Leonhard(t) (Frank & Grimm)

Spelling Variations: 
Leonhard (Frank & Grimm)
Leonhardt (Frank & Grimm)
Леонгардъ (Frank & Grimm)
Lenhart (Frank & Grimm)
Settled in the Following Colonies: 
Discussion & Documentation: 

There are several Leonhard families from Sprendlingen who immigrated to Russia. The are distantly related to each other.

(1) Johannes Leonhardt married Johannette Kiefer, daughter of Jacob Kiefer & Maria Neubecker. She had been born 6 December 1687 in Sprendlingen.

The baptisms of five children born to Johannes Leonhardt & Johannette Kiefer are recorded on the parish register of Sprendlingen: (1) Maria Margarethe, born 12 June 1713, died 19 June 1713; (2) Daniel, born 20 September 1714; (3) Gertraude, born 20 March 1717; (4) Johann Jacob, born 19 September 1719; and (5) Johannes, born 4 January 1723.

Johannette Leonhardt née Kiefer died 7 April 1723. Johannes Leonhardt remarried 16 November 1723 in Sprendlingen to Elisabetha Schäfer, daughter of Cyriac Schäfer & Anna Catharina Müller. She had been born 3 April 1701 in Sprendlingen.

The baptisms of eight children born to Johannes Leonhardt & Elisabetha Schäfer are recorded in the parish register of Sprendlingen: (1) Philipp, born 27 September 1724; (2) Cyriac Cornelius, born 3 October 1726; (3) Johann Conrad, born 22 February 1729, baptized 25 February 1729; (4) Johann Henrich, born 1 May 1731, died 14 March 1732; (5) Johann Christopher, born 29 January 1734, baptized 2 February 1734, died 6 January 1737; (6) Anna Sybilla, born 23 June 1736, baptized 24 June 1736; (7) Anna Catharina, born 19 October 1739; and (8) Anna Margaretha, born 19 April 1742.

(a) Johann Conrad Leonhardt married on 29 July 1755 in Sprendlingen to Rachel Arnoul, a daughter of Friedrich Arnoul from Neu-Isenburg & Jeanne Marie Dietz. Rachel Arnoul had been born 5 August 1730 in Neu-Isenburg, and baptized there on 10 Aug 1730.

The baptisms of four children born to Johann Conrad Leonhardt & Rachel Arnoul have been recorded in the parish register of Neu-Isenburg: (1) Johann Friedrich, born 13 May 1756, baptized 16 May 1756; (2) Conrad, born 19 October 1759, baptized 21 October 1759; (3) Cyriack, born 8 February 1762, baptized 10 February 1762; and (4) Johann Philipp, born 18 December 1764, baptized 21 December 1764.

Konrad Leonhardt, a stocking maker, his wife Rachel, and children (Jakob, age 9; Konrad, age 7; Cyriak, age 4; Philipp, age 1½) arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 29 August 1766 aboard the ship Apollo under the command of Skipper Friedrich Detloff Mörenberg.

The Leonhardt family settled in the Volga German colony of Grimm on 1 July 1767. They are recorded there on the 1767 census in Household No. 80, along with the orphan Maria Katharina Schicketantz who was also from Sprenglingen [See Schicketanz Family].

Konrad Leonhard and his family are recorded on the 1775 census of Grimm in Household No. 155.

At the time of 1798 Grimm census, Philipp is recorded in Household No. Gm178 and son Jacob is in Household No. Gm179.

(b) Anna Sybilla Leonhardt & Valentin Proester from Neuhoff near Philips Eich were married on 10 June 1766 in St. Mary's Lutheran Church in Büdingen.

Valentin Prester, son of Johann Wilhelm Prester & Catharina Elisabeth Margarethe Stang, had been born 31 October 1743 in Philippseich.

Valentin Prester, a stocking maker, and his wife Sibilla arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 29 July 1766 aboard the ship Apollo under the command of Skipper Friedrich Detloff Mörenberg.

They settled in the Volga German colony of Norka on 15 August 1767 where they are recorded on the 1767 census of Norka in Household No. 111. [See Prester Family.]

(2) Johann Henrich Leonhardt, son of Andreas Leonhardt & Anna Maria Becker, was born 2 February 1700. He married 17 February 1722 in Maria Elisabeth Pfaff, daughter of Johann Bernhardt Pfaff & Eva Maria Weißbender. She had been born 18 November 1697 in Sprendlingen.

