Frank
Frank (Франк) Medeveditskii Krestovyi Buyerak, Medveditzkoi Krestovoi Buyerak, Medwedizki Krestowoi Bujerak (Медведицкий Крестовый Буерак)
51° 04' N 44° 49'E
Frank, a German Lutheran colony, was until October 1918 the Township center of the Frank Township, Atkarsk Region, Saratov Province, 110 versts from the city of Saratov and 94 versts south of the county town of Atkarsk. Frank was founded as a Crown colony on 16 May 1767 by 117 families from Mecklenburg, Palatinate, Saxony, and Darmstadt-Isenburg. In an edict dated 26 February 1768, Frank was given the Russian name of Medeveditskii Krestovyi Buyerak because of where it was located on the river.
As of 1859, there were in Frank a Lutheran church (built in 1842), a parochial school, a market, 3 oil producing factories, and one mill.
Colonists from Frank helped to found the daughter colonies of Brunnental in 1855 and Langenfeld in 1859. In 1859, 120 colonists moved to the Samara Province on the Wiesenseite.
Emigration to America began in 1870. At that time, 30 people left.
A Regional government school was founded in 1871 with both governmental and private funds. Books and other supplies are provided by the government. Tuition has been set so that all can afford to attend: full payment 11-14 rubles; only 6 rubles for the poor.
Population Summary
Year |
Households |
Population |
||
Total |
Male |
Female |
||
1767 |
|
335 |
|
|
1769 |
|
425 |
|
|
1772 |
|
525 |
|
|
1788 |
109 |
704 |
367 |
337 |
1798 |
138 |
861 |
443 |
418 |
1816 |
191 |
1,415 |
768 |
647 |
1834 |
305 |
2,552 |
1,344 |
1,208 |
1850 |
314 |
3,775 |
1,905 |
1,870 |
1857 |
412 |
4,620 |
2,343 |
2,277 |
1859 |
303 |
4,684 |
2,383 |
2,301 |
1897* |
|
5,080 |
|
|
1912 |
614 |
4,592 |
2,281 |
2,311 |
1926** |
861 |
5,374 |
2,612 |
2,762 |
*Of which 5,072 are German.
**Of which 832 households are German (total: 5,288 with 2,561 were male and 2,727 were female.
Pastors:
1768-1770 Johann Friedrich Mittelstädt
1771-1776 Johann Friedrich Heitzig
1778-1782 Laurentius Ahlbaum
1872-1786 Samuel Traugott Büttner
1788-1817 Franz August Flittner
1818-1820 David Flittner
1820-1837 Franz Hölz
1838-1868 Jakob Würthner
1867-1878 Ernst Theophil David
1879-1882 Samuel Petrus Dittrich
1884-1901 Karl Rudolf Roos
1901-1914 Michael Somelt
1917-1920 Arthur Julius Kluck
1925-? Konrad Staab
Sources:
Die Kirchen und das Religiöse Leben der Russlanddeutschen, Evangelischer Teil, by Joseph Schnurr.
Frank street scene in the Winter of 2006. Photo courtsey of Tanja Schell.
The building now used as the Lutheran church (2006). Christmas services in 2006 were attened by Katy Hoff, Olinda Thiel, Wanda Werner and Frieda Gieß. Photo courtsey of Tanja Schell.
Former Volga German school in Frank (2006). Photo courtesy of Steve Schreiber.
Alexander Schreiber, Katy Goff (Hoff), Alexander Urbach (2006). Katy Goff was deported from Frank in 1941 and returned in the 1950s to live again in her family home. Photo courtesy of Steve Schreiber.
One of the few remaining German women in Frank provides a tour of the old cemetey (2001). Photo courtesy of Steve Schreiber.
Frank church and schoolhouse
Storage building in Frank
Volga German home in Frank