# From Prussia to Chortitza and Molotschna 1786–1806 · Overview Invitations to settle in the southern Russian Empire drew the attention of Prussian Mennonites seeking religious freedom. In 1786 they sent Jacob Hoeppner and Johann Bartsch to examine the proposed region. The exhibit connects the invitation with Catherine the Great and records the scouts’ journey as a distinct step before family migration. In 1788 an initial party of fifty set out by wagon and was joined by others, forming a company of 228 families. After a winter encampment, they resumed the journey early in 1789 by sleigh and wagon. The Chortitza settlement developed into fifteen villages with about four hundred families by 1800, according to the panel. A second major movement brought 365 families to Molotschna between 1804 and 1806, about one hundred miles south of Chortitza. The supplied timeline’s different colony and fellowship lines grow out of these settlements. Migration carried church life, farming, family ties, and the search for an ordered Christian community into a new setting. - [Supplied Church History exhibit, IMG_9364, caption N, Q](https://github.com/trueChristian/history.truechristian.church/blob/main/sources/church-history/photos/IMG_9364.jpg) --- Page: https://history.truechristian.church/en/events/prussian-russian-migration/ [Contribute a correction or addition](https://github.com/trueChristian/history.truechristian.church/issues/new?title=Correction%3A+From+Prussia+to+Chortitza+and+Molotschna&body=%23%23+Page+or+topic%0AFrom+Prussia+to+Chortitza+and+Molotschna%0A%0APage%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fhistory.truechristian.church%2Fen%2Fevents%2Fprussian-russian-migration%2F%0A%0ARecord%3A+prussian-russian-migration%0A%0ADate+currently+shown%3A+1786%E2%80%931806%0A%0A%23%23+Correction+or+addition%0A%0A%0A%0A%23%23+Sources+and+evidence%0APlease+include+book%2Fpage+references%2C+archive+links%2C+or+first-hand+documentation.%0A%0A%0A%0A%23%23+Image+credit+%28if+applicable%29%0ACreator%2C+source%2C+and+permission+or+public-domain+basis.%0A%0A%0A%0ASubmitted+for+review%3B+this+issue+does+not+publish+changes+automatically.)