1819 Dosidorf (Zabara) land contract

 

Case 18 25 September year 1819

(To) Dear of Nowohradwolhynsk Powiat the Zemski Corrector (sheriff) Ivan Pavlovitch Sczetynski

                                               (from) the Nowozwiagel Economic Office

                                                   Report. –

 

Upon the notice of Your Well Born by № 360. – regarding the delivery of data on the Menonists on the points attached hereto, this Office has the honor of reporting: 1^st the Menonists who settled on the land of His High Excellency Dear General of the Cavalry Fedor Petrovitch Uvarov are five families, namely: Martin Dorman, Wife of His Elizabeth, two sons, Jakob and Johann-Karol, daughter Katherine _ 2. Johann Meier, Bachelor, Sister of His Katherine, Mother of theirs Magdaline _ 3. Jakub Wenzel, Wife of His Luise, daughter Katherine, son born Here Johann _ 4^th. Martin Seitz, Wife of His Elisabeth, he has two Sons: of the First Wife Yegor-Michail _ of the second wife born here Johann. _ those exited from Abroad and settled in This Estate last year 1816 in the month of November. - 2^nd Native-born. They as evident from the ticket sent on them to Brest Lirowsk from Dear Civilian Governor of Grodno are Prussian. – 3^rd As Foreign Their Paszports are presented by that same Dear Governor of Grodno to the Ministry of Police  _ and from escorting them to This Estate Mr. Lachmanowicz upon the prescription of His very Excellency, was taken in Brest a note of hand, for in case of prohibition by the Ministry of Police of letting them across the Border, be they sent back; So uponnonreceipt Hitherto Such a Permittance, the Economie has not entered with them into any agreements, and hence Not Any Concluded with Them Terms it hasgot. 4^th And Forthat very Same reason theyall neither money Payment, and equally nor duties in the Economie are bearing or serving; - moreover, for they could have sustenance, on the designated lands for housing and ploughing, are they given all means of building for themselves a dwelling and necessary constructions, and in the first Year as for sowing and so for feeding released to them were corn and whatsoever provisions to work off for a good sum (of money), also given them each were one cow with calves and a pair of horses. – In the absence of Superintendent (Alexander Prewlocki)

 

 

September 24^th

 Year. 1819.

№ 58^th. _

Reel No. 8

Fond No. 383

Opis 29

Dielo No. 1212

Request No. 155

Document No. 41, pages 1 thru 7

 

              Translation from Polish

 

Between His Illustrious Highness Prince Josef Lubomirscy the Kammerherr (Chamberlain) of HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY of Malta Order Chevalier the forefatherly owner of the estate of Klucz Peczywodski (Key of Peczywody) As (the party of) the first As the first (part) andthecommunity of menonists and Holenders from antonowka (village which is) by the Town of Ostrog lying mathias luther, anddavid dirian (Dirias) As (the party of) thesecond Part executed is This Contract asfor the cession to These menonists and Holenders in Klucz Peczywodski inperpetual possession of a Part of the Ground as follows

                                           1^st

For the establishment of This Colonie designated by the owner is the Part of Ground To the Village of mokroje (Wet) belonging. that is eighteen voloks (18x21.36 ha), which by one side allies totheborder of Prawutin and the other one tothesame village of Mokroje

                                                              2^nd

Fortwo years without payment (due) and upontheeffluxion of these Fromeach morgen (1/3 volok) of the Land of Chelm measure Both plough(land) and Hay(land) equal to Wood(land) and (the land) that the nonuse status enjoys one is obligated to pay each three Zloty in Silver. _

                                                                3^rd

To the Priest for those same families one volok of the Chelman Land is designated without payment (due) and Fully Exempt of all the rest of annuities. _

                                               4^th

Forthedevelopment of This Colonie the possessory treasury promises itself the ration of wood from Own Its Forests without any

 

 

payment (due), upon the effluxion of two years each familie or household obligated shall be to pay to the owner annually of six zloty in silver._

                                                                    5^th

Livestock to graze free they will be as on pasture so in the woods: inso only that detriment either to the owner Himself or peasants of His inflicted benot._

                                                            6^th

All kinds of beverages andespecially beer and vodka (they) are obligated to take in the estates of His Illustrious Highness and at that rent to which assigned (they) will be, atthat single price which inother neighbouring estates established will be, however the treasury must try to have the quoted beverages perfectly sound, but supposing One exposed asof the cartage of those would incur a penalty to be assigned having._

