Hi Fred. Here is something from Hattie Plum William's book "The Czar's Germans...", pages 89-90. She writes that in 1788 the Russian government sent enrollers into the South German states enticing colonists for more colonization in Russia. These enrollers had with them letters from colonists on the Volga as a marketing tool. One of these communications dated 1788 is preserved in the Herzogliches Haus- und Staats-Archiv in Zerbst. The writer was Andreas Reinefeld from Schwed who was originally from Oranienbaum near Dessau, Sachsen-Anhalt. He had first settled in Kaneau. He describes his family and life since emigrating to Russia. The translated letter can be found in William's book. These particular letters may have made their way to the German states only because the Russian government had collected and disbursed them for a specific reason. In this particular case the letter writer gave instructions as to how to send a letter back to Schwed via a government enroller/courier along with a request to join the letter writer in Russia. However, it seems you'd have ended up in an entirely different region of Russia! It would be interesting to know if similar letters were preserved elsewhere. Apparently the first post offices were established in Russia in 1712 by Peter I. By the early 19th century there were some 400 postal institutions and 5,000 postal workers. I haven't a clue how it all worked. Tim Weeder Village Coordinator for Paulskoye In a message dated 1/24/2014 2:14:42 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, fkbetz@frontier.com writes: Hi all, I hope this is ok. Folks don't seem to be asking these kinds of questions lately. I'm reading a history of Germany which refers to the Imperial Post as one of the few viable institutions in the late Holy Roman Empire. Since I have letters from family members in Russia from the 20s and 30s, the relative viability of postal communication between the Volga colonists and their American relatives has been an issue for me. Were our ancestors able to communicate with their German relatives during the last quarter of the 18th century? Do any such letters exist? Thanks, Fred Betz Messer, Nue Messer