Johann Cornies

Johann(es) Cornies (20 June 1789 – 13 March 1848) was a Mennonite German settler to the Russian Empire.
== Biography ==
Cornies was born in Bärwalde (Niedźwiedzica), near Danzig (Gdańsk) in West Prussia. He was a son of Johann Cornies (born in Mühlhausen, East Prussia) and Aganetha Cornies. He had 3 brothers; Peter Cornies (1791-1840s), David Cornies (1794-1850s), and Heinrich Cornies (1806-?). In 1804, his family moved to Molotschna, a Mennonite settlement in what is now Ukraine. He married with Agnes Klassen (1792-1840s), and they had a son and a daughter of the same names.
Cornies was the first president of The Agricultural Improvement Society, an Odessa-based commission that supported German colonists. The organization introduced modern farming practices to the colonies and later extended its reach to education and social life. The commission was sponsored by the Russian government with the hope that the master farming techniques of the Mennonites could be introduced to Jewish, Tatar and Russian villages.Smith, p. 264 The society introduced dryland farming, fertilizer and four-year crop rotation. Planting tobacco and mulberry trees for sericulture were promoted.
Cornies owned a large estate, Jushanlee, a model farm and showplace of south Russia. Crown princes Alexander I and Alexander II as well as other government officials visited the estate. His holdings were expanded by gifts from the government for his services and totaled at his death. He owned a large herd of thoroughbred cattle, 8,000 merino sheep and four hundred horses.
Cornies helped also with the immigration and colonisation of Jews. He died at Orloff, a village in the Molotschna colony.
== Notes ==
== References ==
* 
== External links ==
* http://www.mbconf.ca/mbstudies/holdings/perspapers/cornies_j.en.html
* http://www.hutterites.org/HutteriteHistory/ru-renewalofcommunityofgoods.htm
Category:1789 births
Category:1848 deaths
Category:German Mennonites
Category:Polish Mennonites
Category:Ukrainian Mennonites
Category:Ukrainians of German descent
Category:German expatriates in Russia
Category:Ukrainians of Polish descent
Category:Russian and Soviet Germans
Category:Jewish history
Category:People from Nowy Dwór Gdański County
Category:People from West Prussia
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