                                                            7^th

From the stay (billeting) of military officials and giving of carts/: excluding only the Extraordinarily likely occurring crossings (they) are exempt._

                                                            8^th

Bees to have is allowed but fromany stump of such ones (they) are obligated to pay to the owner offifteen Grosze in Silver._

                                                            9^th

Supposing that whilst the hunt on the grounds of theirs (is being) practiced they (had) whatever detriment so this upon the appraisal to them rewarded must be._

                                                            10^th

Just As for the most convenient drainage of the grounds necessarily needed is a canal for the effluent waters so then obligated they are on the grounds of theirown on their behalf such a one to lay and His

 

 

Illustrious Highness (is) further the water through His very grounds to discharge just as soon as Fromthepart of the owner laid canal extended is to the grounds of theirs so do they further bythemselves (one) to lay ought._

                                                       11^th

Tothemending of roads, bridges and logpaths, they belong shallnot, but obligate themselves in the vicinity of the allotted to them land such ones to keep in good repair._

                                                        12^th

Own Their of any kind produce (they) may sell out wherever for them pleasing, evenly the Manual wares are allowed to produce without any payment (due) With such only caution that these wares unrefer to the harm and detriment to the owner._

                                                         13^th

Ontheallotted to them Grounds the Consisting commercial wood whether at will of the owner were cut down, so they onthese have claims cannot._

                                                          14^th

The Land for them allotted will be by the owner without any payment (due)._

                                                    15^th

Supposing to any of them by accident got burnt the house, then the cutting out for construction from the woods is allowed with the exemption even fromthepayment of czynsz for the term ofone year._

                                                            16^th

Forthepermanent fence the carriage of brushwood from the forest possessory estate is allowed but not otherwise that from those places

 

 

 

which by the Economie assigned shall be andwith the knowledge of the forester._

                                           17^th

Supposing that a familie letalone from the poorest came to material inconsistency then it is allowed onone ground to build from the same families two houses with the effect that enacted to the owner the czynsz from that ground once and forever should be paid, but in relation to the wood for kindling, so for this asunder each familie to the owner to pay is obligated._

                                                      18^th

The payment of the settled  from them czynsz conducted must be twice a year that is beforetheday of Saint John andon the second day of January._

                                                       19^th

This Colonie shall be named desidorf._

                                                        20^th

In the religion of theirs enjoyed must be the Freedom which by MOST GRATIOUS MAJESTY to any confession allowed is._

                                                         21^th

The abovestated menonists and equally their heirs – nonbound are with the payment of any more for the owner taxes under whatever nomination they were evenly the owner from thesame menonists a recruit to take will benot._

                                                          22^th

 Taxes by the government tothem charged all these families by themselves to pay shall be obligated.

 

                                                            23^th

Supposing that from Those families whichever from the colonie withdrew so hereagain the owner shouldnot lack for His income

from the allotted ground, but the aforesaid fully paid shall be and on that ones for the others vouch and guarantee the safety of the owner’s income, onthegrounds in the point (clause) comprised, granted they are the right to house any other at their freewill._

                                                     24^th

Incase of nonpayment within which ever Term of eligible to the owner the czynsz then they the Power of This contract exercise cannot and His Illustrious Highness can give away orjust sell This Ground to any other, andthey as about them so equally inthebuildings any claim to have oughtnot._

This Contract asit uponvoluntary condition at the aforesaid points (clauses) concluded is so both Parties for the eternal times imposing upon themselves a commitment to Piously and infallibly Keep the One formuch better importance with the sign manual of Theirs and with the apposition of seal (they) authenticate   executed in (the village of) newerkow

18 March year 1818_

(They) Signed Prince Josef Lubomirscy               david diri(a)s,

 mathias luther and david kein.,

The same year 1818 of October the 7^th day This contract (was) in Nowohradwolhynien Powiat Court presented_ .

