They came from Germany and neighboring France in the early 1800's to the colonies near Odessa in South Russia, now the Ukraine. Mostly to the Black Sea area with dorfs in the districts of KUTSCHURGAN, GROSSLIEBENTAL, BERESAN, TAURIEN.
Kutschurgan dorfs were Kandel, Elsass, Baden, Mannheim, Selz, Strassburg. Grossliebental dorfs were Kleinliebental, Mariental, Franzfeld, Josefstal, Grossliebental and others. Beresan dorfs were Karlsruhe, Katharinental, Landau, Munchen, Rastatt, Speyer, Sulz and others. Taurien dorfs were Blumental, Heidelberg, Kostheim, Leitershausen, Reichenfeld, Wasserau and others.
Later daughter dorfs were formed like Krasna (1870) in the Beresan district and Neu Kandel in the Kutschurgan district.
Beginning in the 1880 time period migration to the Americas North and South began as the promises of Catherine the Great were ignored and young men were required to serve in the Russian Army.
Canada and the United States especially the Prairie provinces of Canada and the Dakota plains and Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana prairies offered homesteads for farming.
Many surnames are listed. Waldmann, Heier, Zerr, Lowenstein, Bitz, Kremer, Ziegler, Zimmermann, Ochs, Fieger, Stroh, Lauinger, Weber are thousands of others too numerous to list here.
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