11. Early Settlers

Julius was 24 years old and Anna was 23 when they arrived in Molotschna in 1804.  What they found was endless grasslands with no trees.  The first houses the settlers built were crude but practical.  They were made of sod and partially built into the ground .  Winters in the area were cold and the rivers froze over, summers were hot and dry.  But within a few years the settlers had built better homes.

Picture courtesy of "In The Fullness of Time" p. 75 

      The picture above is of a house built in Münsterberg in 1827.  The house and barn are connected, which would have been typical of the type of house built by the Friesen family.  

Picture courtesy of "Heritage Remembered" p. 245    

      This is one of the early windmills built in the village of Blumstein just north of Münsterberg.  The Mennonites brought their windmill building skills from Holland to the Vistula Delta and then to South Russia.  Every village had a windmill and the wind in Molotschna reportedly blew a lot.