Gnadenfeld

Gnadenfeld, aka Moor or Neu-Moor, was located in the Samara Province, on the Weisenseite of the Volga, Quandrant E-5, Map #6 (Stumpp). It was originally in the Kanton (County) of Krasny-Kut. In 1909 it was in the County of Gussenbach, District Novouzensk.

Gnadenfeld, referred to as Moor, or Neu-Moor, was a "daughter colony", founded by evangelicals in 1855, after villages became overcrowded on the Bergseite (right side - hilly side) of the Volga. There are two other Moor' s found on Stumpp maps. In Quandrant E-8, a village of Moor is located, and on the Bergseite, in Saratov Province Quadrant C-5, a third Moor is found, Russian name: Klutschi, oldest of the three," established July 1, 1766, one of the original "mother colonies". It is believed that many of the families that settled in Gnadenfeld were from the mother colony of Moor, as well as from Balzer, Hussenbach, Norka, Donhoff, and possibly other colonies. There is also a Gnadenfeld located in Molochna, Zaporozhye, South Russia.

The Samara region, more commonly called the Wiesenseite (valley or meadow side), was a well-watered rolling steppeland reaching from the Volga River to the Ural Mountains and south to Tsaritsyn (Volgograd). The Saratov side, the Bergseite (hilly side) reflected a terrain of hills and level areas. Both regions were well suited to agriculture.

GNADEN (Beauty - Grace - Mercy) FELD (Field) was located in the Jeruslan River basin. Fredrick Matthai in his book, (1865), "Die Deutschen Ansidelungen in Russland", (The German Settlers in Russia), stated that at a distance of three versts from Echeim there were three creeks that flowed together at Gnadenfeld - the Suchaja-Solanka, and he noted the village had a nice layout and could become in time a nice village. He said that trees grew freely and there were several divisions of pastureland. This was ten years after Gnadenfeld was established.

Gnadenfeld had in its possession 5,400 desyatin of land, according to the deed of July 1, 1871, which was, by the judgement of August 18, 1897, divided into 786 share-parcels, according to the existing male population. (Land Decision of the Area Supervisor of the Eleventh Section, Novouzensk District - Jacob Georgovitch Wagner).

POPULATION STATISTICS
In 1865 Frederick Matthai stated there were 119 families living in Gnadenfeld, 88 children in school. Settlements in the 1897 Census, Samara Guberniya, Wiesenseite, AHSGR Journal/Winter 1990, page 16, shows Gnadenfeld (Moor) (now Kirovskoye) having a total population of 1,077 - 523 males - 554 females, of which 1,071 were Protestants. In 1912 the population number was 1,968. In 1926 the population had dropped to 1521, partly due to the revolution, famine years, and immigration.

PASTORS 1855 - 1868 - INTERIM PASTORS
Fredrick Matthai in his book, "Die Deutschen Ansiedlungen in Russland", (The German Settlers in Russia), in 1865, lists ten colonies, lying on the lower Jerusalan, up to its emptying into the Volga, who decided to meet together at a special Gemeinde Kreis until the future formation of the parish, and to ask for an "interim" pastor. Included were Gnadenfeld and other colonies, which later were in the Echeim parish. He reported Gnadenfeld had a huge wooden schoolhouse with high glockenstuhl (belfry). Two bells were rung for church and school and three times daily, and as was habit, men removed caps and said a bible verse.
1869-1877 - PASTOR WILHELM STARKEL
In 1869 Pastor Wilhelm Starkel accepted a call to the parish of Eckheim, which comprised ten relatively new villages far out on the steppes east of the Volga, where he served till 1877. The ten villages of Eckheim Parish when Pastor Starkel served there were: Eckheim, Gnadenfeld, Brunnental, Neu-Beideck, Neu-Hussenbach, Langenfeld, Rosenfeld, Neu-Bauer, Friedenfeld, and Aehrenfeld. The distance from Gnadenfeld to Eckheim was 15 versts (10 miles). AHSGR Journal Vol. 2, No. 1, Spring 1979, page 60 - "A Voice From the Old Country: The Starkel Letters As early as 1887 - as late as 1903 -
PASTOR J. J. STUBER
From baptismal, confirmation, marriage and death records recorded in the Jacob Wagner Bible it can be determined that Pastor J. J. Stuber served Gnadenfeld in the Eckheim parish as early as 1887 and as late as 1903. It is possible Pastor Stuber succeeded Pastor Starkel. Surnames

Irma A. Waggoner, Village Coordinator, Gnadenfeld & data for Moor
Wayne Bonner, Village Coordinator, Moor

Moor | Gnadenfeld | Surnames | Lincoln Census | Volga Villages | AHSGR