Founding of the colony in 1767

Norka is one of the earliest of the 104 colonies established on the Volga and was founded by the Russian government (a "Crown Colony") in contrast to those colonies settled by private recruiters.

After more than a year of travel from their homelands, the first colonists arrived at the banks of the Norka River on August 15, 1767. This group contained the majority of the first settlers.

In remaining days of August and the month of September, more immigrant families continued to settle in Norka. Four more groups arrived on August 18th, August 26th, September 2nd and September 22nd.  Igor Pleve's book, Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet 1764-1767 (Band 3) lists the so called "first settlers" in Norka colony. This census list shows that there were 218 families comprised of 753 people living in the colony at the end of September 1767. By 1769, there were 772 people in Norka.

The colonists were primarily of the Reformed faith, although a small group of Lutherans were also listed in the 1767 census. The majority of the colonists had origins in the principality of Isenburg or the state of Hessen.

Since Norka was a Crown Colony, a few log housed called Kron Häuser, or Crown Houses, had already been built by the government when the colonists arrived. These houses were inadequate to shelter all the colonists and some had to build partially underground huts called Semlinka or Semlinken in order to live through the first winters until more housing could be built. The Semlinka had windows in the roof to let in some light and were large enought to accomodate three or four families. These earth homes were somewhat like the sod homes that were built in the Dakotas, Nebraska and Kansas in the early years of settlement.

In the years after its founding, August 15th was commemorated as a public holiday in the colony known as Herkommstag. 

Norka is situated on the Bergseite (hilly side) of the Volga River in the Canton (district) of Balzer, about 65 kilometers southwest of the city of Saratov. Saratov is also the name of the province in which Norka is located.

According to Jacob Dietz, Norka was named after the river along which it is located. The Norka River starts 2 to 3 kilometers west of the colony. The land surrounding the river was covered by tall grasses, shrubs and scattered forest areas.

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Stories passed down from the early settlers told of vicious dog-like animals that are twice the size of our prairie gophers who lived along the banks of the river. These animals lived underground and were plant eaters. Legend has it that these animals sometimes attacked chickens, ducks and even small children. Local Russian peasants called these animals "Norka's". In the Russian language, Norka is the name for the European mink.

The colony was also known as Weigand in the early years of settlement. The name Weigand was likely given in honor of one of the prominent founding families of the colony (the 1767 census shows three Weigand families).

Today, Norka is known by the Russian name Nekrasovo - possibly named after the famous Russian writer, Nikolai Nekrasov.

To the west of the colony there is a hill that rises to an elevation of approximately 810 feet. The Karamysh River forms the eastern border of the Norka lands. Access to the Volga River was approximately 20 miles to the east at the colony of Schilling.

At the time the 1775 census was taken, there were 219 families comprising 957 colonists (501 men and 456 women) settled in the colony. Although many were listed as farmers, the census also notes that there were blacksmiths, a cooper, silk weavers, a camlet weaver, mill operators, a tailor, a shoemaker, a watchmaker, a wheelwright and a church sexton (working as a farmer) living in the colony.

Norka was originally settled on an allotment of 11,418 desyatina (approximately 30,829 acres). This allotment increased to 21,468 desyatina (approximately 57,964 acres) in 1886.

Norka became one of the largest German colonies in the Volga region. The population peaked at 17,827 in 1894 according to Leibbrandt.  By 1912, there were 14,538 people in the colony declining to 7210 in 1926 according to Richard Sallet's book, Russian-German Settlements in the United States.

The decline in population was due largely to emigration to North and South America beginning in the 1870's and the famines in early 1920s. 

The Karamysh River formed the eastern boundary of the Norka lands.