History > Norka 1898
Norka 1898
The following article is from the Russian publication Historic and Geographic Dictionary of the Saratov District, compiled by A. N. Minkh and published in Saratov in 1898. Minkh was a Saratov Scientific Archive Commissioner and a member of a noble family of German descent. The translation of this article and the related notes are provided courtesy of Dr. Lyudmila I. Koretnikov.
Norka is also known as Norki or Staraya (Old) Norka. A German colony and Volost (small rural district) center of Norka Volost, Kamyshin uyezd (district), 2 districts of Zemstvo Head are located in the north of Kamyshin uyezd, 4 versts from the boundary with Saratov used. It is located 51 degrees 10' North in latitude and 15 degrees East in longitude from Pulkovo on both banks of the Norka River, which shares its name with the settlement. The river starts 2-3 versts to the west of the colony. There are 8 convenient descents to the river and 4 wells. The altitude of 1.5 to 2 versts to the north from the settlement is equal to 810 English feet over the level of the Black Sea. It is one of the oldest colonies in the Volga region, according to Klaus (Our Colonies, 1869). The first settlers came here from different regions of Germany asked by Catherine the Great in 1764-1766. Before 1864, the colony was part of a vast Norka county that comprised such colonies of Atkarsk uyezd as Grechinaya Luka (Walter), Krestovy Buerak, Peskovatka (Kolb), and what is called now Norka, Oleshnya (Dittel) and Linevo-Ozero (Hussenbach) volosts.
Map from the Russian encyclopedia titled, "Historic and Geographic Dictionary of the Saratov District," compiled by A. N. Minkh, a member of the Saratov Scientific Archive Commission, and published in Saratov in 1898. Norka (Russian = Hopka) is circled.
According to the Norka Volost Board, Norka was founded in 1764, and a German Church school was almost immediately opened. (Note: According to the 1767 Census, the colonists settling in Norka did not arrive until 1767).
According to the 1859 List of Foreign Settlers (by A. Klaus) Norka, Norka county had: according to census #5 (1788) – 206 families, 690 males and 668 females; according to census #6 (1798) – 225 families, 845 males, and 815 females; according to census #7 (1816) – 300 families, 1,274 males, and 1,235 females; according to census #8 (1834) – 445 families, 2,095 males, and 2,018 females; according to census #9 (1850) – 465 families, 3,081 males, and 2,870 females; according to census #10 (1857) – 628 families, 3,251 males and 3,049 females.
According to the list of settlements of the Central Statistics Committee, published in 1862, the German colony Norka was shown by the Norka River, 110 versts from the uyezd city Kamyshin. In 1860, there were 483 households, 3,289 males, 3,065 females, and 6,894 persons of both sexes: 1 Reformed church, 1 school, 2 fairs, 5 tanneries, 3 oil mills, 21 mills. In 1851-1852, 270 males and 250 females, a total of 520 people, moved to the Ilovlya River, where they founded a new colony: Neu (New) Norka, Ilovlya volost.
According to the 1886 Zemstvo Census, there were in Norka 877 households, 3,898 males and 3,743 females, a total of 7,641 people of both sexes, Germans, Reformists, there were 322 families constantly absent and 13 families (81 people), who were outsiders. 2,127 males and 2,034 females were literate. There were 785 inhabited houses: 444 were made of stone, 336 were of wood, and 5 were of daub and wattle; the roofs of 78 of those were made of wood, 704 were of straw, and 3 were made of soil. There were 54 industrial enterprises, 5 taverns, 11 stores. The settlers had 741 plows, 4,293 horses (both working and non-working), 2,602 cows and calves, 5,280 sheep, 1,686 pigs and 869 goats, and 5 bee gardens with 34 bee hives. In 1885, annual fees and duties amounted to 24,007 rubles, and none were in arrears.
