Hey, Dick2, read your post about L Welk -

and Germans from Russia. I thought I'd pass a little more information about the Germans from Russia heritage. (Some of the wife's family came with the great migration in the late 1870's and 1880's.) Originally, many Germans of other religions that lived in the same area of Bavaria migrated to Russia with their Hutterite neighbors when they (the Hutterites) were invited by Katherine the Great to come and farm the Steppe. The Hutterites were conscientious objectors (had been since the inception of that religious sect in the 1400's). They were being forced by the government to serve in the German army or pay excessive taxes to support the 100's years war. (I think that was the big European war going on in the 1700's) Katherine the Great of Russia invited them to the Steppe because she, being of German Heritage, knew they were good farmers and Russian needed the food production. She promised them 100 years of no conscription into the military and no excess taxes during the same period if they came. The Tsars that followed Katherine honored the 100 year deal, but by the 1870's the deal was over, so the Hutterites, their friends the Mennonites and Germans of other religions that had followed them to Russia begin migrating to the plains of the Dakotas. All three sects of Hutterites that left Russia in the 1870's settled in the James River Valley of SD. They have since expanded the colonies to North Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, and several Canadian Providences, as well as many other locations in SD. Many of their German speaking friends settled along the James River Valley of both SD & ND. Lawrence Welk's ancestors and some of my wife's clan settled in the Wishek, ND area.
WW I & WW II was a tough time for them, as German speaking conscientious objectors. One of the WW II medal of honor recipients from SD was a Hutterite medic, which they could do as a non-conbatant, according to their faith. They would serve if drafted, but only in a non-combatant role & if they didn't have to carry a weapon. (My $0.02 worth jal-SD, amateur history buff that has worked alot with Hutterite Colonies)

Interesting history of how freedom of religion was meant to be interpreted in the US. That was not common in most governments/countries of the times.

My mother-in-law was of one of the German speaking Mennonite sects that went to Russia and then settled in South West Minnesota. Her parents (my wife's grand parents) owned the John Deere dealer in Mountain Lake, Minnesota.

Had some college friends from Wishek, but that was so long ago I am not able to remember their names.