Following the arrival of the group that came to Walla Walla by wagon train in 1882, John C. Oestrich led a small group to Bickleton in the Horse Heaven Hills in Klickitat County. This group included Bastrom, Dewald, Kembel, Michel, and Schäfer families. Most filed homestead claims and raised livestock. They were joined later by the Schössler, Heimbigner, and Eckhardt families. Some relocated to Ritzville about 1890, and following the epidemics between 1898 and 1901, most of the remaining families also moved to Adams County.
The following Volga German families settled in and around Bickleton, Washington:
Bastrom from Frank
Dewald from Dietel
Eckhardt from Frank
Heimbigner from Frank
Kembel from Kolb
Michel
Schäfer from Frank
Schössler from Walter
Siegfried from Dobrinka
- Methodist Cemetery (findagrave.com)
- Bickleton, Washington (Wikipedia)