Dreispitz was founded on 16 September 1767 by colonists who had been recruited by officials of Catherine the Great's government and was therefore known as a crown colony.
According to Christian August Tornow, the colony was also known as Otto during the early years of its existance.
Following the release of the Volga Germans from the "Special Settlements" in 1956, many Volga German families who had originally lived in neighboring colonies returned to settle in Dreispitz. The post-1946 cemetery contains the graves of many of these returning families.
Today, what remains of the former colony of Dreispitz is known as Verkhnyaya Dobrinka.
The Lutheran congregation in Dreispitz was part of the Galka parish which was founded in 1767.
Nothing remains of the church building in Dreispitz. Today, a park is located where it once stood, north of the former winter prayer house which is today being used as a Community Center.
The congregation in Dreispitz was served by the following pastors:
- ?-1774 Pastor Bergstrom
- 1774-1778 Johann Kaspar Brauns
- 1782-1788 Jakob Alexander Topelius
- 1792-1794 Mag. Johann Dorn
- 1796-1804 Philipp Jakob Hiemer
- Friedrich Dahlinger
- Pastor Schneider
|
Year
|
Households
|
Population
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Total
|
Male
|
Female
|
||
| 1767 |
32
|
107
|
|
|
| 1769 |
31
|
124
|
71
|
53
|
| 1773 |
35
|
151
|
83
|
68
|
| 1788 |
42
|
222
|
112
|
110
|
| 1798 |
44
|
252
|
137
|
125
|
| 1816 |
66
|
449
|
221
|
228
|
| 1834 |
104
|
877
|
441
|
436
|
| 1850 |
132
|
1,369
|
695
|
674
|
| 1857 |
163
|
1,655
|
825
|
830
|
| 1859 |
129
|
1,677
|
835
|
842
|
| 1886 |
|
1,929
|
|
|
| 1891 |
247
|
2,944
|
1,498
|
1,446
|
| 1894 |
240
|
3,080
|
1,566
|
1,514
|
| 1897 |
|
1,727*
|
855
|
872
|
| 1905 |
|
3,312
|
|
|
| 1911 |
|
3,677
|
|
|
| 1920 |
290
|
2,053
|
|
|
| 1922 |
|
1,637
|
|
|
| 1926** |
292
|
1,692
|
844
|
848
|
| 1931 |
|
1,908
|
|
|
*Of those 1,712 were German.
**Of those 1,677 were German (284 households: 831 male & 846 female).
Dreispitz (wolgadeutsche.net) in Russian
Village of Dreispitz (Lower Volga Village Project)
- 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.
- Erbes, Johannes. Deutsche Volkszeitung (23 August 1906).
- Mink, A.N. Historical and Geographical Dictionary of the Saratov Province [in Russian] (Saratov, Russia, 1898): 226-231.
- 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): 371-379.
- 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.
50.366667, 45.66
Migrated From
Immigration Locations
Map showing Dreispitz (1935).
Former German house in Dreispitz (2007).
Source: Sergej Richter.
Former German house in Dreispitz (2007).
Source: Sergej Richter.