided in 1910. There is a clue that Dad's brother William went to Potter Valley because he was one of the landowners. There is a picture of the Union School and below the picture, it says that two of the children were Anna Popin and her sister. At that time, William's daughters were Anna born in 1901, Hazel born in 1908 and Martha born in 1910.
Mom was pregnant when she and Dad arrived in America on March 12, 1911 and she gave birth to Sister Alice on April 12, 1911 in San Francisco, California. It is hard to fathom my dear mother traveling across the Atlantic Ocean seven to eight months pregnant and caring for my brother John who was one year old. The conditions aboard the ship were no doubt uncomfortable for a pregnant woman. Although the boat trip took about two to three weeks, the family still had to take a cross-country train trip to California and train conditions were no better.
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CHAPTER 6
Potter Valley (1911-1917)
After living in San Francisco on Potrero Hill for a short time, someone spread the word that the ideal place to live was Potter Valley, which was north of San Francisco, about a 100 miles just outside of Ukiah in Mendocino County. So it happens in 1911, Dad packed up lock, stock, and barrel and moved the whole family to purchase some land in Potter Valley and go into farming. The Potter Valley caravan must have included Dad, Mom, Brother Nick, Sister Anna, Brother John, Sister Alice, Brother Alex, his wife Mary and family and Grandmother Martha Poppin.
If you get a chance, visit Potter Valley. It is beautifully located and I have often wondered why Dad didn't remain in such beautiful surroundings. In the book From Acorns to Oaks, a Potter Valley History 1855 to 1985, written by Delight Corbett Shelton, it is mentioned that in March 1911, property was transferred to a Russian Colony. It is assumed by the author that Max Popoff was the negotiator for the other Russian families and their transactions. The Russian people cut one of their farms into long narrow subdivisions, half a mile long and a few rods wide, after the old country style in Russia. They built their homes on the worthless hill ground on the west side. The women did much of the farm work while the men worked in San Francisco or over at the coast mills. Several of my brothers worked in San Francisco. This is apparent when looking at the San Francisco Polk Directory. Brother Fred was an ironworker in 1913, Brother Nick Papin was also an ironworker in 1916 and 1917 and Brother Alex was a riveter in 1916.
On March 28, 1919, all the property was sold, except for the Popoff family living at the Pine Avenue farm. According to the author, the Russian families went from Potter Valley to the Sacramento Valley, Texas, Arizona, Southern California, and one family returned to Russia. [Shelton, From Acorns to Oaks, pages 93-94]
According to the 1911 property transfers, John Papin aka Poppin was given a deed from his son Alexay Papin on November 18, 1911. Dad farmed until about 1917 and then decided to move to Arizona. I would also like to note that Dad¡¦s brother William Fred ¡§Vasily¡¨ Popin also owned some property in Potter Valley and sold his share on March 28, 1919. The final memorandum does not show Dad or his son Alex selling their property, and it is assumed they moved to Arizona before the other families. Dad¡¦s brother William Fred did move to Arizona after 1919. The other families who had property in Potter Valley were Homotoff, Loskutoff, Bogdonoff, Conovaloff, Susoeff, Botaeff, Slivkoff, Buchnoff , Corboff, Konigin and Fetisoff.
Brother Jim was born July 12, 1912, shortly after the family arrived in Potter Valley. The Union School was where everyone went to school. Sister Anna was probably a student at this school as she was about 13 years old. Brothers Fred and Nick probably helped Dad in the fields. By 1914, Mom had 4 babies to care for (John, Alice, Jim and Nell). Most of the children from Dad's first marriage were either married and raising their own families or planning to get married, except Fred and Bill. Alex married Mary Slivkoff in 1908 in San Francisco and they already had three children: John, Alice and Anna. Nick married Martha Conovalov on July 25, 1914 in San Francisco and Anna married Alex Seminoff on January 26, 1915 in San Francisco. Fred would marry Hazel Urin on November 19, 1919 in Phoenix Arizona. Bill lived with us for several years before he married Irene Kroll sometime after 1937.
The next event is based on fact, but parts are unclear and therefore inconclusive. Mom¡¦s father Nicolai Danilovich Seminishev aka Nick Seminoff yearned for his homeland and wanted to go back to Russia. The dates are sketchy, but an estimate has been identified about 1914. The family must have traveled from Potter Valley to San Francisco in 1914. It is not known from which port Grandfather Nick Seminoff embarked to Russia. The fact remains that Mom was pregnant with Sister Nell and Sister Nell was born May 8, 1914 in San Francisco.
Dad and the family traveled back to Potter Valley from San Francisco. Sister Mary was born August 16, 1916. Nothing is known about the years between Sister Nell and Sister Mary's births. Neither is it known the circumstances of why Mom was in San Francisco to give birth to Sister Nell.
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CHAPTER 7
Arizona (1917-1921)
About this time, shortly after Sister Mary was born, word was spreading that one could make a good living in Arizona. So once again, the barest hint of prosperity lured our family to pack up and move about 1917. They sold their property in the beautiful Potter Valley and moved by train from Ukiah to Maricopa County, Arizona. The place of settlement in Arizona was referred to as Phoenix, but is just outside the area of Glendale, Tolleson, and the Phoenix area. It was right in that triangle. Bear in mind that World War I was in progress. A few families had already moved to Phoenix, Arizona and discovered that this beautiful valley, due to the building of the Hoover Dam, provided plenty of water for irrigation. According to Fae Veronin in her book, Molokans in Arizona, there were about 60 families who moved to Arizona to join other families that already been eking out an existence for the past five years. Cotton and maize were good key crops and were profitable due to the high prices during World War I. [Veronin, Molokans in Arizona, pages 85-86]
Molokans from all parts of California moved to the Phoenix area. The purchase of land was a communal affair. The groups of families would purchase anywhere from a half a section to a full section, that is anywhere from 80 acres to 160 acres. Then twenty acres was allotted to each family. They would literally pace off the twenty acres and say, this is your twenty acres, this is my twenty acres and that's the way they handled it. Purchasing the land in a communal manner enabled more people to have land.
John was born in Elsivetpol, Russia (now Eastern Turkey). He is the son of Fyodor Abrosimovich Poppin (Bet. 1846–1850 and Abt. 1890) and Martha Savelivna Popoff (1852-1931). He was one of five children: John, Elmer, William, Jack, and Mary.
He married Hazel Nicholas Seminoff (1887-1968) on 01 Jan 1909 in Kars, Russia. They had eight children: John, Alice, James, Nell, Mary, George, Hazel, and Dorothy.
Below are several chapters from "Ack! Amerika" by George John Poppin and Nancy Poppin Posey. They give a rich portral of John Fred Poppin's life. There isn't room for the entire book.
"A Sketch Of A Proud And Wonderful Family
Once upon a time, a time in the not too distant past, there lived a legend whose name was upheld in pride. For a short while, there seemed to be a prosperous future, until the bubble burst in 1929. That was the year of the Great Economic Depression and Dad lost the huge ranch, truck horses one hundred head of thoroughbred Holstein milk cows, farm equipment and all that went with it. There went John Fred Poppin¡¦s dreams of a family, which eventually dispersed into the chasms of ¡§Americanization¡¨. That was my father who with Hanya Ivanovna, my mother, saw the ending of a dear and loving family which was always eager to give a helping hand to its brothers and sisters in love and hope, only to fade away into oblivion...gone with the wind into individual families. Each family tried to make the most of it with little or no support from their familial ties.
