Ancestry?

[Displaced Flames fan]

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

This is a bit of a dumb question, but how did your mother research her family history?

I really don't have anything cool that stands out in my family history as far as I know.

Tons and tons of research at libraries, mailing requests for copies of records from various states and lots of family resources. She spent a lot of time on it for several years. She's close to retirement now so I think she'll pick it back up again when that comes.

[Displaced Flames fan]

Originally Posted by jammies

There was quite a colony of Germans on the upper Volga in Russia as detailed in Wikipedia here; originally they came in response to Catherine the Great's invitation to farm there (much as the Gov'ts of the USA and Canada invited European settlers over in the late 18th and early 19th century). The colony survived until the early 1940s when Stalin exiled some of them to Central Asia and the rest to the labour camps after Germany invaded.

Thanks for that!

Lots of links on the wiki page that I can use. May have to make a visit to Victoria, KS (wherever the hell that is!) to see the monument too. Wichita is pretty central, so it can't be too far away!