Boisroux
Boisroux, which means "red fox" in French, was founded on 7 June 1767 by colonists who had been recruited by Baron Caneau de Beauregard. A second group arrived 23 July 1767, another on 3 August 1767, and another on 17 August 1767. The original 281 original settlers came mostly from Zerbst and Saxony.
As recorded on the 1767 Census, the first Forsteher (mayor) of the colony was Johann Gottfried Koch, a Prussian Sergeant from Dessau.
In 1776, the colonists of Boisroux joined those from Philippsfeld to defend themselves against an invading Mongolian raid, but they were defeated.
In addition to wheat, the colonists of Boisroux grew tobacco and potatoes.
In 1906-1907, the Schmidt brothers built a mill that was first powered by oil and then by gas engines.
Today, the former colony of Boisroux is known as Borodayevka.
Boisroux was founded as a Lutheran colony. The first church in Boisroux was completed in 1795 and was built of wood. A new church building was constructed out of brick in 1832-37 and is said to have had seating for 1,100 people. Boisroux became an independent Lutheran parish in 1905, with a resident pastor.
The church was torn down in the 1930s, and the bricks were used to build other structures.
The following pastors served the Boisroux parish since 1905:
- Gotthold Hahn (1906-1912)
- Johannes Nikolaus Blum (1913-1918)
|
Year
|
Households
|
Population
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Total
|
Male
|
Female
|
||
| 1767 |
97*
|
281
|
152
|
129
|
| 1769 |
88
|
344
|
189
|
155
|
| 1773 |
73
|
309
|
161
|
148
|
| 1788 |
49
|
270
|
147
|
123
|
| 1798 |
56
|
351
|
186
|
165
|
| 1816 |
82
|
620
|
308
|
312
|
| 1834 |
129
|
1,205
|
642
|
563
|
| 1850 |
185
|
1,672
|
860
|
812
|
| 1857 |
174
|
2,118
|
1,085
|
1,033
|
| 1859 |
180
|
2,233
|
1,143
|
1,090
|
| 1883 |
|
3,208
|
|
|
| 1889 |
|
3,795
|
|
|
| 1894 |
|
|
|
|
| 1897 |
|
4,207**
|
2,134
|
2,073
|
| 1904 |
|
5,077
|
|
|
| 1910 |
477
|
6,123
|
3,685
|
2,438
|
| 1912 |
|
6,063
|
|
|
| 1920 |
674***
|
5,143
|
|
|
| 1922 |
|
3,119
|
|
|
| 1923 |
|
3,088
|
|
|
| 1926**** |
523
|
3,064
|
1,454
|
1,610
|
| 1931 |
|
4,244*****
|
|
|
*An additional 81 households were included in the 1767 census of Boisroux who were destined to be settled in other colonies the following year.
**Of whom 4,203 were German.
***Of which 673 households were German.
****Of whom 3,061 (1,451 male & 1,610 female) were German.
*****Of whom 4,242 were German.
Boaro (Wolgadeutsche.net) in Russian
- 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): 348.
- Diesendorf, V.F. Die Deutschen Russlands : Siedlungen und Siedlungsgebiete : Lexicon. Moscow, 2006.
- Orlov, Gregorii. Report of Conditions of Settlements on the Volga to Catherine II, 14 February 1769.
- Pallas, P.S. Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des Russischen Reichs. Theil 3,2, Reise aus Sibirien zurueck an die Wolga im 1773sten Jahr (St. Petersburg: Kaiserl. Academie der Wissenschaften, 1776): 614.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 1 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 1999): 139-175.
- Preliminary Results of the Soviet Census of 1926 on the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Pokrovsk, 1927): 28-83.
- Schnurr, Joseph, Die Kirchen und das Religiöse Leben der Russlanddeutschen - Evangelischer Teil (Stuttgart: Landsmannschaft der Deutschen aus Russland, 1972): 198.
- "Settlements in the 1897 Census." Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (Winter, 1990): 16.
Map showing Boisroux (1935).
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