The village Frank (3)

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, continued from the previous post. Frank is 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.)

(Excerpted)
(Page 9)
The village church was located at the end of the widest street on the river side of town. The blocks on the north and south sides of the church were but half the normal area of the average blocks. The church, which was the only one in the village, was built of pine wood and had two towers projecting from the top; the front tower was the largest and contained three bells. Surrounding the church was a beautiful lawn which was bordered by shrubbery and trees, the whole yard being enclosed by a white picket fence of pine wood. It is said that the biggest tower of the church could be seen five miles away.

Diagonally northeast of the church was the two-story schoolhouse, containing six rooms, where six hundred children were instructed at one time. The half block directly north of the church was the property upon which the parsonage was built. This was an eight-room brick structure setting directly in the center of the space it occupied. Tall poplars surrounded the house and beyond these was a big orchard which contained apple trees, cherry trees, damson plum trees, and others. Across the street west of the church was the nine-room brick Kreis Ampt (county court house) next to which stood the Budka (jail) which was nothing more than a mere shack. Next to the Budka was the brick post office. The village courthouse was about four blocks east of the church and next to it was the fire station. In the fire station three water wagons, from six to nine horses, and three or four hoses and carts. Along with the fire station was a high tower which was used as a lookout for fires.

(Page 10)
The schoolmaster lived in the brick house located in half of the half block south of the church. The rest of the space was taken up by the two-story cedar-wood prayer house which was used instead of the church during the winter months.

There were two flour mills, one on each side of the dam. The mill on the east side belonged to the community while the other was privately owned. It seems that this was the second community mill. There were also several privately owned oil mills. The one near the church was not used during the later years due to the fact that the earth broke away because of the continuous overflow of the river.

There were several stores in the village, most of them being located in the district around the church. This part of the town was known as the business district. Of course, there were also stores located in different parts of the village, and some people had stores in the front rooms of their homes, instead of building a separate building. These stores sold dry goods, sugar, tea, coffee, and spices; things that the people could not themselves produce. The Magzien (community store house) was located about a block north of the new cemetery. Here was stored the grain which was used in case of emergency.

The five or six blacksmiths located down near the village were privately owned. The reason for their being near the river was probably for protection against fires. Since hot fires were used in the shops, there was much more chance for fire breaking out and because no other buildings were near the blacksmith, there was not much chance for fire spreading over the whole village.

The brick yards were also private concerns. There was but one brick yard until about 1903. This brick yard was located on the northwest side of town and covered an area of about two blocks. About 1903 a new brick yard was built on the north east side of town. Both these yards belonged to one family. Near this latter brick yard was a big apple orchard. We find similar orchards located all around the edge of the village. Even though the people had orchards in their back yards, only enough fruit was raised there to supply for the immediate needs of the family. One of the biggest orchards in the town was down near the end of the river just where it turned west. Here were planted non other than apple trees, and during the ripening season, the trees were literally loaded with big juicy apples, which had to be guarded day and night if the owner expected to have any to store for winter use.

(To be continued…)