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CHAPTER 1
And Now I Begin
I recall when I was quite young and was living in Lincoln, California, Dad would often tell us about his trips in Eastern Turkey during the winter when he was hauling his freight with a team of three horses and a sleigh. His ability to describe his experiences and travels were so vivid and his voice was so clear and loud that his exuberant story telling enthralled us. What experiences he had and I still recall many pleasant memories of his story telling on cold winter nights before a roaring fire. After all the chores were done, dinner was over and dishes were put away, Dad would tell of his experiences in the old country.
I have written an account of some of those experiences as well as an account of our family from 1907 to present day. There have been several books written about the Molokans and areas have been cited that would best describe various points of interest. This is being done to supplement information provided by my parents as well as my own experiences. I have inserted key photos into the document to help provide a word picture in the minds of the reader. These photos will draw attention to the chronology of events that I am about to address. My family endured many hardships not only in their immigration to America, but also in their every day lives. They worked hard to provide for their families and it is with utmost respect that I acknowledge their contributions.
My father's name was John Fred (Ivan Fyodorovich) Poppin and his father¡¦s name was Fred (Fyodor Abrosimovich) Poppin. My father¡¦s mother was Martha (Matryona Savelivna Popov/Popoff) Poppin. They all resided in Kars, Russia, which is now part of Eastern Turkey. My father had three brothers and one sister. They are William Fred (Vasily Fyodorovich), Elmer Fred (Yermolai/Ermolai Fyodorovich) Jack Fred (Yakov Fyodorovich) Poppin and Mary Fred (Masha Fyodorivna) Poppin.
Grandfather Fred Poppin was an ill person and by the time Dad reached young adulthood, his father had died. This left Grandmother Poppin with four sons and a daughter to raise on her own. All of the boys pitched in, worked the land, and grew up in Kars, Russia.
My people were peasants or people of the soil. Dad's family had a small plot of land in Russia. Dad didn¡¦t describe his village but when I interviewed Mom, she was able to fill in some gaps for living arrangements, meals, etc. for her family. Some details may not be pertinent to Dad¡¦s family, but the description of the Molokan life in Kars could be construed for most inhabitants. Their home was typical of the Kars area. It was a small, earth-roofed house and built close to the ground. A Russian traditional style hut was called a peasant house and was made of mud, horse dung, and straw. It had a long entrance hall that served as an air lock against the cold. There was a kitchen with a big oven, called a petch. It served as the central heating system. The petch was similar to a large Dutch oven and was made from mud bricks. Some of the family slept atop of it during the winter. They ate and slept in the same room. The meals were cooked in the petch. Their meals usually consisted of a lot of potatoes and tea. Sometimes they might have vegetable Borsht without meat stock or Lapsha, but usually it was potatoes and tea for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The Lapsha or noodles were made by hanging thinly rolled out dough over long poles over heated coals. When dried, the dough would then be rolled and sliced thinly into noodles. Bread was made of wheat and/or rye flour and was dark. Breakfast usually consisted of potatoes, when they were available, that were peeled or unpeeled, fried, boiled, baked or mashed and a glass of tea. Occasionally there would be rice or Kasha, which is porridge with milk. That was a treat. Lunch might consist of potatoes and tea, or milk and brown rice. Supper would be potatoes and chai (tea) and vegetables when they were in season. Water was obtained from a well. It was brought into the home in buckets, slung over the shoulders on poles and then poured into large buckets inside the house. The beds were wooden. They slept on a Tyoofyakh, that is a feather mattress and covered themselves with a blanket. Their toilet was an outhouse. They bathed in their own Banya or sauna bath usually every Saturday afternoon and evening. Their childhood clothing usually consisted of a Roobaha, that is a big shirt and went Bishtanoff or without, literally without underpants. They had no shoes. One could not help but become very curious on certain occasions during Dad's storytelling. "Pahp, (Dad), what did you use for toilet paper when you were away out in the fields in Russia?" Good question. When nature called and they had to go, they would first pick out a bit of clodded soil or a smooth rock and go away as far as they could go from the group, if any was present, assume the position and let it fire away. They cleansed the area with the smooth rock or their finger and let it go at that. NATURE IN THE RAW IS SELDOM MILD!!
The Poppin family worked the soil, raised grains, and had a small herd of cattle. They were not large landowners but they had enough land to get by satisfactorily. When Dad became older, he took on jobs as a teamster for an added source of family income. He hauled freight with a team of horses for the government from one part of Eastern Turkey to another and was paid sufficiently. This helped to pay expenses and helped Grandma Poppin raise the family.
From what Dad told me, there must have been an occasional dealing with tea smugglers by the local residents on the outskirts of the village wherein Dad resided. On a certain occasion, Dad had been herding his flock of livestock on the outskirts of the village when all of a sudden he saw a stranger appear who was coming toward him from a nearby hillside. "Ayeh, Ivan-ah-ha (as Dad was known to the local Turks and Tartars), I noticed from my past observances on the hillside that you have covered the tracks of traders by herding your flock over the tracks of their horses. You are considerate and I want to reward you. You be here this evening for I want to see you." Dad returned to that area that evening and there was the stranger all dressed in tribal garb who presented Dad with a good-sized bag of WHITE tea. So aromatic and delicious was that tea, said Dad. He has NEVER ever tasted the flavor of such a tea again.
Dad wasn't the tallest person in the world. He must have been about 5'8" - 5'9" and he had a red beard, blue eyes, and light brown hair. When he was a young man, during the course of his employment as a teamster hauling freight from one part of Eastern Turkey to the other, the sleigh had overturned and as a result, he had broken his hip. Due to improper medical facilities, his fractured hip was improperly set and as a result, his right leg was slightly shorter than the other leg. This made no difference in his ability to work hard. Several types of sleds are shown. The sled with three horses is called a troika. A flatbed sled would be more conducive to delivering freight.
In general, Dad was a pleasant and affectionate person. He was happy, warm, jovial, liked to sing a lot, got along very well with people, but he had his temper. He ran a good close family. We had a well-disciplined family but we were a happy family.
Dad was married twice. His first marriage was to Prascovia Andreyovna Bogdanov in Kars, Russia. Because of the Molokan belief that military conscription was contrary to their faith, Dad first moved to the United States of America in 1907. Several families had already moved from Kars and portions of the Caucasus to California, mainly San Francisco and Los Angeles.
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CHAPTER 2
Russia to America - Galveston, Texas (1907)
Cousin Ann Popoff Vereschagin wrote a very detailed description and account of the trip to America in her book, Spanning the Years (History of the Popoff and Vereschagin Families). She wrote that America was the land of opportunity and safety. Dad¡¦s brother, Vasily ¡§William or Bill¡¨ Fyodorovich Popin, had gone the year before to America and was in Los Angeles. Dad's other brother, Yakov (Jack)Fyodorovich Poppin had also moved to Los Angeles about 1905/1906. It is not known if Vasily and Yakov traveled together on the same ship to America. Vasily reported that everyone was doing very well and praised the virtues of living in California and that people in America worked for wages and work was plentiful. People lived in their own houses, food was easy to come by, and the climate was ideal. Ann wrote about the trip from Kars via horse and wagon beginning in the late autumn of 1906. [Vereschagin, Spanning the Years, page 25]
With the exception of Dad's brother Yermolai (Elmer), who remained in Russia with his family, the remaining Poppin family moved to San Francisco, California in 1907. Grandfather Poppin¡¦s nephew (Karpay Abrosimovich Poppin¡¦s son) also moved to America in 1905 and settled in Los Angeles. His name was Eftey Karpayovich Pappin. He has descendants who still live in Los Angeles. Their route was by train from Kars to Bremen, Germany where they boarded the vessel Professor Woermann for the trip to Galveston, Texas. Here they entered the United States on April 10, 1907. This is verified by documents that are on file with the United States Department of Immigration.
