There were three frontier garrisons founded to protect merchant ships traveling on the Volga River: Saratov (1584), Samara (1586), and Tsaritsyn (1589). Over the next century, the settlements were rebuilt on first one side of the Volga and then the other following a series of natural disasters. The 1670 peasant revolt led by Stepan Razin also thwarted development of these cities.
A group of German immigrants who had only a few years earlier settled in what is today Denmark answered the call of Catherine the Great's 1763 Manifesto. Most of these settlers ended up in the main group of Volga German colonies near Saratov. One group of 60 families, however, settled in an area considerably west of Saratov, arriving in February 1766 in Ostrogoshsk. Because of the familial and religious connections to those who settled along the Volga, those in this group are often included as Volga German settlers.
Father Meis served St. Joseph Catholic Church in Hays, Kansas.
Father Meyer served St. Joseph Catholic Church in Hays, Kansas, from 1983-1987.
Father Meyer was a member of the Order of the Society of Jesus (Jesuit Order).
He served the parish of Semenovka from 13 March 1803 to 27 September 1807. He served the parish of Schönchen from 6 October 1807 to 20 May 1809. From 1809 to 1820, he served the Catholic parish in Saratov.
Father Muelders served St. Joseph Catholic Church in Hays, Kansas.
Father Mueller served the St. Fidelis Catholic parish in Victoria, Kansas, beginning in 1906. He was a member of the Capuchin Order.
Father Mueller arrived in Hays, Kansas, on 16 May 1878. He served as pastor of the St. Joseph Catholic parish in Hays as well as a number of the parishes in the surrounding rural area.
Marilyn Reh Murray grew up in Kansas, and her German-Russian grandparents were from the Volga villages of Beideck and Enders. Marilyn’s career in psychotherapy led her to specialize in intensive therapy in private practice, and she has given seminars on her Murray Method Theory since 1983. Since retiring from private practice in 2004, Marilyn has founded Health Restoration International, Ltd., which provides education and resources for emotional, physical, intellectual and spiritual health.
Dona Reeves-Marquardt traces her ancestry to the Volga German colonies of Kratzke and Grimm. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin and is Professor Emerita at Texas State University, San Marcos, where she taught German language and literature for many years.