Leichtling was first part of the Semenovka Parish. Later it became part of the Hildmann Parish. At the turn of the 20th Century, Leichtling became an independent parish with a resident priest. A wooden church was built in 1850. This parish church was destroyed by fire on 24 August 1897, just after Mass celebrating the feast of St. Bartholomew. Three visiting ministers tried to help save the church, but it was completely destroyed. There was no church building in the colony until a new church was completed in 1919. The colonists worshiped in the school house during this time.
Year
|
Households
|
Population
|
||
---|---|---|---|---|
Total
|
Male
|
Female
|
||
1767 |
49
|
143
|
67
|
76
|
1769 |
34
|
150
|
73
|
77
|
1773 |
47
|
188
|
97
|
91
|
1788 |
45
|
259
|
133
|
126
|
1798 |
46
|
300
|
154
|
146
|
1816 |
63
|
398
|
213
|
185
|
1834 |
93
|
677
|
342
|
335
|
1850 |
105
|
963
|
485
|
478
|
1857 |
112
|
940
|
468
|
472
|
1859 |
98
|
919
|
470
|
449
|
1886 |
185
|
1,359
|
718
|
641
|
1891 |
167
|
1,755
|
906
|
849
|
1894 |
166
|
1,886
|
983
|
903
|
1897 |
|
1,451*
|
726
|
725
|
1905 |
|
1,835
|
|
|
1910 |
|
2,414
|
|
|
1912 |
|
2,535
|
|
|
1920 |
308**
|
2,038
|
|
|
1922 |
|
1,297
|
|
|
1926 |
251
|
1,394
|
694
|
700
|
1931 |
|
1,627***
|
|
|
*Of whom 1,440 were German.
**Of which 306 households were German.
***Of whom 1,604 were German.
Catholic
First Settlers of Leichtling
1834 Census of Leichtling (PDF)
1850 Census of Leichtling (PDF)
Leichtling Database
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): 351.
Diesendorf, V.F. Die Deutschen Russlands : Siedlungen und Siedlungsgebiete : Lexicon. Moscow, 2006.
Klaus, A.A. Our Colonies (Saint Petersburg, Russia, 1869): 2:13; 4:52-53.
List of Settlements in the Russian Empire in 1859, vol. 38: Saratov Province (St. Petersburg, 1862): p.59.
- Mink, A.N. Historical and Geographical Dictionary of the Saratov Province [in Russian] (Saratov, Russia, 1898): 353-355.
- 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): 623.
Preliminary Results of the Soviet Census of 1926 on the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Pokrovsk, 1927): 28-83.
Schnurr, Joseph, Die Kirchen und das Religiöse Leben der Russlanddeutschen - Katholischer Teil (Stuttgart: Selbstverlag Joseph Schnurr, 1980): 258.
"Settlements in the 1897 Census." Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (Winter, 1990): 18.
Leichtling (wolgadeutsche.net) - in Russian
Leichtling Russia (Darryl Boyd)