Johann Heinrich Göthmann was born 20 April 1740 in Reichelsheim, Unter-Ostern, Germany. He was the son of Johann Peter Göthmann and Elisabeth Margaretha Hoffmeister who had married on 3 August 1739 in Kirch-Brombach. The Gettman family is originally from Nieder-Kinzig and has been researched back to the 1600s.
Heinrich Göthmann arrived in Frank on 1 September 1767 as a single man. His parents are believed to have died en route to Russia. Heinrich is recorded on the 1767 census of Frank in Household No. 98 living with Johannes Schäfer and his wife.
- Gieg, Ella. "Neue Erkenntnisse zur Auswanderung nach Russland 1766."
- Mai, Brent Alan. 1798 Census of the German Colonies along the Volga (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1999): Fk100.
- Online OFB for Mittel-Kinzig, Ober-Kinzig, Nieder-Kinzig.
- Parish Records for Reichelsheim (LDS Film #1195016).
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 1 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 1999): 435.
- Pleve, Igor. Gettman Family Chart.
Sherrie Gettman Stahl