Rothammel

Minkh

Rothammel, pages 736-739.

Pamyatnaya, Pamyatnoe, Rothammel, German colony of Kamyshin uyezd (district), Oleshinskaya volost (small rural district). Colonists are villagers-owners, Germans, Catholics, who came here after Catherine’s manifesto according to Klaus (Our Colonies) in 1764-66 from different regions of Germany, there are also several French families among them. According to Volost Council the colony was founded in 1767. The colony is situated in latitutde 50 degrees 51' North and in longitude 14 degrees 47' East from Pulkovo. The colony is situated on the upper reaches of the Karamysh river where there are two ponds: for watering the cattle and for laundry. In the yards there are about 50 wells for drinking and cooking. On the 1892 ordnance survey map of the General Staff the colony is shown on the right bank of the upper Karamysh and is mistakenly called “Pomednaya”. The watershed going from the North to the South near the Karamysh river-head, is to the west of Pamyatnaya. The watershed is from 938 (in the South-West) to 1,069 (in the North) feet above the level of the Black sea. 

According to the 1859 Register of Foreign Settlers (Our Colonies by Klaus) the colony Pamyatnaya was shown in the Kamyshin uyezd, Norka district and it had: in 1788 – 29 families, 87 males and 92 females; in 1798 – 35 families, 117 males and 98 females; in 1816 – 39 families, 181 males and 167 females; in 1834 – 74 families, 302 males and 255 females; in 1850 – 75 families, 417 males and 360 females; according to census #10 (1857) – 89 families, 529 males and 459 females. According to the list of settlements of the Central Statistics Committee, published in 1862, there was the German colony Pamyatnaya a.k.a. Rothammel on the Karamysh river, 90 verstas from Kamyshin, which had in 1860: 91 households, 546 males and 474 females, total: 1,020, also there was 1 Roman Catholic church, 1 school, 2 mills. In 1875 6 males mentioned in the census and in 1876 22 males mentioned in the census moved to America.

According to 1886 Zemstvo*** Census there were 179 households, 595 males and 648 females, total: 1,243, also there were 31 families constantly absent and 7 families of 25 people of both sexes who were outsiders. 206 males and 210 females were literate. There were 186 inhabited buildings, 60 were made of stone and 126 of wood; roofs of 56 of those were made of wood, 129 – of straw and 1 – of earth. There were 3 industrial enterprises, 1 tavern, 2 stores. The settlers had: 173 ploughs, 629 horses (both working and non-working), 252 oxen, 598 cows and calves, 994 sheep, 490 pigs, 226 goats, 2 bee-gardens (apiaries) with 12 bee-hives. In 1885 5,095 rubles were paid in taxes and duties. 

According to the 1886 Census the endowment was 4,546 dessiatinas of convenient (including arable land – 3,254 dessiatinas) and 625 dessiatinas of inconvenient soil, total: 3,879 dessiatinas. The allotment is in one piece, most of it is to the south-west of the houses. Forests are also to the south-west, in 4 places: the closest in 1 versta from the houses and the farthest is 7 verstas from the houses. It is a deciduous forest, it is felled selectively in fall every year. Meadowlands are in the gullies, valleys and forest clearings. Peasants say there are up to 105.3 dessiatinas of meadowland. There are some hills there, fields are sloped to the North. To the south-west, on the border of the landed gentleman P.P. Polyakov’s property there is a big hill. There are no ravines, the inconvenient land is covered with small shrubs. The soil is mostly black-earth (chernozem), 0.5 arshin thick; the subsoil is red clay. To the west there are several hundred of dessiatinas of loamy soil. On hill tops the soil is rocky – hard haematite. To the north-west from the houses there are 3 verstas of salty soil, they take up 300 dessiatinas. The land covers all the expenses and there is something to spare. Having settled here, the colonists divided the closest lots between the houses, the forest was used as needed without any regulations. In the beginning of the 19th century the Crown gave two more lots of land to the colony: over 1,000 dessiatinas. These added lots and also the introduction of male mentioned in the census tax became the reason for the land to be owned by males mentioned in the census. After each census the land was redistributed, in 1887 the land was divided between 680 available males. Cabbage-fields and barns are owned by households, depending on who seized how much. Potatoes are grown in the fields. Farming is based on a 4-field system: one field is fallow once in four years, after rye it is spring-sown for two years. Overall crop area is sown with: oats – 35%; wheat – 30%, rye – 25%, the rest is barley, millet, flax, sunflower. Oats and rye thrive most. The houses are stoked with kizyaks. 

