Huck

Names

Huck,Splavnucha

Location

51º05' N 45º22' E

History

      Huck was founded on 1 July 1767 as a Crown Colony by 79 families from Isenburg and the Palatinate. It is located on the Bergseite, approximately 50 miles southwest of Saratov along the Yelkhovka Creek, near the Splavnukha River from which it takes its Russian name.
      In January 1887, nineteen families left Huck, eventually settling in the Argentinean village of San Antonio. On 25 May 1889, another fourteen families from Huck arrived in San Antonio, followed by another seventeen families on 21 November 1891.On 25 May 1889, another eleven families from Huck arrived San Antonio, followed by another seventeen families on 21 November 1891.
      There was a German school in the colony since it was founded in 1767. A Russian school was built there in 1865, and also a college was located in Huck.
      According to a tally taken in 1894, most of the colonists were engaged in farming. There were, however, also 7 tailors, 20 cobblers, 32 carpenters, 6 masons, 78 carpenters, 27 wheelwrights, 1 cooper, 18 blacksmiths, and 1 binder. An additional 184 people were engaged in weaving gingham in their homes.

Church

      The congregation in Huck was originally part of the Reformed parish headquartered in Norka. A wooden church was built in Huck in 1840.

Pastors

The congregation in Huck was served by the following pastors:

Population

Population Table

Year	Households	Population
		Total	Male	Female
1767		306
1769	79	319	161	158
1773	80	380	195	183
1788	78	570	282	288
1798	87	643	325	318
1816	126	1,209	592	617
1834	210	2,120	1,078	1,042
1850	228	3,491	1,752	1,739
1857	372	4,241	2,110	2,131
1859	322	4,328	2,184	2,144
1886*	535	5,191	2,565	2,626
1891	400	7,384	3,688	3,696
1894	387	7,309	3,677	3,632
1897		5,134**
1905		7,200
1911		9,866
1920		6,348
1922		4,938
1926		5,031***	2,431	2,583
1931		5,200****

*Including 172 families that have permanently relocated elsewhere (to daughter colonies on the Wiesenseite, to the Caucasus, and to America).
**Of whom 5,109 were German.
***Of whom 5,014 were German.
****Of whom 5,188 were German.

Sources:
- Beratz, Gottieb. The German colonies on the Lower Volga, their origin and early development: a memorial for the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first German settlers on the Volga, 29 June 1764. Translated by Adam Giesinger (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1991): 350.
- Mink, A.N. Historical and Geographical Dictionary of the Saratov Province [in Russian] (Saratov, Russia, 1898): 970-972.
- Pleve, Igor R. The German Colonies on the Volga: The Second Half of the Eighteenth Century, translated by Richard Rye (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 2001): 319.

External Links

Huck (wolgadeutsche.net) - in Russian
Huck Village Web Site (Dennis Zitterkopf)