LOCATION
45º E 43º N
NAMES
Michaelsdorf, Mikhaylovskaya, Mikhaylovskoe, Vladikavkaz
HISTORY
The first German colony in the North Caucasus (today called North Ossetia) was founded in 1861 on the north outskirts of Vladikavkaz on the right bank of the River Terek. It was called Vladikavkaz German Colony. There were 40 families in the original settlement of Michaelsdorf consisting of 148 men and 143 women. Of those, 37 familes came from the Bergseite, 1 family from the Wiesenseite, 1 from the Novgorod District, and one "foreigner" August Brenz. There were also Germans living in the town of Vladikavkaz itself. As of 1874, there were 248 Germans living there.
On 13 November 1876, at the request of the inhabitants, Vladikavkaz German Colony was renamed Mikhaylovskaya Colony (in German - Michaelsdorf).
The colony's original location in the Petro-Pavlovskaya Soldatskaya Sloboda (town part of Vladikavkaz) proved to be very unfavorable and in 1887 at the request of the colonists it was moved to a new place in 9 versts beneath Vladikavkaz, close to the former Potemkin bridge. At the end of 1889 Michaelsdorf counted 513 inhabitants (83 families), they had 1250 Desyatin agricultural land, had 316 cows, 287 horses, 194 sheep etc. Colony had 3 blacksmith shops, 2 mills and 1 factory. In 1882, an college had been founded in Vladikavkaz by the local Evangelical Lutheran Church.
In 1888, Germans from the Kuban Region founded the colony of Emmaus close to the town Zamankul. In 1896, Emmaus had 29 houses with 160 inhabitants. In 1908, the inhabitants of Emmaus moved to Michaelsdorf. Another German colony Novy Lars (Dzakhontov-Lars) had been founded in 1887 close to the fortress Beslan by 54 colonists from the Districts of Bessarabia, Taurien, and Stavropol. In 1918, all the inhabitants of Novy Lars also moved to Michaelsdorf.
LISTING OF THE HEADS OF HOUSEHOLD FROM THE 1896 CENSUS OF MICHAELSDORF (DATED 22 DECEMBER 1896)
(1896 Census posted at Rootsweb)
Johann Riedel
Konrad Beitz
Konrad Müller
Georg Mahr
Adam Beitz
Gottlieb Schäfer
Johann Meier
Philipp Kobert
Peter Prinz
Jacob Beitz
Nikolaus Meier
Peter Neuberger
Georg Mahr
Andreas Reifschneider
Jacob Meier
Konrad Reinick
Andreas Reifschneider
Konrad Lauck
Michael Müller
Georg Lauck
Jacob Beitz
Konrad Korz
Karl Reifschneider
Georg Reinick
Balthasar Thies
Georg Müller
Heinrich Meier
Johannes Arndt
Peter Lauck
David Müller
Georg Meier
Balthasar Lauck
Peter Lauck
Konrad Mohr
Konrad Meier
Jacob Korz
Johann Mahr Jr.
Georg Lauck
Friedrich Wertz
Christian Müller
Peter Mohr
Heinrich Reifschneider
Peter Riedel
Ludwig Reifschneider
Peter Riedel
Heinrich Meier
Konrad Reifschneider
Philipp Neuberger
Andreas Reinick
Widow Derr
Adam Neuberger
Friedrich Schäfer
Jacob Reinick
Christian Prinz
Jacob Meier
David Kindsvater
Johann Mahr (son of Johann)
Georg Kindsvater
Peter Neuberger
Friedrich Kindsvater
Peter Wertz
Heinrich Ruppel
Johann Kindsvater
Georg Riedel
Johann Kindsvater
Fyodor Müller
Adam Meier
Heinrich Mahr
Johann Riedel
Daniel Kindsvater
Johann Kindsvater
Heinrich Lauck
Jacob Derr
Johann Wertz
Peter Wertz
Peter Mohr
Georg Neuberger
Jacob Mahr
POPULATION
Population Table
Year
Households
Population
Total
Male
Female
1861
40
291
148
143
1889
83
513
1891
1894
1897
1904
1910
1914
115
1,155
1926
1989
399
Sherrie Steele: Rootsweb Page for Tangled Web Genealogy - Michaelsdorf Information
Central State Archive of Republic Alania - North Ossetia, Fond 11, Opis 49, Delo 8, List 45, 81-87.
Central State Archive of Republic Alania - North Ossetia, Fond 11, Opis 52, Delo 118, List 4, 6.
Dietz, Jacob E. History of the Volga German Colonists (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 2005): 213.
Kloberdanz, Tim. Plains Folk: North Dakota's Ethnic History(Fargo: North Dakota State University, 1988): 163-164.
Plokhotnyk, Tatiana, "The Formation of German Colonies in the North Caucasus" Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (Winter, 2002).