Nieder-Monjou was founded as a Lutheran colony, and its congregation was part of the Süd-Katharinenstadt parish until 1905 when the two parishes in Katharinenstadt merged. At that time new "lead parishes" were established in Paulskaya and Boisroux . The pastor at Paulskaya served the four congregations at Paulskaya, Fischer, Beauregard, and Nieder-Monjou. He held church services at Nieder-Monjou once a month. The remainder of the time church services were conducted by the schoolmaster (Schulmeister).
A new church building was constructed in 1828. What remains of this structure now serves as the community library.
Nieder-Monjou was founded as a Lutheran colony on 7 June 1767 by Baron Caneau de Beauregard 49 versts northeast of Saratov. The name of the village derives from Beauregard's assistant, Otto Friedrich von Monjou. The Russian naming decree of 26 February 1768 permitted the colony to retain the name of Nieder-Monjou. Sometime between 1859-1867, Nieder-Monjou also became known by the Russian name Bobrovka which is sometimes seen in the German form, Bobrowka.
|
Year
|
Households
|
Population
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Total
|
Male
|
Female
|
||
| 1767 |
88
|
279
|
143
|
136
|
| 1769 |
87
|
308
|
154
|
154
|
| 1773 |
81
|
349
|
175
|
174
|
| 1788 |
55
|
295
|
149
|
146
|
| 1798 |
63
|
362
|
182
|
180
|
| 1816 |
83
|
597
|
297
|
300
|
| 1834 |
125
|
1,007
|
506
|
501
|
| 1850 |
184
|
1,405
|
688
|
717
|
| 1857 |
157
|
1,748
|
827
|
921
|
| 1859 |
|
1,480
|
|
|
| 1883 |
|
2,449
|
|
|
| 1889 |
|
2,702
|
|
|
| 1897 |
|
2,915*
|
1,483
|
1,432
|
| 1904 |
|
3,868
|
|
|
| 1910 |
349
|
4,216
|
2,083
|
2,133
|
| 1912 |
|
4,201
|
|
|
| 1920 |
487
|
3,798
|
|
|
| 1922 |
|
2,148
|
|
|
| 1923 |
|
2,100
|
|
|
| 1926** |
476
|
2,732
|
1,354
|
1,378
|
| 1931 |
|
3,643***
|
|
|
*Of whom 2,902 were German.
**Of whom 2,652 (1,274 male & 1,378 female) were German living in 473 households.
***Of whom 3,630 were German.
Lutheran
Amburger, Erik. Die Pastoren der evangelischen Kirchen Rußlands vom Ende des 16. Jahrhunderts bis 1937: Ein biographisches Lexikon (Erlangen: Martin-Luther-Verlag, 1998).
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.
Dietz, Jacob E. History of the Volga German Colonists . Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 2005.
Klaus, A.A. Our Colonies (Saint Petersburg, Russia, 1869): 2:14; 4:56-57.
List of the Populated Places of the Samara Province (Samara, Russia, 1910): 325.
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): 613.
Preliminary Totals of the All-Union Population Census of 1926 for the Volga German ASSR (Pokrovsk, Russia, 1927): 28-83.
"Settlements in the 1897 Census." Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (Winter, 1990): 17.
1857 Census of Nieder-Monjou (in German)
Nieder-Monjou Russia (Steven Grau & Michael Grau)
Nieder-Monjou (Wolgadeutsche.net) - in Russian