Rosental in the Crimea

by Joseph Height, from the book, Homesteaders on the Steppe

In the spring of 1803, a group of 35 families, mostly from Baden, embarked at the river port of Ulm and sailed down the Danube as far as Galatz, where they remained two weeks in quarantine before they were brought by wagons to Odessa. Here they were placed in winter quarters in the city. In the following spring, 40 families were conducted by Inspector Hasper into the Crimea and 18 of the families were apportioned 2,000 dessiantines (=5,200 acres) of land 25 versts from Simferopol and settled in the rose abounding valley of Barantcha.

The settlers began building their houses of stone and sun-dried clay bricks in May, 1805. Another seven families from Lorraine arrived in the fall, but it was not until 1807 that all of the 25 houses were completed.

Each family received a government loan of 300 rubles to enable it to purchase the necessary livestock and equipment to get settled. The first mayor, Anton Fauth, named the village Rosental, the valley of the roses. With the influx of several more families the number of families rose to 56 in the year 1818.

In 1848, there were 56 households in the village, comprising 65 families that numbered 244 males and 192 females. With the exception of one adobe house, all the houses were constructed of stone. The average number of children per family was five. The plow land that had been apportioned to the colonist amounted to 615 dessiantines (=1,660 acres). This means each landholding family received about 11 dessiantines (=30 acres). In addition, thre were 375 dess. of communal pastureland, 185 dessiantines of hay land, and 1,254 woodland and forests. Thirty dessiantines were used for farmyards. The community also had a church, and elementary school, a grain-storage depot, a water-powered grist mill, and a communal orchard.

The parish was established in 1823. Up to that time, the Rosental community was affiliated with the Catholic church parish in Simperopol. The first church in the village was built in 1828/30. The second church, a structure of stone in the the neo-Romanesque style, was built during the tenure of Father Petraschewsky and consecrated on September 8, 1869.