To thesame contract (there is) an addition of the Following Content,

According to the Wish of the Plenipotentiaries to the Gmina (commune) of menonists and Holenders namely: mathias luther, david dercs, david kein, peter wedel, karol funk, and peter schmid(t) in order tothis by me signed on the 18^th day of March year 1818 given andin the Acts Zemski Nowohradwolhynien powiat of the same year October the 7^th date under № 219(?) Stated, yet in thevery same place to assign More Ground (I) satisfy such their petition

 

 

 

 

in the following way_

                                                      1^st

For the proliferation of This colonie (there is) to assign another part of the Ground allying tothevillage of mokroje from the border of Priutin (Pravutin) the great andlittle about the verysame colonie of voloks four (in number) of morgens thirteen, andof sprouts (5 m) thirty two, andthen overall against the Contract to allot to them of voloks twenty three, of morgens thirteen, of prouts thirty two Forwhich asinthewords of Thisvery contract (they are) obligated to unfailingly pay to the owner withtheonly limitation that from this date the assigned to them in addition land in one year in Their possession (they) will have without any payment (due), andequally fromthe afore given of voloks 22 of morgens 13 and prouts 32 (they) obligate themselves to pay the czynsz in rates as onthat by the 18^th point (clause 18) of the Contract (it is) decreed.

                                           2^nd

The Livestock of Theirs graze (they) can Corresponding to the 5^th Point of thatsame Contract Withsuch precautions – supposing to the Owner Or Peasants from this inflicted were what ever detriment, so the Possessory Economie or (its) lieges h ave to make an assessment andthemenonists against one un disputably – Pay. _

                                                        3^rd

Onthis added in the aforesaid amount of Land now by the Possessory Economie sown is winter rye andthus in autumn (it) has indisputable right without any reward and detriment to gather (that) one.

                                                         4^th

Which only explained in the contract and inthis postscript the points (clauses) as atvoluntary Agreement Concluded,

 

 

 

 

 So both Parties for the eternal time, atall accuracy to execute and keep to themselves pledge, andforthat of This Contract the postscript for that better importance and enforcement by (their) own handwritten signature and seal (they) authenticate of February the 10^th day year 1819._

Signed Prince Josef Lubomirscy            david diris, mathias luther, david kein, peter wedel, cornelius funk, peter schmidt;

The aforesaid postscript is of year 1819 August the 11 day in the Acts of Wolhynien High Court Civilian Department presented _ This translation is correct; Translator to the Wolhynien Civilian Governor (Tomaszewski)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hereout cut :

1., A Contract  inthePolish language with the translation, concluded by lord Olszewski with the colonists.

2., an extract from the journal of the Nowohradwolhynien powiat court with the translation.

3., a statement about the colonists with its translation.

These papers are filed as appropriate into the case on the Colonists by lord Olszewski settled  6^th July 1820

 

 

German Anabaptist Settlements in Western Ukraine, Walter Kuhn, 1955

Deutsche Täufersiedlungen im westukrainischen Raume by Walter Kuhn (Zeitschrift Fur Ostforschung; Lander und Volker im ostlichen Mitteleuropa)

4. D i e E i n w a n d e r u n g d e r W e i c h s e l - M e n n o n i t en

p490

In the Netherlands, after the catastrophe of Münster in 1535, the older Anabaptist movement was named after its leader named after its leader Menno Simons.  During the Mennonite persecutions of the Spanish period (until 1572), a large number of them fled to the Vistula estuary around Danzig.  They were experienced in draining the marshes; they were gladly accepted and carried out an enormous dike-building and colonization project and quickly achieved economic prosperity.  From the Vistula delta they very soon advanced up the Vistula valley as far as Thorn.  Unlike the Hutterites, their social structure was purely peasant, based on individual property and democratic cooperation of the "neighbors". Economically, besides the cultivation of cereals in the humid lowlands, these Mennonite engaged in dairy farming and cheese-making 22 in accordance with the custom of their homeland (Dutch lowlands).  In order to avoid any stronger ties to a landlord, the Dutch Mennonites rented their land only on a temporary lease, in return for comparatively high monetary payments, rejecting any kind of sharecropping.

Already in the 16th century the spatial expansion of the Vistula-Mennonites came to a standstill.  The development of the Netzebruch by Frederick the Great, for which they had just the right special knowledge, gave them the opportunity to participate in colonization work.  Emissaries of the Mennonites from the Kulmer Lowlands approached the head of the Netze establishment, Chief Finance Councilor Franz Balthasar von Schönberg von Brenckenhoff.  With the councilor’s backing, 16 families settled in Brenkenhofswalde, 13 in Franzthal and 8 in two neighboring small settlements, all in 1765.  These exclusively Mennonite villages were situated just west of Driesen.  Somewhat later followed Neu-Dessau, east of the city, where 12 Mennonite families from the Danzig Lowlands formed only a minority in the village.23   Very quickly, the Mennonites became exemplary leaders in the lowland settlement of Netzebruch.

