Dobrinka

Names: 
Dobrinka
Deutsche Dobrinka
German Nizhnyaya Dobrinka
Moninger
Nishnaya Dobrinka
Nischnaja Dobrinka
Nizhnyaya Dobrinka
Добринка
Монингер
Дейч-Добринка
Немецкая Нижняя Добринка
Нижняя Добринка
Нижней Добринки
History: 

Dobrinka was founded on 29 June 1764 by colonists who had been recruited by the Government. It was the first Volga German colony to be founded, and the site selected was along the Dobrinka River where it enters the Volga River.       

In 1774, as Pugachev was making his way south through the Volga German territory, he traveled through Dobrinka. According to historian Jacob Dietz, Pugachev had the body of the government astronomer Lovitz, who was visiting in the colony at the time, impaled on a stake.

Today, the former colony of Dobrinka is known as Nizhnyaya Dobrinka.

Church: 

The original colonists who settled in Dobrinka were mostly of the Lutheran faith practice. The Lutheran congregation in Dobrinka was part of the Galka parish which was founded in 1767.

Ruins of the Lutheran Church in Dobrinka stand today.

Pastors & Priests: 

The congregation in Dobrinka was served by the following pastors:

  • Pastor Bergstrom (1774?)
  • Johann Kaspar Brauns (1774-1778)
  • Jakob Alexander Topelius (1782-1788)
  • Mag. Johann Dorn (1792-1794)
  • Philipp Jakob Hiemer (1796-1804)
  • Friedrich Wilhelm Schmieder (1807-1825)
  • Johann Hasthoffer (1826-1847)
  • Eugen Friedrich Georg Hinsch (1849-1856)
  • Samuel Theophil Bonwetsch (1858-1874)
  • Moses Asnaworjanz (1874-1881)
  • Leonhard Karl Wilhelm Hesse (1884-188)
  • Liborius Behning (1889-1901)
  • Eduard Lehmkul (1901-1911)
  • Alfred Schneider (1912-1918)
  • Alfred Rudolf Kleindienst (1918-1921)
Surnames: 
Immigration: 
Population: 
Year
Households
Population
Total
Male
Female
1767
94
307
 
 
1769
85
323
168
155
1773
83
353
185
168
1788
73
382
195
197
1798
83
552
276
276
1816
119
856
431
425
1834
158
1,687
844
843
1850
202
2,601
1,307
1,294
1857
290
2,779
1,393
1,386
1859
197
2,866
1,441
1,425
1886
321
2,534
1,290
1,244
1891
292
3,620
1,855
1,765
1894
296
4,071
2,066
2,005
1897
 
2,737*
1,387
1,350
1904
 
4,661
 
 
1911
 
5,619
 
 
1912
 
5,400
 
 
1920
584**
3,719
 
 
1922
 
3,296
 
 
1926***
670
3,418
1,643
1,775
1931
 
3,660****
 
 
1939
 
4,262
 
 

*Of whom 2,709 were German.
**Of which 576 households were German.
***Of whom 3,364 were German (658 households: 1,604 male & 1,760 female).
****Of whom 3,636 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): 349.
- Diesendorf, V.F. Die Deutschen Russlands : Siedlungen und Siedlungsgebiete : Lexicon. Moscow, 2006.
- Dietz, Jacob E. History of the Volga German Colonists (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 2005): 65, 87-88.
- List of Settlements in the Russian Empire in 1859, vol. 38: Saratov Province (St. Petersburg, 1862): p.59.
- Mink, A.N. Historical and Geographical Dictionary of the Saratov Province [in Russian] (Saratov, Russia, 1898): 231-234.
- 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): 621.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 1 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 1999): 313-339.
- 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): 318.
- Preliminary Results of the Soviet Census of 1926 on the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Pokrovsk, 1927): 28-83.
- "Settlements in the 1897 Census." Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (Winter, 1990): 18.

Map showing Dobrinka (1935).

Supposedly a drawing of the Dobrinka church on its 130th anniversary. This is not, however, a rendering of the church in Dobrinka.

Dobrinka in 1912.
Source: Dobrinka Web Site.

Dobrinka Lutheran Church (1992).
Source: Germans from Russia Heritage Collection, North Dakota State University.

