Christian Knaus, son of Michael Knaus, was born in Benzingen near Sigmaringen. He moved to Neulußheim, just east of the city of Speyer, and married there to Anna Katharina Bindewald, daughter of Georg Bindewald and Juliana Kraft of Neulußheim, on 29 January 1732. Their eldest child, Johannes Knaus, was born there and baptized on 17 June 1733 and a second son, Johann Peter Knaus, was born there and baptized on 8 February 1736. A third son, Johann Walter Knaus, was also born there on 11 January 1743. Christian and Anna Katharina had a total of nine children in Neulußheim between 1733 and 1755. Christian died on 14 December 1755 in Neulußheim at the age of 60, shortly after the birth of his ninth child. Anna Katharina was remarried in 1762 to Andreas Rauch, and she died on 25 November 1778 in Neulußheim.
On 1 May 1758, son Johannes Knaus married Susanna Kern, daughter of Georg Heinrich Kern and Katharina Schmitt, in Neulußheim. Susanna was born in Neulußheim and baptized there on 27 March 1740. Their first child, Anna Katharina, was also born there and baptized on 3 September 1759.
Johannes Knaus (age 29) immigrated to Denmark with his wife Anna Susanna (age 20), his daughter Anna Katharina (age 1½), and his brother Johann Peter (age 26). They arrived in the city of Schleswig on 17 March 1761 with several other families from Neulußheim and are recorded on 8 August 1761 in the colony of Friderichsau, where Johann Peter married Anna Barbara Oder, daughter of Leonard Oder, who had also come from Neulußheim.
The parish register of St. Michael's Church in the city of Schleswig records on 24 May 1763 the baptism of Johann Leonard Knaus, son of Johann & Anna Susanna Knaus.
The parish register of St. Michael's Church in the city of Schleswig also records the baptisms of two children born to Peter Knaus & Anna Barbara Kichner: (1) Susanna Christina, baptized on 25 January 1762; and (2) Eleonora Margaretha, baptized on 2 July 1763.
In June [sic] 1763, Johannes and Johann Peter voluntarily left Friderichsau with their families.
Johannes immigrated to Russia. Johannes Knaus arrived in Holstein on 24 June 1765 and is recorded there on the 1767 census in Household No. 29 with his wife Susanna and son Johann Adam. Their daughter Anna Katharina is not listed, so she probably died before the census was taken. Johannes' widow, Susanna, is recorded in the 1798 Census of Holstein in Household No. 39 with her sons Johann Adam, Johannes, and Johann Christian.
Johann Peter Knaus, returned to Germany from Denmark.
The parish register of Neulußheim records on 7 June 1765 the baptism of Eva Elisabeth Knaus, daughter of Johann Peter & Anna Barbara Knaus.
Peter Knauß (age 29), a farmer, his wife Anna Barbara Eder [sic] (age 24), and daughters (Susanna Christina, age 2½; Eva Elisabeth, age ¼) are recorded on a list of colonists dated 23 September 1765 who were gathering in the town of Worms. They had arrived in Worms on 5 September 1765.
Johann Peter Knaus, settled in Kratzke on 8 May 1767 and is recorded in the 1767 Census in Household No. 48 with his wife Anna Barbara and daughters Susanna Christina and Anna Maria. Johann Peter and Anna Barbara are not listed in the 1798 Census of Kratzke, but Johann Peter's widow (from a subsequent marriage evidently) is recorded in Household No. 5 along with two children of the deceased Johann Peter Knaus. Johann Peter's daughter, Anna Maria, is recorded in the 1798 Census of Kratzke with her husband Johann Peter Boxberger in Household No. 10 and another daughter, Anna Katharina, is recorded in the 1798 Census of Warenburg in Household No. 106 with her husband Andreas Schmidt.
The third brother, Johann Walter Knaus, does not appear to have immigrated first to Denmark. He is recorded on a list of colonists dated 23 September 1765 who were gathering in the town of Worms. They had arrived in Worms with his brother on 5 September 1765.
He does, however, arrive in the Volga German colony of Kratzke on 8 May 1767 where he and his wife are recorded on the 1767 census in Household No. 44.
In 1795, Peter Knaus moved from Holstein to Hussenbach.
Johann Georg Knaus from Kratzke and his wife are recorded on the 1857 census of Ährenfeld.
The 1765 Worms list records that Peter & Walter Knauß came from the German village of Neulußheim.
- 1857 Ährenfeld Census.
- Evangelische Kirche Altlußheim, Familienbuch A-R (LDS Film #1189158).
- Evangelische Kirche Altlußheim, Taufen, Heiraten & Tote (LDS Film #1189161).
- Eichhorn, Alexander. The Immigration of German Colonists to Denmark and their Subsequent Emigration to Russia in the Years 1759-1766 (Deiningen, Germany: Steinmeier, 2012): 250-251; 479; 674-675; 677.
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Einige Kapitel aus der Geschichte des Kolonisationsprojects von Katharina II, 1763-1775 (Moscow: Idt & Rauschenbach, 2021): 114 (#029-032, 035).
- Mai, Brent Alan. 1798 Census of the German Colonies along the Volga: Economy, Population, and Agriculture Volume 1 (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1999): Ho39, Hs138, Kr05, Kr09, Kr29, Mv0916.
- Mai, Brent Alan. 1798 Census of the German Colonies along the Volga: Economy, Population, and Agriculture Volume 2 (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1999): 1023, 1112.
- Ockert, Wolfgang. Ortssippenbuch Neulußheim (2004): 221-223.
- Parish register of St. Michael's in Schleswig [Denmark].
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 2 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2001): 133; 459, 460.
Allison Wysocki
Wayne Bonner
Brent Mai