The allotted land was 17,174 dessiatinas of convenient land (including 12,464 dessiatinas of arable land) and 4,294 dessiatinas of inconvenient land, a total of 21,468 dessiatinas. According to the valuation committee of 1859 the settlers got 12,463 dessiatinas 1,600 sazhens of arable land, 122 dessiatinas of convenient steppe, 260 dessiatinas 200 sazhens of farmstead land and kitchen-gardens, 517 dessiatinas 300 sazhens of meadowland, 982 dessiatinas of pasture land, 1,566 dessiatinas 1,900 sazhens of forest and bushes, 5,556 dessiatinas 1,910 sazhens of inconvenient land. According to the ownership papers, there are 17,174 1/3 dessiatinas of convenient and 4,294 dessiatinas of inconvenient land. The soil is mostly chernozem (black earth), excluding 1/4 of the allotted land, where it is clay and salty. The land is divided between males, each one has 3 dessiatinas of arable land. Kitchen gardens are used mostly for growing potatoes, cabbage, and cucumbers. Very few people sow tobacco. Watermelon and melon cultivation have developed insignificantly. Not everyone has gardens. Those who have them grow mostly apple trees, cherries, and other berries. The system of land management is three-field. The land is worked with plows. Some house owners rented land in 1887: winter field dessiatina was 8 rubles, spring field dessiatina was 6 rubles. They can also rent land from other settlers; many houseowners lease land. Many people also trade.
Carrier trade is the most developed one. In 1887, about 300 people were in this business. 143 people were engaged in seasonal work in other places; among them were 129 hired men, 2 bricklayers, 5 tanners, 4 millers, and 3 traders. In the colony, 547 people were engaged in trade: 89 hired men, 2 coopers, 13 fullers, 6 bricklayers, 16 tanners, 39 blacksmiths, 78 wheel-wrights, 19 millers, 9 (sheepskin) fur-dressers, 20 shepherds, 2 bookbinders, 7 sawyers, 14 carpenters, 19 tailors, 25 shoemakers, 1 locksmith, 28 joiners, 6 watchmen, 36 weavers, 28 traders, 10 saddle-makers. Among trade and manufacturing enterprises owned by the settlers, there are 3 stores selling manufactured produce, 6 stores selling trifles, 4 stores selling wine, 6 wind flour mills, 6 oil mills, 5 tanneries, 7 joineries, 11 shoemaker’s shops, 5 tailoring shops, 11 smithies.
According to the Saratov Province Statistics Committee (1891), there were 727 households, 5,202 males and 4,998 females, for a total of 10,200 people of both sexes. According to the Norka Volost Board (1894), Norka was situated on the hill, on the Norka River, very close to springs with excellent water. The church that they have now is new, wooden with a metal roof, sanctified in 1881. The village administration building was opened in 1864, the medical attendant’s office in 1834, the church school from the time of the colony’s foundation, and the Russian school in 1868. The Zemstvo driving station has 3 horses. In 1894, there were 713 buildings, including the Volost Board building, the village administration building, the pastorate, and 3 schools. There are 27 buildings that were brick, 319 made of wood, 382 made of stone, 29 have metal roofs, 57 – board roofs, and 642 – straw roofs. There were 5,302wood males and 5,216 females, for a total of 10,518 people of both sexes in 1894. They were Germans and Reformists, who made up one Norka village community. They are farmers, and there are 10 blacksmiths, 7 joiners, 12 wheelwrights, 10 shoemakers, 6 tailors, 4 stove-setters, 2 bookbinders, and 250 people engaged in Sarpinka (printed calico) weaving. The allotted land is divided in the following way: 259.8 dessiatinas are taken by farmsteads, 12,463.3 dessiatinas is arable land, 829.9 dessiatinas – shrubbery, 737 dessiatinas – forest, 517.1 dessiatinas – meadowland, 2,367.2 dessiatinas – pasture, and 4,294.1 dessiatinas – inconvenient land, total: 21,468 2/5 dessiatinas.
