by Homer Rudolf
Kassel is about 15 versts southeast of Glückstal, and 30 versts northwest
of Tiraspol. Although it was not settled until 1810, the colonists
arrived in the late fall of 1809, traveling without guides. The Odessa Kalender[OdKal]
gives two different dates for the founding of the village: 1809 in the
1896 issue, and 1808 in the 1900 issue. The 1848 Chronicle is apparently
in error when it says that they were placed into winter quarters in the
homes of the already established colonies of Glückstal, Neudorf and
Bergdorf. According to the chronicles of those villages, Neudorf was not
settled until January 1810, and Bergdorf and Kassel in the spring of
1810. That means things were pretty crowded in the village of Glückstal
in the winter of 1809-1810. The Glückstal Chronicle specifically says
that the 122 families of Glückstal had to provide quarters for 293
families, totaling 1,304 individuals. Things eased up a little in
January, when 490 people moved to Neudorf.
Kassel was pre-eminently a Franconian settlement with 80 % of the
settlers from the Rhineland plain of Alsace, Baden and the Palatinate
[Height, p.73]. It was the only Glückstal mother colony in which the
Franconian dialect became established as dominant. In fact, of the 99
families that settled Kassel only 6 came from Württemberg. The others
came from Alsace (60), Baden (12), Warsaw [actually the Duchy of Warsaw,
Posen Province] (12), and Rhine Palatinate [Pfalz and Rhineland] (9).
They consisted of 399 individuals – 205 males and 194 females. The
Glückstal colonist, Heinrich Heilmann, served as the guide and advisor
during the move to Kassel. The Crown had houses of stamped earth
constructed for them, which were later replaced by stone houses.
However, the 1848 chronicle states, “Local building stone is scarce and
of poor quality, so that the colonists have to haul the needed stone
from other quarries with great difficulty.”
Loans from the Russian Crown to the original colonists were 46,410
rubles for subsistence, 36,789 for settlement expenses, and 3,310 for
the purchase of seed grain. Their possessions were estimated to have a
value of 14,750 rubles.
Originally Kassel was located in a small tributary valley of the Dniester river, known as Kumurofka by the Russians. The valley originates near the then small market town of Domanov, and runs 45 versts south,
until it joins the Dniestr river, near Bender. The land was being used
by locals for the grazing of cattle. Kassel was selected as its name in
recognition of Daniel Ficke, a deceased colonist who was a native of
Kassel, Germany (according to [Kassel- 1848], but apparently he was not
from Kassel) . The current name of the village comes from the name of
the valley. Although the village site was selected because of the
fresh-water springs located there, it was relocated in 1841 – after more
than 30 years – because of recurring spring floods and insufficient
drinking water at its original location. The five wells were only 12-15
feet deep, and frequently went dry. It was moved four versts to
the east, to the elevated bank of the valley. Originally only half of
the village moved, but due to a variety of problems, including financial
ones, the remainder moved in 1843. The poorest among them received an
interest-free loan of 1,200 rubles, repayable in 15 years [Ketterling].
The village received 6,948 dessiatines of crown land, and the 1914 edition of the Odessa Kalender [OdKal] states that it has 8,014 dessiatines.
Many of the original colonists were not experienced farmers. In
addition, local conditions were very different from those they had left.
Couch grass was a problem in the area in the early years. It spread
quickly, was difficult to eradicate, and the cattle would not eat it.
Like the other Glückstal mother colonies, its land consisted of good
topsoil. By 1848 the field crops were winter wheat, arnaut wheat, spring
wheat, rye, barley, corn (raised for fodder), potatoes and melons.
“Arnaut (also known as Glass wheat) is the oldest variety of wheat in
South Russia, and is much sown, especially in Greece and Bulgaria.
Arnaut has a hard grain, a longish form, and a very thin transparent
skin. . . . Arnaut can be sown later than Hirka and fully ripens in 110
days. This wheat is seldom sown at present among the German colonists”
[Keller, vol. 1, p. 89-90]. Viniculture in 1848 occupied 116 dessiatines of
land (ca. 313 acres) , with 169,995 grapevines. Native oaks again only
grew to a height of 20 feet when mature at 30 yrs of age.
