Ssadovoye, an unfortunate Mennonite settlement in the Russian province of Voronezh, east of the Bichug River. In 1909 a company of 50 Mennonites bought for 1,350,000 rubles the estate Ssadovoye with over 13,000 acres of land and a sugar refinery. Forty-three families with about 280 souls settled here in the spring of 1910. Eighteen of them founded the village of Vassilyevka, and the rest settled on individual farms. Poor crops made it impossible to pay more than the interest in the first year, and less than that in the second. The premature winter of 1912 destroyed the entire beet crop. The settlers were bankrupt and had to sell the estate at great sacrifice, losing all they had. In the fall of 1913 all left Ssadovoye.

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 606. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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