This is a list of immigrants or earliest-generation children of an immigrant whose German ancestors had been recruited into Russia in the 18th Century (largely during the reign of German-born Tsarina Catherine II) and were allowed to speak their native German dialects, observe their endemic religious practices, and be exempt from military service to the Russian government.

In 1871, during the reign of Alexander II, the political situation in Russia changed so that some of these privileges were lost and economic hardships ensued. Large numbers of the people then emigrated, and many of them populated the upper Great Plains of the U.S. and southern Manitoba and Saskatchewan. To a great extent they remain culturally distinct from both ethnic Russians and "German-Americans" who migrated from Europe. However, some assimilation with the latter has occurred in later generations, and a few Russian-German descendants have merged with our Cornelius family. Those I am aware of are recognized in the family groups listed on this page, with links to their descendants.

This web site identifies specific settlement places of origin as accurately as I know them with confidence. Sometimes the best information I have is a census enumeration only identifying a large region and may not be the actual recognized place name, e.g., "South Russia".