compounded by the lack of ministerial leadership. Church leaders are traditionally selected from among the lay brothers of the congregation and were expected to serve for life as unpaid pastors. Because pastors were expected to support themselves, they were usually chosen from among those who had a business or farm sufficient for support. Because only the poorest Mennonites had been allowed to leave Prussia, there were no ministers among the settlers. Initially families built temporary shelters such as sod dugouts and tents while a few tried to live in their wagons. Höppner and Bartsch were able to build substantial homes. Land was divided among the families and each lived on their own land. In response to the lawlessness of the region, they found that it was more practical to group themselves together in villages of fifteen to thirty families. As their difficulties mounted, the settlers accused Höppner and Bartsch of keeping government money intended for colony use. Both men were excommunicated from the Flemish church and the authorities were convinced to arrest Höppner. Bartsch confessed his wrongdoing and was reinstated into his congregation. Höppner was soon released from prison, moved to Alexandrovsk and joined the Frisian group. In 1889 a monument commemorating the colony's centennial was placed on Höppner's grave. It has since been moved to Mennonite Heritage Village in Steinbach, Manitoba. Initially eight villages were organized with Khortytsia as the governmental center. They included Khortytsia (), Einlage (), Insel Khortytsia (Ostriv Khortytsia), Kronsweide (), Neuenburg (), Neuendorf (), Rosental (Kantserivka), and Schönhorst (). Another 180 families arrived in 1797-1798 to found Kronsgarten (Polovitsa) and Schönwiese (Shenvitse). The latter was the sole village established on the east bank of the Dnieper. Nieder Chortitza () and Burwalde (Baburka) were founded in 1803, Kronstal (Dolynske) in 1809, Osterwick () in 1812, Schöneberg () in 1816, and Blumengart (Kapustiane) and Rosengart (Novoslobidka) in 1824. When the next wave of Mennonite settlers came to Russia In 1803, they over-wintered in Chortitza Colony before moving on to form the Molotschna settlement. The money spent by the new group during their stay in turn helped the Khortytsia settlement. Local government Mennonite colonies were self-governing with little intervention from the Russian authorities. The village, the basic unit of government, was headed by an elected magistrate who oversaw village affairs. Each village controlled its own school, roads and cared for the poor. Male landowners decided local matters at