German Russians in Sutton
chronicled in Griess' update ) .
"The German Russians:
Those Who Came to Sutton”
by James R. Griess,
Service Press, Henderson
NE,335 pages, $27.95 .
BY FRANCIS MOUL
For the Lincoln Journal Star
He is the world's expert on German Russians in Sutton. And it shows, throughout this heavily illustrated, heavily historic book on the emigration of Germans from Russia in the late 1800s.
James Griess first wrote this book as a master's thesis at Kearney State College in 1968, a book that quickly went out of print. Since the author's retirement as executive director of the Nebraska State Education Association,he has responded to many requests to update and reissue the book. And here it is.
This is a notable undertaking in and of itself. It will be the envy of all those persons interested in genealogy who wish they could write about their ancestors.
Griess goes way back in his story. He gives us a history of the development of Christianity in Europe and the background of the rise of the German states from 1500, followed by a similar history of Russia. This capsulated history is interesting in and of itself and gives an excellent grounding in why German people would go to Russia, and then come to America.
There is a detailed look at those towns in the Ukraine, now an independent nation, that contributed many of the folks who settled in the 3-year-old town of Sutton, starting in 1873. The more modern history of those colonists in the Midwest and Sutton then alternates with the 20th century past of those homelands.
This is a work of excellent scholarship that reads easily, never an easy task.
It is a noteworthy addition to Nebraska history.
Francis Maul, Ph.D., is an
environmental historian,
Lincoln Journal Star March 29,2009