Thirty miles northwest of Odessa, on the western bank of the small river Baraboi, the village of Mannheim was founded by sixty families in 1808.
At the time, the water in the small steppe river was still flowing strongly, and in the early decades it had a good supply of fish. Later on, several dams virtually dried out the river.
The road from Odessa to Tiraspol (important for trade and transport) led through Mannheim and continued right through the steppe to Straẞburg.
The settlers of Mannheim arrived in the area via three separate transports, reaching Odessa by September and October of 1808. Ten of the families had been settlers in Poland and arrived via
Radzivilov, part of the second transport.
[Translator’s note: Johann Dettling, a forefather of mine, was part of this group. He was born in Salzstetten and had moved to Poland from Waldprechtsweiler near Karlsruhe on the Rhine.]
Of the sixty founding families, sixteen came from the Palatinate, fifteen from Baden, and the rest from the Lauterbach and Bischweiler areas in Alsace The village community was assigned 3.705 desyatines (ca. 9,005 acres or 3,644 ha ), which the Crown had purchased from the estate owner Captain Petro. Initially a site was selected on which six stone homes were built.
The original name of the village was Mariahilf [Mary’s Help], given in memory of the pilgrimage church near Lauenburg/Alsace. But in 1810 Governor de Richelieu, thinking that this pious-sounding name might affect the Tsar’s negatively, suggested that the village be called Mannheim.
The founding families were very poor. Their total belongings amounted to 2,140 rubles in cash. The Crown provided them with a loan of about 162 rubles per family.
By 1811 the number of residents had grown to 294 persons, and the village owned 140 horses, fortynine oxen, 114 cows, 54 calves and fifty steers.
During the first two years, religious services were held in private homes by a priest of Josefstal.
During 1811 the villagers built a house of unfired tiles, which henceforth served as their church. It was replaced in 1819 by a large church constructed with field stones.
The first priest to reside in Mannheim was Father Oswald Hauch, a Jesuit who conducted services until the Jesuits were expelled from Russia in 1820. At the time of their departure on June 3,
Mannheim numbered 320 souls, and the affiliated village of Elsaẞ counter 328 souls. The two villages were served on a half-time basis by the new priest of Selz.
The first mayor of Mannheim was Martian Derian from the Palatinate, and his assistants were Anton Bischofsberger from Schellbrunn/Baden and Jakob Giesinger from Kreidenburg/Alsace. Joseph Ganje, a 36-year-old farmer from Beinheim/Alsace took on the influential position of community scribe.
My grandfather, Peter Dettling, too, was a mayor of the Mannheim until his death in 1913.
