A large group of Catholic emigrants from the Volga arrived in Baltimore, Maryland, on 23 November 1875 aboard the SS Ohio. They came from the colonies of Herzog, Katharinenstadt, Liebental, Beauregard, Ober-Monjou, Neu-Obermonjou, Mariental, Louis, Marienberg, and Graf.
The group arrived by train in Topeka on 28 November 1875. Some of them moved to Western Kansas and founded the town of Liebenthal in Rush County on 22 February 1876. Other members of the original group in Topeka left for Ellis County to found the town of Catharine in March and Herzog in April. Of this first group, only one family remained in Topeka.
In 1877, another group of Volga German immigrants arrived in Topeka and many of those settled permanently there.
Volga German families that settled in Topeka moved out of the downtown area over time and many settled in the neighborhoods north of the Kansas River.
The following Volga German families settled in and around Topeka, Kansas:
Abt from Brabander
Ackerman from Pfeifer
Allendorf from Pfeifer
Al(l)way from Göbel
Amreine from Pfeifer
Andes
Appel from Yagodnaya Polyana
Appelhans / Appelhanz from Rothammel
Artzer from Sewald
Bahl from Kamenka
Bahm from Kutter
Basgall from Rothammel
Bathauer from Göbel
Bauer from Köhler
Baumgartner from Pfeifer
Beier from Kamenka
Beilman from Katharinenstadt
Beisel from Dreispitz
Bellendier from Köhler
Bender
Bieber from Rothammel
Bieker
Biel from Graf
Bihn
Billinger from Herzog
Bittel from Wittmann
Bitter from Lauwe
Blatner from Josefstal
Boetz
Bollig from Graf
Boos from Ober-Monjou
Boxberger from Kratzke
Braun from Herzog
Breit from Pfeifer
Bretz from Köhler
Brungardt from Herzog
Burghart from Pfeifer
Dagen
Dater from Zug
Dechant
Degan(d) from Pfeifer
Degenhardt from Sewald
Deghand from Pfeifer
Deines from Franzosen
Deines from Norka
Denning from Herzog
Desch from Pfeifer
Dietz from Kratzke
Dinkel from Herzog
Domme from Pfeifer
Dorzweiler from Katharinenstadt
Dreher from Neu-Ober-Monjou
Dreiling from Herzog
Eakes
Eberle from Mariental
Eckerman from Pfeifer
Edelmann
Ehrlich from Rosenberg
Ernst
Etzel from Pfeifer
Farher from Semenovka
Fink from Norka
Fischer from Messer
Flagler from Dietel
Frank from Louis
Frank from Rothammel
Freiberger from Köhler
Gaebel
Gareis from Köhler
Gehrling
Geis from Messer
Gertke
Gette from Semenovka
Gi(e)bler from Ober-Monjou
Gittlein from Pfeifer
Goetz from Herzog
Gottfried
Graf from Louis
Grosch from Grimm
Haas from Wittmann
Haberkorn from Göbel
Haberman from Balzer
Habig from Köhler
Hammerschmidt from Herzog
Hartmann
Haspert from Köhler
Hassenauer from Köhler
Hefner from Pfeifer
Heim from Pfeifer
Heit from Semenovka
Hergenreter
Herklotz from Schönchen
Herl from Wittmann
Herrman from Liebental
Hertlein from Katharinenstadt
Holmann
Holzmann
Holzmeister from Pfeifer
Ingenthrone
Jacobs from Streckerau
Kaberlein from Pfeifer
Kaeberle from Pfeifer
Kamlowski
Kam(m)er from Graf
Karst from Eckheim
Keil from Eckheim
Kern from Josefstal
Kinderknecht from Mariental
Kippes from Pfeifer
Kisner from Pfeifer
Kister from Brunnental
Klaus from Ober-Monjou
Kloberdanz
Kloster from Semenovka
Klug from Köhler
Knoll from Herzog
Koerner from Katharinenstadt
Kohler
Korbe from Mariental
Kreutzer from Liebental
Krotter from Dehler
Kuehn
Kuhn from Herzog
Lais from Brunnental
Lambrecht from Pfeifer
Lang from Kamenka
Langhofer from Straßburg
Laubhan from Shcherbakovka
Lechmann from Rothammel
Legleiter from Liebental
Leikam from Katharinenstadt
Leinacker from Köhler
Linenberger from Herzog
Long from Sterckerau
Luea from Zug
Luneberg
Macht from Köhler
Matz
Mauer from Kamenka
Meder
Meier from Louis
Meis from Katharinenstadt
Mellinger from Kamenka
Merkel
Michaelis from Kratzke
Milberger from Eckheim
Miller
Miltenberger
Muetzig
Nahm from Hölzel
Niedens from Wiesenmüller
Oberst
Ochs from Schönfeld
Ostertag from Volmer
Pfanenstiel from Ober-Monjou
Pfeifer from Herzog & Pfeifer
Platner
Propp from Hussenbach
Puhl from Sewald
Resch
Richmeier from Herzog
Rohleder from Rohleder
Rohn from Walter
Rome from Herzog
Rosenbach from Köhler
Roth from Kamenka
Rothammel from Rothammel
Rudolf from Leichtling
Ruhl
Rupp from Kamenka & Ober-Monjou
Sack from Semenovka
Schaab from Josefstal
Schäfer
Schaffer from Liebental
Schamberger from Kamenka
Schanfeldt / Schoenfeld(t) from Pfeifer
Schechtel
Scheck from Herzog
Schell from Sewald
Schiel from Göbel
Schiffelbein from Streckerau
Schimpf from Dobrinka
Schlitter
Schmidt from Katharinenstadt
Schmidt from Pfeifer
Schmidtberger from Herzog
Schmidtlein from Köhler
Schneider
Schwindt from Norka
Schwindt from Rosenfeld am Yeruslan
Schoenhals from Stephan
Schreiner from Herzog
Schulmeister from Kamenka
Schwartz from Kamenka
Schwemmer from Dreispitz
Schwerdt / Schwert from Kamenka
Schwien from Kratzke
Seitz from Mariental
Sommers from Pfeifer
Spahn
Spetter from Kamenka
Spies from Liebental
Staab from Katharinenstadt
Stadler / Stattler from Kamenka
Stamm
Stang from Volmer
Stegmann from Pfeifer
Steinbach
Steinert from Eckheim
Stoppel from Nieder-Monjou
Stramel / Stremel from Kamenka
Suppes from Pfeifer
Ubert from Katharinenstadt
Ulrich from Göbel
Urban from Kamenka
Waldschmidt from Ober-Monjou
Walters from Katharinenstadt
Wasinger from Herzog
Weber from Liebental
Weigel
Weimann
Weinbender from Köhler
Weinkauf from Volmer
Werth from Schönchen
Wiesner from Kamenka
Windholz from Herzog
Wolfe from Katharinenstadt
Wooster from Alexandertal
Younger from Herzog
Ziegler from Köhler
Zimmerman from Schönchen
- Appelhanz, Isadore. The Volga-Germans in Topeka, Kansas, 1875-85. Topeka: privately published, 1992.
- 1880 Kansas State Census - Volga Germans - Shawnee County, North Topeka Ward 1
- 1885 Kansas State Census - Volga Germans - Shawnee County, North Topeka
- Topeka Kansas, 1912 City Directory
Topeka (Wikipedia)
Temporary Housing for Volga Germans in Central Kansas (1875). Based upon the date, this is probably a group of Mennonites coming through the Immigrant House in Topeka.
Source: March 20, 1875 issue of Leslie's Magazine (New York).