The history of exactly which colonists were the first to arrive in Red Oak is unknown, but it is related to the group led by Heinrich Schwabauer that left Saratov on 11 June 1875. The group consisted of 12 families and a number of single men. They arrived in New York City in August of that year. Members of this group ended up settling in Red Oak, although some went on to Nebraska and returned later.
The Volga German families in Red Oak came from the colonies of Messer, Balzer, and Kutter.
- Sallet, Richard. Russian-German Settlement in the United States (Fargo, ND: North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies, 1974): 53.
- Williams, Hattie Plum. The Czar’s Germans: A Study of an Immigrant Group in the Midwest - Ph.D. Thesis (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska, 1915): 198.
- Germans from Russia in Montgomery County, Iowa (Betty McKenzie)
- Red Oak, Iowa (Wikipedia)