Peter Miller - Norka and the Journey to America
The colony of Norka had a population of about 13,500 and was not a village. The colony extended about two and one-half miles from east to west and about one mile from north to south. There were nine and one-half rows of houses lengthwise, four homesites to one square block, about 400 feet square. The circle indicates one residence that measures 200 hundred by 200 hundred feet. The narrow margins are crossways or alleys.
Our house was about eight blocks from the end in the 8th row from the east. There was a house in every place in the immediate neighborhood except for two or three I can remember.
Houses were built of timbers, about 4" x 6" or 4" x 8" of various lengths. They were fitted together with dowel pins, and the corners were dove-tailed. Interior walls were plastered with clay mud and whitewashed. Ceilings were 8 feet or more tall, with wide boards covered with about 3 inches of clay mud for fire protection. The floorboards were also wide. The houses had gable end roofs that were covered with straw thatch. Kettles were placed in stoves and used to heat water in the winter. The stove or oven in the large room was used for bread baking. (The diagram below, drawn by Peter Miller, shows the typical floor plan with approximate measurements. Also shown is a cross-section of the fireplace and oven.)
Houses were built of timbers, about 4" x 6" or 4" x 8" of various lengths. They were fitted together with dowel pins, and the corners were dove-tailed. Interior walls were plastered with clay mud and whitewashed. Ceilings were 8 feet or more tall, with wide boards covered with about 3 inches of clay mud for fire protection. The floorboards were also wide. The houses had gable end roofs that were covered with straw thatch. Kettles were placed in stoves and used to heat water in the winter. The stove or oven in the large room was used for bread baking. (The diagram below, drawn by Peter Miller, shows the typical floor plan with approximate measurements. Also shown is a cross-section of the fireplace and oven.)
There was one large wooden church on a large open plot of land in roughly the middle of the town. It was located in the 8th row from the north (1 - 8 - 9.5 from the North). It seated about 600 people or more. There were four sections of benches and a large balcony.
We had three schoolhouses known as lower (Unterdorf), middle (Mitteldorf), and upper (Oberdorf). All were wooden structures divided into four sections of benches. I went to the middle school, which was the largest. It was divided by drawn curtains. We had four teachers, two Russians, and two Germans. The other schools had one teacher each. The Mitteldorf school had about 600 pupils in two sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Schools were heated with one large iron stove at the end of the room. A pipe went one-halfway through the building for heating.
Six or seven merchants were dealing in tea, sugar, flour, and other small commodities. Other merchants dealt with dry goods, yardage, and textiles. Still others, in leather goods and the like. Practically all apparel was made to order.
The farming fields were located 3, 5, 10, 12, and 15 miles from the town. The main crops were rye, wheat, barley, oats, and flax. We had two horses, one cow, one goat, three sheep, two pigs, and some chickens. All crops were for our personal use and, at times, were only half enough.
Transportation was by horse and wagon or by walking. Norka was located bout 45 miles to the southwest of the city of Saratoff (Saratov) and about 20 miles to the colony of Schilling on the Volga.
The house and all property on top of the ground were ours, but the land reverted back to the community when people left the country.
My Mom boiled her laundry with homemade lye soap mixed with wood ash. The wash was taken to a small dam around town or a flowing stream where it was rinsed. In winter, they had to chop a hole through a foot of ice to reach the water.
As children, we enjoyed our pastimes and had fun with homemade things. As we grew, we became busy with schoolwork during our free time (we didn't drive our elders nuts as kids do nowadays).
Holidays included New Year's, Easter, Pentecost, Harvest Festival, and Christmas. New Year and Harvest Festival were celebrated with a lot of revelry, dances, and the like.
We had three schoolhouses known as lower (Unterdorf), middle (Mitteldorf), and upper (Oberdorf). All were wooden structures divided into four sections of benches. I went to the middle school, which was the largest. It was divided by drawn curtains. We had four teachers, two Russians, and two Germans. The other schools had one teacher each. The Mitteldorf school had about 600 pupils in two sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Schools were heated with one large iron stove at the end of the room. A pipe went one-halfway through the building for heating.
Six or seven merchants were dealing in tea, sugar, flour, and other small commodities. Other merchants dealt with dry goods, yardage, and textiles. Still others, in leather goods and the like. Practically all apparel was made to order.
The farming fields were located 3, 5, 10, 12, and 15 miles from the town. The main crops were rye, wheat, barley, oats, and flax. We had two horses, one cow, one goat, three sheep, two pigs, and some chickens. All crops were for our personal use and, at times, were only half enough.
Transportation was by horse and wagon or by walking. Norka was located bout 45 miles to the southwest of the city of Saratoff (Saratov) and about 20 miles to the colony of Schilling on the Volga.
The house and all property on top of the ground were ours, but the land reverted back to the community when people left the country.
My Mom boiled her laundry with homemade lye soap mixed with wood ash. The wash was taken to a small dam around town or a flowing stream where it was rinsed. In winter, they had to chop a hole through a foot of ice to reach the water.