Soon after, the Mennonites resumed their migration up the Vistula River.  In 1776 they settled Deutsch-Kazun west of Warsaw, opposite the mouth of the Bug into the Vistula 24; and at the end of the 18th century Deutsch-Wymyśle was established near Plock.25  There was thus a modest revival of the Mennonite colonization of Prussian lands and the same thing happened a little later, on a much larger scale, when they undertook to establish settlements in the Russian Empire.  Already in 1766, Vistula Germans were involved in the first large immigration under Catherine II, in the very area under discussion, in the construction of the German enclave of Bielowies in the Konotop district of Gubernia Chernigov.  In addition to the West German and Mecklenburg majority there also came Lutheran and Catholic Germans from the Danzig Werder who did not trave; by ship via St. Petersburg, but came overland in a separate trek.26  The villages of Groß-Werder, Klein-Werder and Rundewiese in the Bielowieser Group are named after their homeland.27  The implementation of the colonization work was in the hands of the Governor General of Little Russia, Count Rumyantsov.

As a result of the first partition of Poland, a large number of the Vistula Mennonites came under Prussian control and thereafter saw state decrees that threatened their freedom of military service and limited the possibility of expansion.  Many therefore followed the Russian government's call in 1786 for them to settle in the in the Black Sea region and in 1789 founded the "old colony" on the Dnieper bend near Chortitza.  Economically, however, they had to change completely from cattle breeding in the humid lowlands to sheep breeding and later to wheat growing in the rainless black steppe.  Closely related to this process is the calling of the Vistula Mennonites to the part of the Ukraine under the ownership of Count Prot Potocki.

Like other Polish magnates in the time of King Stanislaus Poniatowski, Potocki was eager to establish industrial enterprises by bringing in Western, especially German, experts.28  Thus, around 1780, he established a number of German textile factories in the small town of Machnówka in an effort to exploit the German textile trades.29  In the surrounding area, he endeavored to rebuild the villages and develop agriculture in these areas that had become desolate in the battles of the 17th century.  In 1791 he settled a group of Vistula Mennonites on the steppe north of the village of Michalin on favorable conditions, similar to that which they were accustomed to in the Gdansk region.  Each family received land according to its capacity, from 18 Morgen to 3 kulmische Hufen, in addition to 100 Polish guilders for travel expenses.  As land for the preacher, cemetery, church, and school Potocki donated 30 Morgen.  In addition, he donated two years’ salary to the preacher of 250 guldens and gave a loan of 3,000 guldens for the church building.  The survey of the land was carried out by a surveyor provided by the count but in the manner familiar to the Mennonites: Deutsch-Michalin became a group of individual farms (Einzelhöfen).30

Only two years later, during the second partition of Poland, the area was assigned to the Kiev Gubernia.  The Russian authorities initially levied the same poll taxes on the Germans as on the serf peasants.  In 1804, after long legal struggles, the Michaliners were finally recognized as colonists in accordance with the 1763 Manifesto of Catherine II, and by the hand of Alexander I they were even refunded the additional taxes they had already paid.31  From then on, the colony enjoyed a good development and formed an important link between the Vistula and Black Sea Mennonites.32

Shortly before the favorable outcome of these legal wranglings, some of the Michaliners, despairing of success, moved away and in 1802 settled south of Ostróg, forming the colony of Karlswald (Karolswald, Polish: Holendry Slobodzkie, after the neighboring village of Slobodka).33  Here in the humid Wilja/Vilia River lowlands, the Mennonites were able to return to their familiar way of farming: breeding of Dutch and Swiss cattle and the production of butter and cheese.  In addition, they also they also engaged in textile weaving.  In the following period they multiplied rapidly and founded additional villages.  Reiswitz-Wadzeck 34 mentions in 1821 two villages with a total of 38 families; in addition to Karlswald was probably Antoniendorf (Antonówka) or Jadwinin.  In 1828 the daughter colony to Karlswald, named Karlsberge, was established.35  Two more villages, Fürstendorf (Lesnaja, Nikitska) and Fürstenthal (Kustarna), were established later although we don’t know exactly when.  These six settlements 36 together formed a cohesive group of remote German-Mennonite villages.

