Hanß Peter Maÿ, son of Leonhard Maÿ & Anna Maria Richter, was baptized 12 April 1642 in Reinheim. He married 20 April 1669 in Spachbrücken to Anna Dietrich, daughter of Georg Dietrich & Gertraut Kipp. She had been baptized 20 February 1648 in Groß-Zimmern.
Hanß Peter Maÿ & Anna Dietrich had a number of children including:
(1) Johann Nicolaus Maÿ, born 16 October 1683 in Spachbrücken. He married 28 November 1713 in Spachbrücken to Anna Maria Göckel, daughter of Adam Göckel & Anna Maria Kaufmann. She had been born 4 March 1692 in Spachbrücken.
Among the children born to Johann Nicolaus Maÿ & Anna Maria Göckel are:
(a) Heinrich Michael Maÿ born in Spachbrücken on 13 December 1723. He married in Spachbrücken on 8 June 1745 to Maria Eva Wetzler, daughter of Martin & Maria Salome Wetzler.
The parish register of Spachbrücken records the baptisms of the following children born to Heinrich Michael Maÿ & Maria Eva Wetzler: (1) Johann Peter, born 8 October 1746, baptized 9 October 1746; (2) Johann Jakob, born 3 March 1749, baptized 5 March 1749; (3) Maria Sophia, born 18 October 1751, baptized 19 October 1751, died 27 February 1752; (4) Johann Valentin, born 31 December 1752, baptized 1 January 1753, died 1 July 1753; (5) Adam, born 27 February 1755, baptized 2 March 1755, died 6 February 1756; (6) Johann Adam, born 9 December 1756, baptized 10 December 1756; and (7) Johann Nicolaus, born 16 June 1759, died 16 March 1761.
Heinrich Michael was killed when he fell off the back of a hay wagon on 1 October 1760 in Spachbrücken. His widow and children immigrated to Russia. They went first to Büdingen where the marriage of eldest son Johann Peter Maÿ from Spachbrücken to Maria Walther from Spachbrücken is recorded on 25 April 1766.
Eva Maÿ, her sons, and their new spouses arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 19 July 1766 aboard a galliot named Kronstadt under the command of Lieutenant Samuel Gibbs.
Johann Peter Maÿ, a farmer, and his [new] wife Anna Dorothea are recorded on the 1767 census of Holstein in Household No. 40. His brother Johann Jakob Maÿ, a farmer, his [new] wife Anna Margaretha, and youngest brother Johann Adam (age 11) are recorded on the 1767 census of Holstein in Household No. 42.
Descendants of this family resettled to the colony of Kratzke and then on to the daughter colonies of Ährenfeld and Eckheim.
(b) Maria Sophia Maÿ born in Spachbrücken on 7 July 1718. She married in Spachbrücken on 5 January 1740 to Johann Valentin Romig, youngest son of Johann Philipp Romig & Anna Margaretha Zimmermann. He had been born in nearby Habitzheim on 20 December 1718. [See Romig Family.]
The Johann Valentin Romig family immigrated first to Denmark (Schleswig-Holstein) and then on to Russia where they settled in the Volga German colony of Grimm. They are recorded on the 1775 census of Grimm in Households No. 18 & 31.
(2) Johann Adam Maÿ, born 23 December 1685 in Spachbrücken. He married 7 October 1710 in Spachbrücken to Anna Maria Loh, daughter of Hanß Henrich & Anna Dorothea Loh.
Among the children born to Johann Adam Maÿ & Anna Maria Loh are:
(a) Johann Georg Maÿ born in Spachbrücken on 14 July 1711. He married in Spachbrücken on 29 December 1740 to Elisabeth Margaretha Schiemer, daughter of Johann Georg Schiemer & Anna Maria Elisabeth Wetterhaun. She had been born 17 September 1713 in Spachbrücken.
Among the children born in Spachbrücken to Johann Georg Maÿ & Elisabeth Margaretha Schiemer are: (i) Johann Georg, born 13 September 1745; and (ii) Johann Adam, born 16 November 1753.
Elisabeth Margaretha Maÿ née Schiemer died on 31 January 1765. Johann Georg Maÿ remarried on 3 September 1765 to Maria Katharina Berg, daughter of Philipp Berg & Anna Margaretha Dönges. She had been born 5 January 1732 in Spachbrücken.
