ROSENBERG (ILOVLINSKY
UMET)
Translated by Richard Rye
"From the top of the bluff at Rosenberg, the landscape spreading out from its
base is quite pretty. The base of the hill is green with vegetation; beyond it
one sees the homes of the settlers disappearing into the green growth. Many
old trees stand in front of the homes and along the Ilovlya river, which here in
the valley flows like a glistening ribbon between verdant banks. ..."
The following article is from the Russian encyclopedia Historical-Geographic Dictionary of the Saratov
District, compiled by A. N. Minkh, a member of the
Saratov Scientific Archive Commission, and published
in Saratov in 1901. Subheadings have been added to
assist in following the sometimes jumbled organization
of the original.
ROSENBERG,
Umet, also Ilovlinsky Umet, a German volost village of the Kamyshin uyezd 3rd police
district of Ilovlinsky volost, on the Ilovlya river and
great post road from Saratov to Kamyshin, Tsaritsyn,
and Astrakan. Situated 25.5 verst to the north of the
city of Kamyshin, it is also the site of a rural district [zemsky] postal station with 9 horses. Distances from
Rosenberg are: to Kamyshin, 25.5 verst, to the station
Ust-Gryaznukha 20.5 verst, village of Guselka 20,
Dvoryansky estate 6, Dubovka estate 14, and village
of Verkhnaya Kulalinka summer tract 30 verst. The
colony of Rosenberg consists of one village in which
settler-landowners live, German Lutherans and Baptists. In Rosenberg are the directorate of the
Ilovlinsky
volost (which see [elsewhere in the encyclopedia]), a
medical assistant's station with one medical assistant
(the doctor comes once every two weeks), the
Lutheran church and school, and the residence of the
rural assemblyman [zemsky nachalnik] of the eighth
district. The colony is located at 50:17 north latitude, 15:1 1/2
east longitude from Pulkovo [= Moscow;
standard longitude from Greenwich is approximately 45:20 east longitude].
FOUNDING
At the beginning of the 1820s, several colonists of the Ust-Kulalinka okrug founded on this place the colony
of Umet (khutor, or farm/estate), from which the
current village retained the general and more widely
used folk name of Umet. The previous official postal
station "Ilovlinsky Umet" was destroyed in the 1860s.
By the end of 1830, 17 families of Ust-Kulalinsk and
other German okrugs of the Kamyshin uyezd lived
here as farmers. These first settlers founded a school
in the communal house. In 1852 colonists began to
relocate here from other areas, including Lesnoy
Karamysh [Grimm], Gory Karamysh [Baiter],
Kostysha [Kostichen], Verkhnaya Dobrinka
[Dreispitz], Shcherbakovka, Vodyanoy Buyerak
[Stephan], Verkhnaya Kulalinka [Kulalinkrr/Holstein],
and Ust-Kulalinka [Galka].
LANDSCAPE and
ENVIRONS
The village is spread out on the left shore of the
Ilovlya river (some call it the Ilavla) by a steep bluff,
on which in former times grew the rose bushes from
which the village received its official name of
Rosenberg (hill of roses). According to the registry of
colonies of foreign settlers founded on lands furnished
by the crown (Our Colonies, A. Klaus, 1869),
Rosenberg was founded in 1850-53, and the relocated
colonists were provided with 14 V2 desyatine of arable land per person in the 9th revision [of a census];
altogether 4711 desyatine according to the plan of economic survey were allocated from lands under the authority of the Saratov Office of Settlement Affairs
[Saratovskaya kontora inostrannykh poselentsev].
According to information of 1859, the 10th revision
in 1857 counted 98 households with 393 males and
403 females, totaling 796 people. In the list of populated places of the Central Statistical Committee
published in 1862, the German colony of Ilovlinsky
Umet, or Rosenberg, is shown near the river Ilovlya
on the Saratov-Astrakhan postal tract, 25 verst from
the uyezd city of Kamyshin. In 1860 there were 80
households with 405 males and 403 females, totaling
808 persons, one Lutheran church, a school, and the
postal station (see map on page 342 [p. 283). There
was no out-settlement from Rosenberg.
The village of Rosenberg stretches along the left bank of the Ilovlya River. The valley of the Ilovlya
stretches from wide [wet] meadows on the right bank to a low chain of hills on the left bank. Behind the village these hills form a plateau which drops into a ravine that leads east to the Volga. The village
therefore lies on the bank of the Ilovlya, having behind it to the east a long hill, approximately 13
sazhen high. Behind the hill lies the steppe. In front of the
colony on the right side of the Ilovlya is a wide
ravine, partially flooded in the spring by the
overflow of the river. This ravine, occupied
partially by meadow, part of which is cut for hay, has fairly good dark soil, and further to the
west is bordered by low hills.
