San José

Names

Colonia San José, San José de Barón

Location

36°06' S 63°53' W

History

San José was founded in the Quemú Quemú Departamento (District) in La Pampa Province on 19 July 1910 by the family of Joseph Schwab.

Joseph Schwab, his wife Katharina Elisabeth née Herlein, and their 2-year-old daughter Anna Maria arrived in Argentina in 1886 from Semenovka.  They settled near Coronel Suárez.  In 1907, Joseph Schwab and his extended family (daughter Anna Maria and husband Johannes Gette, son Joseph and wife Eva Née Ullman, daughter Margaretha and husband Juan Beratz, and brother-in-law Stephen Herlein) responded to an advertisement to attract settlers to La Pampa.  They acquired land from Wilfred Barón who had also founded the nearby colony of Barón which now serves as the civil administrative center for San José.  After a few years, they divided part of their land into 124 plots, and the colony of San José, named after Saint Joseph the Worker, was officially established on 19 July 1910.

The extended Schwab family was joined by those of Jacobo Kistner, Cristybal Dietrich, José Minig, Jorge Naab, and others.

A school was established in the colony, and the building was dedicated on 19 July 1914.

The height of the colony's population was in the 1940s.  The drought of 1950 forced many families to the cities in search of employment.  Many moved to the suburbs of Buenos Aires.

Volga German Families

The following Volga German families are known to have settled in San José (La Pampa):

Beratz
Böhm
Breit from Streckerau
Dietrich from Volmer
Götte
Herlein
Meier from Kamenka
Naab
Rausch from Marienberg
Schank from Köhler
Schiebelbein from Husaren
Schroh from Volmer
Schwab
Steinbach
Thome
Urban

Volga German Congregation

Iglesia de San José