This page was begun 23 June 2001 -- rak.
Galka, a Lutheran village, aka Meierhoefer and Ust-Kulalina, was founded 12 August 1764 by the Russian government. Its official population was 219 (in 1769), 240 (1773), 385 (1798), 3,548 (1912) and 2,016 (1926) {Mai, vol.I, p.16).
For the exact location of Galka, click on the Saratov Area Map.
According to Popov reporting in the 1798 census:
"This colony is near the Voloshka Brook ... 150 Versta [a verst is slightly more than a km.] from the city of Saratov, 40 from Kamyshin, and from the neighboring colonies: Dobrinka 8, [Holstein?] 10, Schwab 5, and 8 from the Volga dock.... All colonists are Lutheran and there is a pastor and a church. The schoolmaster, under the supervision of the pastor, teaches children reading, writing, and religion in the school building (p.95)."
"According to the colonists, 2,000 desyatina [1=2.7 acres] of their land has been forcefully taken by the colonists of Dobrinka... [only] 1,000 desyatina remains suitable for farming.... Each year, a substantial part of the sown grain ... is eaten by gophers.... It has been recommended that the colonists ... plant trees.... Most of the colony's land shortages are in hay fields and forest. The farmland will be sufficient if the land possessed by ... Dobrinka is returned.... The colonists do not have other deficiencies, except for hemp and flax that do not grow in the local soil. The colonists practice only farming. For craftsmen, there are a blacksmith, a cobbler, and a tailor in the colony. They are diligent toward their work (pp.95-96)."
"The colonists live in satisfactory conditions. The buildings here are mostly ramshackle and repaired old ones. The houses are mostly enclosed with fences from the street side and with wattle fences from the inside.... there are only four stone houses and no wattle and daub houses ... There are no orchards or apiaries. The colonists have melon, watermelon, and gourd plantations in the fields and vegetable gardens near their houses. A water mill is located on the Kulalinka Brook four versta from the colony (p.96)."
The land is divided into three fields, is cultivated using plows, and is not fertilized. The grain harvest is mediocre for all crops which when harvested are threshed on threshing floors that were built near the colonists' farmyards. It is recommended that they establish threshing floors in remote and fire-secure places ... they cannot build barns like the Russian peasants because of a shortage of wood.... They sell their grain and other products in Kamyshin and to people coming to the colony from various places.... The public granary is ramshackle and built in an inconvenient place. It is therefore directed that the colonists build it in a convenient and secure place... [They store] rye, wheat, and oats ... (Mai, vol.I, pp.96-97)."
DAHLINGER/DALINGER
144. Unknown (bef 1724-1767) [you can click on him to get to his Tree page]
72. Christian (1744-aft.1798) [you can click on him to get to his Tree page]
36. Johann Gottfried (1783-1840) [you can click on him to get to his Tree page]
18. Johann Adam (1813-1855) [you can click on him to get to his Tree page]
9. Maria Katharina (1850-1922) [you can click on her to get to her Tree page]
According to the Dahlinger Family Chart (DFC), Maria's family of origin moved to Rosenberg in 1952 when she was just two. According to the DFC her ancestors all lived in Galka after coming from Russia. In the Galka 1798 census (Mai, vol.I, p.430) household #7: DAHLINGER, Christian 53, wife Louisa Katharina (REICH) 50, and offspring: Susanna 19, Maria Agnesa 17, Johann Gottfried 15, as well as Anna Margaretha 26 and her husband and daughter: RIFFEL, Christian 30 from Shcherbakovka, and Louisa Katharina 3. The family is listed in the 1767 Galka First Settlers' List.
REICH
145. Louisa Katharina (1748-??) m. abt. 1769 Christian DALINGER (she is his second wife; his first wife was Elizabeth b. 1748, d.abt 1768). [you can click on her to get to her Tree page]
It is not clear whether Johann Jakob was the son of Louis Catharina or the son of an earlier wife of Christian, named perhaps Elizabeth? Can anyone shed light on this matter? If so, please e-mail me at [email protected]. Thanks.
There were two other households included REICH folk in the Galka 1798 census (Mai, vol.I, pp.434 and 435): #43 REICH, Johann Heinrich 47 from Schwab, along with his wife and five children; #44 GEMSEMER, Johann Philipp 40 and Susanna (REICH) 44 widow of Martin KLOSS.
KEIL
77. Katharina Dorothea (1773-1833) m. Nikolaus BLAEHM.
Although this couple lived in Shcherbakovka, my guess is that Katharina's origins were here in Galka. If you know of her origins, please e-mail me at [email protected]. Thanks.
In the 1798 Galka census there were several members of the KEIL family (Mai, vol.I, p.429): household #3: Johann Georg 46 from Schwab, wife Maria Rosina (WEBER) 31 from Dobrinka, and their children: Katharina Henrietta 9, Regina Margaretha 8, Maria Magdalena 6, and Alexandra Elisabeth 1; as well as his children by his first wife: Johann David 17 and Maria Sophia 13; as well as his deceased wife's son by her 1st husband Nikolaus, Johann Jakob SCHMIDT. In addition in household #10 (p.430), there was Maria Agnesa (KEIL) FRANK 19, and in household #28 there was Elisabeth (KEIL) JUST 24.
My guess is that here we have Katharina's father and evidence of her mother, her father's deceased wife. In so my ancestral tree is extended by:
154. Johann Georg (1752-aft.1798)
UNKNOWN
155. Unknown (aft.1752-bef.1789) m. Johann Georg KEIL.
If you know anything else about this woman, please e-mail me at [email protected]. Thanks.
For a report on a recent visit to Galka, click Galka2001.
To go to my other ancestral villages, click on them.
To go to a Galka website, click on this: http://www.buckeyenet.net/users/jdye/VillageGalka.html.