Santa Barbara "Big
Russian Colony" in 1910
Molokans, Jumpers,
Doukhobors plan 70 square mile colony
On
Wednesday
evening,
November
2,
1910,
Spiritual
Christian
Jumpers
and
Molokans from California and Mexico met in Los Angeles with
Doukhobors from
Saskachewan, Canada, to discuss creating a "Big Russian Colony" for all
to live.The plan was announced in a large article in the New York Times, showing 4 photogaphs and an illustration.
With $800,000 they planed to buy about 70 square miles of land — 40,000 to 50,000 acres — for up to 18,000 people. Whether ownership wouild be communal or individual had not been decided. This was a grand collective plan, with plenty of financing, about $18 million in 2008 dollars.
All Spiritual Christians from Canada, US and Mexico were invited — Molokans, Jumpers, Doukhboors, The Russian University, and probably Sabbatarians. It was for those who wanted the same religious lifestye — Russian-speaking agricultural villages, isolated from the world with religious freedom. Each sect had been persuing this utopian dream independently with various results. Could they succeed in unity?
Can you identify the men in the picture. Some could be Doukhobors from Saskachewan?
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Jumper |
A.P. Cherbak |
Vasilii I. Halopoff (?) |
The plan was promoted by Anton Petrovich Cherbak, publisher of the only Russian newspaper in Los Angeles at the time — Pacific Ocean (Russian: Tikhii okean, Тихй океан). No copies of the paper have been found yet. If you have or know of any, please respond.
Why a "Big Russian Colony"?
In 1902, zealous "Sons of Freedom", about 2000 people, split from the Doukhobors in Saskachewan, Canada, on a trek to find a land of refuge.
In November 1905, Jumpers and some Molokans leased land in Guadalupe Valley, Baja California, Mexico.
In 1905, the exiled Doukhobors rejected the newly-enforced requirements of the Dominion Lands Act which attempted to register their communal lands under individual ownership. In 1907 the communal land system was abolished. In 1908 Peter V. Verigin led around 6,000 of his group (Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood, CCUB) to British Columbia.
Who was Anton P. Cherbak?
The Russian-language newspaper Pacific Ocean (Tikhii okean) was published 3 times a week, first in Los Angeles from 1909 to 1915, then in San Francico from 1915 to 1917. Subscriptions were $2.50 a year. The San Francisco address was 340 Sansome Street (at Halleck Street). Cherbak had a residence in Berkely at that time.
Though Cherbak was briefly mentioned in Berokoff's Molokans in America, Chapter 5, page 91, this "Big Russian Colony" was not, nor was anything else about Cherbak.
Cherbak returned to Russia, after the Revolution and continued to publish a newspaper named "Velikii Okean" (Великий океан, The Great [Pacific] Ocean) in his home town of Sumy, Urkaine. He left his wife Sophia with 8 kids on their farm in Alta, Loma (Rancho Cucamonga) California, but was not allowed to return to the US. He died in Russia sometime between 1930 to 1940. The Suny Archive reportedly has his Russian newspaper.
References
Berokoff, John J. Molokans in America, Chapter 5, page 91
Los Angeles Times
New York Times
"Russian Refugees to Unite in Big American Colony", New York Times, January 1, 1911.
Russian Life Weekly
2460 Sutter St
San Francisco, CA 94115
(415) 921-5380
Museum of Russian Culture
2450 Sutter St
San Francisco, CA 94115
1-415-921-4082
E-mail: letom@att.net
New Life Russian Newspaper
3200 California St
San Francisco, CA 94118
415-292-1275
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sanfranciscorussiancommunity/
http://www.museumofrussianculturesf.org/