Walter
Walter was founded on 25 August 1767 by colonists recruited by officials of Catherine the Great's government and was therefore called a Crown Colony.
The 1767 census records that Johann Peter Walter was serving as the colony's mayor (Vorsteher). It is most likely him after whom the colony received its German name.
Today, what little remains of the former colony of Walter is known as Grechikhino. There are only a handful of habitable houses remaining, most built during the Soviet era, in which approximately 25 people live.
The first settlers of Walter were Lutheran. There were a handful of Catholic families in the colony. The Lutheran congregation in Walter was part of the parish headquartered in Frank where there was a resident pastor.
The first church building was constructed in 1806. A new building was constructed in 1830.
A new church built out of brick was constructed in Walter in 1902/1903. It was closed in the 1930s and is today used as a barn. Its ruins can be seen today.
The following pastors have served the congregation in Walter:
- 1768-1770 Johann Friedrich Mittelstädt
- 1771-1776 Johann Friedrich Heitzig
- 1778-1782 Laurentius Ahlbaum
- 1782-1786 Samuel Traugott Büttner
- 1788-1817 Franz August Flittner
|
Year
|
Households
|
Population
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Total
|
Male
|
Female
|
||
| 1767 |
107
|
376
|
177
|
199
|
| 1769 |
99
|
382
|
188
|
194
|
| 1773 |
99
|
431
|
224
|
207
|
| 1788 |
94
|
622
|
347
|
275
|
| 1798 |
120
|
762
|
413
|
349
|
| 1816 |
143
|
1,173
|
603
|
570
|
| 1834 |
246
|
1,989
|
1,011
|
978
|
| 1850 |
241
|
2,899
|
1,494
|
1,405
|
| 1857 |
291
|
3,259
|
1,694
|
1,565
|
| 1859 |
270
|
3,264
|
1,693
|
1,571
|
| 1885 |
|
2,044
|
|
|
| 1891 |
|
|
|
|
| 1894 |
|
|
|
|
| 1897 |
|
2,427*
|
1,219
|
1,208
|
| 1904 |
|
|
|
|
| 1911 |
277
|
2,291
|
1,128
|
1,163
|
| 1920 |
286**
|
2,556
|
|
|
| 1922 |
|
2,559
|
|
|
| 1923 |
|
2,754
|
|
|
| 1926 |
367
|
2,513 | 1,213 | 1,300 |
| 1931 |
|
2,138***
|
|
|
*Of whom 2,424 were German.
**Of which 284 households were German.
***Of whom 2,136 were German.
- Walter (wolgadeutsche.net) [in Russian]
- Walter, Russia (Teresa Sardina)
- 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): 623.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 4 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2008): 295-319.
- 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.
- "Settlements in the 1897 Census." Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (Winter, 1990): 18.
Map showing Walter (1935).
Lutheran Church in Walter (1920s).
Source: Walter website.
Walter Lutheran Church (1902).
Source: Walter website.
Walter Lutheran Church (2006).
Source: Steve Schreiber.
Walter Lutheran Church (2006).
Source: Steve Schreiber.
House in Walter (2006).
Source: Steve Schreiber.
Walter Lutheran Church (2005).
Source: David Karber.
Map of Walter ca. 1912 (updated).
Source: Kathrin Mayer.
Comments
Please login or register to post comments.