Johann Georg Maÿ and his family joined the migration to Russia. They also first went to Büdingen where the marriage of eldest son Johann Georg Meÿ [sic] from Spachbrücken & Anna Christina Held from Georgenhausen in the area of Löwenstein-Werthheim married on 25 April 1766. [Anna Christina Held, daughter of Johann Georg Held (died 2 February 1748) & Anna Margretha Ramge (12 October 1707 - 6 November 1766), was born 11 November 1741 in Georgenhausen.]
Johann Georg Maÿ, his wife, and sons arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 19 July 1766 aboard a galliot named Kronstadt under the command of Lieutenant Samuel Gibbs.
Johann Georg Maÿ, his wife Maria Katharina, and son Johann Adam (age 16) are recorded on the 1767 census of Holstein in Household No. 37. Oldest son Johann Georg and his wife Anna Christina are recorded on the 1767 census of Holstein in Household No. 41. They had all arrived in Holstein on 7 July 1767.
He also immigrated to Holstein with the other Maÿ families from Spachbrücken along with his second wife Maria Katharina Berg (born 5 January 1732) and his son by the first wife: Johann Adam (born 16 November 1753).
(b) Maria Dorothea Maÿ born in Spachbrücken 2 July 1718. She married in Spachbrücken on 22 January 1743 to Georg Heinrich Buxbaum, son of Henrich Buxbaum & Anna Catharina Neuroth. He had been born in Spachbrücken on 3 June 1695.
Among their children is Johannes Buxbaum who was born 27 April 1743 in Spachbrücken. He joined the migration to Russia with his uncle and like his cousin married in Büdingen on 25 April 1766 to Maria Elisabeth Maier. [See Buxbaum Family.]
Johann[es] Buxbaum and his wife arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 19 July 1766 aboard a galliot named Kronstadt under the command of Lieutenant Samuel Gibbs.
Johann[es] Buxbaum, a farmer, and his wife Maria Elisabeth Maier are recorded on the 1767 census of Holstein in Household No. 38. They, too, had arrived in Holstein on 7 July 1767.
Surname was spelled "Maÿ" in the German documents and appears to have been spelled that way in early Russian documents as well. At some point during the 1840s, the spelling changed to "Mai" for all of those families that had immigrated to Russia and those that remained in Spachbrücken.
Johannes Mai, son of Johann Peter Mai, from Holstein is recorded on the 1811 census of Dietel in Household No. 60 along with a note that he had arrived in Dietel from Holstein in 1800.
Johannes Mai and his wife are recorded on the 1834 census of Dietel in Household No. 90.
Johannes Mai is recorded on the 1850 census of Dietel in Household No. 91.
The death of Johannes Mai in 1853 is recorded on the 1857 census of Dietel in Household No. 81. There are no known surviving male lines of this Johannes Mai among the Volga German colonies.
Johann Jakob Mai from Kratzke and his family are recorded on the 1857 census of Ährenfeld.
- 1811 Dietel Census (Household No. 60).
- 1834 Dietel Census (Household No. 90).
- 1850 Dietel Census (Household No. 91).
- 1857 Ährenfeld Census.
- 1857 Dietel Census (Household No. 81).
- Kohl, Gunnar and Helmut Ramge. Familienbuch Spachbrücken (Darmstadt: Deutsche Ortssippenbücher, 2001): 284.
- Mai, Brent Alan. 1798 Census of the German Colonies along the Volga (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1999): Ho10, Ho12, Ho14, Ho30, Ho41.
- Mai, Brent Alan & Dona Reeves-Marquardt. German Migration to the Russian Volga (1764-1767): Origins and Destinations (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 2003): #584, #586.
- Ortsfamilienbuch Spachbruecken [Online].
- Parish register of Spachbrücken (LDS Intl Film #1190550).
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 2 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2001): 135-136.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #2850, #2852, #2853, #2854, #2855, #2856.
Brent Mai
Maria Flekler Laufer
Entry from the Oranienbaum passenger list recording Johann Mai and his family.
Source: Brent Mai.
Entry from the Oranienbaum passenger list recording additional Mai families (and the related Buxbaum family).
Source: Brent Mai.