There are 4 Hohnstein families that settled in the Volga German colony of Norka:
(1) Johann Adam Hohnstein, son of Johann Caspar & Anna Cathar. Hohnstein, was baptized in Eckartshausen on 20 April 1717. He married in Eckartshausen to Anna Margaretha, daughter of Johann Heinrich Kraft. The baptisms of two of their children are recorded in the parish register of Eckartshausen: (1) Johann Henrich, baptized 30 January 1744; and (2) Johann Adam, baptized 20 October 1747.
Adam Hohnstein, a farmer, his wife Margaretha, and children (Johann Heinrich, age 23; Johann Adam, age 21; Katharina, age 20; Anna Katharina, age 20; Anna Maria, age 14; Johann Kaspar, age 8; Johann Philipp, age 6) arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 9 August 1766 aboard the pink Slon under the command of Lieutenant Sergey Panov.
Adam Hohnsein, his wife Anna Margaretha, and children (Johann Heinrich, age 22; Johann Adam, age 20; Katharina, age 19; Katharina [again], age 19; Kaspar, age 12; Anna Maria, age 12; Johann Philipp, age 12) are recorded on the 1767 census of Norka in Household No. 47. They had settled there on 15 August 1767.
Johann Adam Hohnstein, his wife Anna Margaretha, and sons (Johann Kaspar, age 18; Philipp, age 16) are recorded on the 1775 census of Norka in Household No. 26.
Johann Heinrich Hohnstein and his family are recorded on the 1775 census of Norka in Household No. 207.
(2) Johann Nicolaus Hohnstein, son of Jacob & Magdalena Hohnstein, was baptized in Eckartshausen on 21 February 1733. He married there on 20 December 1764 to Johanna Maria Siebold from Vonhausen. They had one daughter, Anna Margaretha, who was born 29 May 1766 and baptized on 4 June 1766 in Büdingen.
Nikolaus Hohnstein, a farmer, his wife [Joh]Anna Maria, daughter Anna Margaretha (age ½), and mother-in-law Anna Margaretha [surname not recorded] arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 9 August 1766 aboard the pink Slon under the command of Lieutenant Sergey Panov.
Nikolaus Hohnstein, a farmer, his wife Anna Maria, daughter Anna Margaretha (age 2), and mother-in-law Anna Margaretha [surname not recorded] (age 70) are recorded on the 1767 census of Norka in Household No. 49. They had settled there on 15 August 1767.
(3) Johannes Hohnstein, son of Adam & Elisabeth Hohnstein, was baptized in Vonhausen on 17 December 1741. He married 13 August 1766 in the Reformed Church in Lübeck to Anna Maria Reickert. They settled in the Volga German colony of Norka on 2 September 1767 and are recorded there on the 1767 Census in Household No. 201.
Johannes Hohnstein, his wife Anna Maria, and children (Katharina, age 7; Anna Margaretha, age 4; Johann Adam, age 1) are recorded on the 1775 census of Norka in Household No. 25.
(4) Recorded in Household No. 166 (living with the Ludwig Batt family) is a Johannes Hauenstein (age 18). He also could be a Hohnstein and therefore part of this family.
- 1775 Norka Census (Households No. 25, 26, 207).
- Bonner, Wayne H. Volga German Settlers Identified in Isenburg and Other German Church Records Part I (Gardena, CA: Wayne Bonner, 2007): 54-55.
- Mai, Brent Alan. 1798 Census of the German Colonies along the Volga (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1999): Nr025, Nr026, Nr074, Nr152, Nr160, Nr203, Nr217.
- Mai, Brent Alan and Dona Reeves-Marquardt, German Migration to the Russian Volga (1764-1767) (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 2003): #1199, #1207.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 3 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2005): 241, 274, 283.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #4006 & #4016.
Wayne Bonner
Brent Mai