other four families were from Wuerttemberg in southern Germany.  By 1838, the population was 367 males and 316 females.  You can imagine that it was not easy to start with nothing and have to clear the land and build your own home.  But by means of a crown loan, a house of stone was built for each family, and the necessary livestock, farm machinery, seed grain and subsistence allowance was provided.  The men distributing the money were, however, not always honest and sometimes kept a percentage of it.  The colonists had to be content with whatever the got.

          The settlers of Rohrbach were, for the most part, poor people without means.  Many of them had debts, and some possessed, apart from their wagons, only enough travel money to reach the border.  The first crops were poor, and the colonists were bothered by destructive insects, grasshoppers, the tiny grey May bug and dung beetles which damaged the vineyards and the grain.  Also there were recurrences of German measles and other childhood diseases.

          The history of Rohrbach mentions a number of accidents in the early years, one man was crushed to death in the clay pit, one was killed in an accidental blow and one from a fall off a wagon under the horses, one child was crushed when run over by a wagon, a 15 year old boy drowned in the dam and a child was burned to death.

           All was not well spiritually in the village either.  A report of the village written in 1848 by the school master gives a blunt description of conditions in the early years of the village:  "For most of them disobedience to the authorities was the consequence of their unchristian way of life.  Despite the numerous trials of adverse fate, their immorality could not be checked.  Only a few heeded the punishing hand of God for their own welfare.  The man who distinguished himself in the whirl of prodigality and in the strength of intoxicating drink could proudly count on the certain applause of his cronies, who sat idly in the cool shade of the local whisky tavern, utterly unconcerned about the welfare of their families.   The mayors and their councilmen, the schoolteachers and village clerks were just as adept as the others in the uncouth art of tipping their glasses.  The young people grew up just as dissolute.  Most of them scarcely learned to read.  Schooling was the least of their worries, whereas now it is their first and foremost concern.  Now the younger generation realizes that irreparable harm has been done."

          Later, however, things did get better.  In 1812, the year before the Grenz brothers arrived, the community finally received a minister, the Pastor Hubner, but he died within 2 years.  The former Commissioner Krueger supervised the affairs of this region from 1820 to 1828 and he was successful in improving the conditions of the colony.  The disobedient were sharply punished, and his unwavering severity stirred the settlers to greater activity.  Samuel was married about this time, in 1818, probably in Rohrbach to Anna Elisabeth Rosina Shuelke from Bromberg in Prussia, whose family settled here about 1817.  In 1819, they had their first child in Rohrbach, Georg Adam Christian Grenz, our ancestor.  They had three more known children (there were probably many more, judging from the size of families in those days), in 1822, 1824 and 1827 who were all born in Friedrichstal.  In the year 1824, the Lord finally sent another minister to the partly Reformed and partly Lutheran village of Rohrbach.  He was Johannes Bonekemper, a well-known Pietist minister in Southern Russia in those early years.  He stayed until 1848 and his labors were blessed, although not without its controversies.  Rohrbach served as the Evangelical-Lutheran administrative center for the District.  A new schoolmaster in 1826 reorganized the school system and with the censure of sin, and an appropriate discipline, the fear of God returned.