Lydia

The town of Lydia was settled by immigrants from Yagodnaya Polyana, Saratov Province, Russia. The 1906 to 1916 church records for the German Lutheran church of Lydia had a roster of 29 families. Dates of birth are given for most of the list. 23 of the family names are Yagodnaya Polyana names. These are: Befus, Fuchs, Gorlitz, Hahnemann, Hartman, Hergert, Holstein, Koch, Konschuh, Lautenschlager, Pfaffenroth, Scheuerman, Schmuck, Schneider and Weitz. Besides family group roster there is a list of deaths and confirmation that contains family names that are in the family membership roster. Leon Scheuerman of Deerfield, Kansas, advises that the people were not accustomed to the semiarid climate and their farming operations were not very successful. As a result, they started drifting away from southern Wichita County. By the time of the depression of the 1930s the Volga Germans had largely left the area. The town of Lydia no longer exists.