Neudorf Colony

Type of Settlement: Mother

Founded: between 1807-1810

Religion: Lutheran, Reformed, Baptist

Wolost: Glückstal

District: Tiraspol

Province: Cherson

Other Names and Spellings:

Russian: Карманово 

Ukrainian: Карманове

Moldovan/Romanian: Carmanova

Also: Karamanovka, Komanova, Kamanowa, Komanowa

Current Name:

Carmanova, Grigoripol District, Transnistria, Moldova


Coordinates: 47.2611, 29.5017

History of the Colony

Neudorf was founded in 1809 according to the Neudorf 1848 Chronicle and settled in the spring of 1810 according the Glückstal 1848 Chronicle. Mertens [Mertens, p. 424] gives only 1809, while Keller [Keller, vol. 1, p. 31] gives 1807, and 1809 is given in the Odessa Kalender [OdKal] beginning in 1896.

It is located in the Tschernenko Valley, which they referred to locally as the Karamonova valley. That is the Russian name for the village today. It is five versts north of Glückstal, 15 versts northeast of Grigoriopol, 45 versts from Tiraspol, and 250 versts from Cherson. Those who arrived in 1808 lived in the Liebental District until the spring of 1809. It is not clear whether they lived in Grigoriopol for any period of time. Glückstal was settled in spring of 1809, and they may have moved directly there from the Liebental District. The Glückstal 1848 Chronicle says they were settled in Neudorf in January of 1810.

The land assigned to the village contained three isolated farms (chutors), three wells, and one dessiatine of vineyards when the colonists arrived. Loans from the crown totaled 51,580 rubles for sustenance, 36,484 rubles for settlement, and 3,360 rubles for the purchase of seed. Most were day laborers and craftsmen, so the value of their possessions was estimated at only 500 rubles.

The Crown constructed 100 houses of stamped earth to accommodate the families, consisting of 490 individuals. The stone quarries were ten to twelve versts away, near the Dniester River, and by 1848 most of the stamped-earth homes had been replaced by larger stone buildings. An additional 64 homes had also been built, and stone walls and trees lined the streets. Councilor Rosenkampf rejected the name Neustadt proposed by the colonists in favor of Neudorf. By 1915 the village had three main streets, one side street and several connecting alleys. Low-lying parts of the village had become uninhabitable by then, damaged by standing water after rains.

Of the original 100 families – 259 males and 231 females – 28 families came from Württemberg, 37 from Alsace, 7 from the Rhine Palatinate, 11 from Baden, 2 from Saxony, 3 from Prussia, 11 from Hungary and 1 [sic, 2] from Warsaw [Duchy of Warsaw, Posen Province; arrived in 1814]. Thus, Neudorf was at least one-half Franconian. They traveled to South Russia without leaders. Eight more families arrived from Prussia in 1814, and three more from Galicia in 1815. By 1848 the population had increased to 208 families – 657 males and 589 females – despite the exodus of families to Grusinia in 1816 and Hoffnungstal, Bessarabia, in 1836-36. In 1915 the village still had 100 farmsteads , each with 60 dessiatines of land, but contained 301 farmyards in all (201 without land, beyond the farmyard) housing 1,896 individuals – 935 males and 961 females [Glückstal-1915].

Its 5,810 dessiatins of crown land were bordered by the Parkanovka estate on the east, the villages of Thomanov and Shippki on the south, Glückstal lands on the west, and Rehmanovka and Bergdorf to the north. The land owned had not increased by 1859, however the Odessa Kalender [OdKal] gives 7,195 dessiatins in 1896, and 7,196 in 1907,while the 1915 article in the Odessa Kalender [Glückstal-1915] gives 6,214 of crown land and 928 purchased land, for a total of 7,142 dessiatins. The lack of experience as farmers resulted in many difficulties here, as was also the case in the other Glückstal mother colonies The land to the east was good humus, while the rest of its land was humus heavily mixed with sand. Crops that thrived in 1848 were winter rye, winter wheat, lentils, barley, corn (raised for fodder), and potatoes. Other grains and vegetables were said to be less productive, and flax did poorly. The native woods were oak, ash, linden, alder, apple and pear. However, none were of significant size.

