Johann Reinhard Brueckmann, son of Johann Peter Brueckmann, married Maria Catharina Merl (or Moerler), daughter of Johannes Moerler, on 22 January 1750 in the Evangelical (Lutheran) Church of Florstadt, about 26 kilometers northeast of Frankfurt am Main.
Johann Reinhard & Maria Catharina had two boys, both in born and baptized in Florstadt: (1) Johann Heinrich, born on 16 March 1752 and baptized on 18 March 1752; and (2) Johannes, born on 10 April 1758 and baptized on 11 April 1758.
Reinhard Brückmann, a farmer, his wife Katharina, and sons (Johann Heinrich, age 17¼; Johann, age 10) arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 19 July 1766 aboard a pinque named Каргополь (Kargopol: a Russian City) under the command of Captain Lieutenant Moses Davydov.
During the transport to the Volga German colonies, Johann Reinhard's wife died. He and his two boys arrived in the Volga German colony of Köhler on 21 August 1767, and are recorded there on the 1767 census in Household No. 74.
On the 1798 census, son Johann Heinrich is still living in Köhler where he is recorded in Household No. Kl77.
The Oranienbaum passenger list records that Reinhard Brückmann came from the German region of Isenburg while the 1767 census records that he came from the German region of Freiburg.
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Auswanderung deutscher Kolonisten nach Russland im Jahre 1766 (Moscow: Idt & Rauschenbach, 2019): 31.
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Deutsche Kolonisten im Jahr 1766 in Oranienbaum und in den Siedlungsorten: Die Kuhlberg-Listen (Moscow: Idt & Rauschenbach, 2024): 536.
- 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): Kl77.
- Parish register of Florstadt (LDS Film No. 1200603).
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 2 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2001): 378.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #4150 (p. 272).
Corina Hirt
Brent Mai