The Ilovlya flows in this place from the northeast to the southwest, and the streets of Rosenberg run in the
same direction. Actually, there is one main street, the highway or post road, the other street is shorter as a
result of a bend in the Ilovlya and the closeness and separation of the hill chain. The church and a small bell tower stand on a square on the main street. The hill is lower at one end of the village, so there
alleyways have been built to ascend the bluff. At the base
of the bluff of the hill in the village is a shallow gully occupied by vegetable gardens; in spring, when the water runs from the hill, here appears a standing lake
of approximately 500 square sazhen, which dries out only at the beginning of June. The villagers then plant
patches of cabbage and tobacco on this dry space. In
the spring the Ilovlya floods all the right bank, which is lower than the left; often the water from the northeast end floods the main street, which runs along the
bank of the river, and leaks into cellars where it stands for one to two and one-half days. From the southeast
end the water reaches yearly up the main street to the
church square, lying in the middle of the village.
With the rise in the level of the Ilovlya, the water level rises in the wells. These wells have a depth
everywhere of 1/2 sazhen, at which level there is a
deposit of sand which sucks at the leg when one steps
in it, and many smooth stones. Old people say that
while digging the wells in the meadow they found smooth stones and [bivalve] shells the size of the
palm. In one well was found a piece of pure copper at a depth of one sazhen, and in another a piece of wood at 2 sazhen. Water for drinking and cooking is taken
from the Ilovlya and from 2-3 wells. Usually the water in the wells is somewhat slimy and nitrous to the taste, leaving a powder on the walls of the
cooking vessel. The bottom of the Ilovlya is hard, consisting of
sand and in places of small stones. The water in it,
except in early spring, is light, clear, and soft. There are no ponds or lakes in the vicinity of the village, but
across the Ilovlya on the right side there are lakes. Vegetable gardens are cultivated on the lakeshores; the
first settlers called these "lake gardens." There are several paths which run to the river, and there the colonists take water for drinking, water their stock,
and wash clothing. During field work in the summertime, the people use water from several springs and ponds which are located in the fields.
LAND
HOLDINGS
All workable land of the village society is: arable 5157 1/5 desyatine, non-arable 3080 desyatine, all together
8237 1/2 desyatine [sie] of arable and non-arable land. Of that quantity, 4232 desyatine are tilled. There are
102 desyatine of meadows and 209 desyatine of forest. Fields bear individual names such as
"Hebreidevald," "Kuplenskoye," "Spitz," "Tambov,"
and "Leimspitz." The village lands make up one contiguous area, divided by the Ilovlya, along which are
located the meadows and part of the plowed lands. Around the village are located common pastures, and
beyond them are the plowed fields, located about 1 verst from the buildings. The plowed fields stretch on
for about 12 verst. Woods are located among the fields about 4 verst from the settlement.
The surface of the fields is for the most part hilly. There are gullies, two
of them deep and steep-sided, devoid of all growth. Two are covered with woods. The soil is
1/4 good black soil [chemozem], 1/4 a bit worse, about 1/4 sandy, and 1/4 sand. The subsoil is clay under the
black soil, and sand and stones under the sandy soil.
During the formation of the colony, the distribution
of the land was done according to the number of males. According to the 1876 revision [of the census],
when the first redistribution was done, there were 610 males who received land for a period of 3 years. In
1879 the redistribution was the same. The redistribution of 1882 was done for a period of 4 years among
745 males. In addition, 65 desyatine belonging to the crown were placed under "debt cultivation," which
debtors were to have worked. The strictly established system of field crop rotation did not exist in the
colony. Only in 1887 was division of field work
established. [These were procedures for land reform established by the rural
assemblies-zemstvo.]
Wet meadows (102 desyatine) and dry (more than 100
desyatine) are mowed annually. Forest of 209 desyatine is cut yearly in sectors by households in the
autumn. In the spring they gather windfall branches. Huts are generally heated with dung. Vegetable
gardens have been divided by household from old times, and are not redistributed, neither are threshing
floors and yards. Farmsteads for the new families are allotted after harvest. By 1883 there were 129
households which had potato patches near the fields. There are no fruit orchards in the vicinity of the
village, but orchards are located within the village in the vegetable gardens, especially in those of
householders whose vegetable gardens are now located under the hill in the gully. Further, near the
base of the hill is a space where vegetables are
planted. [Spaces] nearer the yards are planted with fruit trees, in apple, pear, plum, cherry, and berry.
There are 2 reserve grain stores in the community. Almost 1/2 of the crop sown is spring wheat, almost
1/4 is rye, almost 1/8 is oats, and 1/8 is barley, flax, and sunflowers. They farm with plows which are
pulled by oxen led by a small boy or girl. Behind the plow walks a man, less frequently a girl, should she
have sufficient strength for the work. Sowing often suffers because of gophers, of which there are many.