Dad¡¦s first wife, Prascovia Andreyovna Bogdanov Poppin was pregnant, so Dad¡¦s mother, my grandmother Matrona Savelivna Popoff Poppin, accompanied the family on the trip.
Dad's children by his marriage to Prascovia ¡§Alice¡¨ are:
Alex (Alexei Ivanovich) was born June 5, 1892 in Kars, Russia. He married Mary Slivkoff in 1908 in San Francisco, California. Alex died on July 03, 1979 in Vacaville, California. He is buried in the Vacaville-Elmira Cemetery. He has eleven children: John (deceased), Alice (deceased), Anna, Hazel (deceased), Vera, William, Steve, Samuel (deceased), Nicholas, Fred, and Michael.
Nick (Nicholai Ivanovich) was born October 10,1894 in Kars, Russia. He married Martha Lukianovna Conovaloff on July 25,1914 in San Francisco. Nick died December 11,1959 in Arizona and is buried in the Russian Cemetery in Los Angeles. He has 8 children: Nick (deceased), Alice, Andrew (deceased), Fae, Mary, Anne (deceased), Vera and William.
Fred (Fyodor Ivanovich) was born February 1,1896 in Kars, Russia. He married Hazel Nikiforovna Urin on November 19,1919 in Phoenix, Arizona. Fred died November 17,1981 in El Monte, California and is buried in the New Russian Cemetery in Los Angeles. He has 11 children: John (deceased), William (deceased), Mickey (deceased), Christine, David, Mary, Fred, Ann (deceased), Hazel (deceased), Verna and Priscilla.
Anna (Anna Ivanovna) was born January 13,1899 in Kars, Russia. She married Mom¡¦s brother Alex Nicholas Seminoff January 26, 1915 in San Francisco, California. Anna died May 21,1993 in Santa Rosa, California and is buried in Santa Rosa Memorial Park. She has 5 children: John (deceased), Nick (deceased), Elsie (deceased), William, and Nora.
William (Vasily Ivanovich) was born October 17,1904 in Kars, Russia. He married Irene Kroll sometime after 1937 in place unknown. Bill died April 30,1979 in San Ysidro, California. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered at sea. He did not have any children.
The families crossed the Black Sea and arrived in Bremen, Germany in the wintertime. Ann explained how the families were housed while they waited for the German cargo ship, ¡§Professor Woermann,¡¨ to be cleaned and refitted to haul passengers on its next voyage to Galveston, Texas. The ship had arrived from its voyage to the United States with a carload of cattle. I don¡¦t recall Dad talking about the trip to America. He didn¡¦t even mention that the immigrant men waiting to leave on the ship were hired to help with the transition. The ship finally left on March 1, 1911. I strongly suggest you read Ann¡¦s book. You will enjoy reading about her account of the trip. [Vereschagin, Spanning the Years, pages 25-29]
During this migration from Russia to the United States, Dad's wife Alice died after giving birth to a baby girl on the ship. The ship¡¦s manifest stated Alice died of pneumonia on March 30, 1907. According to my brother Nick Papin, Alice was buried at sea on Easter Sunday, March 31,1907. It was such a profound tragic experience for him that he cried every Easter Sunday for years after his mother¡¦s death. The baby was named Hania, as per the ship¡¦s manifest. Grandmother Matryona Poppin was a midwife and she was able to keep the baby alive on the ship. The ship arrived in Galveston, Texas on April 10, 1907. Dad continued caring for his daughter, but shortly after arriving at their destination in San Francisco, Hania supposedly wasn't given very good "motherly" care and died shortly thereafter on April 18, 1907. She is supposedly buried in a plot for the poor who were unable to pay for the cemetery expenses at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Colma, California. The ship's manifest verifies their arrival. The manifest is on file with the United States Department of Immigration.
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CHAPTER 4
San Francisco - 1907-1910
After landing at Galveston, Texas, the family proceeded by rail to Los Angeles and finally to San Francisco, California. Several families had preceded Dad¡¦s arrival and had settled in San Francisco on top of Potrero Hill. The reason they had settled on top of Potrero Hill was the fact that it was close to their place of employment. It was also shortly after the 1906 earthquake and employment was plentiful due to the rapid rebuilding of San Francisco. Please refer again to Ann Vereschagin¡¦s book as she writes an excellent account of living conditions in San Francisco and the poorly constructed housing on Rhode Island, DeHaro, Carolina and the other streets on Potrero Hill. There was no indoor plumbing and no natural gas or electricity. Outhouses were built and food was cooked on wood stoves. Our people endured much in their new homeland. [Vereschagin, Spanning the Years, pages 42-44]
Many of the males of the Russian clan who came to San Francisco at that time were employed by the Union Iron Works which is on Third Street down below the eastern slope of Potrero Hill. It was easy to walk back and forth to work and it wasn't necessary to take any public transportation, which was very limited in 1907. The Union Iron Works built steel ships and was the first large, modern shipyard on the Pacific Coast. Union was also active in building machinery for mining and industrial use. [Kemble, San Francisco Bay, 1957, pgs. 71 & 73]
After working about a year and a half in San Francisco, Dad decided to return to Russia in August 1908. He wanted to find a wife and get married. (Note: This year was written on the ship's manifest for his return trip to the United States. He was asked if he had ever been in the United State and he stated San Francisco, August 1908.) He married my mother, Hanya Nikolaivna "Hazel" Seminishev on January 01,1909. This date was obtained from John Fred Poppin's naturalization papers. Today, our relatives do not call themselves Seminishev, but Seminoff or Semenoff. Their last name has been Americanized.
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CHAPTER 5
Russia to America - Ellis Island, New York (1911)
Dad's second trip to the United States of America was in 1911. Mom and Dad and several members of the Seminishev and Popoff families traveled by train from Kars, Russia to Hamburg, Germany where they boarded the ship Kaiserin Auguste Victoria. I recall Dad stated that on his second trip he had brought along most of my mother's family; however, the ship¡¦s manifest does not show any of her immediate family.
The ship's manifest lists the following information for each passenger:
Ethnicity: Russian
Place of Residence: Nowosyleni, Russia (Note: This means "New Village")
Point of Departure: Hamburg, Germany
Name of Ship: Kaiserin Augusta Victoria
Sailed from Hamburg: March 1, 1911
Date of Arrival: March 12, 1911
The ship's manifest lists the following family members who were on the ship:
1. Iwan (Ivan) Papin, male, 37 years, married, Yes, he had been to America in 1908 in San Francisco; relative: mother; Matrona Papina; San Francisco; 1332 Carolina St; fair complexion, dark brown hair and blue eyes; indicated he had an injury to his right hip and was lame.
2. Paraska Papin, female, 24 years, married; height: 5'4", fair complexion, dark brown hair, and gray eyes. [Note: This was Hazel Seminoff Poppin. It is not known why Paraska was used as her first name. It is not close to her Russian name of Hanya. Dad¡¦s first wife was Praskovia. Mom¡¦s height is also incorrect. She was at least 5'8".]
3. Nikolaj (Nicholas) Papin, male, 17 years old, single, height: 5'7"; fair complexion; dark brown hair and brown eyes.
4. Feodor (Fyodor) Papin, male, 11 years old, single, fair complexion, light brown hair and gray eyes.
5. Iwan (Ivan) Papin, male, 11 months, single, fair complexion, light brown hair, gray eyes [Note: this was my brother John, who was born in Russia]
Also on the ship as per the ship's manifest were Nicholas Daniel (Nikolai Danilovich) Seminishev's nephews, sons of Peter Daniel (Pyotor Danilovich) Seminishev, Alexay Petrovich (Alex) and Vasily Petrovich (William) Seminishev.
