Schoenfeld, Samara, Russia a "Tochterkolonie" Daughter Colony On the Volga
While researching the location of the OCHS in Russia, I discovered that the terms mother colony and daughter colony were attached to various villages. The first village in order to support the ever growing populace of that village would form a second village on new lands and be given the title of daughter colony.
Pobotchnaya (1772) forty miles northwest of Saratov, Russia is the mother colony of Schoenfeld (1857). Schoenfeld is located one hundred miles southeast of Pobotchnaya on the Wiesenseite or meadow side of the Volga River.
The Wiesenseite was much drier and hotter than the Bergseite or hilly side of the Volga River. This area was on the "fringe" of German settlements and came in contact with Asiatic peoples and customs. For example, camels were adapted as the beasts of burden, along with horses brought with them.
The Meaning of Schoenfeld
Schoenfeld (1857) translates as "pretty field" and was located on the Jerusalen River or Creek between Schoendorf, some four miles to the southwest. Schoendorf was founded in 1855 and Schoental some three miles to the northeast, was founded in 1856. Schoendorf (pretty village) and Schoental (pretty valley) were daughter colonies of Yagodnaja Polyana. Both Schoendorf and Schoental had neighboring Russian villages, so there was contact with the Russians. Schoenfeld did not have a neighboring Russian village so fewer of the Schoenfeld colonists learned to speak their native Russian.
"According to some sources, the village of Schoenfeld does not exist today. Plowed fields now cover the area. Pobotchnaya has fared much better, and is populated mainly by Russians. In recent years, German people are returning to Pobotchnaya."
In 1857, Heinrich Ochs (my great great grandfather) and his wife, Susanna Margareth Ochs, nee Ott, packed up his family consisting of Maria Catharina age 12, Maria Elisabeth age 10, Elisabeth Margareth age 4, Catharina age 3, and Susanna Margareth age 1. Heinrich's brother Philipp and his wife Sophia Margareth, nee Gerd, their daughter Sophia Catharina age 1 month and sons Conrad age 3-10 and Philipp age 2 also joined the exodus to Schoenfeld. In fact, there were eleven Ochs families to leave Pobotchnaya in 1857 and three Ott families.
Life In The Village of Schoenfeld
Born to Heinrich and Susanna Ochs on 9 June 1861 was a son. This son was given the name of Peter. "Then on 1 January 1864, John Philipp Ochs my great great grandfather, whom we called Philipp, came into the world. He would spend the next twenty years growing up in the village of Schoenfeld.
Life in Russia was hard. For these hardy people Russian winters had no mercy for the unprepared. All the farmers lived within the village, but raised their crops out from their neat homes. Fruits and vegetables were carefully preserved by drying or putting down in brine. Cabbage was made into kraut.
Their livestock, consisted of chickens for eggs, pigs for meat, sheep for wool, geese for down, and cows which were taken to pasture by the village herder each day. Cows provided milk, butter, cheese and leather.They used wood, cow chips and Russian thistles for fuel. Gathering the fuel was generally a woman's chore. After collecting the fuel supply the women would head for the fields to work beside the men in harvesting the wheat.
"Harvesting was done the "old-fashion way". The men folk would swing the scathe or cradle to cut the wheat. The women would bind the wheat in bundles by hand tying each bundle with rope made of green straw. The bundles were dried and were ready for threshing. Hand carried back to the village, the bundles were broken and spread out on the threshing room floor. Horses were brought in and led round and round tramping out the grain. The straw was sifted and the grain fell to the bottom, where it dropped in the wind, blowing out the chaff. The grain was gathered and sacked handed back to the village later to be taken to the flour mill to be ground into flour."
"Alex Litzenberger, born in Schoenfeld in 1898 ( the same year John Philipp Ochs and his family were leaving for America) came to LaCrosse, Kansas in 1908, and gave this description of Schoenfeld in 1983. "His dad had a blacksmith shop in the center of town. A couple of blocks to the north lay the Lutheran church and cemetery. German school was held there in the church. Then at the age of eight, boys had to go to Russian school. There was a lot of school skipping, because the boys didn't like to go to the Russian school. His older brother would skip school and go to the river and fish. At the south end of town was a communal grazing area. Boys took turns watching cows, pigs, geese and horses. There was a manmade lake and mill to the southeast. There was a town "lafka" or shop where his dad sent him once in a while to buy tobacco for him. There was also a liquor store in town. Girls stayed at home and helped their mothers. So far as Alex remembered, girls did not go to school. This is how it was in Schoenfeld in 1908." "The villagers were all provident and all things were valuable. Clothing worn on Sunday was carefully folded and put into a trunk until the next Sunday's use."
The church was the life of all the villagers with all belonging to the same church in each separate village. The pastor was also the school teacher and he was very strict. He always carried a long stick with only one good whack, he could keep the children in queue." Many times the pastor was shared with the other villages as was the case with Schoenfeld's pastor.
In the evenings, after a day's work, the whole family would help with some family endeavor. For instance spinning wool or flax to weave the cloth to be made into clothing was the women and girls responsibility. While the men and boys mended tools or repaired items around the house.
In 1884, John Philipp was conscripted into the Russian Army. He would serve Russia until 1888, when he would return to his home village of Schoenfeld and marry Maria Elisabeth Ott, on 26 December 1889. Maria Elisabeth Ott was born 9 April 1870 in Schoenfeld. At the present time, we don't know much about our great grandmother's early life. I suspect that she is the descendant of one of the three Ott families that came to Schoenfeld from Pobotschnaya in 1857.
Sources Used In The Above Article
Leif Glomsted, "THE STORY OF THE VOLGA GERMANS".
Oklahoma Harvester Chapter, "German-Russian Heritage Steppes to America." (Oklahoma: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1991) 18-31.
Laurin Wilhelm, "Pobotschnaya, Saratov, Russia a "Mutterkolonie" Mother Colony and Schoenfeld, Samara, Russia a "Tochterkolonie" Daughter Colony on the Volga,"
"Letter From Alex Litzenberger'" Courtesy of Laurin Wilhelm.
Roberta Greenway, "John Philipp Ochs History."