A Social Study of the Russian German II 
Stavropol, Vladikavkaz, Novorossiisk, and Yelizavetpol, and 
from the city of Baku. Astrachan and Orenburg in the east of 
Russia contribute a few, as does Riga in the Baltic Provinces. 
Several cities in western Russia, which send a large number of 
Jews to the United States, are represented. Polotsk, the home 
of Mary Antin,t is credited with three natives; while Kiev, 
Zhitomir, Novgorod Volynsk, and Warsaw each furnish one. 
Some of these are due to marriages which Russian Germans con- 
tracted while stationed at these cities on garrison duty ; or prob- 
ably in some cases as a result of acquaintanceships formed at the 
emigrant stations on the way to America. There are a few 
immigrants in Lincoln who were born in Siberia where the Volga 
Germans have gone in great numbers during recent years, under 
contract with the government which has been settling large tracts 
of land there. These were dissatisfied with the conditions they 
found, and since they had forfeited their place in their village by 
emigrating, friends have helped them to America. A few of the 
Russian Germans in Lincoln were born in South America, chiefly 
Buenos Ayres, where large settlements of their people have been 
located since the German colonists first began leaving Russia in 
1871. In some instances these are people who were refused en- 
trance at Ellis Island on account of trachoma, and who then went 
to South America where the exclusion acts are not so strict. 
After a few years there, they apply again for admission to the 
United States, and are accepted. The last group of foreign- 
born Russian Germans includes those born on the way to America. 
Libau, the port of embarkation for much of the present emigra- 
tion from Russia, is the native place of five; Liverpool, of one; 
Germany, of one; Quebec, of one; while five were born at sea. 
Several born at New York and Boston are really included within 
this latter group.* 
3 Mary Antin, The Promised Land, Chapter I. 
4A further analysis of the source of emigration of the Russian Ger- 
mans in Lincoln is interesting though not of any especial social signifi- 
cance. The following table gives the total number of Russian born 
Germans according to provinces and villages: 
34 