In the years 1806 to 1818 came a second wave of Vistula-Mennonites to Volhynia, some from the Schwetz lowlands, some from the Netzebruch.37  However, we have detailed information about only one of their establishments.  Founded in 1811 by the nobleman Waclaw Borejko, Zofjowka 38 was settled north of the small town of Wysock far to the north on the Horyn River, in the middle of the Polish marshes.  21 families (Beyer, 2 Buller, Böse, 2 Dirks, 3 Voth, Nachtigall, 2 Nickel, 2 Pankratz, Richard, 4 Sperling, Unruh and Zielke)39 leased 33 farmsteads, for each of which they paid the high annual interest of 120 Polish guilders.  In return, they were exempt from all other burdens, specifically compulsory service to the landlord.  They also had freedom of trade without having to join a guild, free choice of judges and freedom of religion.  For school and cemetery, they received half a half Hufe free of charge.  For the first two difficult years, the landowner advance 200 guilders to each house.  The Privilege shows even better than that of Machnówka (Michalin), the exact transfer of the customary Gdansk lowlands to Volhynia.

A second colony of this group, not known in detail, was located near the small town of Rafalówka on the Styr River northeast of Luck.  An additional third colony was probably Waldheim (Waltajem, later Solianka) 30 km southwest of Novograd Wolynsk.40  Certainly also the neighboring Dosilorf (Zabara), for which [Alfred Karasek;Kurt Lück] gives the time of foundation "before 1807" 41, also belongs to the same context.

The following two decades brought a series of resettlements of the of the Netzebrücher 42, about whose causes and course we know only little.  The Zofjówkaers moved before 182843, leaving their land to German Lutherans.  These Zofjówkaers went to "Ostrowa" in the county of Luck, which is probably synonymous with Józefin, 30 km northeast of Luck, and still included the Zofjówka area to the east.  For Józefin I could find the 1936 settlement contract of the Mennonites in the village Schulzenamt 44 .  For Zofjówka the memory of the Mennonites is preserved in the tradition of the Jews and Ukrainians who later inhabited the village.45  The location of the colony of "Wola", which the Mennonites settled after leaving the area of Rafalówka,46 is uncertain.  Wola may be the Mennonite settlement of Horodyszcze 40 km wnw. of Równe, for which Lück gives as the year of foundation "before 1817.47  The Melanienwald colony was settled on the territory of the later colony named Kruchy, 12 km northwest of  Równe.  Kruchy was occupied by Lutherans who settled on the area of their Mennonite predecessors.  We cannot give a more specific date in regard to the establishment of this colony.48   

22) H. Penner, Ansiedlung Mennonitischer Niederländer im Weichselmündungsgebiet von der Mitte des 16. Jahrhunderts bis zum Beginn der Preußischen Zeit. Weierhof i. Pf. 1940.

23) B. H. Unruh, “Die Mennoniten in der Neumark.”  In: Christlicher Gemeindekalender für das Jahr 1941, hrsg.  von der Konferenz der süddeutschen Mennoniten und der Konferenz der ost- und westpreußischen Mennonitengemeinden, Jg. 50, S. 58—76.

24) A. Breyer, “Deutsche Gaue in Mittelpolen”.  In: Deutsche Monatshefte in Polen, Jg. 1934/35, S. 398.

25) B. H. Unruh, Die niederländisch-niederdeutschen Hintergründe der mennonitischen Ostwanderungen: im 16., 18. und 19 Jahrhundert.  S. 172 (according to a notice from Fr. Kliewer): Wymyśle was established in 1792 and Mennonites settled there just a very short time later.

26)  In the language of the Bielowie villages, the dialect of the Upper Hessians prevailed over the Werder Germans (V. Schirmunski, “Die deutschen Kolonien in der Ukraine”. Kharkiv, 1928. p. 20); otherwise, as a result of their isolated location, they were linguistically largely Ukrainized in the 19th century.  As evidence of their origin see J. A. Güldenstädt, Reisen durch Rußland und im Caucasischen Gebürge, hrsg. v. P. S. Pallas. 2. Teil. Petersburg 1791, p. 379: "others are from the area of Danzig and Elbing, and these made the journey here through Poland via Kiev."

