The following two timelines are part of a presentation by Annette Adams, given at our latest Intermountain Chapter meeting. You will find the information helpful if you are researching ancestors who came through Lincoln, Nebraska, on their journey in America.
Saratow, Russia
1762: Catherine the Great issues first manifesto inviting foreigners
to settle Russia. No response.
1763: The second Manifesto issued. Thousands of colonists come
from Germany.
1764- 1768: German colonies are founded along the Volga River.
1861: Emancipation Reform of 1861 in Russia abolishes serfdom.
1871: The Imperial Russian government repeals the manifestos
of Catherine the Great and Alexander I. The German colonists
were to lose their special status and privileges and become subject
to Russian military service after a ten-year grace period.
1872- 1873: Several groups emigrated from the Odessa area to
Nebraska and the Dakotas. Scouts from other Black Sea
colonies and the Volga Colonies investigate opportunities in
America.
1874: The Imperial Russian government amends the 1871
decree and institutes compulsory military conscription
of German colonists immediately. 375,000- 400,000 died.
1914: World War I begins.
1917: Political unrest in Russia leads to two revolutions
and the beginning of Soviet communist rule.
1920- 1923: Famine in Russia. Over 150,000 Volga
Germans die of starvation.
