They left Germany because of strife and starvation caused by the seven years war. Catherine the Great , a German herself, offered free land, transportation and many other things to entice the Germans to come to Russia and settle her Volga lands. His father was born in Yagodnaya Polyana, his mother in Pobochnoye, both villages are in the Oblast of Saratov, Russia. They immigrated to the US as teenagers with their parents and siblings in 1907 and 08. They met in Greeley Colorado, married in Longmont Colorado.
Few records are now available in Russia.