27) The mother village to Rundewiese is located 15 km south of Marienwerder in the Vistula lowlands.

28)  This wave of industrialization in Poland, which also created a number of German towns in western Ukraine, created a German social class which, however, quickly faded away.  For general information see Kurt Lück, Deutsche Aufbaukräfte in der Entwicklung Polens.  Plauen i. Vogtland, 1934, bes. S. 309.

29) B. Chlebowski-, Slownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów Slovianskich. Warsaw 1880 ff. Vol V, p. 877 ff.

30) Partial summary of the privilege of 1791 in the Slownik geograficzny, Vol X, p. 247 (keyword “Samhorodek”).

31) Russia under Alexander I, a historical magazine, ed. from Henry Stork, Vol. 4, Petersburg and Leipzig 1804. P. 116.

32) [G. L.] Early v. R e i s w i t z - [F.] W a d z e c k, Contributions to the Knowledge of the Mennonite Congregations in Europe and America (Berlin 1821), reports on p. 379 about the settlement "Michelau," "where the West Prussian emigrants as well as the local (= Black Sea) colonists returning to their homeland stay." On p. 377, a family number of 18 is given for Michalin. 33) Slownik geograficzny, Vol. III, p. 844, also P. R. K a u f m a n n , p. 20, and H. S m i t h , p. 28. When other authors, such as W. L jad o w , European Russia in Physical and Ethnographical Relation, Petersburg 1861, state 1783 as the founding year, this could at most refer to the beginnings of immigration to Deutsch-Michalin; the year is probably incorrect.

34) p. 377.

35) Slownik geogr., Vol. III, p. 843.

36) Perhaps Grünthal (Polish: Olendry or Moszczanówka) east of Ostróg also belonged to this Mennonite group. The name Heinrichsdorf, listed in the Ostroger group by H. Smith, p. 160, is uncertain; perhaps it is the German name for Jadwinin? 

37) The most reliable, because oldest, information about them is found in a community report of the Waldheim colony in the Molotschna Mennonite area, written in 1848 (M. W o l t n e r, The Community Reports of 1848 of the German Settlements on the Black Sea, Leibbrandt Collection, Vol. 4, Leipzig 1941. p. 158): “The 68 families of this colony came from the Volhynia Governorate, specifically from the following places: 1) From the Ostrowa colony, in the Lutsk District, on the estates of the nobleman Michael Bitschkowskij, where they had come from the Rokonosch District, not far from the town of Wissotzk, from the manor of the nobleman Watzlaf Vorainy; 2) From the Wolla colony, on the estates of the nobleman Ignat Bitschkowskij, where they had come from the Count Olisarow's manor near the small town of Ravalowka in the Lutsk District, and 3) from the Nowograd Volhynsk District from the estate of Prince Ljubomirskij. Their mostly deceased fathers, however, migrated to the mentioned places between 1806 and 1818 from the province of Neumark near Driesen and from the village of Schwez in West Prussia." This establishes the origin of the Mennonites. The difficulty lies only in identifying the places in Volhynia mentioned under 2) and 3).

38) The German version of the settlement agreement of April 19, 1811, printed by A. Karasek — K. Lück, The German Settlements in Volhynia, History, Folklore, Life Issues (German Gaue in the East, Vol. 3)Die deutschen  Siedlungen  in Wolhynien, Geschichte, Volkskunde,  Lebensfragen  (Deutsche  Gaue  im Osten, Bd 3). Plauen i.V. 1931. pp. 22-24.

39) According to a friendly letter from Prof. D. Dr. B. H. Unruh, Karlsruhe, these names indicate origins in the Netzebruch region.

40) According to the Unruh family tradition, Benjamin Unruh, the great-grandfather of Professor B. H. Unruh, emigrated in 1816 with several other families from Franzthal in the Neumark to Waldheim in Volhynia. (B. H. Unruh, The Dutch-Low German Backgrounds . . . , pp. 152 and 155.) Waldheim would therefore be the village in the Nowograd Volhynsk district mentioned in the 1848 municipal report, after whose migrants in 1836 the settlement in the Molotschna region was named Waldheim. H. S m i t h , The Coming . . . , p. 28, attributes the beginnings of Waldheim to those who emigrated from Deutsch-Michalin in 1802, but his information is probably based only on the memories of the American Mennonites.

