Census Year

Males

Females

Families

Total Citizens

1766

80

77

47

157

1798

168

163

49

331

1834

376

370

101

746

1850

586

536

116

1122

In the mid to late 1700’s approximately 8000 families settled in Russia, many of them in the Volga River area.  The Volga River area was divided into two regions. The hill side was called Bergseite and the meadow side of the river was called Wiesensete.  44 villages were founded on the hillside (Bergseite) and 60 villages on the meadow side (Wiesenseite).

The colony Volmer was located on the high river bank on the Bergseite side of the Volga River approximately 3500 feet or about 1 kilometer from the city of Saratov.  47 families (158 people), who were primarily German immigrants, would call Volmer (Vollmer) home on July 18, 1766.

The colonists preferred to give the colony the name of its Vorsteher.  A Vorsteher was like a mayor and was usually either educated, wealthy, or previously held political power.  Volmer was named after Nikolaus Vollmer. For the reasons listed above he must have been more than just a salt worker from Dirkheim, Germany.  His two assistants were Lorenz Schroh and Peter Roth.

All the residents of Volmer were Catholic and belonged to the parish of Kamenka. They had a priest, a church, and a prayer house in their colony. They also had a Schulmeister (school teacher), who was under the supervision of the priest and was in charge of  teaching the children reading, writing, and religion in a special building.

The settlers worked hard and were generally happy and they enjoyed the privileges that were given in return for moving to the region.  Together with their ever increasing prosperity and self segregation from the native population, there was a resentment and jealousy of the Russians. 

On Jun 4, 1871, the government of Alexander II issued a decree by which the German colonists lost all the privileges they were granted to them by Catherine II and Alexander I and they were made equal to the Russian peasantry.  The German names of the villages were Russianized and every village now had two names, an official Russian name and the German name that the people continued to use.  The village of Volmer became Kopenka.  In 1874 the Russian Government drafted the first soldiers from the colonies.

However, it was the judiciary reforms of 1876 which made many of these colonists decide to leave Russia.  Up to then the colonists had their own courts of justice and judges as promised to them by Catherine II.  Russian judges were appointed in every district. 

The Russian courts had very little sympathy for the German colonists.  Not only did small thefts go unpunished, but even greater crimes against the colonists perpetrated by the Russian population were readily overlooked.  Appeals for justice were pointless. 

Finally the Russian government presented the option of resettling in Siberia or emigration to another country.  At a meeting in Herzog, delegates were selected, who at the expense of their respective communities began looking for suitable places to settle.  This delegation proceeded to Hamburg and from there to New York, then west to Nebraska and Kansas and north to the Prairie Provinces.  Other delegations followed to various parts of the United States, South America and Canada.

Consequently emigration began in 1876 and increased as the years went by up to the beginning of World War I when all emigration stopped.  Those left behind have been either liquidated (learn more below), incarcerated in concentration camps or exiled to Siberia.  Very few managed to leave Russia after the revolution of 1917.

The United States and the Canadian Prairie Provinces were very favorable.  In 1862 the US passed the Homestead Act and Canada passed the Dominions Land Act in 1872. Both Acts offered the head of a family, widows and single men over 18 years of age living with their parents a homestead (free land), consisting of a quarter section or 160 acres.  They further had the option (pre-emption) of buying another quarter of land at a reasonable price and easy terms.

South America was also inviting immigrants to its country.  Buenos Aries promised religious freedom, exemption from military service, and they could their own schools and educate their child how they saw fit.  The Volga Community Delegates reported that the land was favorable for farming, and there were good established routes for exporting agricultural products.  In 1878 approximately 1100 Germans from the Volga region left Russia to take advantage of these initiatives in South America.

Written by Angela Gartner

Sources: The Gartner Story, by JP Gartner & 1798 Volmer Census, translated by Bachtiar Kholmatov; edited by Dr. TJ Kloberdanz