1. Alexej Semenyszow (Alexei Petrovich Seminishev aka Alex Peter Semenoff), age 18 years, married, Russian, height: 5'9"; brown hair and blue eyes relative: brother-in-law Timofe Popov; 1027 De Haro; San Francisco.
2. Anastasia Semenyszow (Anastasia Seminishev aka Nellie Maxim Popoff Semenoff), age 17 years, married; height: 5'4", fair complexion, black hair and brown eyes; relative: brother, Timofe Popov; 1027 De Haro; San Francisco.
3. Iwan Semenyszow (Ivan Seminishev aka John Alex Semenoff), son of Alex and Nellie, age 2 months, blond hair and gray eyes.
4. Wasyl Semenyszow (Vasily Petrovich Seminishev aka William Peter Semenoff), age 25 years, married; height: 5'11", dark brown hair and gray eyes; relative: Wasyl Loskutov, DeHaro Street, San Francisco.
5. Maria Semenyszow, age 23 years, wife of William, 5'6", dark brown hair and brown eyes.
Dad had children from his second marriage.
1. John (Ivan Ivanovich) was the oldest. He was born February 1, 1910 in Russia. He married Jean Evanikoff (Tanya Dimitrivna) on May 20, 1934 in San Francisco. We lost him in the Second World War in Truro, England on December 01, 1943. He was in the United States Navy with the Construction Stevedore Battalion. We brought his remains back to San Francisco after World War II and he is now buried in the Russian Molokan Cemetery in Colma. John has two children, John and Myrna.
2. Alice (Prascovia Ivanovna) was born April 12,1911 in San Francisco, California. She married Errol Pettibone July 23, 1939 in Yuma, Arizona. Alice died in San Jose, California on January 13, 2000. Her ashes were scattered off the Pacific coast. Alice has a daughter Joan.
3. Jim (Timafay Ivanovich) was born July 12,1912 in Potter Valley, Mendocino County, California. He married Estelle Bessie Klistoff on June 30,1935 in San Francisco. Jim died May 06,1990 in South San Francisco, California and is buried in the Russian Molokan Cemetery in Colma. Jim has two sons, Jim and Nick
4. Nell (Nastya Ivanovna) was born May 08,1914 in San Francisco, California. She married Billy Ward Payne on June 22,1935 in San Diego, California. Nell died December 09,1980 in San Francisco, California and is buried in the Russian Molokan Cemetery in Colma. Nell has three children, Stewart (deceased), William and Hazel.
5. Mary (Masha Ivanovna) was born August 16,1916 in Potter Valley, Mendocino County, California. She married George Page Andrews in 1941 in Carson City, Nevada. Mary died April 19,1991 in San Francisco, California and is buried in the Russian Molokan Cemetery in Colma. Mary has two sons, George and John.
6. George (Giorgi Ivanovich), was born August 31, 1918 in Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona. I married my sweetheart, Dorothy Edith Ritter on June 24, 1944 in San Francisco. We currently reside in San Francisco, California. We have four children, Nancy, Tom, Joan and Debbie.
7. Hazel (Hanya Ivanovna) was born October 30,1920 in Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona. She married Jack Gray Thompson on May 19, 1944 in Monroe, Louisiana. Hazel died March 31,1987 in Saratoga, California. Hazel has three daughters, Diana, Paula and Myrna.
8. Dorothy (Doonya Ivanovna) was born September 15,1926 in Sheridan, Placer County, California. She married John William Hollandsworth on July 09,1945 in San Francisco, California. Dorothy is currently residing in San Francisco, California. She has three children, Billy, Mary Jane (deceased) and Steven.
While Dad was in Russia, the family experienced their first federal census in 1910. Dad¡¦s brother Jack Fred Poppin was married to Fenya ¡§Fannie¡¨ Patapoff and had a son William who was born several months before the census on February 8, 1910. The census shows that Jack and Fannie had been married about 5 years. There had been two other births and the children died. Jack and his family were living in San Francisco at the time of the census. Dad's brother William Fred Popin had been living in Los Angeles when the family first moved from Russia in 1907. There wasn¡¦t a census record, so I do not know where Dad's brother William resided in 1910. There is a clue that Dad's brother William went to Potter Valley because he was one of the landowners. There is a picture of the Union School and below the picture, it says that two of the children were Anna Popin and her sister. At that time, William's daughters were Anna born in 1901, Hazel born in 1908 and Martha born in 1910.
Mom was pregnant when she and Dad arrived in America on March 12, 1911 and she gave birth to Sister Alice on April 12, 1911 in San Francisco, California. It is hard to fathom my dear mother traveling across the Atlantic Ocean seven to eight months pregnant and caring for my brother John who was one year old. The conditions aboard the ship were no doubt uncomfortable for a pregnant woman. Although the boat trip took about two to three weeks, the family still had to take a cross-country train trip to California and train conditions were no better.
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CHAPTER 6
Potter Valley (1911-1917)
After living in San Francisco on Potrero Hill for a short time, someone spread the word that the ideal place to live was Potter Valley, which was north of San Francisco, about a 100 miles just outside of Ukiah in Mendocino County. So it happens in 1911, Dad packed up lock, stock, and barrel and moved the whole family to purchase some land in Potter Valley and go into farming. The Potter Valley caravan must have included Dad, Mom, Brother Nick, Sister Anna, Brother John, Sister Alice, Brother Alex, his wife Mary and family and Grandmother Martha Poppin.
If you get a chance, visit Potter Valley. It is beautifully located and I have often wondered why Dad didn't remain in such beautiful surroundings. In the book From Acorns to Oaks, a Potter Valley History 1855 to 1985, written by Delight Corbett Shelton, it is mentioned that in March 1911, property was transferred to a Russian Colony. It is assumed by the author that Max Popoff was the negotiator for the other Russian families and their transactions. The Russian people cut one of their farms into long narrow subdivisions, half a mile long and a few rods wide, after the old country style in Russia. They built their homes on the worthless hill ground on the west side. The women did much of the farm work while the men worked in San Francisco or over at the coast mills. Several of my brothers worked in San Francisco. This is apparent when looking at the San Francisco Polk Directory. Brother Fred was an ironworker in 1913, Brother Nick Papin was also an ironworker in 1916 and 1917 and Brother Alex was a riveter in 1916.
On March 28, 1919, all the property was sold, except for the Popoff family living at the Pine Avenue farm. According to the author, the Russian families went from Potter Valley to the Sacramento Valley, Texas, Arizona, Southern California, and one family returned to Russia. [Shelton, From Acorns to Oaks, pages 93-94]
According to the 1911 property transfers, John Papin aka Poppin was given a deed from his son Alexay Papin on November 18, 1911. Dad farmed until about 1917 and then decided to move to Arizona. I would also like to note that Dad¡¦s brother William Fred ¡§Vasily¡¨ Popin also owned some property in Potter Valley and sold his share on March 28, 1919. The final memorandum does not show Dad or his son Alex selling their property, and it is assumed they moved to Arizona before the other families. Dad¡¦s brother William Fred did move to Arizona after 1919. The other families who had property in Potter Valley were Homotoff, Loskutoff, Bogdonoff, Conovaloff, Susoeff, Botaeff, Slivkoff, Buchnoff , Corboff, Konigin and Fetisoff.
