Germans from a variety of regions had settled in central Poland between 1795 and 1806, then moved to establish colonies in the southern Bessarabian region southwest of the Liebenthal colonies after 1814. These Bessarabian colonists were the forefathers of the settlers of the Krassna, Rastadt and Rosenthal districts in Saskatchewan; the original Krassna Colony had been founded near Akkerman (Belgorod Dnestrovskiy) in Bessarabia in 1815. While these adjoining colonies around Prelate were predominantly Catholic, they included several pockets of strongly Protestant settlement. In 1971 people of German origin comprised a majority of the population at Leader; villages having the highest German proportions were Mendham (82.9%), Richmound (76.2%), Lancer (73.2%), Prelate (64.3%), and Fox Valley (60.4%). Besides these rural parishes, there are other districts in the region with substantial German proportions: Krupp, Rosenfeld, Sagathun, and Kuest. Rural depopulation has taken a severe toll on the rural parishes comprising the settlement. One by one, country churches have been closed and occasionally even removed or demolished, such as at Rosenthal in 1943, Krassna in 1944, Josephstal and Rastadt in 1962, Shackleton in 1963, Johnsborough in 1967, Lemsford in 1982, and Speyer in 2001. Smaller Catholic Settlements. While the four major German Catholic settlements were developing, a number of smaller Catholic concentrations came into existence. One of the earliest was the Grayson-Killaly area immediately south of Melville , settled largely by Volksdeutsche from Bukovina, Bessarabia, Galicia, and Poland. Grayson, first settled in 1896, was first called Nieven, but was renamed in 1903. The Mariahilf