Neu-Dönhof

Minkh

Neu-Dönhof, pages 162-164.

Gololobovka Novaya, a.k.a. Neu-Dönhof, Novaya Gololobovka, colony of German Lutherans, Kamyshin District, Oleshnya volost, 2 stans (police districts), 6 versts (verst = 3,500 feet or 1.6 km) to the east from the border with Atkarsk District. It is located in the flat low-lying area next to the ravine, which is at the top of the Perevozinka River (the left tributary of the Medveditsa River), where there is a little dam. There is also a lake, which is 2 versts in diameter, there. Nice willows grow along the streets next to the houses. There are around 100 wells in the yards. The water from the wells is used for drinking and cooking. There are 2 schools in the village: a parish school, opened in 1863, and a Zemstvo [elective district council in pre-revolutionary Russia] school, opened in 1888. There is also a stage station with 2 horses here.

It is 12 versts from here to the volost administration in Dietel; 3 versts to the colony Neu-Messer; 18 – to Huck colony; 15 – to Beideck; 43 – to Schilling where there is a dock on the Volga River; 52 – to Krasnoyar, the station of the Tambov-Kamyshin railway; 112 – to the District city of Kamyshin; and 88 – to Saratov. The settlers settled here in 1862-1863. There were 301 souls according to the 9th Census Revision [1850]. There were 87 families here in 110 households, 374 souls from the colony "old" Dönhof, Sosnovka volost according to the 10th Census Revision, the Bureau of Foreign Settlers. Before the resettlement they used to come here from "old" Dönhof (they had to travel 20 versts). At that time there used to be a plowed field and a forest and separate small plots of the steppe. After the resettlement part of the plowed field, up to 470 desyatina (1 desyatina = 2.7 acres) of the plot was set aside for the pasture.

The colony Neu-Dönhof was not mentioned in the list of settlements of the Central Statistics Committee, published in 1862. In 1876, seven men moved to America; in 1886 – one family; in 1887 – 3 families and 3 males and 3 females moved to America. According to the 1886 District Census there were in Neu-Dönhof: census souls (according to the 10th Census Revision in 1858) 374 males and 338 females, those present in 1886: 158 household owners, 816 males, 783 females, total: 1,599 people of both sexes; also there were 15 families constantly absent and 7 families (39 people), who were outsiders. 428 males and 409 females were literate. There were 165 inhabited houses, 75 of those were made of stone, 90 of wood, 16 houses had wooden roofs, and 149 houses had straw roofs. There were 9 industrial enterprises and 1 store in the settlement. The settlers had 136 ploughs, 731 horses, 135 oxen, 607 cows and calves, 1,353 sheep, 335 pigs and 506 goats. In 1885 annual fees and duties amounted to 5,291 rubles. According to the Province statistics committee (1891) Neu-Dönhof had 150 households (982 males, 912 females) with a total population of 1,894.

According to Province Zemstvo administration the land allotment was: 4,505 desyatinas of convenient (including 3,416 desyatinas of arable land) and 752 desyatinas of inconvenient land, total: 5,257 desyatinas. The allotment is in four pieces: one is close to the settlement and three - farther away. The lot next to the settlement contains 1,168 4/5 desyatinas of convenient and 216 1/5 desyatinas of inconvenient land; the 1st far away lot contains 781.5 desyatinas of convenient and 314 1/3 desyatinas of inconvenient land; 1.5 versts from the settlement; the 2nd lot – 232 3/5 desyatinas of convenient and 70 1/3 desyatinas of inconvenient land; 5 versts from the settlement; the third one is also 5 versts from the settlement: 2,322 4/5 desyatinas of convenient and 121 desyatinas of inconvenient land. The forest is situated 4 versts to the south, south-east and south-west from the settlement. There are some ravines on the lot and they are mowed; they are not inconvenient. The lot close to the settlement has a lake. 1/3 of the soil is loamy, 1/7 is chernozem (black earth), and the rest - sandy loam, salty, and stony. The subsoil is red clay. Having moved from "old" Dönhof, peasants divided the land between males, mentioned in the 10th Census Revision. They owned the land in this way up to 1878. In 1878 the land was distributed between present males for 6 years.

Meadowland includes 19 1/3 desyatinas of meadows and 233 desyatinas in the ravines. Forest and bushes for cutting wood: 755 desyatinas. They chop wood in the fall, 4 desyatinas every year. The houses are heated with kizyaks [pressed dung used as fuel]. Potato fields are big; cabbage-fields are divided according to the census souls; some have gardens. There is no commune arable land. There is one community bread barn in the colony. The farming system is 3-field. Crop rotation is as follows: rye is grown in fallow fields, spring-sown fields are used to grow wheat (3/4) and 14 - oats, barley, millet, flax, hemp and sunflowers. Bread is sold in Schilling and Bannoye.

Approximately in 1857 there appeared a lot of ground squirrels and there have been a lot of them recently. It was decided that every census soul has to kill 30 of them a year. Those who do not do that will have to pay a fine. In 1887 25,000 were killed (with the help of carbon bisulphide). Earlier there were not so many of ground squirrels and harvests used to be better.

Pasture is 108 desyatinas, in the spring cattle graze on the fallow field, after the fields have been harvested cattle graze on the stubble field. In winter cattle is fed with straw and chaff. In 1885 cattle plague killed 24 head of cattle.

Plow land is leased from nearby villages, usually for spring fields at 34-36 rubles for a lot of 120x120 sazhens [1 sazhen = 2.34 meters]. Plow land is also leased from the colonists of Neu-Messer, either separately or together with others. Some household owners let their land for 3 roubles 80 copecks-4 rubles for 1 desyatina. 

Except farming colonists are engaged in weaving, there were 168 sarpinka weavers in 1887.

According to the list of settlements of Saratov Province, Zemstvo administration, there were 180 households in the colony Neu-Dönhof, aka Novaya Gololobovka, including one public building – 1 church school. Some of the colonists' houses are wooden, most are built of stone. The roofs are mostly straw; one tenth of the roofs are made of wood and 8 buildings have metal roofs. The settlements is divided into quarters with 4 houses in each quarter. In 1894 there were here 937 males, 874 females, total population: 1,811 people of both sexes, settlers-proprietors, Germans, Lutherans, comprising one Neu-Dönhof community. In winter they produce wagons and winnowers and about 390 people weave sarpinka. The land lot is: 4,506 desyatinas of convenient land, 751 desyatinas of inconvenient land; total: 5,257 desyatinas of land.

Translation and notes by Dr. Lyudmila I. Koretnikova