It is considered that Norka is 10 verstas from the colony Splavnukha, 20 verstas from Talovka, 18 verstas from Rybushka (Saratov uyezd), 7 verstas from Sergievka (Saratov uyezd); Atkarsk uyezd: 25 verstas from Kopeny, 25 – from Shiroky (Wide) Karamysh, 18 – from Bol’shaya (Big) Dmitrievka, 65 – from Saratov, 120 – from Kamyshin. According to S.A. Shcheglov, Norka is that far from other volost villages of Kamyshin uyezd: Antipovka – 157 verstas, Akhmat – 40 verstas, Banny – 55, Burluk – 95, Verkhnyaya Dobrinka (Dreispits) – 51, Guselka – 88, Zolotoye – 50, Rosenberg (Ilovlinskaya) – 100, Kamenka – 55, Kotovo – 95, Krasny Yar – 74, Lopukhovka – 88, Lemeshkin – 70, Linevo Ozero – 57, Nizhnyaya (Lower) Dobrinka – 62, Oleshnya – 32, Rudnya – 70, Salamatino – 135, Ust-Zolikha (Sosnovskaya) – 25, Tarasovo – 92, Tonovka – 20, Verkhnyaya (Upper) Kulalinka – 99, Kamyshin – 125 verstas.
Norka volost borders in the north upon Saratov uyezd, in the east – upon Sosnovka volost, in the south-east – upon Tonovka Volost, in the south-west – upon Oleshnya Volost, and in the west – upon Atkarsky uyezd. The Norka Volost is situated north of Kamyshin Uyezd. Rivers are flowing on its territory: at its east boundary – the Karamysh River that takes the Splavnukha River and the Norka and the Rybka Rivers (these two rivers flow at the boundary with Saratov uyezd) here. In the very western part of the Volost, only small streams start, flowing to the Medveditsa River. The Volost was settled by Germans, who came from different parts of Germany in 1764-66, and there were only two colonies in it: Old Norka and Splavnukha (Huck). According to the Volost Board, in 1894, there were 8,979 males and 8,848 females, for a total of 17,827 people in the Volost.
(1862 List of Settlements of the Central Statistics Committee; Klaus Our Colonies, 1869; Collection of Province Zemstvo, 1891, Volume XI; Documents of the Province Statistics Committee, 1892; Documents of Norka Volost Board, 1894; Maps: 1892 ordnance survey map of the General Staff and 1894 Zemstvo map).
According to the 1859 List of Foreign Settlers (by A. Klaus) Norka, Norka county had: according to census #5 (1788) – 206 families, 690 males and 668 females; according to census #6 (1798) – 225 families, 845 males, and 815 females; according to census #7 (1816) – 300 families, 1,274 males, and 1,235 females; according to census #8 (1834) – 445 families, 2,095 males, and 2,018 females; according to census #9 (1850) – 465 families, 3,081 males, and 2,870 females; according to census #10 (1857) – 628 families, 3,251 males and 3,049 females.
According to the list of settlements of the Central Statistics Committee, published in 1862, the German colony Norka was shown by the Norka River, 110 versts from the uyezd city Kamyshin. In 1860, there were 483 households, 3,289 males, 3,065 females, and 6,894 persons of both sexes: 1 Reformed church, 1 school, 2 fairs, 5 tanneries, 3 oil mills, 21 mills. In 1851-1852, 270 males and 250 females, a total of 520 people, moved to the Ilovlya River, where they founded a new colony: Neu (New) Norka, Ilovlya volost.
According to the 1886 Zemstvo Census, there were in Norka 877 households, 3,898 males and 3,743 females, a total of 7,641 people of both sexes, Germans, Reformists, there were 322 families constantly absent and 13 families (81 people), who were outsiders. 2,127 males and 2,034 females were literate. There were 785 inhabited houses: 444 were made of stone, 336 were of wood, and 5 were of daub and wattle; the roofs of 78 of those were made of wood, 704 were of straw, and 3 were made of soil. There were 54 industrial enterprises, 5 taverns, 11 stores. The settlers had 741 plows, 4,293 horses (both working and non-working), 2,602 cows and calves, 5,280 sheep, 1,686 pigs and 869 goats, and 5 bee gardens with 34 bee hives. In 1885, annual fees and duties amounted to 24,007 rubles, and none were in arrears.
