Emigration
"In the period from 1803-1820, Jesuit priests visiting the Volga Catholics issued prophetic advice by warning their flocks that Russia would not be their permanent home, and that when the time of resettlement comes, they should migrate not toward the rising of the sun, but the setting thereof."
from George P. Aberle's book From the Steppes to the Prairies
According to Fred Koch in his book titled The Volga Germans, when Catherine the Great solicited and recruited German immigrants into her country, the new colonists were well received by the Russian people. Her government's policy of segregating the Germans within demographically closed villages inside the Volga enclave contributed a great deal to harmony between the two peoples for several generations. In later years it contributed to envy and resentment by many Russians.
The primary reasons for emigration from Russia included:
- Russification movements
- Land shortages
- Loss of privileges and compulsory military service
- Recruitment by New World countries
Emigration to North America began in 1875.
"Among the scouting party sent to the United States by the Colonies in 1874, to seek land, were two men from Norka: Johannes Krieger and Johannes Nolde. Their reports on return soon set in motion emigration which started as early as 1875, with seven Norka families who came to Ohio and two years later went to Sutton, Nebraska. In 1876, one the largest Protestant groups of colonists ever to emigrate, was a group of eighty-five families, most of them from Norka."
from The Czar's Germans, by Hattie Plum Williams
The immigration of Russia Germans to the United States resulted from several causes. The most significant was Czar Alexander II's revocation, in 1871, of one of the guarantees made to the first Volga colonists by Catherine the Great: freedom from military service. In 1892 Alexander III curtailed land acquisition by non-Orthodox citizens in the west. To land-starved colonists who had established many new colonies and who doubtless had plans to start more, such a policy seemed to aim at their freedom of religion, which Catherine had also guaranteed.
Many families did send sons off to the army and navy. Even today pictures of young Germans in Russian uniforms are found in the homes of their American offspring. An anti-German wind was blowing across the steppes, however, and the colonists felt it. They had lost faith in the manifesto that brought their ancestors to Russia. Consequently, many sought new homes, some going to the United States and Canada and others journeying to South America.
Beginning with a few scouts who located cheap land in the early 1870s, Russia German immigration eventually reached massive proportions. By 1920, 303,532 first- and second-generation Russia Germans resided in the United States. They constituted the third and final great wave of German immigration; the first arrived in colonial times and the second, in the mid-nineteenth century.
The Russia Germans were different from earlier German immigrants. Their speech was laced with "Russianisms", and German-Americans considered it archaic. Along with their English-speaking neighbors, German-Americans referred to them as "Russians" and to their settlements as "Russiatown." They were at the bottom of the social ladder and did jobs that others avoided. Women were domestics; men worked on railroad construction or farmed. All who encountered them, however, admired their ability to work.
The Early Voyages
S.S. Schiller
In the spring of 1874, the Volga colonists met at the colony of Herzog to discuss the possibility of emigration. Five delegates were elected to visit America to look for suitable places for resettlement. A similar meeting was held in the colony of Balzer resulting in an additional nine scouts selected.
The S. S. Schiller departed Hamburg carrying the five scouts from the Wiesenseite: Nicholas Schamne of Graf, Peter Leiker of Obermonjou, Peter Stoecklein of Zug, Jacob Ritter of Luzern, and Anton Wasinger from Schönchen. The fourteen Bergseite scouts: Anton Kaeberlein of Pfeifer, Christoph Meisinger of Messer, Georg Stieben of Dietel, Johannes Krieger and Johann Nolde of Norka, George Kähm and Heinrich Schwabauer of Balzer, and Franz Scheibel and Johann Benzel of Kolb also travelled on this voyage. The Schiller arrived in New York on July 15, 1874. (AHSGR Journal Volume I, No. 3 Winter,1978)
The S.S. Schiller was lost in a harrowing shipwreck in May 1875. Were any Volga Germans on board that voyage?
City of Brussels
The ship City of Brussels arrived in New York from Liverpool on 28 June 1875. This was the ship that carried a Schreiber family from Norka to which the first Volga German child in America was born. They went first to Bluffton, Ohio, for a short time before going to Nebraska, and then on to Oregon. There were several other Norka families with them including the Muellers. Their story has been told in the Norka Newsletter.
This group from the City of Brussels is likely to be the same group that Hattie Plum Williams writes about in her book The Czar's Germans, p. 199. It is a very interesting story: Apparently after the scouts had visited America in 1874, some came away bad impressions and had decided not to leave Russia. However, Mrs. Williams wrote that there were other forces at work inspiring faith in the enterprise. In 1875, a small party from Norka, 7 families and 2 single men had come to the United States and settled in Ohio. They worked for 2 years at ditch digging and other similar tasks among the farmers of the community. During this two year period they were on the lookout for land which they later found in Sutton, Nebraska.