As children, we enjoyed our pastimes and had fun with homemade things. As we grew, we became busy with schoolwork during our free time (we didn't drive our elders nuts as kids do nowadays).
Holidays included New Year's, Easter, Pentecost, Harvest Festival, and Christmas. New Year and Harvest Festival were celebrated with a lot of revelry, dances, and the like.
Now for the travelogue. We left our home in Norka on February 4, 1903, but it must be remembered that Russia was 12 days later than the Western world. Therefore, it was February 16, 1903 in the USA. It was about 9:00 am when we departed, and the wind was blowing; it was snowing and cold. We had two horses and sleighs, which belonged to a man named Conrad Krieger. We drove until about 4:00 pm and stopped at an inn to stretch our legs, have a cup of tea, and let the horses rest. We continued on to the city of Saratov and arrived at about 6:30 pm. We arrived at an inn or hotel where, by chance, our father and Mr. Krieger were acquainted with the owner. We stayed that night and the next day until about 5:00 pm. Then, by horse-drawn street car, we went to the railroad station about three miles out of town. The depot waiting room was crowded. We lay on our bundles on the floor for three or four hours. A Russian man married to a Norka woman (a relative of Mrs. 'Red' Henry Kern who came with us) got our tickets for us, or we would probably still be lying there. Finally, we got to the train. It was fairly comfortable. The cars were divided into family compartments.
We departed from Saratov at about 9:00 pm. I don't know how long or far we traveled, but we woke up at dawn to find the train standing still and snowing under. Sometime after daylight broke, a switch engine with a gang of snow shovelers cleared us out and pulled the train back to the station. There, we remained until late afternoon on February 18th.
We departed again at about 4:00 pm and traveled that night and to about 10:00 am the next day without any notable incident. The following morning, we stopped at the city of Wilno (German: Wilna) in Poland (part of the Russian empire at the time, now Vilnius, Lithuania), where two Jews came in our car looking for parties going across the border without passports. Adam Brehm was one of those who needed a passport. He came with us as part of our family. He went away with the Jews, and they promised he would rejoin us.
We left Wilno and moved along until dusk when we came to the Russian border town of Wershbalowa (Verzhbolovo, now Virbalis, Lithuania). After the customs officers examined our passports, they took the engine off the train, and a German engine came and pulled us into the German border town of Eydtkuhnen (now Chernyshevskoye, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia). From there, we were in the steamship agent care (February 20th). We stayed there that night and the next day until about 6:00 pm when they loaded us and several other people in baggage cars with seats around the walls of the cars, our bundles piled in the middle of the floor. There were no toilet facilities. Off we went to Berlin and Bremen.
We reached Berlin during the night and Bremen the next day, February 21st, at about Noon. We were taken care of by someone from the steamship agency who took us to their emigrant hotel. Here we stayed for two days. On the second day, while our tickets were being prepared, Adam Brehm entered the agent's office. He didn't look great but was happy to be with us again. He had a very rough time rejoining us.
Early on February 25th, as was the custom by then, everyone was herded into the steamship company bathhouse, which had separate facilities for men and women. Everyone's clothing and baggage was disinfected. At about 10:00 am, we were taken to the railroad depot, loaded on the train, and departed for the Bremerhaven ship docks.
By Noon, we were all settled in the boat, but families and single people were separated. My Mom had to again claim that Adam Brehm and the Fink girl (Mrs. Kern) were part of her family. Our father was held in Bremen because of an eye disease. We were floating between the skies and the deep sea, and no one knew what was ahead. After everything calmed down a bit, some of us went up on deck to watch the excitement on the dock. We could barely see the docks by this time.
We were aboard a ship named "Cassel," owned by the North German Lloyd Steamship Line. After 20 days of continuous sea travel and several instances when one thought his heart would drop out during rough seas, we docked at Baltimore, Maryland, on March 17, 1903. The ship remained in Baltimore for several days, unloading and reloading cargo. Most of the passengers got off the ship, except our group and three small families from the colony of Beideck by the name of Pabst. They also came with us to Denver but didn't remain there for long.
We departed from Baltimore on March 21st. The ship traveled down around Florida to Galveston, Texas; this took us another eight days, but it was a quiet voyage. The food was much better, and we also had some entertainment. During this time, my brother George and I got to help the Deck Master take down the bunk beds and other portable fixtures to the boat's passenger hold. Of course, the used mattresses and such were cast overboard.
We arrived at Galveston, Texas, about midafternoon but could not disembark that day. The next day, at about 10:00 am, a U.S. inspector and doctor came aboard. After everything was okay, we were asked if we had any money and how much money because we would be on our own after we left the ship. My Mom said that she had a few dollars. That must have been sufficient because they let us off the boat.
At about Noon on March 30th, after lunch, we were directed to a waiting room. During our time there, a Jew came along and took about five men to another Jew's store where they could purchase hats. At about 6:00 pm, an agent from the Santa Fe Railroad put us on the train, and we departed for Denver, Colorado. The next day, George stuck his head out of the train window, and there went his new hat!
