This page was begun 24 June 2001 and revised 5 Nov 2002 -- rak.
Shcherbakovka, aka Deutsch-Schtscherbakowka, German Shcherbakovka, Schtscherbakowka, Stricker, and Tscherbakowka, a Lutheran village was found 15 June 1765 by the Russian government. Its official population was 196 (in 1769), 229 (1773), 414 (1798), 4,448 (1912), and 1,903 (1926) {Mai, vol.I, p.27}.
For the exact location of Shcherbakovka, click on the Saratov Area Map.
In September 1798 Popov, the official census taker, reported:
"This colony is located ... near the Shcherbakowka Brook on the Bergseite.... 140 versta [1 verst is slightly more than 1 km.] from Saratov and 45 from Kamyshin. Distances from neighboring colonies are: 6 from Stephan, 11 from Schuck, 7 from Holstein, and 12 from Galka. It is 4 from the Volga and 20 from the Volga River dock.... "Its lands border the land of the aforementioned 4 colonies as well as government lands that are currently used by the wife of State Counselor Zetteler and by the colonists of Holstein. (p.214)."
"The colonists indicate that about 25 desyatina [1=2.7 acres] of the colony's land is occupied by farmsteads, 20 by roads and up to 250 are suitable for farming. [All the remainder] ... can ... only ... [be used] to pasture their cattle. They do rent 200 desyatina from Mrs. Zetteler.... Each year a substantial part of the grain sown ... is eaten by gophers.... There are 20 desyatina of hay fields in the colony ... [They also] rent hay fields from Mrs. Zetteler and feed their cattle on it. This land is located ten versta from the colony on the opposite bank of the Volga ... The colony has a shortage of both arable and hay fields. The shortage of hay fields can be satisfied completely by giving the colonists the land ... they currently rent from Mrs. Zetteler.... Arable land could be given to the colony from the adjoining government land. However, seven other colonies also border on this land, and it will not be enough for all of them.... [a] number of ... colonists would like to move to another place with a sufficient amount of all types of land. The colonists do not have other deficiencies, except for hemp and flax, which do not grow in the local soil (pp.214-15)."
"The colonists practice only farming.... The land is divided into three fields, cultivated using plows and mostly bullocks, and is not fertilized. The grain harvest is mediocre for all crops. [After harvesting] These crops are ... threshed on the threshing floors that were built near their farmyards and also where the hay is stored. Due to fire hazard, it is recommended that they build threshing floors in a remote and fire-secure place, and also to build barns for drying grains. They sell their grain and other products in Kamyshin ... The public granary here is ramshackle, but built in a secure place.... [It stores] rye, wheat, and oats ... (pp.215-16)."
"The colonists live in satisfactory conditions. The buildings here are ramshackle and repaired old ones. There are two stone houses, but no wattle and daub ones. Also there is enough stone on the colony's land that is suitable for construction. The houses are enclosed with fences, and a vegetable garden is behind each house. On the Shcherbakovka Brook there are three mills. There are no orchards or apiaries. As craftsmen, there are a joiner, a blacksmith, a tailor, a cobbler, and two weavers. They are diligent workers (Mai, vol.I, p.215)."
REICH
145. Louise Catharina (1748-??) m. Christian DALINGER (his first wife was Elizabeth b. 1748).
To got to my other ancestral villages, click on them.