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There were several people from Neuburg am Rhein who emigrated to South Russia in 1804.  These included the families of:

They settled in Grossliebental and became part of that large group that would come to be known as the Germans from Russia.

WHY DID THEY LEAVE GERMANY?

We cannot know today our ancestors' exact reasons for deciding to leave their homeland, but a look at history can give us some possible clues.  For one thing, wars must have seemed never-ending.  The Thirty Years War (1618-1648) took a huge toll on much of Germany.  There were numerous other wars from that time until the French Revolution in 1796.  The invasion of Napoleon's troops must have been hard-felt and we know that Neuburg fell under French rule.  There were a lot of religious tensions in Germany at this time as well, with conflicts between Catholic and Protestant rulers. (Our ancestors were all Lutherans.)  And finally, we know from the history of Neuburg that the population was growing and there was difficulty finding enough land and food for all the people.  When colonization appeals from Russia were heard, they must have sounded quite attractive.

CATHERINE THE GREAT AND ALEXANDER I OF RUSSIA

In the mid-1700s, Russia had the desire to settle some of its uncultivated lands.   On 22 July 1763 Czarina Catherine II, herself a German princess, issued her manifesto encouraging Germans to settle in Russia.  They were offered free travel (if they were unable to pay), complete freedom of religion, thirty years exemption from paying taxes, free living quarters for six months, an advance interest-free loan for the building of dwellings and purchase of livestock and supplies (to be repaid after ten years), freedom of internal self-government, and exemption from the draft.  These privileges were to be extended not only to the settlers but also to their descendants.  This initial appeal led to the settlement of the Volga River region of Russia.

By the late 1700s, Russia had acquired land in the Black Sea region that they wished to populate, not only to reap the benefits of farming the area but also to help control the Tatars who had previously inhabited the land.  Thus on 20 February 1804 Alexander I issued an edict which led to the second major colonization.  It extended the same offers as in the 1763 manifesto, but it also tried to stop a possible flood of unsuitable immigrants.  Only experienced farmers and artisans were accepted, preference was given to married couples with children and they had to own property of a value of at least 300 florins, and immigration was to be limited to 200 families per year.   In fact, the flood of people far exceeded that limit.  More than 800 families arrived in the Black Sea region in 1804, including the Weissenburger and Vollmer families.

[Click here to see a complete translation of the 1763 manifesto of Catherine the Great.]

SETTLEMENT IN RUSSIA

The Weissenburgers and Vollmers initially settled in Grossliebental, founded in 1804.  According to a history of Grossliebental that was written in 1858, the village was located in the southernmost end of the Liebental district, on the Akershi River, about twelve miles southwest of Odessa and eight miles north of the Black Sea.  The colony consisted of 23,800 acres.  Originally each settler was allotted 60 dessiatines of land (about 162 acres).  But as new immigrants arrived, each one had to give up some of his land, leaving them with 45 dessiatines (or 122 acres) each.  As the population grew, and as families grew, sons often ventured to other villages where more land was available.   Some of the villages that our ancestors went to included:  Peterstal, Johannesfeld, Brilova, Wilhelmstal, and Freidorf, as well as Friedenstal in Bessarabia.

While the colonists gradually lost contact with their native Germany, they still preserved their own culture and religion.  They were largely self-governing and they saw to the education of their children.  In fact, the education that they received was often far superior to that of Russian children.

THE NEXT MIGRATION

Unfortunately, as the century progressed the Russian view of the German colonists living among them began to change.  The Russian peasants grew resentful of the privileges that the colonists enjoyed and envious of the land and prosperity they had attained.  As political tensions arose between Germany and Russia, the German colonists were accused of being agents of the German Kaiser.  Czar Alexander II was not as sympathetic to the colonists' causes as his ancestors had been.  On 4 June 1871 he issued a decree which ended the special colonist status that the German Russians had enjoyed for decades.  It repealed their right to self-government and lowered them to the status of the Russian peasant.  Then in January of 1874 a new military service law was enacted.  All medically fit male Russian subjects, when they reached the age of twenty, were subject to six years service in the Russian Army.  The promise made by Catherine the Great for exemption from such service for all German colonists and their descendants was suddenly void.  By 1892 all schools were placed under Russian jurisdiction.  In the atmosphere of unfriendliness, with their promised rights being eliminated, many of our ancestors found themselves ready to move on.

At this same time, the United States and Canada were seeking to attract settlers to their lands.  In 1862 the US passed the Homestead Act and in 1872 Canada passed the Dominions Lands Act.  Both of these offered 160 acres of free land to immigrants willing to settle and become citizens.  Many of our ancestors heeded these new calls.