41) A. Karasek — K. Lück , p. 21.

42) cf. community report of the Waldheim colony in M. W o l t n e r , Community Reports, p. 158.

43) In this year, their contract received a supplement for the Lutherans. See A. Karasek — K. Lück, p. 24.

44) The copy I took at that time, along with my other Volhynian collections, was lost due to the expulsion from Breslau. I seem to remember that the year was 1828, that all the colonist families listed in the treaty had the same names as in the Zofjówka Treaty of 1811, and that a map of the area drawn up before the land division bore the designation "Ostrów."

45) A. Karasek — K. Lück, p. 21. The popular second name of the village, Trochimbrody, was interpreted by the Ukrainians as the German "Trockenbrot" (dry bread), as the Mennonites jokingly called their village.

46) M. W o l t n e r, Gemeindeberichte (Community Reports), p. 159.

47) A. Karasek — K. Lück, p. 21.

48) Own oral survey, 1936.

Alexander Voronin's, "About Foreign Settlers in the Southwest Krai"

Alexander Fedoseevich Voronin, in his treatise "About Foreign Settlers in the Southwest Krai", 1873, gives an amazing account of the establishment of the Mennonite colonies in Volyn and Podol.  Some details listed by Voronin are not found anywhere else.  Following is my personal translation of pages 1-6 of Voronin's history.

The beginning of the settlement of foreigners in the southwestern part of the country dates back to the days of the Polish government, in the last days of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The first colonists here were sectarians from Western Europe, who left their homeland because of religious persecution and settled in the region, attracted by the extraordinary privileges granted them by rich landowners, who had not enough workers to cultivate their own land.  For example, in 1791 the governor of the Makhnovka and Samgorod estates in the Berdichev district of the Kiev province, Prot Potocki, in Warsaw issued a privilege to 20 families of Mennonites who had come from Holland to settle on the land of the village Samgorodok.  This privilege granted the resettlers significant privileges and benefits.  Potocki obligated to allot the land for each family up to 3 [small pieces of Chelmno measure], and to give 100 zlotys (Polish) free of charge as allowance for transportation to the place of settlement; to give every family in the first year of resettlement loan corn of different kinds for replanting the fields according to the size of the occupied lands and, in addition, 10 корцевъ [unit of measure] for food; to grant the colonists with a loan of 1,000 zlotys per family, without interest, for six years, and with the donation of building material, 10 oaks and 30 pines per family, as well as the donation of stone from the quarry; To maintain the preacher, the cemetery, the church, and the school, 30 morgs were assigned for perpetual free use, and to give the preacher 500 zlotys as a gift during the first two years; in addition, the society was given 3000 zlotys on credit without interest for the construction of the church for 3 years.  For the land plots, the colonists were obliged to pay 3 zlotys per morg.

This fee was determined by the average price of rye and was to be changed every 12 years in accordance with the change in the price of rye, and after 60 years from the conclusion of the contract it was to be finally determined by deduction from the average prices of 12 years and to remain unchanged forever.  Then the colonists were relieved of military service and all duties and tributes to the landlord, committing themselves only to pay the state taxes.  The new settlement was given the name Makhalin (Махалинъ), and Potocki's Privilege was approved in 1781 by King Stanislaus Augustus, and in 1800 it was listed in the land registers of Makhnovsky Poviat.

It was the first foreign colony in the region.  It still exists today (1873).  After the reunification of Polsha, Volyn and Podolia, the Makhnovka Mennonites took Russian citizenship and were enrolled as colonists according to the (ревизскимъ сказкамъ; revision lists).  A part of the Mennonite craftsmen settled in Makhnovka and at the same time were registered as petty bourgeoisie in this place.  At present 44 families comprising 258 souls of both sexes, who on the ground of the mentioned Privilege have in termless use 300 dessiatin from the lands of Samgorod domain and in addition to that they bought 650 dessiatin from neighboring landowners on various occasions.  The men are engaged only in farming and run a farm, owning in families 20 to 50 dessiatin of land. At the last census there were 34 families of mennonites in the Makhnovka village, consisting of 187 souls of both sexes.  They form a special petty bourgeois society and are engaged in different trades and crafts.