By court decision in 1881, it was decreed that it was
necessary to dig trenches around them in case gophers appeared. [ie; if gophers appeared in a field, a trench
was dug around the field, not the gophers (I think). -Trans.] It was then established that each householder
was to [turn in] 16 gopher tails per person in his household. A fine was levied for any number under
that quantity of tails, with the funds thus obtained to be used to acquire the appointed quantity. Destruction
of gophers is accomplished exclusively with water. The settlement has almost 2000 desyatine of
common pasture. In 1886, 367 desyatine of common pasture were divided among the people for cultivation.
No land is leased to outsiders, [but is leased] only to
their own villagers of their own settlement.
HOUSEHOLDS
AND SCHOOLS
Homes in the village are part wood, part stone, and all of one story. Wood
homes are built on a stone foundation which has a height of one Qrshin or
more. Roofs are covered either with shingles or thatch. In rooms of
average size there are 3 to 5 windows; double frames are used only in
homes of the well-to-do. The middle wall which divides the kitchen from
the other rooms is occupied by the oven/stove [pech]. On the stove are two
metal heating surfaces of unequal size; the stove is fed with firewood, or
more often with dung and thatch. Smoke exits through a pipe, the lower
part of which forms a hood over the hearth in the kitchen where food is
prepared in the summertime. In the winter, food is prepared for the most
part in the oven and on the cooking surfaces in large pots.
Of 142 homes (in 1890), 32 have clay floors. All floors are sprinkled
with sand, so they do not get dirty very quickly. Inner walls and the oven
are covered with clay and whitewashed. Every Saturday and before each
holiday, and often in the middle of the week, householders clean and wash
rooms, windows, and the vestibules and roof. Germans sleep in beds, both
adults and children. They never lie on the floor nor do they use pallets
[Russian-style sleeping pallets].
The colonists do not have Russian-style bathhouses. They change their
underclothing [or: clothing] weekly before every Sunday. On Saturdays in
summer they clean the whole home and the yard and the part of the street
in front of their homes. Almost everyone keeps dung in rear buildings [postoiki].
After the first spring work, they take it out of the village and make dung
blocks [dried, for heating]. Rooms in the homes are lighted with kerosene
lamps.
The potato is the main food for the Germans at all times of the year.
They also eat vegetables year-round. They prepare vegetable gardens even
in part of the fields. In the morning almost all of the colonists of
Rosenberg drink so-called "steppe tea" a concoction of licorice
root which grows here in abundance. They flavor the tea with some sort of
grass. In the fall they butcher hogs, make sausage, and salt or smoke the
remainder of the pig. There is no slaughterhouse in the village, and each
household butchers stock for itself. If an animal dies, it is buried
behind the hill.
In one place behind the village, where the bluff is a little lower and
the slope gentler, there is a cemetery, located about 10 sazhen from the
nearest houses. Close to it is a well about 10 arshin deep, with good
water. Behind the cemetery is a big ravine. In the village there are two
schools. One is the German community school founded in 1830 and supported
by the village in the community hall. In 1890 it was attended by 117 boys
and 108 girls. The school year runs in the winter from October 1 to April
1. The other school is a Russian-German school founded by an association
of local settlers and currently supported by the founders. This school
also receives assistance from the Kamyshin rural assembly [Zemstvo].
Previously it received 100 rubles per year, but from 1880 on it received
250 rubles per year. Thirty-nine boys study in this school.
From the top of the bluff at Rosenberg, the landscape spreading out
from its base is quite pretty. The base of the hill is green with
vegetation; beyond it one sees the homes of the settlers disappearing into
the green growth. Many old trees stand in front of the homes and along the
Ilovlya river, which here in the valley flows like a glistening ribbon
between verdant banks. Across from the village on the right side of the
Ilovlya is an are-shaped lake, Kachkarnoye [Rolling Wave Lake], evidently
the old path of the river.
1886 Census
According to the census of 1886 [zemskaya perepis--a census taken to determine membership in the rural
assembly], in the colony of Rosenberg (Ilovlinsky Umet) there are 144 households with 598 males and 575 females,
totaling 1173 settlers/landowners. In addition, 99 families are absentee
[permanently], and a group of 9 families of 55 people of both sexes are outsiders [not legal village inhabitants]. Of the total population, 317 men and 297 women are literate, in addition to school children. One hundred twenty-four living quarters were counted in 1886, of which 63 are stone, the rest [61] are wood. Roofed with boards (shingles) 63, the remainder thatch. There are 142 steel plows in the village, I wooden plow, and 10 winnowing machines [to separate grain from chaff]. Animals: 519 horses, 180 oxen, 229 cows, 177 dovecotes, 126 calves, 519 sheep, 267 swine, and 152 goats. All obligations and payments to the crown on a yearly basis for 1885 totaled 4417 rubles. There were 29 industrial [as opposed to
farming] establishments: sewing 2, stores 2. Of the number of shops in the village in 1886 there were 18 shoemakers, 12
musicians, 8 smiths, 8 bricklayers, 5 teamsters, 5 carpenters, 5 tailors, 5 cabinetmakers, 4 sieve makers
[reshetniki], 3 turners, 3 weavers, and 4 grain traders.
