Nieder-Monjou was founded on 7 June 1767 by colonists recruited by Baron Caneau de Beauregard. The colony was named after Beauregard's assistant, Otto Friedrich von Monjou. The Russian naming decree of 26 February 1768 permitted the colony to retain the name of Nieder-Monjou.
Today, what remains of the former Volga German colony of Nieder-Monjou is known as Bobrovka.
Nieder-Monjou was founded as a Lutheran colony, and its congregation was part of the Southern Katharinenstadt Parish until 1905 when the two Katharinenstadt parishes merged.
At that time it became part of the Paulskaya parish, where there was a resident pastor. The pastor at Paulskaya served the four congregations in Paulskaya, Fischer, Beauregard, and Nieder-Monjou. He held church services at Nieder-Monjou once a month. The remainder of the month services were conducted by the schoolmaster (Schulmeister).
A new church building was constructed in 1828. What remains of this structure now serves as the community library.
The congregation in Nieder-Monjou was served by the following pastors:
- Johann Georg Herwig (1768-1769)
- Ludwig Balthasar Wernborner (1768-1778)
- Hartmann von Moos (1779-1803)
- Johann Samuel Huber (1807-1820)
- Karl Friedrich Wahlberg (1821-1877)
- Gotthilf Heinrich Keller (1878-1903)
- Paul Friedrich von Kuhlberg (1903-1918)
- Johann Heinrich Seydlitz (1918-1927)
- Ernst Boese (1928-1935)
|
Year
|
Households
|
Population
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Total
|
Male
|
Female
|
||
| 1767 |
88
|
279
|
143
|
136
|
| 1769 |
87
|
308
|
154
|
154
|
| 1773 |
81
|
349
|
175
|
174
|
| 1788 |
55
|
295
|
149
|
146
|
| 1798 |
63
|
362
|
182
|
180
|
| 1816 |
83
|
597
|
297
|
300
|
| 1834 |
125
|
1,007
|
506
|
501
|
| 1850 |
184
|
1,405
|
688
|
717
|
| 1857 |
157
|
1,748
|
827
|
921
|
| 1859 |
|
1,480
|
|
|
| 1883 |
|
2,449
|
|
|
| 1889 |
|
2,702
|
|
|
| 1897 |
|
2,915*
|
1,483
|
1,432
|
| 1904 |
|
3,868
|
|
|
| 1910 |
349
|
4,216
|
2,083
|
2,133
|
| 1912 |
|
4,201
|
|
|
| 1920 |
487
|
3,798
|
|
|
| 1922 |
|
2,148
|
|
|
| 1923 |
|
2,100
|
|
|
| 1926** |
476
|
2,732
|
1,354
|
1,378
|
| 1931 |
|
3,643***
|
|
|
*Of whom 2,902 were German.
**Of whom 2,652 (1,274 male & 1,378 female) were German living in 473 households.
***Of whom 3,630 were German.
1857 Census of Nieder-Monjou (in German)
Nieder-Monjou Russia (Steven Grau & Michael Grau)
Nieder-Monjou (Wolgadeutsche.net) in Russian
Photos of Nieder-Monjou (Wolgadeutsche.net)
- Amburger, Erik. Die Pastoren der evangelischen Kirchen Rußlands vom Ende des 16. Jahrhunderts bis 1937: Ein biographisches Lexikon (Erlangen: Martin-Luther-Verlag, 1998).
- 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): 351.
- 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.
- Klaus, A.A. Our Colonies (Saint Petersburg, Russia, 1869): 2:14; 4:56-57.
- List of the Populated Places of the Samara Province (Samara, Russia, 1910): 325.
- 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): 613.
- Preliminary Totals of the All-Union Population Census of 1926 for the Volga German ASSR (Pokrovsk, Russia, 1927): 28-83.
- "Settlements in the 1897 Census." Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (Winter, 1990): 17.
1767 Census of Nieder-Monjou
1798 Census of Nieder-Monjou
1850 Census of Nieder-Monjou
1857 Census of Nieder-Monjou
51.647667, 46.637167
Migrated From
Immigration Locations
Map showing Nieder-Monjou (1935).
What remains of Nieder-Monjou's former Lutheran Church now serves as the community library.
Source: E. Moshkova (2010) as posted to wolgadeutsche.net.
Wind orchestra (Blasorchester) in Nieder-Monjou.
Second from the left (back row) is David Müller, son of Heinrich Müller and Dorothea née Rüb.
Source: Katharina Dawydow.
Building in Nieder-Monjou.
Courtesy of Tim Weeder (2001).
River below Nieder-Monjou which is on the bank to the right.
Courtesy of Tim Weeder (2001).
Parade on Telegram Street (Telegramstraße) in Nieder-Monjou in 1927 in honor of the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution. Photo taken in the direction of the city of Katharinenstadt. The white poles (down the left side of the street) were telegraph lines giving the name to the street.
Source: oldsaratov.ru
Nieder-Monjou street scene with the Lutheran church in the center.
Source: Nieder-Monjou Website.