After the reunification of the region, the first foreign settlers in it were also Mennonites, who came from Prussia.  In 1801 the owner of the Ostroshkago estate, Prince Karl Yablonovsky, signed a contract with 16 families for their perpetual use from the lands of Slobodka, located in the vicinity of Volyn province. Ostrog, Volyn province, 34 [уволоки] of haymaking lands and undeveloped lands and obliged to give settlers free of charge and on loan for 3 years 200 zlotys per family for the building timber, to give half of the [ ] land for the preacher for indefinite use and to guarantee them not to fulfill any other duties, except those specified in the contract, which they had to fulfill for the benefit of the owner as well as from correction of the recruitment duty.  For their part, the colonists undertook to pay 60 [k.] annually to the proprietor for each morg of haymaking and plowing land, excluding that which is under fallow; they were obliged to buy beverages only [from the estate], to grind bread only [in estate mills], and to submit to the power of the landlord as regards court and punishment, so that he would allow the colonists to choose a foreman from among themselves, who, upon approval of the owner, was to keep order and to administer court between them with the right of the offended person to appeal to the landlord.

Three years later, in 1804, under the same conditions a second colony was founded by newcomers, Antonovka, near the town of Kunev, and in 1817 a third colony under the name of Валъдгойма (Walhoyma [Waldheim]) was founded there.  These colonies quickly grew and, separating from their environment landless families, formed new settlements.  So in 1857 they founded the fourth colony - Yadvinin, and in the last five years of the decade three more colonies: Grundal in 1865, Firstendorf in 1868, and Firstental in 1869.  Registered in the last revision as colonists in all these colonies there are only 120 families of 1524 souls of both sexes.  Settlers of the first colony, Karls-Wald, are still using 608 ½ dessiatin of land indefinitely on the basis of the contract of 1801; the subsequent colonies Jadwinin, Grintal, Firschendorf and Fierstental (together) leased 1,438 dessiatin of land from the Ostroshkago estate's owner (pursuant to independent contracts). The colonies of Antonovka and Вальдъ-Гоймъ (Wald-Hoym), founded on the lands of Kunev’s estate, which were confiscated/ lustrated after the 1831 mutiny into the treasury, received 260 dessiatin as part of the lustration. 

Maps Detailing Low German Mennonite Colonies in Volyn Governorate

Volyn Governorate of the 19th century Russian Empire covered a large area of land, about 16,216 sq miles/42,000 sq kilometers.  While many of the Low German Mennonite colonies were concentrated near Ostrog, others were not.  It is impossible to find a single map that shows them all while covering such a wide area.  

Using maps from the c1910 3rd Military Mapping Survey of Austria-Hungary, I have put together 2 composite maps of the areas of Volyn Governorate which included Low German Mennonite Colonies.  The 2 composite maps are entitled VOLYN NORTH and VOLYN SOUTH.  These maps do the best job of illustrating the locations of the colonies.  Links to the original maps can be found here: http://lazarus.elte.hu/hun/digkonyv/topo/3felmeres.htm, while a link to a good explanation of this map series can be found here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:3rd_Military_Mapping_Survey_of_Austria-Hungary

This is a very detailed series of maps that label most German/Mennonites colonies as “Kol”.  However, not every colony is marked since some were established after this surveying project was begun.  Also, the spellings of villages, cities, and towns vary from this listing.  These 2 composite maps cover Volyn Governorate in this way:

On the maps, Low German Mennonite colonies are circled in red.  The intention of these maps is to show the Low German colonies, not the Swiss, however, Kutusowka and Neumanovka are included, both circled yellow.  19th century Uyezd capitals are circled blue in order to help with orientation.  Berdichev is circled purple since after 1846 it was located in Podol Governorate and not Volyn.  

Not shown:

• Novomalin-walde; this colony was located immediately north from Antonowka across the Viliya River
• Ollika; we do not know the location of Ollika.  There are numerous villages with similar names.  It could very well be the Olyka which is located midway between Rivne and Lutsk.
• Ostrowa is probably synonymous with Józefin
• Wolla is likely synonymous with either Sofjówka(II) or Horodyszcze
• Rosentheim was in the neighborhood of Deutsch-Michalin

Note: Martyni is not circled on the Volyn South map below.  It is located between Antonowka and Jadwanin.