Johannes Dortmann, son of Johann Georg Dortmann & Anna Margaretha Hartmann, was born on 14 June 1725 and baptized on 15 June 1725 in the Evangelical Church in Birkenau, 25 kilometers north of Heidelberg. On 22 February 1752 he married to Elisabetha Barbara Hauser, a daughter of Johannes Hauser, in the same church.
They had five known children, each baptized in Birkenau: (1) Eva, born on 17 November 1752, baptized on 19 November 1752; (2) Georg Adam, born on 8 August 1754 and baptized on 9 August 1754; (3) Elisabetha Barbara, born on 6 November 1757 and baptized on 8 November 1757; (4) Johann Peter, born on 16 July 1760, baptized on 17 July 1760; and (5) Johann Wilhelm, born and baptized on 26 April 1762.
Johannes Dortmann, a farmer, his wife Elisabeth, and children (Adam, age 13; Elisabeth, age 9) arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 12 September 1766 aboard the English frigate Love and Unity under the command of skipper Thomas Fairfax.
Johannes Dortmann, his wife Elisabetha,and children (Joh. Adam, age 14; Elisabeth, age 9; Joh. Wilhelm, age 4) are recorded on the list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767.
Johannes Dortmann, a farmer, his wife Elisabeth, and children (Georg, age 16; Elisabeth, age 10; Johann Wilhelm, age 6) are recorded on an appendix to the 1767 census of Paulskaya in Household No. 2.
In 1768 Dortmann family moved to the colony of Kind where son Ludwig is recorded on the 1798 census in Household No. Kd09.
The Movement Tables that accompany the 1798 census of Kind (Mv1275) record that Elisabeth Dortmann, daughter of Johannes Dortmann of Kind, married a Schmidt in Susannental.
This action is noted in the proceedings of the Kontora (Office of Immigrant Oversight) where it is recorded on Friday, 30 October 1775: "Those present arrived at the Kontora around midnight. Mayor Mettich of Susannental hereby applies for permission for the widower Schmidt from Kind to marry the daughter of colonist Hartmann. Decided: Colonist Schmidt may marry Colonist Hartmann's daughter." [This Schmidt is most likely Johann Heinrich Schmidt recorded as a widower on the 1798 census of Susannental in Household No. Ss02.]
Son Johann Wilhelm returned to Paulskaya in 1783 and is recorded there in the 1798 census in Household No. Pl27.
Son Georg Adam moved to Näb in 1775 were he is recorded on the 1798 census in Household No. Nb24.
Both the Oranienbaum passenger list and the 1767 census record that Johann Dortmann came from the German region of Darmstadt.
- GASO. F.180 D.1 O.10 (pp. 553 & 553rev.).
- 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): Kd09, Nb24, Pl27, Ss02, Mv1275, Mv1279, Mv1295.
- Parish records of Birkenau (LDS Films No. 1340361 & 1340362).
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 3 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2005): 352.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #5363.
- Rauschenbach, Georg. Deutsche Kolonisten auf dem Weg von St. Petersburg nach Saratow: Transportlisten von 1766-1767 (Moscow: G.V. Rauschenbach, 2017): #2921-2925.
Corina Hirt
Brent Mai
Bill Pickelhaupt