1890
In 1890 in the village there were 864 males and 850 females, totaling 1714 people of both sexes. By
confession were listed 1 Orthodox male, 1 Roman Catholic female, 819 male and 811 female Lutherans, 36 reform males, 31 reform females, and of Baptists 8 male and 7 female. In addition, various iron implements are produced here for sale, namely iron twin-bladed plows without limber (30 units per year), iron shovels (up to 300 units), and hoes (to 100 units). All these tools are sold locally and to inhabitants of surrounding villages. In the village there are several shoemakers, tailors, joiners, and smiths who ply their trades to earn
additional daily bread. One of the settlers tans skins in winter; several settlers work as cabinetmakers,
shoe makers, or weave baskets, both for sale and for
themselves. In the summer both women and children are found working in the fields with the men. In winter the women spin cloth, knit socks, and make all clothing for the home. In 1890 there were 2 small stores, 3 wine stores, 1 windmill,
1oil press.
1894 Recap
According to information from the Ilovlinsky Volost Directorate of 1894, the German colony of Rosenberg
(Umet) is located on the lower bank of the Ilovlya river, on which is constructed a dam. There are 48
wells in the village. The colony was founded in 1822; at the current time [1894] the village has a church, consecrated in
1858 and constructed of wood with a shingled roof; a medical assistant's station, and a reception hall for the
sick since 1893; a German community church school since 1822; a Russian-German school since 1877; and
the office of the rural assemblyman [zem~Fky nachalnik] of the 8th District since 1891. A crown
postal station called Umet has existed almost 90 years, and currently has 8 horses. In addition, a rural
teamsters' station was established in 1865, and it
currently has 15 horses. The Lutheran pastor was appointed here in 1855. In 1894 there were 152 houses, of which 6 were
community structures: the volost directorate, church, parsonage, community church school, community
smithy, and community house for shepherds. There is also the community farm of the rural assemblyman.
Total buildings are 455, of which 334 are native stone and reinforced brick. The greater part of the buildings
are roofed with shingles, and about 1/3 with thatch. The volost directorate, community school, and one
settler's house are roofed with iron. From its inception, the settlement was laid out according to a proper
plan and divided into blocks of 4 households. Inhabitants are: 935 males, 898 females, totalling 1833
people, German Lutherans, comprising one community.
Among the inhabitants of the community are 9 people of the Orthodox faith and 2 clergy. Among families living
in the village are those of the rural assemblyman and doctor, a group of 7 people. The junior official
[meshchanin] Sapozhnikov has 4 in his household. The local settler/landowners, in addition to
agriculture, are involved in the following trades: 5 shoemakers, 1 tailor, 1 carpenter, 3 joiners
[cabinetmakers], 3 carters, 2 smiths, 3 sieve makers, and 1 weaver. There are 2 windmills and 1 oil
press in the village.
Land holdings were allotted by the crown at 12 3/4
desyutine per male according to the 10th revision. Altogether there are 5157 desyatine of arable land
and 3080 of non-arable, totaling 8237 desyatine. It is 5 verst to the colony of Alexandertal, 5 to
Neu-Norka, 6 to the colony of Unterdorf, 1/4 to the Reisig estate, 3 to the hamlet of Tikhomirov
(Kamyshin volost), 12 to the hamlet of Dubovka, 20 to Avilovo station on the Tambov-Kamyshin railroad, 25 verst to
Kamyshin, and 154 verst to Saratov.
The remainder of the article gives the population of
the Ilovlinsky volost in 1894 as 11,717 people of both sexes. The article closes with descriptions
of the various ancient burial mounds Furganyl found near the villages of
the volost.
Sources
List of populated places of the central statistical committee of 1862; Saratov Guberniya News [Saratov
Gubemiya Vedomosti] of 1890, nos. 43, 56, and 58; information from the
guberniya statistical committee of 1891; Collection of articles [Sbornik] of the
Saratov guberniya zemstvo [district rural assemblyl of 1891, Kamyshin
uyezd; military-topographical map from General Staff, published 1892; and zemstvo map
of 1894.
AHSGR Journal / Spring 1992
