The public is invited to attend a Fountain Hills Genealogy Group meeting on Monday, Feb. 13, from 9 to 11 a.m. at the Community Center. The topic addressed is Germans from Russia.

Elizabeth Scott will discuss the unique cultural habits and immigration patterns of Germans who immigrated into America from Russia in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Germans from Russia originally settled in the Ukraine area of Russia at the invitation of Czarina Catherine the Great and subsequent Czars.

As their situation became dangerous in Russia and their way of life was threatened, they moved to South America and the U.S., where large concentrations settled in the Dakotas and Great Plains states where they still hold many traditional customs and values.

Sparked by family hints about a couple of interesting ancestors, Scott has been researching her genealogy for 15 years. Activity in local chapters of the Germans from Russia Heritage Society (GRHS) and the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (AHSGR) has led to her increased knowledge of this unique cultural group of Americans.

For more information about the Genealogy Club, contact Kathleen Maci at kvmaci@hotmail.com.