This group that Mrs. Williams is telling about seems to fit the passengers on City of Brussels. See the AHSGR JOURNAL, Vol. 2, #1 - Spring 1979. The S.S. CITY of BRUSSELS arrived in New York, June 28, 1875. Route: Liverpool to N.Y.C. No colony is given for these people but these are presumably pietistic Volga German Protestants. They are mentioned on p. 125 of C. Henry Smith's "The Coming of Russian Mennonites". These people were sent to Bluffton, Ohio but two families, the Friedrich Joergs and Heinrich Truebers, later came to Sutton, Nebraska. AHSGR Work Paper, No. 18, p. 17 (trans. by Arthur E. Flegel).
Parochial certificate for Georg and Peter Schreiber signed by Rev. Stärkel
Families include Heinrich Tuch, Heinrich Schreiber, Johann Mu(e)ller, Heinrich Treiber/Trueber, G. C. Huertke, Johann Jorg/Joerg (Father Johann living with his son Friedrich and family), Heinrich and Peter Hoffman, a 2nd Johann Gorg/Joerg, and Georg Konzen.
Note - The above editor's note says that no colony was given; however Ruth Schultz has been able to show that there people were from Norka. As a result, they were not Mennonites as reported by C. Henry Smith.
S.S. Oder
The S.S. Oder, arrived in New York, Jul 8, 1876. The route was Bremen to New York. On page 202 of Hattie Plum Williams' The Czar's Germans, she wrote the following about this large group, "Eight-five families, mostly from the colony of Norka, but included some from Balzer, gathered at Saratov and journeyed to Bremen from which they sailed for the United States landing at New York, July 7, 1876 (notice the one day difference in date)."
Other quotations include "Some of them were persuaded to go to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on the ground that there were many Germans there, but they did not stay long, coming to Sutton the following spring."
"Another group of thirty families was taken to Kansas free of charge by the Santa Fe Railroad, and while waiting at Atchison, one carload was stolen by the Burlington and Missouri immigration agent and sent to Sutton, Nebraska. The remainder was taken to the immigration house at Pawnee Rock in Barton County, Kansas. They got in touch with the Burlington and Missouri land agent in Lincoln where they purchased land along the Turkey Creek not far away from Friend."
"Another group was was brought to Red Oak, Iowa and many of these settled in Harvard, Nebraska."
In the 1874-75 biennium, 89 people emigrated from Norka to the Americas.
Read more about the Norka party that settled in Sutton,NE in 1878.
This letter was written by Carl Krieger, in German, on January 29, 1936 in Hastings, Nebraska, to his son Conrad and his wife Marie Krieger, who lived in Washington, D.C. The letter describes the journey from Norka to New York in 1890. He arrived May 31st on the SS Normannia with several other families from Norka (listed as "Norga" on the ship records).
January 29, 1936
Hastings, Nebraska
God’s mercy and peace unto you. A cordial greeting and kiss of love from your beloved parents Carl and Christina, to you beloved children, Conrad and Marie.
We are so well, like the old people are. I have a cold and cough and mother also has a cold. We were delighted to receive the letter from you on January 20, also the birthday present with five dollars. Thanks very much for it.
We are having cold weather at present, 10 below zero.
Mother hears poorly and my eyes are weak, that I can hardly see the lines; however I am grateful to God that I can still see.
You would like to hear about the old times. One should have that written down.
Now, May 1, 1890 we are to leave Norka. There were wagons ready to depart. Mothers brother, Johannes and his mother, the wagons standing in the courtyard and the children on the wagons. There was Peter’s brother-in-law with one wagon and Peter’s son, Conrad, with 3 wagons, ready to depart. A brother from Huck was there. He had bought a black stallion and a small wagon and a watch dog. Everything was ready to go.
Many brethren were there. Outside in front of the door, we sang first. I lead the singing after the prayer by Brother George Krieck from Huck. Then the door was opened and the wagon train started off.
The whole courtyard was filled with people and the roofs were seated full. The brethren accompanied us out of the village.
Norka was large, 11 double rows and we lived in the 8th row above the church. The village was 3 miles long. Then, once more, I went to see my father’s brother, Conrad, who was blind, to say farewell.
Beyond the village I came again to the wagons, there again, they stopped once more to say goodbye forever and so far I had not shed a tear.
Then we went on to Saratov. There we had to wait one day. The next day we went to the railway station, there we waited for the train. When the train came, then we mounted up.
Over there (Russia) is not like here, that one can get near the train. There, they have a 6 foot high fence. Anyone not getting on the train must stay outside.
The friends outside the fence wept in their handkerchiefs and shed tears.
Drader had an officer’s overcoat. It was my fathers. He had given the overcoat to his son, Peter. Peter’s father-in-law had taken it and said that Peter had given it to him. Peter had to have a letter from his father in America first, and then Peter obtained his overcoat.
