VGI Updates

Colonists immigrating from Yagodnaya Polyana to Kansas ran out of money when they reached New York City in 1888. They managed to find employment in Orange County, New York, and founded the town of Pine Island there.

A group of colonists from Neu-Straub arrived in New York City in 1891 and was swindled out of its money. They had been en route to Kansas, but went instead to work for some German farmers in Stuyvesant Falls, New York. Later, many of them found jobs in cotton mills and paper factories.

Sallet reports that by 1920, there were 500 Evangelical and 85 Catholic Volga German immigrants of the first and second generation settled in North Dakota.

Sallet reports that by 1920, there were 4,500 Evangelical and 266 Catholic Volga German immigrants of the first and second generation settled in Montana. They had come there following the development of the Huntley Project, an irrigation project in southern Montana that was established by the United States Bureau of Reclamation in 1907. This irrigation brought water to vast areas of the Yellowstone Valley and spirited development of the sugar beet industry there.

Many Volga Germans immigrated to Minnesota with the development of the sugar beet industry. Sallet reports that by 1920, there were 750 Evangelical Volga German immigrants of the first and second generation settled in Minnesota.

Volga Germans were attracted to Michigan in 1902 by the sugarbeet industry. Later many found jobs in Michigan industry.

A number of Volga German families from Yagodnaya-Polyana that had originally settled in Kansas relocated to Maryland in the mid-1890s, and their descants are located today throughout this region.

Sallet reports that by 1920, there were 500 Evangelical and 500 Catholic Volga German immigrants of the first and second generation living in Iowa.

Volga Germans began settling in Illinois in 1888 with the first immigrants from Grimm and Balzer arriving in the Humboldt Park area of Chicago.