Mertens is correct in stating that Neudorf was a Protestant village [Mertens, p. 424], but he fails to note that it was the headquarters for a Reformed parish. Because Neudorf had a significant population of members of the Reformed faith, they were finally successful in receiving approval from the Crown to establish a Reformed Parish (including Kassel and Glückstal) on 4 January, 1861. In Neudorf a separate church and school building was constructed. The foundation of the building was laid in spring 1863, and it was completed by October 1864, with the prayer hall on the second floor and the school and teachers residence on the ground floor. The first church service was held 18 October 1864. The existence of double religious institutions was a constant source of conflict and a financial drain on the community, beginning with the construction of the Reformed church and school. Before 1915 there was a proposal for the construction of a new Lutheran school. The community fund at that time contained ca. 10,000 rubles, but in the vote of all the heads of households the two sides could not agree on an allocation for the school. An impasse was reached, and the funds were not approved. In 1915 the two schools had 365 students with five teachers.


More of this article can be found in [Glückstal-2004] pp. 81-92.

Read more about Neudorf in its 1848 Chronicle


By Homer Rudolf, 2009

Edited and updated by Sandy Schilling Payne, 2022

Progress of the Colony


1810  


1814  


1819


1825


1830


1831


1834


1837


1840


1842


1843-44


1846


1847


1848


1861


1862


1863


1864


1866


ca. 1907


1911


1912


1915

3 blacksmiths

5 carpenters

4 wagon builders

5 shoemakers

1 tailor

1 baker

1154 horses

1191 cows

564 poultry

362 sheep

820 pigs

Population

Year Pop.

1810 490

1816 591

1825 761

1848 1246

1858 1685

1859 1703

1881 2760

1882 2848

1883 2927

1884 2937

1885 3054

1886 3125

1887 2986

1888 3245

1890 3388

1892 3420

1894 2806

1896 1924

1897 1844

1898 2042

1900 2014

1901 1956

1902 1997

1903 1956

1904 1956

1905 1945/1508

1906 2089

1907 1951

1908 1749

1909 1749

1910 1803

1911 1837

1912 1861

1913 1882

1914 1880/1896

1915 1896/1755

1918 1896/1956

1926 1891

1943 2401

Mayors

1819 Stephan Weiss

1840 Johann Schauer

1847 Johann Schauer

1881 Wilhelm Hieb

1882-84 Jakob Heine

1885-87 Johann Gienger

1888, 1890 Johann Maier

1892 Jakob Raile

1894 Gottlieb Kammerer

1896 Johann Werth

1897-98 Karl Schauer

1900-02 Peter Will

1903-05 Karl Schauer

1907-08 Johann Veil

1909-11 Philip Schauer

1912-14 Friedrich Waltz

1915 J. Kirschenmann

Pastors

Neudorf Reformed Parish founded in 1861.

1862-67 Wilhelm Brückner

1870-73 Gottfried Locher

1874-98 ???

1899-1905 Friedrich Barnehl


Schoolmasters

Glückstal Lutheran Parish 

1881-1907 Jakob Ritter

1908-15 J. Grossmann


Neudorf Reformed Parish

1881-90 Michael Nuss

1892 (vacant)

1894, 1896-98 Jakob Herter

1900-03 Karl Höring

1904-05 (vacant)

1906-15 Karl Höring


Agriculture

1813 —  Crop failure, only seed harvested.

1814 —  Crop failure, only seed harvested.

1816 —  Good crop.

1818  Good crop.

1822 —  Crop failure, only seed harvested.

1823 —  Crop failure, only seed harvested.

1823-27 —  Grasshoppers.

1828 —  Livestock epidemic, 1,400 head of cattle died the following year.

1829 —  Hailstorm caused major damage.

1833 —  Crop failure, not even seed grain harvested.

1834 —  Crop failure, not even seed grain harvested.

—  Welfare Committee advanced seed and subsistence money

—  Livestock epidemic. 400 head died.

1835 —  Crop failure, only seed harvested.

1837 —  Good crop. 

1838 —  Good crop. 

1841 —  Only double the seed harvested.

1843 —  Plague of field mice. 10,120 killed within 4 months.

1845 —  Only double the seed harvested.

1845-46 —  916 sheep died of disease.

1847 —  Severe drought. 675 head of livestock died of malnutrition. 

1848 —  Severe frost on 25 April. Damaged all fruit trees and vines. Loss of 3,000-4,000 rubles. 

Images

c. 1900 — Neudorf Evangelical Lutheran church.  [SPB-museum]
c. 1900 — Interior view of the Lutheran church.  [SPB-museum]
Neudorf Lutheran church with steeple and cross.
n.d. — Neudorf Lutheran church built in 1865 in the classical style.  [Schnurr1] p. 347
Reformed church. Old photo. People standing out front.
n.d. — Neudorf Reformed church [Schnurr1] p. 348
Old image of Neudorf Baptist prayer house.
n.d. — Neudorf Baptist prayer house [Schnurr1] p. 349
House with pitched roof, faded blue façade. Two fruit trees in front.
2005 — Former German house in Neudorf. Photo by Carole Herlyn Schauer. [GRHC-JTH]

Bibliography

[Arcanum-1872] – “Russia (1872).” Arcanum Adatbázis Kft. maps.arcanum.com/en/map/russia-1872. 1872. [This map, although not identified on the website, is probably the work of Theodor Friedrich Schubert (1789-1865) a.k.a. Fedor Fedorovich Shubert. The 1860 and 1872 versions of this map appear on other map websites identified only as by "Schubert."]

