In 1913, Pastor Conrad Schröder of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod first came to Rivera to attend to the spiritual needs of the German Lutherans who were living there. He baptized 23 children on his first visit. A congregation was organized with the name Iglesia Evangélica Luterana Emaús de Rivera (Emaus Lutheran Church of Rivera).
The Volga German Institute at Fairfield University will be hosting a two-day genealogy workshop in Bloomington, Minnesota, home of the Mall of America.
The public is invited to attend.
There are several Müller families that settled in the Volga German colony of Dietel.
Paul Müller was born in about 1714 in Brackenheim, about 15 kilometers southwest of Heilbronn.
Paul Müller, a farmer, his wife Rosina, and children (Bernhard, age 16¼; Margaretha, age 8; Johann, age 6) arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 19 July 1766 aboard a Russian packet-boat named Svyatoi Pavel (St. Paul) under the command of the Lieutenant Fyedor Sornev.
Johann Conrad Feuerstein, son of Christopher Feuerstein & Catharina Adam, was born in Bönstadt on 22 June 1717. He married there on 19 November 1739 to Anna Margaretha Hartmann, daughter of Johannes Wilhelm & Anna Kunigunda Hartmann. She had been born in Bönstadt on 22 November 1719.
The marriage of Johann Georg Feurstein, son of Joh. Conrad Feurstein from Bönstadt, and Agnesa Loch, daughter of Johann Sebastian Loch from Bönstadt, is recorded in the parish register of Büdingen on 12 June 1766.
Johann Hartmann Scheuermann, son of Johann Conrad Scheuermann & Catharina Knott, was baptized on 14 February 1719 in Ober-Lais. He married there on 16 November 1746 to Elisabeth German. She had been baptized in Ober-Lais on 23 February 1727. They had the following children, each baptized in Ober-Lais: (1) Maria Catherina, baptized on 21 February 1747; (2) Johannes [Kaspar], baptized on 30 January 1748; (3) Johann Conrad, baptized on 19 September 1749; (4) Johann Jost, baptized 21 January 1751; (5) Johann Heinrich, baptized 3 January 1753; (6) Johann Henrich, baptized 2
Carl Zeller, Jr., learned to enjoy and play music at a young age. His father, Carl Sr., whose ancestors came from the Volga German colony of Messer, was also a musician. Carl Jr. had been born 12 September 1934 in Denver, Colorado. He died in Greeley, Colorado, on 22 January 1984.
Carl Jr. signed with the CLW Records label and his band was very popular.
John Wirtz was born 23 January 1898 to Peter and Katharina Wirtz in Michaelsdorf, a colony in the North Caucasus that had been settled by Volga Germans. He arrived at Ellis Island (New York City) aboard the S.S. Patria on 27 October 1899 with his parents and two siblings. They went first to the Norfolk, Nebraska, area, but then settled in Michigan on a farm near Deckerville in Sanilac County.
Father Adolf Wibbert was the first priest to visit the newly-founded Volga German villages in Ellis County, Kansas, in April of 1876.