Brother Jim was born July 12, 1912, shortly after the family arrived in Potter Valley. The Union School was where everyone went to school. Sister Anna was probably a student at this school as she was about 13 years old. Brothers Fred and Nick probably helped Dad in the fields. By 1914, Mom had 4 babies to care for (John, Alice, Jim and Nell). Most of the children from Dad's first marriage were either married and raising their own families or planning to get married, except Fred and Bill. Alex married Mary Slivkoff in 1908 in San Francisco and they already had three children: John, Alice and Anna. Nick married Martha Conovalov on July 25, 1914 in San Francisco and Anna married Alex Seminoff on January 26, 1915 in San Francisco. Fred would marry Hazel Urin on November 19, 1919 in Phoenix Arizona. Bill lived with us for several years before he married Irene Kroll sometime after 1937.
The next event is based on fact, but parts are unclear and therefore inconclusive. Mom¡¦s father Nicolai Danilovich Seminishev aka Nick Seminoff yearned for his homeland and wanted to go back to Russia. The dates are sketchy, but an estimate has been identified about 1914. The family must have traveled from Potter Valley to San Francisco in 1914. It is not known from which port Grandfather Nick Seminoff embarked to Russia. The fact remains that Mom was pregnant with Sister Nell and Sister Nell was born May 8, 1914 in San Francisco.
Dad and the family traveled back to Potter Valley from San Francisco. Sister Mary was born August 16, 1916. Nothing is known about the years between Sister Nell and Sister Mary's births. Neither is it known the circumstances of why Mom was in San Francisco to give birth to Sister Nell.
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CHAPTER 7
Arizona (1917-1921)
About this time, shortly after Sister Mary was born, word was spreading that one could make a good living in Arizona. So once again, the barest hint of prosperity lured our family to pack up and move about 1917. They sold their property in the beautiful Potter Valley and moved by train from Ukiah to Maricopa County, Arizona. The place of settlement in Arizona was referred to as Phoenix, but is just outside the area of Glendale, Tolleson, and the Phoenix area. It was right in that triangle. Bear in mind that World War I was in progress. A few families had already moved to Phoenix, Arizona and discovered that this beautiful valley, due to the building of the Hoover Dam, provided plenty of water for irrigation. According to Fae Veronin in her book, Molokans in Arizona, there were about 60 families who moved to Arizona to join other families that already been eking out an existence for the past five years. Cotton and maize were good key crops and were profitable due to the high prices during World War I. [Veronin, Molokans in Arizona, pages 85-86]
Molokans from all parts of California moved to the Phoenix area. The purchase of land was a communal affair. The groups of families would purchase anywhere from a half a section to a full section, that is anywhere from 80 acres to 160 acres. Then twenty acres was allotted to each family. They would literally pace off the twenty acres and say, this is your twenty acres, this is my twenty acres and that's the way they handled it. Purchasing the land in a communal manner enabled more people to have land.
He married Hazel Nicholas Seminoff (1887-1968) on 01 Jan 1909 in Kars, Russia. They had eight children: John, Alice, James, Nell, Mary, George, Hazel, and Dorothy.
Below are several chapters from "Ack! Amerika" by George John Poppin and Nancy Poppin Posey. They give a rich portral of John Fred Poppin's life. There isn't room for the entire book.
"A Sketch Of A Proud And Wonderful Family
Once upon a time, a time in the not too distant past, there lived a legend whose name was upheld in pride. For a short while, there seemed to be a prosperous future, until the bubble burst in 1929. That was the year of the Great Economic Depression and Dad lost the huge ranch, truck horses one hundred head of thoroughbred Holstein milk cows, farm equipment and all that went with it. There went John Fred Poppin¡¦s dreams of a family, which eventually dispersed into the chasms of ¡§Americanization¡¨. That was my father who with Hanya Ivanovna, my mother, saw the ending of a dear and loving family which was always eager to give a helping hand to its brothers and sisters in love and hope, only to fade away into oblivion...gone with the wind into individual families. Each family tried to make the most of it with little or no support from their familial ties.
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CHAPTER 1
And Now I Begin
I recall when I was quite young and was living in Lincoln, California, Dad would often tell us about his trips in Eastern Turkey during the winter when he was hauling his freight with a team of three horses and a sleigh. His ability to describe his experiences and travels were so vivid and his voice was so clear and loud that his exuberant story telling enthralled us. What experiences he had and I still recall many pleasant memories of his story telling on cold winter nights before a roaring fire. After all the chores were done, dinner was over and dishes were put away, Dad would tell of his experiences in the old country.
I have written an account of some of those experiences as well as an account of our family from 1907 to present day. There have been several books written about the Molokans and areas have been cited that would best describe various points of interest. This is being done to supplement information provided by my parents as well as my own experiences. I have inserted key photos into the document to help provide a word picture in the minds of the reader. These photos will draw attention to the chronology of events that I am about to address. My family endured many hardships not only in their immigration to America, but also in their every day lives. They worked hard to provide for their families and it is with utmost respect that I acknowledge their contributions.
My father's name was John Fred (Ivan Fyodorovich) Poppin and his father¡¦s name was Fred (Fyodor Abrosimovich) Poppin. My father¡¦s mother was Martha (Matryona Savelivna Popov/Popoff) Poppin. They all resided in Kars, Russia, which is now part of Eastern Turkey. My father had three brothers and one sister. They are William Fred (Vasily Fyodorovich), Elmer Fred (Yermolai/Ermolai Fyodorovich) Jack Fred (Yakov Fyodorovich) Poppin and Mary Fred (Masha Fyodorivna) Poppin.
Grandfather Fred Poppin was an ill person and by the time Dad reached young adulthood, his father had died. This left Grandmother Poppin with four sons and a daughter to raise on her own. All of the boys pitched in, worked the land, and grew up in Kars, Russia.
My people were peasants or people of the soil. Dad's family had a small plot of land in Russia. Dad didn¡¦t describe his village but when I interviewed Mom, she was able to fill in some gaps for living arrangements, meals, etc. for her family. Some details may not be pertinent to Dad¡¦s family, but the description of the Molokan life in Kars could be construed for most inhabitants. Their home was typical of the Kars area. It was a small, earth-roofed house and built close to the ground. A Russian traditional style hut was called a peasant house and was made of mud, horse dung, and straw. It had a long entrance hall that served as an air lock against the cold. There was a kitchen with a big oven, called a petch. It served as the central heating system. The petch was similar to a large Dutch oven and was made from mud bricks. Some of the family slept atop of it during the winter. They ate and slept in the same room. The meals were cooked in the petch. Their meals usually consisted of a lot of potatoes and tea. Sometimes they might have vegetable Borsht without meat stock or Lapsha, but usually it was potatoes and tea for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The Lapsha or noodles were made by hanging thinly rolled out dough over long poles over heated coals. When dried, the dough would then be rolled and sliced thinly into noodles. Bread was made of wheat and/or rye flour and was dark. Breakfast usually consisted of potatoes, when they were available, that were peeled or unpeeled, fried, boiled, baked or mashed and a glass of tea. Occasionally there would be rice or Kasha, which is porridge with milk. That was a treat. Lunch might consist of potatoes and tea, or milk and brown rice. Supper would be potatoes and chai (tea) and vegetables when they were in season. Water was obtained from a well. It was brought into the home in buckets, slung over the shoulders on poles and then poured into large buckets inside the house. The beds were wooden. They slept on a Tyoofyakh, that is a feather mattress and covered themselves with a blanket. Their toilet was an outhouse. They bathed in their own Banya or sauna bath usually every Saturday afternoon and evening. Their childhood clothing usually consisted of a Roobaha, that is a big shirt and went Bishtanoff or without, literally without underpants. They had no shoes. One could not help but become very curious on certain occasions during Dad's storytelling. "Pahp, (Dad), what did you use for toilet paper when you were away out in the fields in Russia?" Good question. When nature called and they had to go, they would first pick out a bit of clodded soil or a smooth rock and go away as far as they could go from the group, if any was present, assume the position and let it fire away. They cleansed the area with the smooth rock or their finger and let it go at that. NATURE IN THE RAW IS SELDOM MILD!!
