The village Frank (4)

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 10)
Also near the river, covering an area of about four blocks, was the Mark (fair grounds). Here, each year about the time of Kerb, wares of all kinds were sold. The weekly markets were held in the streets surrounding the churchyard.

The cemetery was not in the churchyard as would be expected but instead we find it located on the east end of town. The old one was on the west side. Each grave was marked by a wooden cross with the name of the dead person, the date of his birth, and the date of his death written on the cross bar. It is believed that there was one time a cemetery on the west side of town. During the process of playing on the western slope, the children dug up old bones and relics of human beings.

A little farther east of the new cemetery, on the slopes of Muhl Berg was the community slaughter grounds.

The wells from which some of the drinking water was taken were four feet square and from fifteen to twenty feet deep. There were several of these wells on the north end of town.

The Frucht Garden were on all sides of the village except the river side. They were plots of land used for cleaning the grain. Some people built sheds on these places in which they stored their agricultural tools. Beyond the Frucht Garden were the fields.

There were several roads leading from Frank to the other villages. The Stein Weg leading from the northeast side of town went to the Russian villages off to the northeast. Then on the east side was the road which lead over Stein Weg Berg to Kolb, while on the north side was the road to Walter. The road to Frank Chutor began after crossing the bridge which went over the Medwediza river. This road was very rough and wound in and out between the trees. It was quite an uncomfortable ride to and from Frank Chutor, but after considering the roads of the other villages, those of Frank were quite well cared for.

…None of these villages were nearly as well organized as was that of Frank. About the years 1890 and 1892 there were ten thousand inhabitants of Frank and most of them could trace their ancestors back to the very first settlers.

(MY NOTES: The next chapter in this article is “CHAPTER II, GOVERNMENT” which I will not include at this time, but may include it in the future.)