Back on the Trail
Galicia and Volhynia
I’m back on the trail of my Russian German ancestors. I think figuring out where in Eastern Europe they came from before emigrating to the United States is the best thing to do at this stage. So I’ve been researching the history of the region and I realize that earlier in my research, I may have gotten some facts wrong. It is important to know the history of the region so that I can guide my search in the right direction. I may have been guiding it in the wrong direction before now!
There were several German migration waves in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that went into Eastern European areas. One wave emigrated to the Volga River region and became known as Volga Germans. Another wave settled near the Black Sea. There were also migrations to Prussia and Volhynia. The map above shows some of the areas in Eastern Europe where Germans settled.
Why does this matter to me? Why can’t I just do a surname search on a database and find them no matter where they lived? There are a number of different websites, societies and organizations that focus on different Russian German settlements. If I join one society for Black Sea Germans, with access to their database, experts and other researchers, but it turns out that my ancestors lived in Prussia, then I have wasted time and money going down this dead end.
Well, I am closer than ever. I think my family came from Volhynia, and I may even know the village some were born in. Next I’ll talk about how I came to this conclusion.
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