The congregation in Anton was part of the parish headquartered in Messer. A new church building was constructed in 1856 in the Kontor Style. This building still stands and is being used as a community cultural center.
Anton was founded on 7 September 1764 by the Government as a Reformed colony.
|
Year
|
Households
|
Population
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Total
|
Male
|
Female
|
||
| 1767 |
63
|
229
|
|
|
| 1769 |
59
|
241
|
116
|
125
|
| 1773 |
59
|
270
|
127
|
143
|
| 1788 |
57
|
367
|
180
|
187
|
| 1798 |
54
|
356
|
177
|
179
|
| 1816 |
80
|
611
|
307
|
304
|
| 1834 |
103
|
988
|
488
|
500
|
| 1850 |
109
|
1,516
|
740
|
776
|
| 1857 |
146
|
1,690
|
828
|
862
|
| 1859 |
149
|
1,729
|
853
|
876
|
| 1886 |
224
|
1,951
|
963
|
988
|
| 1891 |
219
|
2,601
|
1,300
|
1,301
|
| 1894 |
225
|
2,565
|
1,285
|
1,280
|
| 1897 |
|
1,644*
|
786
|
858
|
| 1904 |
|
3,000
|
|
|
| 1910 |
|
3,047
|
|
|
| 1912 |
|
3,095
|
|
|
| 1920 |
378**
|
2,363
|
|
|
| 1922 |
|
1,633
|
|
|
| 1923 |
|
1,813
|
|
|
| 1926*** |
315
|
1,581
|
755
|
826
|
| 1931 |
|
2,248
|
|
|
| 1941 |
|
1,800
|
|
|
*Of whom 1,637 were German.
**Of which 376 households were German.
***Of whom 1,526 were German (310 households: 713 male & 813 female).
Reformed
Descendants of families from Anton are known to have settled in the following locations:
Fresno, Calif.: Ganshorn
Keensburg, Colo.: Baumgartner
Kerrobert, Sask.: Heinz
Lincoln, Neb.: Wekesser
Lovell, Wyo.: Keil
Portland, Ore.: Rothermel/Rudarmel; Weckesser
Tillamook, Ore.: Weckesser
Beratz, Gottieb. The German colonies on the Lower Volga, their origin and early development: a memorial for the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first German settlers on the Volga, 29 June 1764 . Translated by Adam Giesinger (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1991): 348.
Diesendorf, V.F. Die Deutschen Russlands : Siedlungen und Siedlungsgebiete : Lexicon. Moscow, 2006.
Orlov, Gregorii. Report of Conditions of Settlements on the Volga to Catherine II , 14 February 1769.
Pallas, P.S. Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des Russischen Reichs. Theil 3,2, Reise aus Sibirien zurueck an die Wolga im 1773sten Jahr (St. Petersburg: Kaiserl. Academie der Wissenschaften, 1776): 621.
Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 1 (Göttingen: Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 1999): 19, 51-69.
Pleve, Igor R. The German Colonies on the Volga: The Second Half of the Eighteenth Century (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 2001): 311, 319.
Preliminary Results of the Soviet Census of 1926 on the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Pokrovsk, 1927): 28-83.
"Settlements in the 1897 Census." Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (Winter, 1990): 19.
Anton (Wolgadeutsche.net)