In 1851 Kassel was separated from the Glückstal Lutheran parish, and
established as a separate parish. Unfortunately, no details are known
about the process. Because it had a significant population of members of
the Reformed faith, a Reformed congregation was established there in
1861 as part of the new Neudorf Reformed parish. It is noteworthy that
neither a separate Reformed church nor a school was constructed in
Kassel. Somehow, the Reformed and the Lutheran congregations were able
to share the already existing Lutheran facilities.
Progress of the village |
1848 |
- |
has “new” schoolhouse-prayer hall |
|
- |
the Crown granted a 1,000 ruble loan for its construction, and later released the village from repayment |
1851 |
- |
became an independent Lutheran parish with 12 congregations |
1861 |
- |
Neudorf Reformed parish established on 4 Jan., including the Kassel Reformed congregation |
1862 |
- |
1681 residents |
|
- |
Lutheran church and parsonage |
|
- |
school with 250 children |
|
- |
still part of the Glückstal Wolost [Matthäi, p. 64] |
? |
- |
sometime between 1869 and 1881 it became an independent Wolost |
1909-15 |
- |
Konsumverein (community cooperative store) listed in [OdKal] |
1911-15 |
- |
Kreditanstalt (Waisenkasse – Orphans Fund) listed in [OdKal] |
1915 |
- |
[OdKal, p. 179] - includes a photo of a monument to Czar Alexander II in Kassel |
Agriculture, etc. |
1813 |
- |
middling crop |
1814 |
- |
middling crop |
1818 |
- |
livestock epidemic |
1822 |
- |
crop barely yielded seed |
1822-27 |
- |
grasshoppers |
1823 |
- |
crop barely yielded seed - neighboring districts offered surplus grain at modest prices |
1828 |
- |
livestock epidemic |
1831 |
- |
cholera - 2 died |
1832 |
- |
middling crop |
1833 |
- |
total crop failure |
1834 |
- |
livestock epidemic |
|
- |
smallpox |
|
- |
total crop failure |
1835 |
- |
middling crop |
1843 |
- |
smallpox |
1844 |
- |
livestock epidemic - destroyed 680 head of livestock |
|
- |
smallpox - 44 children died |
1846 |
- |
grasshoppers |
1847-48 |
- |
livestock epidemic - destroyed 430 head |
Bibliography:
[Height] — 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.
[Kassel-1848] — “Chronicle of Kassel,” transl. by Joseph S.
Height. – Copies of this translation are available in three sources:
[Height, pp. 196-199]; [Glückstal-2004, pp. 106-108]; and at the
website: www.Odessa3.org. – /Collections /Village Histories. The
original German version can be found in [Leibbrandt, pp. 68-71].
[Keller] — Keller, Konrad. German Colonies in South Russia: 1804-1904, transl.
by Anthony Becker, 2d. ed, with some revisions by Adam Giesinger, 2
vols. Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia:
1980-1983.
[Ketterling] — Ketterling, Lloyd & Adam Ketterling, transl. “Relocation Records of the Village of Kassel 1839-1854,” Heritage Review, 28/4, Dec. 1998, 18-38.
[Leibbandt] — Leibbandt, Georg. Die deutschen Kolonien
in Cherson und Bessarabien: Berichte der Gemeindeämter der lutherischen
Kolonien in der ersten Hälfte des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. Stuttgart: Ausland und Heimat Verlags-Aktiengesellschaft, 1926.
[Matthäi] — Matthäi, Friedrich. Die deutschen
Ansiedelungen in Russland. Ihre Geschichte und ihre
volkswirthschafltiche Bedeutung für die Vergangenheit und Zukunft. Leipzig: Hermann Fries, 1866.
[Mertens] — Mertens, Ulrich. Handbuch
Russland-Deutsche: Ein Nachschlagewerk zur russland-deutschen und
deutsch-russischen Geschichte und Kultur (mit Ortsverzeichnis ehemaliger
Siedlungsgebiete). Darmstadt: Weihert-Druck GmbH, 2001.
[OdKal] — Neuer Haus- und Landwirthschafts- Kalender für deutsche Aussiedler in südlicher Russland auf das Jahr ... Odessa: Druck und Verlag von L. Nitzsche, [published 1863-1915].
Copyright:
Homer Rudolf, 2009