Bergthal Mennonite Settlement (Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine) The
Bergthal Mennonite settlement and church, near Mariupol,
Ekaterinoslav, South Russia (Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine), begun
in 1836, was the first daughter colony of the Chortitza (Old
Colony) settlement. The Chortitza settlement, established in
1789, consisted of some 24,000 acres of land with some 20
villages. By 1830 the population had increased so that the
surplus land was exhausted and there were many landless people.
In 1836 the government made available a tract of 30,000 acres of
arable land approximately 40 miles east of the Molotschna
settlement in the district of Mariupol. Some 145 landless
Chortitza Mennonite families settled here, establishing five
villages—Bergthal, Schönfeld, Schönthal, Heubuden, and
Friedrichstal. By 1867 the settlement consisted of some 370
families of whom nearly 100 were again landless or day laborers.
Administratively and ecclesiastically the settlement was
independent. The first elder was Jakob Braun, who was succ