[Glückstal-1915] – “Das Wolostgebiet Glückstal,” in [OdKal], 1915, pp. 108–128. English transl. in [Glückstal-2004], pp. 51-56; 68- 69; 86 & 96-97.

[Glückstal-2004] – Rudolf, Homer ed. The Glückstalers in New Russia and North America: A Bicentennial Collection of History, Genealogy and Folklore. Pierre, SD: State Pub. & Printing, 2004.

[GRHC-JHT] Germans from Russia Heritage Collection Journey to the Homeland Tour Photo Collections, 1996-2019. Collections available on Flicker website, www.flickr.com/photos/ndsu-libraries-grhc/collections/72157637054248256/ and NDSU Repository website, library.ndsu.edu/ir/handle/10365/26147.

[HeightH] – Height, Joseph S. Homesteaders on the Steppe: Cultural History of the Evangelical- Lutheran Colonies in the Region of Odessa, 1804-1945. Bismarck: North Dakota Historical Society of Germans from Russia [now the Germans from Russia Heritage Society], 1975.

[Leibbrandt] – Leibbrandt, Georg. Die deutschen Kolonien in Cherson und Bessarabien: Berichte der Gemeindeämter der lutherischen Kolonien in der ersten Hälfte des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. [The German colonies in Cherson and Bessarabia: reports from the parish offices of the Lutheran colonies in the first half of the nineteenth century.] Stuttgart: Ausland und Heimat Verlags-Aktiengesellschaft, 1926. Digitized version.

[Matthäi] – Matthäi, Friedrich. Die deutschen Ansiedelungen in Russland: Ihre Geschichte und ihre volkswirthschaftliche Gedenkung für die Vergangenheit und Zukunft. Studien über das russische Kolonisationswesen und über die Herbeiziehung fremder Kulturkräfte nach Russland [The German Settlements in Russia: Their History and Economic Considerations for the Past and Future. Studies on the Russian colonization system and on the attraction of foreign cultural forces to Russia]. Leipzig: Hermann Fries, 1866. [WorldCat does not have a sufficiently useful entry for this volume at this time. It is available at the following locations: AHSGR, GRHC, GRHS.]

[Mertens]Mertens, Ulrich, Allyn Brosz, Alex Herzog, and Thomas Stangl. German-Russian handbook: a reference book for Russian German and German Russian history and culture with place listings of former German settlement areas. Fargo, ND: Germans from Russia Heritage Collection (GRHC) Publications. 2010.  Digitized version.

[Neudorf-1848] – “The Chronicle of Neudorf,” transl. by Joseph S. Height. – Copies of this translation are available in three sources: [HeightH], pp. 193-196; [Glückstal-2004], pp. 83-85; and at the website [Odessa3], Odessa3.org. The original German version can be found in [Leibbrandt], pp. 64-65. 

[OdKal] Neuer Haus- und Landwirthschaftskalender für deutsche Aussiedler in südlicher Russland auf das Jahr ... [New house and farming calendar for German emigrants in Southern Russia for the year ...] Odessa: Druck und Verlag von L. Nitzsche, [published 1863-1915]. Digitized versions of 1906, 1909, 1910 and 1913.

[Schnurr1] – Schnurr, Joseph. Die Kirchen und das Religiöse Leben der Russlanddeutschen: Evangelischer Teil. [Churches and Religious Life of the Russian Germans: Protestant Part.] 2d ed. Stuttgart: Landsmannschaft der Deutschen aus Russland, 1978.

[Schnurr3] – Schnurr, Joseph. Die Kirchen und das Religiöse Leben der Russlanddeutschen [Churches and Religious Life of the Russian Germans]. Stuttgart: Landsmannschaft der Deutschen aus Rußland e. V. 1972. [First ed. published in 1969-1972 vol. of the series, Heimatbuch der Deutschen aus Russland [Heimatbuch].] English trans. by Allen E. Konrad on the website [BSGR], www.blackseagr.org/pdfs/konrad/Church%20and%20Religious%20Life%20of%20Germans%20in%20Russia.pdf

[SPB-museum] – State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg, [archive, museum, website], www.spbmuseum.ru/.

Page last updated 10 February 2024