There are three Morasch families that immigrated together to Russia in 1766. They arrived from Lübeck at the port in Oranienbaum aboard the Russian galliot Citadel on 11 August 1766. Their relationship to each other needs additional research.
(1) Johannes Georg Morasch, son of Johann Dieterich Morasch & Anna Eva Stockert, was born on 14 September 1734 and baptized in Höchst im Odenwald, about 25 kilometers east of Darmstadt, on 16 September 1734. He married in Höchst on 25 January 1753 to Anna Walpurga Weigel, daughter of Leonhard Weigel. They had the following children, each baptized in Höchst: (1) Anna Catharina (born 13 November 1753, baptized 14 November 1753); (2) Maria Catharina (born 27 January 1755, baptized 28 January 1755); (3) Johannes (born 18 January 1757, baptized 19 January 1757, died 27 January 1757); (4) Johannes (born 29 March 1758, baptized 30 March 1758); (5) Anna Eva (born 20 November 1760, baptized 22 November 1760, died 25 November 1760); (6) Anna Margaretha (born 22 December 1761, baptized 24 December 1761); and (7) Johann Dieter (born 11 April 1764, baptized 13 April 1764).
Johann Georg Morasch, his wife Anna Walburga, and children (Anna Catrina, age 15; Maria Cathrina, age 12; Johannes, age 10; Anna Margretha, age 5; Johann Adam, age ½) are recorded on the list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767 along with a note that father Johann Georg and son Johann Adam died en route.
Widow Walpurga Morasch remarried to Nicolaus Martin, and they arrived in the colony of Lauwe on 5 September 1767. They are recorded in Lauwe on the 1767 Census in Household No. 28. Their descendants are still living in Lauwe according to the 1798 Census.
(2) Johann Morasch married Anna Eva Joachim. They have two children (1) Johann Georg, born 6 August 1742 in Mümling-Grumach, baptized in 7 August 1742 in Höchst im Odenwald; and (2) Maria Margaretha, born 30 May 1735 and baptized in Höchst on the following day.
(1) Johann Georg Morasch married Veronika Lufft, daughter of Johann Nikolaus Lufft, on 29 May 1766 in the Lutheran Cathedral (Evangelische Kirche Dom) in Lübeck in route to Russia. Veronika had been born on 7 January 1747 and baptized on 8 January 1747 in Höchst.
They arrived in Oranienbaum along with the family of Johann Philipp Lust, Veronika's step-father.
Johann Georg Marost [sic] and his wife Feronicka [sic] are recorded on the list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767.
Johann Georg & Veronika arrived in the Volga German colony of Yagodnaya Polyana on 16 September 1767, and are recorded there on the 1767 census along with 8-day-old daughter Anna Margaretha in Household No. 67. They are still living in Yagodnaya Polyana according to the 1798 census, living in Household No. Yp77.
(2) Maria Margaretha Morasch married Johann Georg Heusel [see Heusel family].
Philipp Morasch and Heinrich Morasch from Yagodnaya Polyana and their families are recorded on the 1857 census of Neu-Yagodnaya-Polyana.
- 1857 Neu-Yagodnaya-Polyana Census.
- Gieg, Ella. Auswanderungen aus dem Odenwaldkreis Band 5 (Lützelbach: E. Gieg, 1988-1997): 260 & 269.
- 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): Lw23, Yp77.
- Mai, Brent Alan, trans. & ed. Transport of the Volga Germans from Oranienbaum to the Colonies on the Volga: 1766-1767 (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1998): #7225-7226.
- 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): #162.
- Parish records of Höchst (LDS Film Nos. 1193268 & 1193269).
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 2 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2001): 190.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): 332.
- Rauschenbach, Georg. Deutsche Kolonisten auf dem Weg von St. Petersburg nach Saratow: Transportlisten von 1766-1767 (Moscow: G.V. Rauschenbach, 2017): #7311-7317, 8339-8345.
Bill Pickelhaupt
Brent Mai