Friedensdorf - 1848 Village History
Copyright 1996, Elli Wise    
 

Notes:  Please see the Introduction to the Village History Project for additional information.  

FRIEDENSDORF (Russian: Kriwoj Numer) No 218

The colony was founded in 1824, under the management of Mr. Fadejew, advisor and chief officer of the Contour for foreign settlers in Jekaterinoslaw and the Ohrloff area director Johann Klaassen.  It lies at the left river bank of the Bogemtschurak (Begim-Tschokrak);  47 werst from Orechow and 90 werst from
Berdjansk.  The uneven land's soil is lightweight and black and occasionally mixed with clay. It is suitable for agriculture but not for hay. Two of the settlers indicated their wish to name this colony after their city Friedberg in Prussia.  The district officer found to name the colony Friedensdorf more appropriate, since it was not located on a mountain.

In 1824, 16 families settled there and 14 more thereafter.  20 of those had emigrated from Prussia in 1823,  from the district Schwez came 8 families, among them Heinrich Poetker and David Schmidt.  From the Marienburg district came 7 Families, among them Franz Peters and Kornelius Fast.  From the City Graudenz 1 family, Georg Schulz and from the district Friedberg, regime of Frankfurt an der Oder, two families: Kornelius Voth and Peter Voth.  Of the rest of the families, three were descendants of Chortitza families and two were descendants of local Mennonite area families.

The steppe land, belonging to Johann Kornies, was under lease, and used by neighboring Russians and Nogaiers to graze their stock.

Seventeen families that settled there, received an advance of 3,850 ruble and had about 850 ruble of their own funds.  Thirteen families with estimated funds of 3,000 ruble settled on their own.

The year of settlement was rather fruitless.  Even though they had brought some seed, there was no good harvest and the grass hoppers ate the meek growth that did show.  In addition to lack of food and feed , a harsh winter contributed to the starvation of lots of cattle.  Monarch Alexander I, visited them and left them impressed with his true caring for people. Because of poverty, not much seed could be purchased and so they could not enjoy the blessing of a good crop.  Grasshoppers destroyed most of their crop until 1828.  A cattle epidemic also broke out in 1828.  In 1830, they built the school and a feed storage.  In 1831, fire destroyed the wool the settlers had given as commission to Peter Schmidt in Steinbach , and they did not get compensated .  Especially difficult was the year 1833.  Horses that were boarded on the meadows for high payment, died of hunger and starvation.  Some of the cattle were slaughtered for their own use and for sale to the Russian interior.  The sheep were sold to surrounding noble neighbors for half the price.  The credit the colony had established, prevented the colonists from starving themselves, but could not avoid total poverty and loss of farms in all cases.

Even with all this hardship, the colony has slowly emerged to be established with prosperity.

Friedensdorf, April 23, 1848

Mayor:  Franz Wiens
Assistants:  Peter Buller, Peter Wiens
Teacher:  Jakob Wieb

as translated by Elli Wise 9/96
Coordinated with GRHS Village Research Clearing House
Coordinated with AHSGR/GRHS Translation Committee Chairman

This document may be freely used for personal, nonprofit purposes or linked by other WWW sites.  It may also be shared with others, provided the header with copyright notice is included.  However, it may not be republished in any form without permission of the copyright owner.