Philipp Anton Artzer, son of Karl & Theresia Artzer, married in Wiesbach, northeast of Zweibrücken (today in Rhineland-Palatinate) on 26 February 1743 to Maria Catharina Götte, daughter of Johannes & Anna Maria Götte. They had several children born in Wiesbach among whom were Anna Elisabeth (born 11 November 1751), Balthasar (born 12 February 1754), and Katharina Barbara (born 15 August 1757). Anton's wife died and he remarried in Wiesbach on 27 October 1761 to Maria Margaretha Brungard, daughter of Franz Brungard. They had several children born in Contwig, among whom was Catharina Margaretha (baptized 5 November 1763).
Anton Artzer, a farmer, his wife Anna Margaretha, and children (Anna Elisabeth, age 16; Johann Balthasar, age 11; Katharina Barbara, age 8; Katharina Margaretha, age 2½) arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 21 July 1766 aboard the snow-brig Mercurius under the command of Skipper Christian Heinrich Abelßen.
They settled in the Volga German colony of Sewald on 20 August 1767. Anton Artzer is recorded as a widower on the 1767 Census in Sewald living in Household No. 33 along with the children.
Widower Anton Artzer and the family of his deceased son Balthasar are recorded on the 1798 census of Sewald in Household No. Sd23.
The death of Anton Artzer in 1804 is recorded on the 1811 census of Sewald in Household No. 23.
Kaspar Artzer, son of Balthasar Artzer, is recorded on the 1811 census of Sewald in Household No. 23 along with a note that he relocated to the colony of Kamenka [year not recorded].
The 1767 Census of Sewald records that Anton is from Stambach, just east of Contwig.
- 1811 Sewald Census (Household No. 23).
- Mai, Brent Alan. 1798 Census of the German Colonies along the Volga: Economy, Population, and Agriculture (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1999): Sd23, Sd34.
- Parish records for Contwig (LDS Film No. 489413).
- Parish records for Wiesbach (LDS Film No. 247677).
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 4 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2008): 174.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #3324.
Brent Mai