I came back again to Krowna, there our passes were approved. Uncle John did not have a pass, so he was smuggled over the border. The Jews did not work at nights, as father stayed behind until John arrived, then he went on.
We continued to Berlin. There is a very large depot in Berlin. It had a glass roof and the entire train went under the roof but we were not allowed to get off.
Thos who were going to America went west from the depot to a depot underground. There we descended and went down in the depot. Many people were there.
We had to wait until our trains arrived. Father and I went downtown in Berlin and down the stairs to the lower section. There at the end was a small cabin. We went in and father had a conversation with a man. He gave us a glass of beer or brandy, and then we went back to the railway station. Then we went on to Hamburg where we stayed overnight until the next day when our father arrived, then we continued on our way - Uncle Peter, with a family of 7, our family of 7, Uncle Scheideman and family and Uncle Henry Krieger and family.
Then we got on the train at 9 and traveled about 50 miles until 10:30, and then we boarded a small ship.
The large ship waited far out in the sea at anchor. Then the ladders were put up and we entered the large ship. We four families in one room, on one side. Two beds clear through the room with boards on each side and between two people, one board. The name of the ship was “Augusta Victoria.”
Now we are on the ship at noon. On the south side we saw France and on the other side, England.
Near England the ship anchored. On the water more people came from England to board the ship, and then the ship began to move upon the great sea.
The first day went fine. Also the second day. On the third day, one could only see water. Then we saw a great iceberg, as large as the Dutton building (in Hastings, Nebraska) and felt cold air. The ship began to shake to and fro, then there were many sick people. They were always throwing up. They all lay upon the deck, except I and Uncle Henry. We were preparing food.
Uncle Henry’s grandmother also lay on her bed. I have her food. She had eaten very little, then it came up again, right in front of me where I was standing.
The ship gave a jerk, the floor was smooth and I fell on the floor. Then I was angry and said, “When you cannot keep it down, stop eating.” I was punished at once. Then the ship gave another jerk and I flew away out about 15 feet. I had had nearly fallen myself dead. I crawled on the bed and wept. My head was broken.
The next morning, at 6, it was foggy. We were all below the ships deck and it was cold. The ship had slowed down; all at once the ship gave a crash. It was a collision with a big iceberg and had broken the railing on the south side.
Behind the kitchen and toilet there was about 10 tons of ice on the ship. A 10 year old boy had been hit on the head by the ice.
The ice had done no other damage. Then we went on toward the harbor at New York. Then the doctors from New York came on the ship.
Areas of Settlement in the Americas
Map of Volga German Settlements in Canada and the USA
United States
California
Fresno
Colorado
Berthoud
Globeville
Greeley
Pueblo
Rocky Ford
Sugar City
Windsor
Illinois
Chicago
Iowa
Mason City
Woden
Kansas
Herrington
Nebraska
Culbertson
Fairmont
Harvard
Lincoln
An excellent article titled Life in the Russian Bottoms: Community Building and Identity Transformation among Germans from Russia in Lincoln, Nebraska, 1876 to 1926 by Kurt Kinbacher is available from the Journal of American Ethnic History (Winter 2007 issue). The article traces the social history of Volga Germans in Lincoln, Nebraska during the late 19th and early 20th centuries with special emphasis on families from Norka and Frank.
Oregon
Portland
An excerpt from Emma Schwabenland Haynes unpublished thesis, My Mother's People describes the early settlers:
"When Grandfather Miller arrived in Portland on October 27, 1890 he found about twenty Volga German families living east of the Willamette River between Tillamook and Knott Streets. Technically this area was not part of Portland, because until 1891 Albina and East Portland were incorporated as independent communities with their own mayor, town hall, banks, jail, etc. The first Volga Germans had left Iowa for Walla Walla, Washington, but after spending three months in that city, they had moved on to Portland as early as 1882. Other old timers came by boat from San Francisco or by way of Nebraska. Most of them were from the colony of Norka, and it is probably due to their influence that so many other people from that village eventually settled here. The names of the earliest pioneers include the following individuals: John Schnell, Conrad Schnell, George Betz, Ludwig Spady, Peter George, Constantine Brill, Henry Meier, Conrad Schwartz, Peter Gerloch, Adam Schwartz, Peter Wolf, Adam and David Schwindt, and a Frühauf family, all of whom had come before 1889.
Volga Germans in Portland Web Site
Argentina
Aldea San Juan
According to Ruth Nielsen, her contact in Entre Rios, Argentina said that the "mother village" in Russia of Aldea San Juan is both Norka and Dönhof. Aldea San Antonio is the mother village for Huck and Aldea Santa Celia is Balzer. He explained that every weekend there is some type of Volga German activity in the Buenos Aires area.
Canada
Calgary
Glory Hills
Stony Plain