Neighbors in Russia, immigrant families find themselves living seven miles apart in North Dakota

In the late 1890s, Johannes “John” and Alissa (Wentz) Volk lived in the village of Mannheim near Odessa, Russia. They had two sons, Joseph and Lawrence. The family was of German descent, among thousands that lived in the area that is present-day Ukraine.

Seven miles away from Mannheim was the village of Elsass. Christian and Christina Leier lived in Elsass with their eight children, some of whom had different mothers as Christian, sadly, had been widowed twice. Christian and Christina also were German colonists.

It couldn’t have been known at the time, but these neighboring families living in Russia would one day be connected by more than ancestry and geography. They would become family.

Neighbors in North Dakota

Both families made the long journey to America around the turn of the century. The Volks left Russia in November 1899 and the Leiers left in 1901 or 1902.

At that time nearly all German-Russian immigrants arrived in the United States by steamship, according to The German-Russians In Words and Pictures by William Bosch. The trip from Europe to New York took about 10 days. Upon arriving in the U.S., they took trains west. The last leg of the trip often was made by wagon or on foot, according to Bosch.

The Volks settled south of Berwick, N.D.

The Leier family immigrated to the United States in 1901 or 1902. They homesteaded near Blumenfeld, N.D. Blumenfeld was just seven or eight miles from the Volk farm at Berwick. The two families had immigrated more than 5,300 miles to America and unwittingly ended up living – once again – just seven or eight miles apart.

In 1906, young Joseph Volk married Regina Schneider. She too was a German-Russian and had come to America with her brother. Joseph and Regina’s third child, Philip, was born in 1913.

Christian Leier’s seventh child, Michael, married Barbara Binfet in 1916. From that union a daughter, Magdalene, was born in 1917. Both families made the long journey to America around the turn of the century. The Volks left Russia in November 1899, and the Leiers left in 1901 or 1902.

Philip Volk and Magdalene Leier, first generation Americans who grew up seven miles apart in North Dakota – the same distance that separated their grandparents’ homes in Russia – were married in 1937. Philip and Magdalene were Ed Volk’s parents.

“Germans from Russia generally came to the United States in the same time frame, and they liked to stay with their own people, so it’s probably not accidental that they ended up so close to each other again,” Ed Volk said. “Regardless, it’s interesting to me that my great-grandparents may have known each other in the old country.”

Philip and Magdalene Volk established a farm south of Knox, N.D., where Ed and his brother and sister grew up. Ed and his late wife Harriet were the next generation to farm the land after his parents, and together, they raised six children there. Today Ed’s son Philip and his family farm the land.

Visiting the homeland

Ed Volk traveled to Ukraine in 2017 on a Journey to the Homeland Tour through North Dakota State University. Led by Michael M. Miller, NDSU has been offering ancestral heritage tours to Ukraine since 1996.

Volk visited the communities where his grandparents lived and saw the church in Mannheim where his grandfather Volk served as an altar boy. He also visited an area along the Rhine River in the south of France, where his great-grandparents on the Volk side lived before they settled in Russia.

“I’m so thankful I had the opportunity to go on that tour at such a reasonable cost and at a time in my life when I could do it,” he said.

Honoring our ancestors

The new Germans from Russia building at the Prairie Village Museum in Rugby tells the story of many German-Russians who settled the area.

“I think it’s so important we give recognition to the people that actually came to America,” Ed Volk said. “That’s why I made a contribution to the Heart of America Germans from Russia: to honor them.

“The guts they had. The knowledge it took. They did whatever it took to make it here. Those people deserve tremendous honor,” he said.

The Prairie Village Museum opens Monday, May 9 for the 2022 season.

Excerpts printed with permission from the Germans from Russia Heritage Collection, NDSU Libraries, Fargo, N.D.