The Poppin family worked the soil, raised grains, and had a small herd of cattle. They were not large landowners but they had enough land to get by satisfactorily. When Dad became older, he took on jobs as a teamster for an added source of family income. He hauled freight with a team of horses for the government from one part of Eastern Turkey to another and was paid sufficiently. This helped to pay expenses and helped Grandma Poppin raise the family.
From what Dad told me, there must have been an occasional dealing with tea smugglers by the local residents on the outskirts of the village wherein Dad resided. On a certain occasion, Dad had been herding his flock of livestock on the outskirts of the village when all of a sudden he saw a stranger appear who was coming toward him from a nearby hillside. "Ayeh, Ivan-ah-ha (as Dad was known to the local Turks and Tartars), I noticed from my past observances on the hillside that you have covered the tracks of traders by herding your flock over the tracks of their horses. You are considerate and I want to reward you. You be here this evening for I want to see you." Dad returned to that area that evening and there was the stranger all dressed in tribal garb who presented Dad with a good-sized bag of WHITE tea. So aromatic and delicious was that tea, said Dad. He has NEVER ever tasted the flavor of such a tea again.
Dad wasn't the tallest person in the world. He must have been about 5'8" - 5'9" and he had a red beard, blue eyes, and light brown hair. When he was a young man, during the course of his employment as a teamster hauling freight from one part of Eastern Turkey to the other, the sleigh had overturned and as a result, he had broken his hip. Due to improper medical facilities, his fractured hip was improperly set and as a result, his right leg was slightly shorter than the other leg. This made no difference in his ability to work hard. Several types of sleds are shown. The sled with three horses is called a troika. A flatbed sled would be more conducive to delivering freight.
In general, Dad was a pleasant and affectionate person. He was happy, warm, jovial, liked to sing a lot, got along very well with people, but he had his temper. He ran a good close family. We had a well-disciplined family but we were a happy family.
Dad was married twice. His first marriage was to Prascovia Andreyovna Bogdanov in Kars, Russia. Because of the Molokan belief that military conscription was contrary to their faith, Dad first moved to the United States of America in 1907. Several families had already moved from Kars and portions of the Caucasus to California, mainly San Francisco and Los Angeles.
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CHAPTER 2
Russia to America - Galveston, Texas (1907)
Cousin Ann Popoff Vereschagin wrote a very detailed description and account of the trip to America in her book, Spanning the Years (History of the Popoff and Vereschagin Families). She wrote that America was the land of opportunity and safety. Dad¡¦s brother, Vasily ¡§William or Bill¡¨ Fyodorovich Popin, had gone the year before to America and was in Los Angeles. Dad's other brother, Yakov (Jack)Fyodorovich Poppin had also moved to Los Angeles about 1905/1906. It is not known if Vasily and Yakov traveled together on the same ship to America. Vasily reported that everyone was doing very well and praised the virtues of living in California and that people in America worked for wages and work was plentiful. People lived in their own houses, food was easy to come by, and the climate was ideal. Ann wrote about the trip from Kars via horse and wagon beginning in the late autumn of 1906. [Vereschagin, Spanning the Years, page 25]
With the exception of Dad's brother Yermolai (Elmer), who remained in Russia with his family, the remaining Poppin family moved to San Francisco, California in 1907. Grandfather Poppin¡¦s nephew (Karpay Abrosimovich Poppin¡¦s son) also moved to America in 1905 and settled in Los Angeles. His name was Eftey Karpayovich Pappin. He has descendants who still live in Los Angeles. Their route was by train from Kars to Bremen, Germany where they boarded the vessel Professor Woermann for the trip to Galveston, Texas. Here they entered the United States on April 10, 1907. This is verified by documents that are on file with the United States Department of Immigration.
Dad¡¦s first wife, Prascovia Andreyovna Bogdanov Poppin was pregnant, so Dad¡¦s mother, my grandmother Matrona Savelivna Popoff Poppin, accompanied the family on the trip.
Dad's children by his marriage to Prascovia ¡§Alice¡¨ are:
Alex (Alexei Ivanovich) was born June 5, 1892 in Kars, Russia. He married Mary Slivkoff in 1908 in San Francisco, California. Alex died on July 03, 1979 in Vacaville, California. He is buried in the Vacaville-Elmira Cemetery. He has eleven children: John (deceased), Alice (deceased), Anna, Hazel (deceased), Vera, William, Steve, Samuel (deceased), Nicholas, Fred, and Michael.
Nick (Nicholai Ivanovich) was born October 10,1894 in Kars, Russia. He married Martha Lukianovna Conovaloff on July 25,1914 in San Francisco. Nick died December 11,1959 in Arizona and is buried in the Russian Cemetery in Los Angeles. He has 8 children: Nick (deceased), Alice, Andrew (deceased), Fae, Mary, Anne (deceased), Vera and William.
Fred (Fyodor Ivanovich) was born February 1,1896 in Kars, Russia. He married Hazel Nikiforovna Urin on November 19,1919 in Phoenix, Arizona. Fred died November 17,1981 in El Monte, California and is buried in the New Russian Cemetery in Los Angeles. He has 11 children: John (deceased), William (deceased), Mickey (deceased), Christine, David, Mary, Fred, Ann (deceased), Hazel (deceased), Verna and Priscilla.
Anna (Anna Ivanovna) was born January 13,1899 in Kars, Russia. She married Mom¡¦s brother Alex Nicholas Seminoff January 26, 1915 in San Francisco, California. Anna died May 21,1993 in Santa Rosa, California and is buried in Santa Rosa Memorial Park. She has 5 children: John (deceased), Nick (deceased), Elsie (deceased), William, and Nora.
William (Vasily Ivanovich) was born October 17,1904 in Kars, Russia. He married Irene Kroll sometime after 1937 in place unknown. Bill died April 30,1979 in San Ysidro, California. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered at sea. He did not have any children.
The families crossed the Black Sea and arrived in Bremen, Germany in the wintertime. Ann explained how the families were housed while they waited for the German cargo ship, ¡§Professor Woermann,¡¨ to be cleaned and refitted to haul passengers on its next voyage to Galveston, Texas. The ship had arrived from its voyage to the United States with a carload of cattle. I don¡¦t recall Dad talking about the trip to America. He didn¡¦t even mention that the immigrant men waiting to leave on the ship were hired to help with the transition. The ship finally left on March 1, 1911. I strongly suggest you read Ann¡¦s book. You will enjoy reading about her account of the trip. [Vereschagin, Spanning the Years, pages 25-29]
During this migration from Russia to the United States, Dad's wife Alice died after giving birth to a baby girl on the ship. The ship¡¦s manifest stated Alice died of pneumonia on March 30, 1907. According to my brother Nick Papin, Alice was buried at sea on Easter Sunday, March 31,1907. It was such a profound tragic experience for him that he cried every Easter Sunday for years after his mother¡¦s death. The baby was named Hania, as per the ship¡¦s manifest. Grandmother Matryona Poppin was a midwife and she was able to keep the baby alive on the ship. The ship arrived in Galveston, Texas on April 10, 1907. Dad continued caring for his daughter, but shortly after arriving at their destination in San Francisco, Hania supposedly wasn't given very good "motherly" care and died shortly thereafter on April 18, 1907. She is supposedly buried in a plot for the poor who were unable to pay for the cemetery expenses at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Colma, California. The ship's manifest verifies their arrival. The manifest is on file with the United States Department of Immigration.