The allotted land was 17,174 dessiatinas of convenient land (including 12,464 dessiatinas of arable land) and 4,294 dessiatinas of inconvenient land, a total of 21,468 dessiatinas. According to the valuation committee of 1859 the settlers got 12,463 dessiatinas 1,600 sazhens of arable land, 122 dessiatinas of convenient steppe, 260 dessiatinas 200 sazhens of farmstead land and kitchen-gardens, 517 dessiatinas 300 sazhens of meadowland, 982 dessiatinas of pasture land, 1,566 dessiatinas 1,900 sazhens of forest and bushes, 5,556 dessiatinas 1,910 sazhens of inconvenient land. According to the ownership papers, there are 17,174 1/3 dessiatinas of convenient and 4,294 dessiatinas of inconvenient land. The soil is mostly chernozem (black earth), excluding 1/4 of the allotted land, where it is clay and salty. The land is divided between males, each one has 3 dessiatinas of arable land. Kitchen gardens are used mostly for growing potatoes, cabbage, and cucumbers. Very few people sow tobacco. Watermelon and melon cultivation have developed insignificantly. Not everyone has gardens. Those who have them grow mostly apple trees, cherries, and other berries. The system of land management is three-field. The land is worked with plows. Some house owners rented land in 1887: winter field dessiatina was 8 rubles, spring field dessiatina was 6 rubles. They can also rent land from other settlers; many houseowners lease land. Many people also trade.
Carrier trade is the most developed one. In 1887, about 300 people were in this business. 143 people were engaged in seasonal work in other places; among them were 129 hired men, 2 bricklayers, 5 tanners, 4 millers, and 3 traders. In the colony, 547 people were engaged in trade: 89 hired men, 2 coopers, 13 fullers, 6 bricklayers, 16 tanners, 39 blacksmiths, 78 wheel-wrights, 19 millers, 9 (sheepskin) fur-dressers, 20 shepherds, 2 bookbinders, 7 sawyers, 14 carpenters, 19 tailors, 25 shoemakers, 1 locksmith, 28 joiners, 6 watchmen, 36 weavers, 28 traders, 10 saddle-makers. Among trade and manufacturing enterprises owned by the settlers, there are 3 stores selling manufactured produce, 6 stores selling trifles, 4 stores selling wine, 6 wind flour mills, 6 oil mills, 5 tanneries, 7 joineries, 11 shoemaker’s shops, 5 tailoring shops, 11 smithies.
According to the Saratov Province Statistics Committee (1891), there were 727 households, 5,202 males and 4,998 females, for a total of 10,200 people of both sexes. According to the Norka Volost Board (1894), Norka was situated on the hill, on the Norka River, very close to springs with excellent water. The church that they have now is new, wooden with a metal roof, sanctified in 1881. The village administration building was opened in 1864, the medical attendant’s office in 1834, the church school from the time of the colony’s foundation, and the Russian school in 1868. The Zemstvo driving station has 3 horses. In 1894, there were 713 buildings, including the Volost Board building, the village administration building, the pastorate, and 3 schools. There are 27 buildings that were brick, 319 made of wood, 382 made of stone, 29 have metal roofs, 57 – board roofs, and 642 – straw roofs. There were 5,302wood males and 5,216 females, for a total of 10,518 people of both sexes in 1894. They were Germans and Reformists, who made up one Norka village community. They are farmers, and there are 10 blacksmiths, 7 joiners, 12 wheelwrights, 10 shoemakers, 6 tailors, 4 stove-setters, 2 bookbinders, and 250 people engaged in Sarpinka (printed calico) weaving. The allotted land is divided in the following way: 259.8 dessiatinas are taken by farmsteads, 12,463.3 dessiatinas is arable land, 829.9 dessiatinas – shrubbery, 737 dessiatinas – forest, 517.1 dessiatinas – meadowland, 2,367.2 dessiatinas – pasture, and 4,294.1 dessiatinas – inconvenient land, total: 21,468 2/5 dessiatinas.
