21 July 2019

New Website for Germans from Russia in America



A new website has been launched that goes into the details of research behind the map of Germans from Russia in America project.



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01 July 2019

Germans from Russia in America: Follow the humans ....


At least 18?  Really?  Huh. Okay. Thanks, Google.

While contemplating my list of 404 places in North Dakota where Germans from Russia lived, I wondered how many towns there are in North Dakota...and would it be easier to identify the places where Germans from Russia did not live instead.

Hey, it's a reasonable question to ask.

The Census Bureau's guide to state and local census geography gave me a better answer: 401 places, 357 incorporated places and 44 census-designated places (CDP).  I know that my list contains places that no longer exist (historical townships and post offices), but it's still only a little surprising how close the two numbers are. Back in March when I was pulling the list of ND places together from one of Karl Stumpp's map, the numerous newspaper indexes from the Germans from Russia Heritage Society, and George Rath's The Black Sea Germans in the Dakotas, I had wondered briefly then about the large number.

But if there's one rule to this project it's this: follow the humans and record where they lived.  Go where the maps and data take you, and the stories will present themselves.

Research continues for the map of Germans from Russia in America. Below are tables for each census region by state and a grand total of all the places where there is at least a shred of evidence that a German from Russia lived long enough to be recorded in some manner.


Pivot tables of each census region by state. Click to see the larger view. 

The website for the Germans from Russia Settlement Locations in America project is nearly done and will be live soon, and there will be a map update in a couple of weeks. I know everyone is anxious to see their town on the map. I'm anxious to see them, too, but it takes time to get all the information for a place in there.

I'm pleased to announce that I'll be presenting this project at the 50th International Convention of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia in Lincoln, Nebraska. The following week, I will be attending the 49th Annual International Convention of the Germans from Russia Heritage Society in Fargo, North Dakota, with a little genealogy road trip in between through parts of South Dakota and North Dakota.

If you're attending either of these events, I hope to meet and talk with you there.

Okay, now back to North Dakota.


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