Immigration > United States > Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
It was characteristic of the Volga Germans to settle into communities. They settled in concentrated areas of Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, and the Dakotas, comprising a high percentage of the foreign-born population. Portland is the only large Volga German settlement in Oregon.
About seventeen families of the first Volga Germans in the American West arrived in Portland in 1881 after spending several years on the dry, grasshopper-infested Kansas plains. Members of this vanguard included Conrad Appel, Phillip Fuchs, George Green, Henry Repp, and several Klewenos, Ochs, and Schiermans. They had first immigrated to Rush and Barton Counties in Kansas between 1875 and 1878. Most were natives of Neu Yagodnaya, Schoental, and Schoenfeld, daughter colonies of Yagodnaya Polyana and neighboring Pobotschnoye. The group obtained special emigrant fares through the Union Pacific Railroad and Oregon Steam Navigation Company to travel to Portland, where they had heard good farmland was available.
Many Volga Germans settled in Canada near Calgary and later transitioned to Portland and rural areas in Eastern Washington.
In his book Palouse Country: A Land and its People, Richard Scheuerman writes that after arriving in Oregon, the Volga Germans were disappointed that the best lands had already been taken and the available land was unfit for cultivation. The frustrated immigrants turned to work at a local lumber mill and for the railroads.
About seventeen families of the first Volga Germans in the American West arrived in Portland in 1881 after spending several years on the dry, grasshopper-infested Kansas plains. Members of this vanguard included Conrad Appel, Phillip Fuchs, George Green, Henry Repp, and several Klewenos, Ochs, and Schiermans. They had first immigrated to Rush and Barton Counties in Kansas between 1875 and 1878. Most were natives of Neu Yagodnaya, Schoental, and Schoenfeld, daughter colonies of Yagodnaya Polyana and neighboring Pobotschnoye. The group obtained special emigrant fares through the Union Pacific Railroad and Oregon Steam Navigation Company to travel to Portland, where they had heard good farmland was available.
Many Volga Germans settled in Canada near Calgary and later transitioned to Portland and rural areas in Eastern Washington.
In his book Palouse Country: A Land and its People, Richard Scheuerman writes that after arriving in Oregon, the Volga Germans were disappointed that the best lands had already been taken and the available land was unfit for cultivation. The frustrated immigrants turned to work at a local lumber mill and for the railroads.
Map of Portland looking east across the Willamette River to the small settlement of Albina in 1879. Source: Library of Congress Catalog Number 75694937.
In the spring of 1881, the Volga German “Kansas Colony” families learned that the railroad officials were offering to sell 150,000 acres of “the finest agricultural lands in the northwest,” east of the Cascades, which would be accessible by rail in 1882. When approached by the Volga Germans, the railroad officials saw their opportunity to implement their new plans to colonize the Palouse country in Washington. Several representatives traveled to eastern Washington to inspect the available lands. The vanguard returned favorably, impressed with the land’s fertility and the hilly topography, which reminded them of the Volga Bergseite. Railroad magnate Henry Villard chose a retired brigadier general, Thomas R. Tannatt, who had commanded Civil War Union forces, to be the general agent of his new company, the Oregon Improvement Company, headquartered in Portland. Tannatt later arranged for the colonization of the Palouse by the Volga Germans and other immigrants. The Volga German families that briefly settled in Portland were later instrumental in colonizing and developing the Palouse country near the towns of Endicott, St. John, Dusty, and Colfax.
In his book Emigration from Germany through Poland and Russia to the U.S.A., George Rath states that the oldest and most important settlement of Evangelical Volga Germans in Oregon is the one in Portland. It goes back to 1882 when colonists from Norka, who had first settled in Iowa and Nebraska, came by train to San Francisco. These immigrants worked for the Union Pacific Railroad and were either brought to or terminated their employment in San Francisco. From there, they sailed by ship to Portland, where they were employed as day laborers in factories. In 1888-1890, after years of no new arrivals, Portland received an influx of Volga German colonists from Balzer and Frank. However, the great majority of Russian Germans came to Portland between 1890 and 1905. Colonists from Alt-Norka (Old Norka) comprise the bulk of around 500 families in the existing settlement. They populated an entire ward in northeast Portland and were organized in several religious congregations.
In his book Emigration from Germany through Poland and Russia to the U.S.A., George Rath states that the oldest and most important settlement of Evangelical Volga Germans in Oregon is the one in Portland. It goes back to 1882 when colonists from Norka, who had first settled in Iowa and Nebraska, came by train to San Francisco. These immigrants worked for the Union Pacific Railroad and were either brought to or terminated their employment in San Francisco. From there, they sailed by ship to Portland, where they were employed as day laborers in factories. In 1888-1890, after years of no new arrivals, Portland received an influx of Volga German colonists from Balzer and Frank. However, the great majority of Russian Germans came to Portland between 1890 and 1905. Colonists from Alt-Norka (Old Norka) comprise the bulk of around 500 families in the existing settlement. They populated an entire ward in northeast Portland and were organized in several religious congregations.
Sources
Haynes, Emma S. My Mother's People. N.p. 1959. Print.
Rath, George. Emigration from Germany through Poland and Russia to the U.S.A.Salt Lake City, UT: Genealogical Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1969. Print.
Scheuerman, Richard D., and Clifford E. Trafzer. The Volga Germans: Pioneers of the Northwest. Moscow, ID: University of Idaho, 1980. Print.
Scheuerman, Richard D., and John Clement. Palouse Country: A Land and Its People. S.l.: S.n., 1994. Print.
Williams, Hattie Plum. The Czar's Germans: With Particular Reference to the Volga Germans. Ed. Emma S. Haynes, Phillip B. Legler, and Gerda Stroh. Walker. Lincoln, Neb.: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1975. Print.
Rath, George. Emigration from Germany through Poland and Russia to the U.S.A.Salt Lake City, UT: Genealogical Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1969. Print.
Scheuerman, Richard D., and Clifford E. Trafzer. The Volga Germans: Pioneers of the Northwest. Moscow, ID: University of Idaho, 1980. Print.
Scheuerman, Richard D., and John Clement. Palouse Country: A Land and Its People. S.l.: S.n., 1994. Print.
Williams, Hattie Plum. The Czar's Germans: With Particular Reference to the Volga Germans. Ed. Emma S. Haynes, Phillip B. Legler, and Gerda Stroh. Walker. Lincoln, Neb.: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1975. Print.
Last updated December 8, 2023