In 1881, a group of Volga German families from Rush and Barton Counties in Kansas decided to move to the Pacific Northwest. They took advantage of reduced fares on the Union Pacific and took a train to San Francisco where steamers of the Oregon Steamship Company transported them to Portland. After spending a year working in the Portland area, most of these families decided to move to Eastern Washington, and in September 1882 left Portland by covered wagon for Walla Walla. From there they headed north into the Palouse Country arriving in Whitman County four miles east of Endicott on 12 October 1882.
Endicott had been platted in 1882 and named for William Endicott Jr. of the Oregon Improvement Company. It was officially incorporated on 11 February 1905.
The following Volga German families are known to have settled in and around Endicott:
Appel from Morgentau
Aschenbrenner from Norka
Bafus from Yagodnaya Polyana
Blumenschein from Yagodnaya Polyana
Daubert from Yagodnaya Polyana
Gates from Yagodnaya Polyana
Grün / Green from Norka
Helm
Hergert from Yagodnaya Polyana
Kaiser from Yagodnaya Polyana
Kleweno
Konschu
Langlitz from Yagodnaya Polyana
Lautenschlager from Yagodnaya Polyana
Leinweber from Yagodnaya Polyana
Litzenberger from Schönfeld
Lust from Yagodnaya Polyana
Morasch from Yagodnaya Polyana
Ochs
Pfaffenroth from Yagodnaya Polyana
Reich
Reinke
Repp from Yagodnaya Polyana
Scheuermann / Schierman from Yagodnaya Polyana
Schlotthauer from Dobrinka
Schmick from Yagodnaya Polyana
Schreiber
Schultz
Weitz from Yagodnaya Polyana
- Scheuerman, Richard D. & Clifford E. Trafzer. The Volga Germans: Pioneers of the Northwest. Moscow, ID: University of Idaho Press, 1985.
- 1920 Federal Cesus of Whitman County (Eugene Jenkins)
- Dusty Cemetery (findagrave.com)
- Endicott Cemetery (findagrave.com)
- Zion Lutheran Cemetery (findagrave.com)
- Zion Lutheran Cemetery (Washington State Archives - Digital Library)
Endicott, Washington (Wikipedia)
Map of Whitman Co., Wash., showing the location of Endicott.
Source: Wikipedia.
1910 Map of Whitman Co., Wash.
Source: Washington State University Digital Archives.
Map of Endicott (1910).
Source: Washington State University Digital Archives.