People > Notable Norkans > Emma Schwabenland Haynes
Emma Schwabenland Haynes
Mrs. Emma S. Haynes was born in Portland, Oregon, on February 2, 1907. Her father, the Rev. J.C. Schwabenland, served German Congregational Churches in North Dakota, Washington, Oregon, California, and Colorado between 1898 and 1939. Rev. Schwabenland was born in the German colony Straub, Russia, and came to the U.S. in 1891; Emma's mother (born Dorothea Müller) came to America from Norka with her parents and their family in 1887.
Emma Schwabenland Haynes
After graduating from Windsor, Colorado high school in 1924, she attended the University of Colorado, graduating with honors in 1927. While there, she received Phi Beta Kappa and Kappa Delta Pi honors. Her M.A. thesis at the University of Colorado in 1929 was entitled German-Russians on the Volga and in the United States. Her thesis and book History of the Volga Relief Society, written in 1941, are proof of her long interest in her heritage.
After teaching in Redfield, South Dakota, in 1929, she attended the University of Breslau in Germany as an exchange student from 1930 to 1931. Returning, she taught at the Michigan City, Indiana Senior High School.
After World War II, Mrs. Haynes was employed as a translator and interpreter during the famous Nuremberg Trials. She interviewed many of the famous personalities of the Allied Armies, as well as interpreting for the leaders of the defeated Reich. There, she met her husband, Tom, a Chicago court reporter, who was also working at the trials.
After being married in the United States in 1948, they returned to Europe, where they spent 28 years. Their duty stations included Trieste, Italy; Salzburg, Austria; Verona, Italy; Goppingen, Germany; and their last station in Frankfurt, Germany, where Mr. Haynes was employed in the legal section of the U.S. Army. While in Frankfurt, Emma continued researching our German relatives' lives, now living in the Soviet Union or recently repatriated to Germany. Her friendship in AHSGR with Dr. Karl Stumpp of Germany, the eminent and outstanding authority on the history of the Germans from Russia, enticed him to come to America for the 2nd International Convention of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (AHSGR), resulting in the progress of the organization in the Americas, Canada and abroad.
Mrs. Haynes was a member of the International Board of AHSGR from its beginning in 1968 until her resignation in 1983. She served as the society's representative in Germany until her return to the United States in July 1976. In her spare time, she answered countless letters from AHSGR members seeking help with their research. She was one of three editors of The Czar’s Germans, a Hattie Plum Williams manuscript published in book form by AHSGR.
Emma and Tom Haynes lived in Arlington, Virginia, until the end of April 1984, when they moved to Ventura, California. As an active member in the Washington, D. C. Chapter, she had access to the archives in our National Capitol and served as the chairperson of the AHSGR Research Committee.
Her outstanding contributions can't be measured in terms of remuneration. We know of her many articles about our history that have been published in the AHSGR Work Papers, now known as Journals and the Clues, which have far surpassed the requirements of any individual in our organization. Perhaps not all of us realize the untold numbers of her personal books, pamphlets, and materials she donated to the AHSGR library. The AHSGR Library in Lincoln, Nebraska, is named in her honor because of her pioneering work on the history and genealogy of the Germans from Russia.
The following lines, written by the famous German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, best describe Emma’s attitude towards preserving her family history:
After teaching in Redfield, South Dakota, in 1929, she attended the University of Breslau in Germany as an exchange student from 1930 to 1931. Returning, she taught at the Michigan City, Indiana Senior High School.
After World War II, Mrs. Haynes was employed as a translator and interpreter during the famous Nuremberg Trials. She interviewed many of the famous personalities of the Allied Armies, as well as interpreting for the leaders of the defeated Reich. There, she met her husband, Tom, a Chicago court reporter, who was also working at the trials.
After being married in the United States in 1948, they returned to Europe, where they spent 28 years. Their duty stations included Trieste, Italy; Salzburg, Austria; Verona, Italy; Goppingen, Germany; and their last station in Frankfurt, Germany, where Mr. Haynes was employed in the legal section of the U.S. Army. While in Frankfurt, Emma continued researching our German relatives' lives, now living in the Soviet Union or recently repatriated to Germany. Her friendship in AHSGR with Dr. Karl Stumpp of Germany, the eminent and outstanding authority on the history of the Germans from Russia, enticed him to come to America for the 2nd International Convention of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (AHSGR), resulting in the progress of the organization in the Americas, Canada and abroad.
Mrs. Haynes was a member of the International Board of AHSGR from its beginning in 1968 until her resignation in 1983. She served as the society's representative in Germany until her return to the United States in July 1976. In her spare time, she answered countless letters from AHSGR members seeking help with their research. She was one of three editors of The Czar’s Germans, a Hattie Plum Williams manuscript published in book form by AHSGR.
Emma and Tom Haynes lived in Arlington, Virginia, until the end of April 1984, when they moved to Ventura, California. As an active member in the Washington, D. C. Chapter, she had access to the archives in our National Capitol and served as the chairperson of the AHSGR Research Committee.
Her outstanding contributions can't be measured in terms of remuneration. We know of her many articles about our history that have been published in the AHSGR Work Papers, now known as Journals and the Clues, which have far surpassed the requirements of any individual in our organization. Perhaps not all of us realize the untold numbers of her personal books, pamphlets, and materials she donated to the AHSGR library. The AHSGR Library in Lincoln, Nebraska, is named in her honor because of her pioneering work on the history and genealogy of the Germans from Russia.
The following lines, written by the famous German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, best describe Emma’s attitude towards preserving her family history:
Happy the man who fondly thinks of his forebears,
Who likes to tell the willing listener the tale
Of their achievements and greatness, and is glad
To see himself a link in the beautiful chain.
Emma Schwabenland Haynes died on December 28, 1984, in Ventura, California.
Sources
Haynes, Emma S. My Mother's People., 1959. Print.
Wissen Sie?: A Perspective on Emma Schwabenland Haynes (1907 - 1984), NDSU website, Dec. 2014.
Guide to the Emma Schwabenland Haynes Papers 1927-1982, Washington State University, 2014.
Wissen Sie?: A Perspective on Emma Schwabenland Haynes (1907 - 1984), NDSU website, Dec. 2014.
Guide to the Emma Schwabenland Haynes Papers 1927-1982, Washington State University, 2014.
Last updated December 9, 2023