After the freeing of the serfs in Russia in 1861, the various reforms which followed affected the status of the German colonists. They had gone to Russia under promise that they should have local self-government, retain their own schools and churches, and be free from military service. Now their local self-government was gradually being interfered with, universal military service forced them into the army, and' the fear arose that they would in time be denied their German schools and freedom of worship.

Emigration began in the seventies, some going to South America, others to Canada, and large numbers coming to the United States. The latter settled mainly in Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas, all of which at that time were bidding for immigrants. Lincoln was then the distributing center for Ne braska settlers, and has since remained the clearing house for this particular immigrant group. Several thousand Russian Germans now live in Lincoln, forming the largest group of these people to be found in any one city in the United States.