Johann Valentin Meisinger, son of Johannes & Margaretha Meisinger, was baptized in Aulendiebach on 3 March 1706. He married Anna Catharina Hart, daughter of Jacob Hart in Aulendiebach on 6 October 1734.
The baptisms of the children of Johann Valentin Meisinger & Anna Catharina Hart are recorded on the parish register of Aulendiebach: (1) Anna Appolonia, baptized 24 October 1737; (2) Johannes, baptized 11 September 1740; (3) Anna Maria, baptized 23 August 1744; (4) Anna Margaretha, baptized 27 November 1747; and (5) Anna Elisabeth, baptized 19 March 1750.
Anna Catharina Meisinger née Hart died and Valentin remarried on 3 July 1755 in Aulendiebach to Catharina Hensel.
The baptism of the child of Johann Valentin Meisinger & Catharina Hensel is recorded in the parish register of Aulendiebach: (6) Johann Heinrich, baptized 21 October 1757.
Valentin and his second wife are recorded in the parish records of Rohrbach as leaving for Russia in 1766 along with other families from the area.
Oldest son Johannes married on 21 May 1766 in the Reformed Church in Lübeck to Eva Bopp, daughter of Johann Heinrich & Anna Elisabeth Bopp. She was also baptized in neighboring Rohrbach on 12 August 1740.
Valentin Meisinger, a farmer, his wife Anna [sic], and their children (Anna, age 24, Margaretha, age 20, Elisabeth, age 17½, and Johann, age 9) arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 4 July 1766 aboard the English frigate Love & Unity under the command of Skipper Thomas Fairfax along with married son Johann[es] and his wife Eva.
Valentin and his wife evidently died in route to the colonies along the Volga.
(1) Anna Appolonia Meisinger married Johannes Geiss. They are recorded on the 1767 census of Messer in Household No. 59. They had arrived in Messer on 18 June 1767. [See Geiss Family.]
(2) Johannes Meisinger, a farmer, his wife Eva, and son Johann Heinrich (age 3 months) are recorded on the 1767 census of Balzer in Household No. 62. They had arrived in Balzer on 18 June 1767.
In 1798, Johannes Meisinger moved from Balzer to Saratov.
(3) Anna Maria Meisinger married Anton Herdt. They are recorded on the 1767 census of Messer in Household No. 58. They had arrived in Messer on 18 June 1767. [See Herdt Family.]
(4) Anna Margaretha Meisinger married Adam Lang. They are recorded on the 1767 census of Messer in Household No. 57 along with her youngest brother Johann Heinrich Meisinger (age 10). They had arrived in Messer on 18 June 1767. [See Lang Family.]
(5) Anna Elisabeth Meisinger. At age 17½, she is recorded arriving with her father and stepmother in Oranienbaum. She has not been located on the 1767 Census, but is recorded on the 1798 census of Schilling in Household No. 22 married to Johannes Kaufmann. They had arrived in Messer on 18 June 1767. [See Kaufmann Family.]
(6) Johann Heinrich Meisinger (age 10) is recorded on the 1767 census of Messer in Household No. 57 as the orphaned child of Valentin Messinger. He is living with his sister Anna Margaretha and her husband Adam Lang. They had arrived in Messer on 18 June 1767.
Both the Oranienbaum passenger list and the 1767 censuses of Balzer & Messer record that the Meisinger family came from the German region of Isenburg.
- Bonner, Wayne H. Volga German Settlers Identified in Isenburg and Other German Church Records Part I (Gardena, CA: Wayne Bonner, 2007): 44-45.
- 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): Bz061, Ko12, Ms34, Mv0100.
- Mai, Brent Alan and Dona Reeves-Marquardt. German Migration to the Russian Volga (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 2003): #1190, #1258.
- Parish register of Rohrbach, including Aulendiebach (LDS Film No. 1201847).
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 1 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 1999): 89.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 3 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2005): 145.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #1754, #1755.
Wayne Bonner
Brent Mai