Dobrinka Lutheran Church (2008).
Source: Yevgeni Diamondidi.
Originally posted at wolgadeutsche.net

Dobrinka Lutheran Church (2008).
Source: Yevgeni Diamondidi.
Originally posted at wolgadeutsche.net

Dobrinka (2008).
On the left, old school built in 1780.
On the right in the background are the ruins of the Lutheran Church.
Source: Yevgeni Diamondidi.
Originally posted at wolgadeutsche.net

Old school in Dobrinka - built in 1780.
Source: Yevgeni Diamondidi (2008).
Originally posted at wolgadeutsche.net

Dobrinka (2007).
Source: Andrew Shvidko
originally posted at dobrinka.org

Dobrinka (2007).
Source: Andrew Shvidko
originally posted at dobrinka.org

Latitude: 49.171735
Longitude: 8.940576
Latitude: 49.221944
Longitude: 6.807778
Latitude: 50.400833
Longitude: 9.239167
Latitude: 49.730370
Longitude: 8.848833
Latitude: 50.400833
Longitude: 9.286944
Latitude: 50.400833
Longitude: 9.286944
Latitude: 50.532892
Longitude: 8.886382
Latitude: 48.488611
Longitude: 14.412222
Latitude: 50.393581
Longitude: 9.074217
Latitude: 49.750000
Longitude: 8.833330
Latitude: 54.441840
Longitude: 9.435464
Latitude: 49.758889
Longitude: 9.517500
Latitude: 50.545744
Longitude: 8.323065
Latitude: 48.783333
Longitude: 9.183333
Latitude: 50.150000
Longitude: 9.650000
Latitude: 49.513762
Longitude: 8.658905
Latitude: 49.175833
Longitude: 8.834167
Latitude: 49.209444
Longitude: 9.454444
Latitude: 49.000278
Longitude: 8.810833
Title: Mitau, Latvia
Latitude: 56.648333
Longitude: 23.713889
Latitude: 59.437222
Longitude: 24.745278
Latitude: 50.483333
Longitude: 9.399722
Latitude: 50.574444
Longitude: 9.124167
Latitude: 51.033333
Longitude: 13.733333
Latitude: 49.628158
Longitude: 8.728806
Latitude: 51.662894
Longitude: 7.466682
Latitude: 51.208536
Longitude: 9.254403
Latitude: 54.264722
Longitude: 10.145830
Latitude: 53.364722
Longitude: 13.063611
Latitude: 53.360164
Longitude: 12.889084
Latitude: 53.485225
Longitude: 13.443555
Latitude: 50.633333
Longitude: 6.950000
Latitude: 50.617500
Longitude: 8.933333
Latitude: 54.366667
Longitude: 18.633333
Latitude: 54.366667
Longitude: 18.633333
Latitude: 53.869722
Longitude: 10.686389
Latitude: 49.871944
Longitude: 8.958610
Latitude: 59.329444
Longitude: 18.068611
Latitude: 51.861389
Longitude: 13.813610
Latitude: 52.516667
Longitude: 13.388889
Latitude: 49.498370
Longitude: 8.659929
Latitude: 54.333333
Longitude: 10.133333
Latitude: 54.333333
Longitude: 10.133333
Latitude: 54.083333
Longitude: 12.133333
Latitude: 49.150000
Longitude: 8.983333
Latitude: 49.150000
Longitude: 8.983333
Latitude: 49.404326
Longitude: 8.679760
Latitude: 50.637778
Longitude: 9.394444
Latitude: 49.103333
Longitude: 8.855000
Latitude: 50.308056
Longitude: 9.269722
Latitude: 50.019118
Longitude: 8.695494
Latitude: 48.964220
Longitude: 8.640561
Latitude: 49.842708
Longitude: 8.826458
Latitude: 49.141842
Longitude: 9.058952
Latitude: 49.714861
Longitude: 8.839583
Latitude: 50.322500
Longitude: 9.123333
Latitude: 49.111723
Longitude: 8.985511
Latitude: 49.714861
Longitude: 8.839583
Latitude: 49.111723
Longitude: 8.985511
Latitude: 49.111723
Longitude: 8.985511
Latitude: 49.714861
Longitude: 8.839583
Latitude: 49.073056
Longitude: 8.897778
Latitude: 49.794579
Longitude: 7.561618
Latitude: 49.066667
Longitude: 8.900000
Latitude: 50.718053
Longitude: 9.631311
Latitude: 50.609047
Longitude: 9.477503
Latitude: 49.825100
Longitude: 7.899430
Latitude: 49.845996
Longitude: 8.791401
Latitude: 49.800476
Longitude: 8.823767
Latitude: 48.956847
Longitude: 8.705984
Latitude: 49.155764
Longitude: 8.483912
Latitude: 49.155764
Longitude: 8.483912
Latitude: 50.202829
Longitude: 9.185764
Latitude: 50.202829
Longitude: 9.185764
Latitude: 48.854667
Longitude: 8.531333
Latitude: 50.286296
Longitude: 9.111384
Latitude: 49.068193
Longitude: 8.473485
Latitude: 49.915654
Longitude: 8.892577
Latitude: 50.747643
Longitude: 9.198638
Latitude: 49.959361
Longitude: 8.958897

Immigration Locations