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CHAPTER 4
San Francisco - 1907-1910
After landing at Galveston, Texas, the family proceeded by rail to Los Angeles and finally to San Francisco, California. Several families had preceded Dad¡¦s arrival and had settled in San Francisco on top of Potrero Hill. The reason they had settled on top of Potrero Hill was the fact that it was close to their place of employment. It was also shortly after the 1906 earthquake and employment was plentiful due to the rapid rebuilding of San Francisco. Please refer again to Ann Vereschagin¡¦s book as she writes an excellent account of living conditions in San Francisco and the poorly constructed housing on Rhode Island, DeHaro, Carolina and the other streets on Potrero Hill. There was no indoor plumbing and no natural gas or electricity. Outhouses were built and food was cooked on wood stoves. Our people endured much in their new homeland. [Vereschagin, Spanning the Years, pages 42-44]
Many of the males of the Russian clan who came to San Francisco at that time were employed by the Union Iron Works which is on Third Street down below the eastern slope of Potrero Hill. It was easy to walk back and forth to work and it wasn't necessary to take any public transportation, which was very limited in 1907. The Union Iron Works built steel ships and was the first large, modern shipyard on the Pacific Coast. Union was also active in building machinery for mining and industrial use. [Kemble, San Francisco Bay, 1957, pgs. 71 & 73]
After working about a year and a half in San Francisco, Dad decided to return to Russia in August 1908. He wanted to find a wife and get married. (Note: This year was written on the ship's manifest for his return trip to the United States. He was asked if he had ever been in the United State and he stated San Francisco, August 1908.) He married my mother, Hanya Nikolaivna "Hazel" Seminishev on January 01,1909. This date was obtained from John Fred Poppin's naturalization papers. Today, our relatives do not call themselves Seminishev, but Seminoff or Semenoff. Their last name has been Americanized.
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CHAPTER 5
Russia to America - Ellis Island, New York (1911)
Dad's second trip to the United States of America was in 1911. Mom and Dad and several members of the Seminishev and Popoff families traveled by train from Kars, Russia to Hamburg, Germany where they boarded the ship Kaiserin Auguste Victoria. I recall Dad stated that on his second trip he had brought along most of my mother's family; however, the ship¡¦s manifest does not show any of her immediate family.
The ship's manifest lists the following information for each passenger:
Ethnicity: Russian
Place of Residence: Nowosyleni, Russia (Note: This means "New Village")
Point of Departure: Hamburg, Germany
Name of Ship: Kaiserin Augusta Victoria
Sailed from Hamburg: March 1, 1911
Date of Arrival: March 12, 1911
The ship's manifest lists the following family members who were on the ship:
1. Iwan (Ivan) Papin, male, 37 years, married, Yes, he had been to America in 1908 in San Francisco; relative: mother; Matrona Papina; San Francisco; 1332 Carolina St; fair complexion, dark brown hair and blue eyes; indicated he had an injury to his right hip and was lame.
2. Paraska Papin, female, 24 years, married; height: 5'4", fair complexion, dark brown hair, and gray eyes. [Note: This was Hazel Seminoff Poppin. It is not known why Paraska was used as her first name. It is not close to her Russian name of Hanya. Dad¡¦s first wife was Praskovia. Mom¡¦s height is also incorrect. She was at least 5'8".]
3. Nikolaj (Nicholas) Papin, male, 17 years old, single, height: 5'7"; fair complexion; dark brown hair and brown eyes.
4. Feodor (Fyodor) Papin, male, 11 years old, single, fair complexion, light brown hair and gray eyes.
5. Iwan (Ivan) Papin, male, 11 months, single, fair complexion, light brown hair, gray eyes [Note: this was my brother John, who was born in Russia]
Also on the ship as per the ship's manifest were Nicholas Daniel (Nikolai Danilovich) Seminishev's nephews, sons of Peter Daniel (Pyotor Danilovich) Seminishev, Alexay Petrovich (Alex) and Vasily Petrovich (William) Seminishev.
1. Alexej Semenyszow (Alexei Petrovich Seminishev aka Alex Peter Semenoff), age 18 years, married, Russian, height: 5'9"; brown hair and blue eyes relative: brother-in-law Timofe Popov; 1027 De Haro; San Francisco.
2. Anastasia Semenyszow (Anastasia Seminishev aka Nellie Maxim Popoff Semenoff), age 17 years, married; height: 5'4", fair complexion, black hair and brown eyes; relative: brother, Timofe Popov; 1027 De Haro; San Francisco.
3. Iwan Semenyszow (Ivan Seminishev aka John Alex Semenoff), son of Alex and Nellie, age 2 months, blond hair and gray eyes.
4. Wasyl Semenyszow (Vasily Petrovich Seminishev aka William Peter Semenoff), age 25 years, married; height: 5'11", dark brown hair and gray eyes; relative: Wasyl Loskutov, DeHaro Street, San Francisco.
5. Maria Semenyszow, age 23 years, wife of William, 5'6", dark brown hair and brown eyes.
Dad had children from his second marriage.
1. John (Ivan Ivanovich) was the oldest. He was born February 1, 1910 in Russia. He married Jean Evanikoff (Tanya Dimitrivna) on May 20, 1934 in San Francisco. We lost him in the Second World War in Truro, England on December 01, 1943. He was in the United States Navy with the Construction Stevedore Battalion. We brought his remains back to San Francisco after World War II and he is now buried in the Russian Molokan Cemetery in Colma. John has two children, John and Myrna.
2. Alice (Prascovia Ivanovna) was born April 12,1911 in San Francisco, California. She married Errol Pettibone July 23, 1939 in Yuma, Arizona. Alice died in San Jose, California on January 13, 2000. Her ashes were scattered off the Pacific coast. Alice has a daughter Joan.
3. Jim (Timafay Ivanovich) was born July 12,1912 in Potter Valley, Mendocino County, California. He married Estelle Bessie Klistoff on June 30,1935 in San Francisco. Jim died May 06,1990 in South San Francisco, California and is buried in the Russian Molokan Cemetery in Colma. Jim has two sons, Jim and Nick
4. Nell (Nastya Ivanovna) was born May 08,1914 in San Francisco, California. She married Billy Ward Payne on June 22,1935 in San Diego, California. Nell died December 09,1980 in San Francisco, California and is buried in the Russian Molokan Cemetery in Colma. Nell has three children, Stewart (deceased), William and Hazel.
5. Mary (Masha Ivanovna) was born August 16,1916 in Potter Valley, Mendocino County, California. She married George Page Andrews in 1941 in Carson City, Nevada. Mary died April 19,1991 in San Francisco, California and is buried in the Russian Molokan Cemetery in Colma. Mary has two sons, George and John.
6. George (Giorgi Ivanovich), was born August 31, 1918 in Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona. I married my sweetheart, Dorothy Edith Ritter on June 24, 1944 in San Francisco. We currently reside in San Francisco, California. We have four children, Nancy, Tom, Joan and Debbie.
7. Hazel (Hanya Ivanovna) was born October 30,1920 in Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona. She married Jack Gray Thompson on May 19, 1944 in Monroe, Louisiana. Hazel died March 31,1987 in Saratoga, California. Hazel has three daughters, Diana, Paula and Myrna.
