Dönhof

Minkh

Dönhof, pages 160-162.

GOLOLOBOVKA, Staraya Gololobovka, Denhof [Dönhof] also, a colony of the Kamyshin uyezd, 2nd police district, sosnovka volost, German Lutherans, partly separatists, now villagers-property owners, located along a small ravine. The Germans settled here about 1766-68, and came mostly from Württemberg and Schleswig-Holstein. According to information from the foreign settlers in 1859, Dönhof belonged to the Sosnovka okrug, and there were here: according to the 5th Census Revision of 1788 – 102 families, 359 males and 352 females; by the 6th Census Revision of 1798, 107 families, 460 males and 410 females; by the 7th Census Revision of 1816, 139 families, 728 males, and 708 females; by the 8th Census Revision of 1834, 291 families, 1,285 males, and 1,223 females; 9th Census Revision of 1850, 250 families; 1,996 males and 1,850 females; 10th Census Revision of 1857, 471 families, 2,290 males, 2,175 females. According to the List of Populated Places of the Central Statistical Committee, published in 1862, in the German colony of Dönhof, along Gololobovka creek, 102 versts from the city of Kamyshin, there are shown 335 dvory [yards / households], 2,337 males, 2,256 females; a Lutheran church, 1 school, 2 markets, 2 tannery leather factories, 2 oil presses, and 1 mill.

In 1863, 384 souls moved to the Basmanskaya volost, to a plot of land belonging to the Basmanskaya community. In 1874, immigration to American began, and 17 souls left. From 1877 to 1886, there was no immigration there, but in the autumn of 1886, immigration was renewed and from October 1886 through March of 1887, 71 male persons left. In addition, many went to the Samara Gubernia and to the Caucasus. In all, from 1863 through 1887, 815 males and 704 females moved to various other places. During this period, 15 individual males and 11 females were added to the community. According to the District Census of 1886, in Dönhof there were 606 heads of household, 2,467 males, 2,419 females, totaling 4,886 souls of both sexes. In addition, 227 families were permanently absent, and 7 families totaling 32 souls were "extraneous" population [residing in the community without official permission]. There were 1,364 literate males and 1,347 females. There were 596 "huts" [houses], of which 257 were stone, 339 were wood. Seven were roofed with metal, 98 with boards, 491 with thatch. There were 25 industrial establishments, 4 drinking establishments and 4 shops. The villagers had 291 plows, 40 harrows, 1,506 horses, 22 oxen, 1,523 cows and calves, 2,280 sheep, 1,144 pigs, 1,430 goats, and 1 apiary. The total taxes and obligations for 1885 were 13,208 rubles.

According to the Saratov Gubernia statistical committee, in 1891 there were 577 households, 3,310 males, 3,189 females, totaling 6,499 souls of both sexes. The entire land allocation, according to information from the Gubernia Zemstvo Directorate, there is 6,845 desyatinas of arable land (including 5,226 ½ desyatinas of tilled land), 2,185 desyatinas of non-arable land, totaling 9,030 desyatinas. In one area, 1/6 of the land is black earth, 1/6 is loam, 2/6 are sandy and stoney soil, and 2/6 are saline. Subsoil is red clay, partly stone. At the beginning of the settlement, the land allocation was by families, then by 1877, by "revision soul" [men], with turn-over every three years. Since 1877, the allocation has been decided upon the basis of individual male souls, every 6 years. Since 1883, strict crop rotation of a three-field system has been enforced. Hay lands, up to 400 desyatinas are located along the ravines, the forests, and the Topovka Creek (in the zemstvo text, the creek is so named, but according to the map from General Headquarters, it is called Talovka).

There are up to 600 desyatinas of land covered by bushes and scrub firewood. It is divided into 30 plots, one of which is cut every autumn. Mostly they burn dung fuel. About 35 desyatinas are planted into gardens, and have been for about 50 years. Several of the garden plots are rented for 50-150 rubles. Orchards are mostly apple, anise, and white. The fruit is sold here and at the bazaar in Balzer. There are no communal plowings. There are three reserve granaries. The main grains are rye and wheat. Oats, barley, flax, and hemp are cultivated in small quantities. In 1880, Germans of the Odessa district sent seed corn here, but it did not germinate, so it was no longer sown. The grain is sold mostly here, because the purchasers come here. In the winter, livestock is fed on straw and chaff, hay being retained to feed the horses. A few isolated households are rented to the Topovka volost land, planted in rye and wheat, at about 36-48 rubles per sotennik (120 x 120 sazhen). The majority of households occupy land of their fellow villagers. The community has income from one water mill on the Karamysh River, rented for 12 years at 1,200 rubles annually, and from the market and bazaar land, up to 210 rubles per year.

According to the List of Populated Places for the Saratov Zemstvo Directorate, in 1894 in Dönhof there were a wooden church roofed with metal, consecreated in 1834; a church-parish school founded when the village was founded, and a trade school. There are bazaars and 2 fairs here, on June 24 the first Sunday of October, for three days. They trade in various peasant/farm wares and up to 100 exhibitors gather. The community owns the water-powered flour mill on the Karamysh River.

In 1894, there were 645 yards [households], buildings were of wood, field stone, and brick. Most were covered with thatch, about ¼ with wood, eight of the stone houses were roofed with metal. The village is laid out an divided into blocks. There are 3,205 male inhabitants, 3,211 females, totaling 6,416 souls of both sexes, of the Lutheran faith, comprising one congregation. They practice farming, in addition to producing winnowing machines, wagons. Up to 700 souls are weavers of sarpinka cloth. Cultivated plowed land is 6,844 desyatinas, divided for 12 years on the basis of individual make souls. It is 80-85 versts to Saratov, 106 to the district city of Kamyshin, and 6 versts to the volost city of Messer. (Text from the Gubernia Zemstvo of 1891, vol. XI, the information from the gubernia statistical committee for 1891, List of Populated Places of the Gubernia Zemstvo Directorate of 1894, military-topographical maps of the General Headquarters and zemstvo map of the Kamyshin uyezd, 1894.)

About the middle of the nineteenth century, colonist Yegor Petrovich Huwa, born in the colony of Dönhof, resided in Saratov. He was first a marker, then had his own inn, and was a man of substance. Having no children, Huwa endowed the spiritual foundation of the Lutheran Church in Saratov with 16,000 rubles, and bequeathed the inhabitants of the colony of Dönhof, his birthplace, with 16,000 rubles.