To begin, let me just note that some of what follows is quoted.2

"In 1817 a group of 1,400 families, consisting of about 9,000 souls, set out under the leadership of [one] Johann Koch, a miller of [the town of] Schluchter in Wuerttemberg"3 (i.e., in Southwest Germany) to emigrate to the Caucasus region of Central Russia. From studies in the Book of Daniel and the Revelation, they were convinced that somewhere there in the east, " ‘near the original cradle of the human race’ ... the Savior would [return and] commence his personal reign."4

It was the era of the Napoleonic wars in Germany - a time economically and personally stressful if not disastrous; and thus many were open to the idea of emigration.5

Thus, "they looked eastward for a place of refuge, where the elect could escape from t…