The village Frank (1)

The Village Frank Newsletter
Volume 22, Number 2
Spring 1993
Sherrie Stahl, editor

FRANK – A village Community in Russia
By M. Magdalene Lebsack

(MY NOTES: I owe a great deal of gratitude to Sherrie for the many years of dedication she has put into researching the Frank and Brunnental Volga Germans as well as many other villages and families. She has laid the groundwork for all of us and continues to help those searching their family ties. I am deeply indebted to her for her generosity.

This is an excellent description of Frank, the village from which most Brunnentalers originated. According to David Ehlenberger’s family bible, both his father, Jacob Oehlenberger, and his wife Katherine’s father, Johannes Wagner, were born in “Chrisdowou Buerack, Frank” also known as Medweditskij Krestowoj Bujerak.)

(Excerpts)
(Page 8)
…This village was called Frank by the inhabitants and it was considered as one of the most beautiful and well organized villages in the southwestern part of Russia. The magnificent Medwediza River and the beautiful ash, birch, pine, and linden forests which surrounded the village presented a picturesque and wonderful sight in the summer months. The village lay in a level valley with hills on the east, north, and south sides, and on the west was the rippling Medwediza which lay about twenty-five feet lower than the village proper.

Across the river about a half mile was a little lake which was about one block wide and two blocks long. This body of water which marked the old course of the river, was private property and not used by the villages. All around the lake were forest which were owned by the same man; in fact, all the land on the west side of the river was the property of one family. The forests which were used by the villagers were on the east side of the river, on the north, south, and east sides of town.

A ditch which used to be filled with water began up in Klees Berg and wound north and then west until it reached the Medwediza. This ditch had small branches which flowed down between the other hills. During the dry season there was no water in these ditches, but after a heavy rain or when the snow melted in the spring, the water flowed into the ditch and was carried into the river. Also on the south end of the village was a ditch extending back from the river into the town about three blocks. This ditch or gully was about twenty-five feet deep and sloped up gradually at the east end until it reached the level of the town. At times the water rose in this ditch to the height of six feet.

The hills on the north, east, and south sides of the village, although one continuous hill, was called by three names. That portion on the north side was called Walter Berg. This Berg was the dividing line between Walter and Frank. On the east side of the village was the Muhl Berg, which was the dividing line between Kolb and Frank. Then on the south side was the Klees Berg, which received its name because of the amount of clover which grew all over it.

(To be continued…)