Extracted by Tim Janzen
The table of census data of the Yazykovo Colony taken January 15, 1873 is extracted from a document found in Fund F-59, Inventory 1, File 10 in the Zaporozhye Archives, Zaporozhye, Ukraine. The census lists a total of 957 residents from the following 6 villages of the Yazykovo Colony:
With the exception of the data for Petersdorf, the census gives the following information:
- name and age of all the people in each family
- the village in the Chortitza Colony that the family was originally from
- the number of people in each family that the family was responsible to pay tax for
In addition, many comments are made about people who were born or who died later in 1873 after the census was taken. A total of 55 children who were born in the colony in 1873 are mentioned in these comments. The census data for Petersdorf is different from that given for the other villages. Unfortunately, the census only lists the male residents in the village. Instead of listing the ages of these males, the census for Petersdorf gives their birth dates.
The original document containing the 1873 Yazykovo Colony census is written in Russian. The initial translation of the census data was done by Nikolai Mazharenko in June, 2001. I have edited his translation to provide better clarity and have corrected some errors he made in his translation. In addition, I have standardized the spellings of both the given names and surnames of the people listed in the census. I have also added a column in which I have entered the Grandma numbers for the heads of families who appear in the Grandma 3 database.
The following is a breakdown by village of the total number of residents listed in the census when it was taken January 15, 1873, not including the 55 children who were added to the document later:
- Nikolaifeld, 193 people
- Franzfeld, 202 people
- Eichenfeld, 210 people
- Adelsheim, 230 people
- Hochfeld, 80 people
- Petersdorf, 42 males
The population totals are given for only some villages in the original document. Where the totals are not provided in the original document I have added that information in bold type. In a few cases the totals provided in the original document are incorrect. In these cases I have added the correct totals in parentheses in bold type.
The total number of people listed in the census is obviously lower than the actual number of residents in the colony since the females in the village of Petersdorf are not listed. It also appears that some of the residents of the village of Hochfeld were not included in the census.
The introduction to the census in the original document indicates that the census only includes the inhabitants of the first section of the village of Hochfeld. For some reason or another the inhabitants of the second section of the village weren’t included. The second section may have included as many as 7 families or more as there are 7 families listed as residing in Hochfeld in the file giving the 1858 Chortitza Colony Census data for the Yazykovo Colony settlers as of 1872-1873 that aren’t listed in Hochfeld or other villages in the 1873 Yazykovo Colony census. The following is a list of the heads of those 7 families:
- Martin Koslowsky
- Cornelius De Fehr
- Cornelius Lehn
- Heinrich Petkau
- Peter Klassen
- Johan Neustaedter
- Abraham Neustaedter
The household numbers are not given in the original document for most of the families listed in Eichenfeld. Fortunately, however, the correct household numbers are given for almost all of these families in the file giving the 1858 Chortitza Colony Census data for the Yazykovo Colony settlers as of 1872-1873. For those families in Eichenfeld that don’t have a household number given for them in the original 1873 Yazykovo Colony Census document I have added in bold type the household numbers given for these families in the file giving the 1858 Chortitza Colony Census data for these families. In a few cases the file giving the 1858 Chortitza Colony Census data either doesn’t give the family’s household number or appears to give it incorrectly. In these cases I have added what I believe to have been the correct household number for that family in parentheses. It appears that the original 1873 Yazykovo Colony Census document gives the incorrect household number for the families of Jacob Epp and Wilhelm Dyck in Eichenfeld. For these two families I have also added in parentheses the correct household number given for them in the file giving the 1858 Chortitza Colony Census data for these families.
Two pages of census data for 8 families who were residing at households numbered 9 through 16 in the village of Nikolaifeld are not included on Harvey Dyck’s microfilm of this material due to an oversight when the microfilming was done in 1995. However, I contacted the Zaporozhye Archive in December, 2001 and the archive supplied me with scans of the two missing pages. I have translated those two pages and have included that data in the translation of the entire census. Copies of the scans of these two additional pages have been supplied to the archives mentioned above that have copies of the microfilm.
If you have any questions about any of this data feel free to contact me.
Tim Janzen
12367 SE Ridgecrest Rd.
© 2001 Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta
Last Updated 19 December 2001
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