After nearly two months of travel, we arrived in Denver at about 10:00 am on April 4th. Henry Krieger and George (Sugar Foot) Krieger, Mom's cousin, met us. They walked us from the depot over the 23rd Street viaduct to 4658 Lincoln Street, where the Henry Seder family lived then.
We stayed in Denver (Globeville) until May 4th, when we went out into the beet fields on a farm 4.5 miles east of Windsor, Colorado. By then, my father had rejoined us, and the family circle was complete.
We departed from Saratov at about 9:00 pm. I don't know how long or far we traveled, but we woke up at dawn to find the train standing still and snowing under. Sometime after daylight broke, a switch engine with a gang of snow shovelers cleared us out and pulled the train back to the station. There, we remained until late afternoon on February 18th.
We departed again at about 4:00 pm and traveled that night and to about 10:00 am the next day without any notable incident. The following morning, we stopped at the city of Wilno (German: Wilna) in Poland (part of the Russian empire at the time, now Vilnius, Lithuania), where two Jews came in our car looking for parties going across the border without passports. Adam Brehm was one of those who needed a passport. He came with us as part of our family. He went away with the Jews, and they promised he would rejoin us.
We left Wilno and moved along until dusk when we came to the Russian border town of Wershbalowa (Verzhbolovo, now Virbalis, Lithuania). After the customs officers examined our passports, they took the engine off the train, and a German engine came and pulled us into the German border town of Eydtkuhnen (now Chernyshevskoye, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia). From there, we were in the steamship agent care (February 20th). We stayed there that night and the next day until about 6:00 pm when they loaded us and several other people in baggage cars with seats around the walls of the cars, our bundles piled in the middle of the floor. There were no toilet facilities. Off we went to Berlin and Bremen.
We reached Berlin during the night and Bremen the next day, February 21st, at about Noon. We were taken care of by someone from the steamship agency who took us to their emigrant hotel. Here we stayed for two days. On the second day, while our tickets were being prepared, Adam Brehm entered the agent's office. He didn't look great but was happy to be with us again. He had a very rough time rejoining us.
Early on February 25th, as was the custom by then, everyone was herded into the steamship company bathhouse, which had separate facilities for men and women. Everyone's clothing and baggage was disinfected. At about 10:00 am, we were taken to the railroad depot, loaded on the train, and departed for the Bremerhaven ship docks.
By Noon, we were all settled in the boat, but families and single people were separated. My Mom had to again claim that Adam Brehm and the Fink girl (Mrs. Kern) were part of her family. Our father was held in Bremen because of an eye disease. We were floating between the skies and the deep sea, and no one knew what was ahead. After everything calmed down a bit, some of us went up on deck to watch the excitement on the dock. We could barely see the docks by this time.
We were aboard a ship named "Cassel," owned by the North German Lloyd Steamship Line. After 20 days of continuous sea travel and several instances when one thought his heart would drop out during rough seas, we docked at Baltimore, Maryland, on March 17, 1903. The ship remained in Baltimore for several days, unloading and reloading cargo. Most of the passengers got off the ship, except our group and three small families from the colony of Beideck by the name of Pabst. They also came with us to Denver but didn't remain there for long.
We departed from Baltimore on March 21st. The ship traveled down around Florida to Galveston, Texas; this took us another eight days, but it was a quiet voyage. The food was much better, and we also had some entertainment. During this time, my brother George and I got to help the Deck Master take down the bunk beds and other portable fixtures to the boat's passenger hold. Of course, the used mattresses and such were cast overboard.
We arrived at Galveston, Texas, about midafternoon but could not disembark that day. The next day, at about 10:00 am, a U.S. inspector and doctor came aboard. After everything was okay, we were asked if we had any money and how much money because we would be on our own after we left the ship. My Mom said that she had a few dollars. That must have been sufficient because they let us off the boat.
At about Noon on March 30th, after lunch, we were directed to a waiting room. During our time there, a Jew came along and took about five men to another Jew's store where they could purchase hats. At about 6:00 pm, an agent from the Santa Fe Railroad put us on the train, and we departed for Denver, Colorado. The next day, George stuck his head out of the train window, and there went his new hat!
After nearly two months of travel, we arrived in Denver at about 10:00 am on April 4th. Henry Krieger and George (Sugar Foot) Krieger, Mom's cousin, met us. They walked us from the depot over the 23rd Street viaduct to 4658 Lincoln Street, where the Henry Seder family lived then.
We stayed in Denver (Globeville) until May 4th, when we went out into the beet fields on a farm 4.5 miles east of Windsor, Colorado. By then, my father had rejoined us, and the family circle was complete.
Source
This story was written by Peter Miller in 1960 and is part of his autobiography. Peter's daughter, Emma Murdock (née Miller), shared this story with Terrie Conyers. The text and drawings are used with Terrie Conyers' permission. The original text has been edited for clarity.
Related reading: Peter Miller's Life Story
Related reading: Peter Miller's Life Story
Last updated January 17, 2024