Franztal 2

Before we examine the Franztal Gemeindebericht in detail, one more geography-focused post is well worth our time. This one concerns not only Franztal but also a number of Molotschna villages.

The previous post mentioned that most of the earliest Molotschna villages were clustered along the Molochna River. In the map below, the names of all nineteen villages established in 1804–1806 are displayed in red, which makes it easy to see how closely they were located. No village was more than 2 miles from its closest neighbor, and in many instances only a mile separated two villages.

The settlement year of most immediate interest to us is 1820, the year that Franztal was established; these villages, displayed in green, are all located in the southeast corner of the colony. 

Finally, note the three village names displayed in orange in the center left of the map: Fürstenwerder, Alexanderwohl, and Gnadenheim. These villages were all founded in 1821; like the others of the first decades, they were located in close proximity to each other. 

After the mid-1820s, the pace of new village foundings slowed considerably; moreover, the general trend was to extend the settlement pattern to the east, which is where what little available land that remained was located.

Considering where the earliest settlements were located, the 1820 founding of eight villages in the extreme southeast of the colony is noteworthy. One wonders what led the government authorities or the settlers to choose that area for this early group of villages. Perhaps the Franztal community report will give us further insight into this matter.

Note: See here for a Google Map of Molotschna colony with the Mennonite village names associated with the modern Ukrainian names. The map, developed by Andreas Tissen and titled Mennoniten in Russland, actually shows the location of all known Mennonite villages in Russia through 1943.