8. Dorothy (Doonya Ivanovna) was born September 15,1926 in Sheridan, Placer County, California. She married John William Hollandsworth on July 09,1945 in San Francisco, California. Dorothy is currently residing in San Francisco, California. She has three children, Billy, Mary Jane (deceased) and Steven.
While Dad was in Russia, the family experienced their first federal census in 1910. Dad¡¦s brother Jack Fred Poppin was married to Fenya ¡§Fannie¡¨ Patapoff and had a son William who was born several months before the census on February 8, 1910. The census shows that Jack and Fannie had been married about 5 years. There had been two other births and the children died. Jack and his family were living in San Francisco at the time of the census. Dad's brother William Fred Popin had been living in Los Angeles when the family first moved from Russia in 1907. There wasn¡¦t a census record, so I do not know where Dad's brother William resided in 1910. There is a clue that Dad's brother William went to Potter Valley because he was one of the landowners. There is a picture of the Union School and below the picture, it says that two of the children were Anna Popin and her sister. At that time, William's daughters were Anna born in 1901, Hazel born in 1908 and Martha born in 1910.
Mom was pregnant when she and Dad arrived in America on March 12, 1911 and she gave birth to Sister Alice on April 12, 1911 in San Francisco, California. It is hard to fathom my dear mother traveling across the Atlantic Ocean seven to eight months pregnant and caring for my brother John who was one year old. The conditions aboard the ship were no doubt uncomfortable for a pregnant woman. Although the boat trip took about two to three weeks, the family still had to take a cross-country train trip to California and train conditions were no better.
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CHAPTER 6
Potter Valley (1911-1917)
After living in San Francisco on Potrero Hill for a short time, someone spread the word that the ideal place to live was Potter Valley, which was north of San Francisco, about a 100 miles just outside of Ukiah in Mendocino County. So it happens in 1911, Dad packed up lock, stock, and barrel and moved the whole family to purchase some land in Potter Valley and go into farming. The Potter Valley caravan must have included Dad, Mom, Brother Nick, Sister Anna, Brother John, Sister Alice, Brother Alex, his wife Mary and family and Grandmother Martha Poppin.
If you get a chance, visit Potter Valley. It is beautifully located and I have often wondered why Dad didn't remain in such beautiful surroundings. In the book From Acorns to Oaks, a Potter Valley History 1855 to 1985, written by Delight Corbett Shelton, it is mentioned that in March 1911, property was transferred to a Russian Colony. It is assumed by the author that Max Popoff was the negotiator for the other Russian families and their transactions. The Russian people cut one of their farms into long narrow subdivisions, half a mile long and a few rods wide, after the old country style in Russia. They built their homes on the worthless hill ground on the west side. The women did much of the farm work while the men worked in San Francisco or over at the coast mills. Several of my brothers worked in San Francisco. This is apparent when looking at the San Francisco Polk Directory. Brother Fred was an ironworker in 1913, Brother Nick Papin was also an ironworker in 1916 and 1917 and Brother Alex was a riveter in 1916.
On March 28, 1919, all the property was sold, except for the Popoff family living at the Pine Avenue farm. According to the author, the Russian families went from Potter Valley to the Sacramento Valley, Texas, Arizona, Southern California, and one family returned to Russia. [Shelton, From Acorns to Oaks, pages 93-94]
According to the 1911 property transfers, John Papin aka Poppin was given a deed from his son Alexay Papin on November 18, 1911. Dad farmed until about 1917 and then decided to move to Arizona. I would also like to note that Dad¡¦s brother William Fred ¡§Vasily¡¨ Popin also owned some property in Potter Valley and sold his share on March 28, 1919. The final memorandum does not show Dad or his son Alex selling their property, and it is assumed they moved to Arizona before the other families. Dad¡¦s brother William Fred did move to Arizona after 1919. The other families who had property in Potter Valley were Homotoff, Loskutoff, Bogdonoff, Conovaloff, Susoeff, Botaeff, Slivkoff, Buchnoff , Corboff, Konigin and Fetisoff.
Brother Jim was born July 12, 1912, shortly after the family arrived in Potter Valley. The Union School was where everyone went to school. Sister Anna was probably a student at this school as she was about 13 years old. Brothers Fred and Nick probably helped Dad in the fields. By 1914, Mom had 4 babies to care for (John, Alice, Jim and Nell). Most of the children from Dad's first marriage were either married and raising their own families or planning to get married, except Fred and Bill. Alex married Mary Slivkoff in 1908 in San Francisco and they already had three children: John, Alice and Anna. Nick married Martha Conovalov on July 25, 1914 in San Francisco and Anna married Alex Seminoff on January 26, 1915 in San Francisco. Fred would marry Hazel Urin on November 19, 1919 in Phoenix Arizona. Bill lived with us for several years before he married Irene Kroll sometime after 1937.
The next event is based on fact, but parts are unclear and therefore inconclusive. Mom¡¦s father Nicolai Danilovich Seminishev aka Nick Seminoff yearned for his homeland and wanted to go back to Russia. The dates are sketchy, but an estimate has been identified about 1914. The family must have traveled from Potter Valley to San Francisco in 1914. It is not known from which port Grandfather Nick Seminoff embarked to Russia. The fact remains that Mom was pregnant with Sister Nell and Sister Nell was born May 8, 1914 in San Francisco.
Dad and the family traveled back to Potter Valley from San Francisco. Sister Mary was born August 16, 1916. Nothing is known about the years between Sister Nell and Sister Mary's births. Neither is it known the circumstances of why Mom was in San Francisco to give birth to Sister Nell.
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CHAPTER 7
Arizona (1917-1921)
About this time, shortly after Sister Mary was born, word was spreading that one could make a good living in Arizona. So once again, the barest hint of prosperity lured our family to pack up and move about 1917. They sold their property in the beautiful Potter Valley and moved by train from Ukiah to Maricopa County, Arizona. The place of settlement in Arizona was referred to as Phoenix, but is just outside the area of Glendale, Tolleson, and the Phoenix area. It was right in that triangle. Bear in mind that World War I was in progress. A few families had already moved to Phoenix, Arizona and discovered that this beautiful valley, due to the building of the Hoover Dam, provided plenty of water for irrigation. According to Fae Veronin in her book, Molokans in Arizona, there were about 60 families who moved to Arizona to join other families that already been eking out an existence for the past five years. Cotton and maize were good key crops and were profitable due to the high prices during World War I. [Veronin, Molokans in Arizona, pages 85-86]
Molokans from all parts of California moved to the Phoenix area. The purchase of land was a communal affair. The groups of families would purchase anywhere from a half a section to a full section, that is anywhere from 80 acres to 160 acres. Then twenty acres was allotted to each family. They would literally pace off the twenty acres and say, this is your twenty acres, this is my twenty acres and that's the way they handled it. Purchasing the land in a communal manner enabled more people to have land.
Inscription
"Dear husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather"
Gravesite Details
Cameo on stone; Name on stone is in Russian
Family Members
Siblings
Children
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Alex John Papin
1892–1979
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Nicholas Ivanovich "Nick" Papin
1895–1959
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Fred John Poppin
1895–1981
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Anna John Poppin Seminoff
1899–1993
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William John "Bill" Poppin
1904–1979
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Hanya John "Hazel" Poppin
1907–1907
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John John Poppin
1910–1943
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Alice John Poppin Pettibone
1911–2000
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James John Poppin
1912–1990
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Nell John "Nastya Ivanovna" Poppin Payne
1914–1980
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Mary Ivanovna Poppin Andrews
1916–1991
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George John Poppin
1918–2010
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Hazel John Poppin Thompson
1920–1987
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Dorothy John Poppin Hollandsworth
1926–2003