The baptisms of 8 children born to Johann Henrich Leonhardt & Maria Elisabeth Pfaff are recorded in the parish register of Sprendlingen: (1) Johann Andreas, born 13 March 1723, baptized 16 March 1723; (2) Anna Maria, born 25 February 1725, died 26 August 1743; (3) Elisabetha, born 20 June 1726; (4) Maria Elisabetha, born 25 September 1728, died 28 September 1728; (5) Johann Ernst, born 14 February 1730, died 16 February 1730; (6) Johann Samuel, born 14 March 1731, died 24 March 1731; (7) Johannes, born 23 September 1732; and (8) Dorothea, born 31 May 1737.

Maria Elisabeth Leonhardt née Pfaff died in Sprendlingen on 22 March 1759.

The parish register in Sprendlingen records that Johann Heinrich Leonhardt migrated to Russia with his two surviving children, but he does not appear to have arrived in Russia and his presumed to have died in route.

(a) Johann Andreas Leonhardt married in Sprendlingen on 22 April 1751 to Anna Gertraude Herth, daughter of Philipp Herth from Langen & Maria Catharina Stroh. Anna Gertraude Herth had been born 12 February 1720 in Langen.

The baptisms of 5 children born to Johann Andreas Leonhardt & Anna Gertraude Herth are recorded in the parish register of Sprendingen: (1) Johann Wilhelm, born 30 January 1752; (2) Johann Conrad, born 29 December 1753; (3) Johann Henrich, born 3 October 1755; (4) Johannes, born 2 December 1757; and (5) Anna Maria, born 1 April 1760.

Andreas and his wife Anna Gertrude, and their children arrived from Lübeck on 13 September 1766 aboard the hooker Die Jungfer Dietrika under the command of Skipper Christian Korsholm.

Andreas Leonhardt, his wife Gertrude, and children (Johann Willhelm, age 18; Conrad, age 16; Heinrich, age 14; Johannes, age 12; Anna Maria, age 8) are recorded on the list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767 along with a note that daughter Anna Maria died en route.

They settled in the Volga German colony of Frank in 1767 and are recorded there on the 1767 Census in Household No. 40.

Widow Anna Maria Leonhardt moved from Frank to Hussenbach before 1798.

(b) Dorothea Leonhard from Sprenglingen & Georg Frantz Wittwänger, a cabinetmaker (Schreiner) from Auerach [Auerbach?], were married on 13 May 1766 in the Lutheran Church of Büdingen. She had been born 31 May 1737 in Sprendlingen.

Franz Wittwänger, a joiner, and his wife Anna Dorothea arrived from Lübeck on 13 September 1766 aboard the hooker Die Jungfer Dietrika under the command of Skipper Christian Korsholm.

Georg Franz Wittwänger, a craftsman (Handwerker), his wife Anna [sic] Dorothea, and daughter Anna Maria (age 1) settled in the Volga German colony of Frank in 1767 and are recorded there on the 1767 census in Household No. 58.

(3) Johann Heinrich Leonhardt, a single farmer, also arrived from Lübeck on 13 September 1766 aboard the hooker Die Jungfer Dietrika under the command of Skipper Christian Korsholm.

Heinrich Leonhardt (age 23), a single farmer, is recorded on the 1767 census of Frank in Household No. 29.

The 1767 census of Frank records that Heinrich Leonhardt came from the German village of Sprendlingen in the region of Isenburg. [A corresponding Heinrich Leonhardt who was born around 1744 has not been located in the parish register of Sprendlingen.]

Sources: 

- 1775 Grimm Census (Household No. 155).
- Groß, Bernd. Das Familienbuch Dreieichenhain (Dreieich, Germany: ImHayn Verlag). [Online]
- Knöß, Heinrich & Ute Sehring. Familienbuch Sprendlingen [Schriften der Hessischen familiengeschichtlichen Vereinigung e.V. Nr. 53] (Dreieich: 2013): #2620, #2626, #2629, #2631, #2648, #2652, #2664, #2665, #3625, #3732, #3885, #4560, #6342.
- Llorca, Colette. Ortsfamilienbuch Neu Isenburg. [Online]
- 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): Fk011, Fk043, Fk046, Fk099, Fk109, Gm178, Gm179, Hs042.
- Parish register of Büdingen.
- Parish register of Sprendlingen (LDS Film No. 1193263).
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 2 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2001): 84, 423, & 428.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #5021, #5029, #5682, #5695, #5696.
- Rauschenbach, Georg. Deutsche Kolonisten auf dem Weg von St. Petersburg nach Saratow: Transportlisten von 1766-1767 (Moscow: G.V. Rauschenbach, 2017): #7408-7414.

Contributor(s) to this page: 

Doris Evans

Corina Hirt

John Read

Dorothy Thomas

Brent Mai

Pre-Volga Origin

Volga Colonies

Immigration Locations