![]() Beginning in 1889, when public lands were offered for homesteads in Oklahoma, they quickly took advantage of the opportunity to own farms. They were poor, and in Kansas they were forced to rent farm land. Land was the factor that drew them southward into Oklahoma Territory. The Great Plains of the Dakotas, Nebraska, and Kansas, markedly similar to the Russian steppes, became populated by them, and many moved on into the plains of Oklahoma and Texas. Volga Germans began leaving for the United States in the late 1870s, and Mennonites began moving in the 1880s, as did Black Sea and Volhynia Germans. Czar Alexander II began to draft them into the army, and in the 1880s Alexander III began a “Russification” policy to establish better administrative control over the colonies. In the 1860s, however, their lives began to change. Seldom mixing with or marrying their hosts, the Germans in Russia retained their culture and perpetuated it through their own educational system. The German colonists had become the most advanced agricultural group in Russia. By the middle of the nineteenth century most families owned land, and some were grain merchants or mill owners. They lived in compact villages, built partially subterranean houses similar to half-dugouts, and burned dried manure for fuel. Living on the steppes, they continued to farm, primarily raising wheat, and adapted their system of agriculture to the new environment. Between 17 an estimated one hundred thousand Germans moved to Russia, including Evangelical Lutherans, Roman Catholics, Baptists, and Seventh Day Adventists. #Diane webber towanda pa obituary free#Colonists arrived in the steppes (plains) when the Russian czars offered them free land, exemption from military service and taxation, and, to an extent, religious liberty. ![]() As a result, in the 1760s groups began leaving various German principalities where wars, invasions, high taxes, and military conscription made life unbearable. Poland’s rulers had encouraged Germans to settle in the province of Volhynia (between the Dnieper and Dniester rivers, part of Russia by 1797), and Russian rulers, including Catherine the Great, had promoted settlement along the Volga River (north of the Caspian Sea) and on the coast of the Black Sea and Sea of Azov beginning in 1750. “Among the millions of mid- to late-nineteenth century immigrants arriving in the United States from Europe were ethnic Germans who had immigrated to Russia in the 1765–1824 period. The Oklahoma Historical Society provides the following brief history of the German-Russians: This appendix describes the history of these German-Russians and includes the biographies of German-Russian families in the Alva/Woods County area. ![]() I was told that they were of German heritage and they came from Russia – but I wondered why they did not speak Russian? It wasn’t until later in life that I read the history of the German-Russians and understood. ![]() When I was young, our two families would exchange regular visits.Īs a youngster, I was confused as to why these people would call themselves “German-Russians”. Harold operated a commercial machine shop and when dad had a difficult problem he would consult with Harold. Both Harold and my Dad had similar mechanical interests – Dad had his own shop including welding equipment and a forge for modifying/repairing his own farm equipment. Dad would tell stories about the adventures they had when they traveled together to the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair.
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