Public ploughing started in 1886 to collect money for the construction of the church. The reserve bread store is wooden covered with a board roof. In 1887 some householders rented arable land from other householders at 4-7 rubles per dessiatina and from the settlers of the colony Verkhovye (Seewald) at 2-3 rubles per 2.400 square sazhens. In 1885 the society let some land for 12 years to an Austrian citizen from the colony Kamenka. The land comprised 354.75 dessiatinas of arable land, about 50 dessiatinas of meadowland, and some inconvenient land, total of 700 dessiatinas. The land was let under the condition that the rent would be paid in 6 years, 2,000 rubles a year. The money was designated for the construction of the church. 

According to the 1886 Zemstvo Census there were 26 wheel-wrights and 36 shoemakers in the colony.

According to the Province Statistics Committee (1891) the colony Pamyatnaya was located 8 verstas from the volost settlement Oleshnya and had 156 households, 732 males and 692 females, total: 1,424. Accodring to Oleshnya Volost Board (1894) the colony Pamyatnaya a.k.a. Rothammel also had 1 wooden church covered with metal roof, sanctified in 1824, pastorate, German church school that had existed from the time of the foundation of the colony. In 1894 there were 181 households. Buildings are mostly wooden and some are made of stone. Most of the roofs are straw, about 1/3 of the roofs are made of boards, and 3 roofs – of metal. The settlement was built according to a plan and is divided into quarters of 4 houses each. The population is 784 males, 779 females, total 1,563 of both sexes of settlers-owners, Germans, Catholics, who make up Pamyatnovskoe society and all of them are farmers.

The allotted land in common use is 4,546 dessiatins of convenient and 625 dessiatins of inconvenient, total 5,171 dessiatins of land. It is considered that the colony is 7 verstas from Oleshnya, 4 verstas from Verkhovye, 8 verstas from Verkhnyaya Dobrinka, 20 verstas from the colony Linevo Ozero, 5 verstas from the colony Vershinka, 15 – from the colony Gryaznovatka, 39 – from the dock on the Volga Nizhnyaya Bannovka, 33 – from the station Krasny Yar of the railroad Tambov-Kamyshin, 98 – from Kamyshin, 104 – from Saratov. (Klaus, Our Colonies; ordnance survey map of the General Staff; List of Settlements of the Central Statistics Committee, 1862; Collection of Documents of the Province Zemstvo Council, 1891, Volume XI; data of the Province Statistics Committee, 1891 and Oleshnya Volost Board, 1894).

Translation and notes by Dr. Lyudmila I. Koretnikova

Translators Notes:
Pulkovo – 15 kilometers from St. Petersburg. The main observatory is located here. The observatory was built in 1833-39, 75 meters above the sea level, in latitude 59° 19' 40" North. Pulkovo meridian is in longitude 30° 19' 40" East from Greenwich.

1 versta = 3,500 feet, 1.06 km, 0.66 miles.

Zemstvo - elective district council in pre-revolutionary Russia.

1 dessiatina (measure of land) = 2.7 acres.

1 versta = 3,500 feet, 1.06 km, 0.66 miles.

1 arshin = 0.71 meters.

Kizyak - pressed dung used as fuel.

1 Sazhen – 2,134 meters.