Alexandertal

last update: 14 November 2007 ... rak

News!  Preliminary report on 2001 trip to Alexandertal!  Go to: Alexandertal 2001.

New Feature! -- Gallery of Photos of former Alexandertal Residents; click on it to go there.

Newest Feature -- Letters from Alexandertal!

There were many German colonies/villages in Russia that began Alexander-something.  They were often confused because they are confusing.  To check this out, click on Alternative Alexander-somethings.

This line is no longer operational: This page was last updated 2 November 2002 -- rak.  To check the Alexandertal Work Log, click here: Alexandertal Work Log.

I am the Village Coordinator for this village for the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia.  Their award-winning web site is at http://www.ahsgr.org/index.htm.  If you are a descendant of Germans from Russia, you should join.  They do really good work!

Alexandertal -- Beginnings     

The following is a translation of an 1890 Russian report, this copy taken from the AHSGR Journal VI:2 (Summer 1983) pp. 12-13 [parens enclose the translator's notes; square brackets are my own additions ... rak]:

THE SETTLEMENT ALEXANDERTAL

    This is situated on a large hill, on the right side of the Astrakhan postal highway, one versta (0.66 mile) from the river Ilavlia.  The first settlers came from the village Sosnova, Sosnovsk county, in 1853, and at first settled along the ravine toward the center of the communal land allotted to them.  The settlers who arrived after them, however, did not like this spot and they, together with the first settlers, moved to a lower place along the postal highway and there dug out their huts.  The next spring, however, in 1854, the high water flooded their dugout huts and forced them to leave that place also to re-settle on higher ground, where the settlement has remained to the present.

    Since the settlers, with few exceptions, came from Sosnovka, the settlement is popularly called Novaia Sosnovka (New Sosnovka) by the Russians, and Neu-Schilling by the Germans, because their original home Sosnova was called Schilling by them.  Later the new settlement received the official name Alexandertal (Alexander's Valley), in memory of the blessed Emperor Alexander II (he was assassinated in 1881), God rest his soul!

    At the tenth census (taken in 1857-58) there were counted in this settlement 189 males and 171 females.  At present there are 378 males and 350 females, most of whom are of the Lutheran faith.

    The settlement does not have a store or flour mill, but it does have an oil-mill.

    The allotted community land includes: farmyards, pasture and unproductive land, 1753 desiatinas; arable land, 2525 des.; meadows, 27 des.; forest 78 des.; total: productive land, 2606 des. and unproductive land 1777 des.

    The school was established in 1854 in a community house and is supported by the settlers in the community.  There are 47 boys and 47 girls in this school.

    In the summer a few men from the various settlements of Ilavlin county, after finishing their own farm work, go to the Don region and the Novouzensk and Tsarevsk districts to supplement their income by agricultural work, such as cutting hay and grain, threshing grain, constructing dams, etc.

    Although this report says the village was established in 1853, its 1858 census lists 3 people who died in 1851 and 1 who died in 1852 so there may have been at least unofficial settlement at least as early as 1851.  The report also says there were 360 residents as of the tenth, 1857-58, census.  However, the translation I have of the 1858 census contains only 198 residents plus 11 who had died.  I don't know whether the report translated above was incorrect, or whether the translation I have of the 1858 census is incomplete.  

    The Astrakrakan postal highway ran a few miles west of and parallel to the Volga River.  On various maps the names of the neighboring German villages on this highway north to south are: Neu-Meule, Alexandertal, Neufeld, and Rosenberg.

The 1858 Census

    I have a copy of a translation of the 1858 Alexandertal Census, the only census of Alexandertal I have been able to discover so far.  The following table summarizes the census report:

To order copies of the translated 1858 census please go to www.rakgen.com.

    Following the 1858 census, settlers continued coming to Alexandertal, so much so that by the time of the Report quoted above, the population had expanded to 728.  Without later census data we have almost no information on who these new settlers were.  However, I do have a few names from descendents in the US.  What we now know about family names and migration patterns into Alexandertal is summarized in the following table:

    Alexandertal families began immigrating to the US as early as 1876.  The little I know about that migration is summarized in the following table:

    So far only a few Alexandertal descendants have checked in.  I hope that other descendants seeing the web site will make themselves, their ancestors and their stories known to me.  If so, the following list of descendants will expand!

In this table the year in brackets indicates the year the address last known to be viable.

For a map of the area around Alexandertal, click here: Map.

As I am able to add pages to my Family Tree Section, a person interested in Alexandertal might well be interested in any of my dad's ancestors.

To return to my home page, click here: Dick's Home Page.

For my Alexandertal Ancestors, click on them.