It is considered that Norka is 10 verstas from the colony Splavnukha, 20 verstas from Talovka, 18 verstas from Rybushka (Saratov uyezd), 7 verstas from Sergievka (Saratov uyezd); Atkarsk uyezd: 25 verstas from Kopeny, 25 – from Shiroky (Wide) Karamysh, 18 – from Bol’shaya (Big) Dmitrievka, 65 – from Saratov, 120 – from Kamyshin. According to S.A. Shcheglov, Norka is that far from other volost villages of Kamyshin uyezd: Antipovka – 157 verstas, Akhmat – 40 verstas, Banny – 55, Burluk – 95, Verkhnyaya Dobrinka (Dreispits) – 51, Guselka – 88, Zolotoye – 50, Rosenberg (Ilovlinskaya) – 100, Kamenka – 55, Kotovo – 95, Krasny Yar – 74, Lopukhovka – 88, Lemeshkin – 70, Linevo Ozero – 57, Nizhnyaya (Lower) Dobrinka – 62, Oleshnya – 32, Rudnya – 70, Salamatino – 135, Ust-Zolikha (Sosnovskaya) – 25, Tarasovo – 92, Tonovka – 20, Verkhnyaya (Upper) Kulalinka – 99, Kamyshin – 125 verstas.
Norka volost borders in the north upon Saratov uyezd, in the east – upon Sosnovka volost, in the south-east – upon Tonovka Volost, in the south-west – upon Oleshnya Volost, and in the west – upon Atkarsky uyezd. The Norka Volost is situated north of Kamyshin Uyezd. Rivers are flowing on its territory: at its east boundary – the Karamysh River that takes the Splavnukha River and the Norka and the Rybka Rivers (these two rivers flow at the boundary with Saratov uyezd) here. In the very western part of the Volost, only small streams start, flowing to the Medveditsa River. The Volost was settled by Germans, who came from different parts of Germany in 1764-66, and there were only two colonies in it: Old Norka and Splavnukha (Huck). According to the Volost Board, in 1894, there were 8,979 males and 8,848 females, for a total of 17,827 people in the Volost.
(1862 List of Settlements of the Central Statistics Committee; Klaus Our Colonies, 1869; Collection of Province Zemstvo, 1891, Volume XI; Documents of the Province Statistics Committee, 1892; Documents of Norka Volost Board, 1894; Maps: 1892 ordnance survey map of the General Staff and 1894 Zemstvo map).
Notes
We came across the name Norka in other places in Saratov Province, e.g., in Petrovsky uyezd - the Norka river flowing into the Uza from the left (left tributary of the Sura river); the village Mordovskaya Norka on the Uza river and the village Russian Norka (a.k.a. Arkhangel’skoye) on the Norka River.
Pulkovo - 15 kilometers from St. Petersburg. The main observatory is located here. The observatory was built in 1833-39, 75 meters above sea level, at 59° 19' 40" North latitude. The Pulkovo meridian is at longitude 30° 19' 40" East of Greenwich.
Dessiatina - A Russian measure of area equivalent to 2.7 acres.
Sazhen - Russian measure of length equal to 2.13 meters or about 7 feet.
Zemstvo - Czar Alexander II implemented the Zemstov system (elective district council) of local government that was represented at the lowest level by the mir (village government and cooperative) and volosts (similar to English county).
Pulkovo - 15 kilometers from St. Petersburg. The main observatory is located here. The observatory was built in 1833-39, 75 meters above sea level, at 59° 19' 40" North latitude. The Pulkovo meridian is at longitude 30° 19' 40" East of Greenwich.
Dessiatina - A Russian measure of area equivalent to 2.7 acres.
Sazhen - Russian measure of length equal to 2.13 meters or about 7 feet.
Zemstvo - Czar Alexander II implemented the Zemstov system (elective district council) of local government that was represented at the lowest level by the mir (village government and cooperative) and volosts (similar to English county).
Sources
Minkh, A. N. Historic and Geographic Dictionary of the Saratov District (Saratov, 1898), pgs. 688-691.
Last updated November 21, 2023