There are two Grünwald families from Groß-Felda that migrated to the Volga German colonies. Both are descendants of Hartmann Grünewald who was buried on 11 May 1670 in Kestrich.
(1) Johann Kaspar Grünwald, son of Hans Kasper Grünwald & Anna Elisabeth Scharmann, was born 4 February 1723 in Groß-Felda. He married on 12 August 1744 to Anna Katharina Eißfeller, daughter of Johann Conrad Eißfeller & Anna Catharina Dietz. She had been born 17 May 1718 in Groß-Felda.
The births of several children to Johann Kaspar Grünewald & Anna Catharina Eißfeller, are recorded in the parish register of Groß-Felda: (1) Caspar, born 16 August 1745, baptized 18 August 1745; (2) Catharina Elisabetha, born 26 November 1747, baptized 27 November 1747; (3) Johann Georg, born 12 July 1750, baptized 14 July 1750; (4) Anna Dorothea, born & baptized 3 August 1753; (5) Johann Caspar, born 22 July 1756, baptized 26 July 1756; and (6) Catharina, born & baptized 18 November 1759.
Johann Kaspar Grünwald, a blacksmith, his wife Anna Katharina, and children (Johann Kaspar, age 21; Katharina Elisabeth, age 18; Anna Dorothea, age 12; Johann Kaspar [again], age 10; Katharina, age 7) arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 13 September 1766 aboard the galliot Die Perle under the command of Skipper Thomson.
Johann Casper Grunewaldt [sic], his wife Cathrina, and children (Johann Casper, age 24; Elisabeth, age 20; Dorothea, age 16; Casper, age 12) are recorded on the list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767.
Kaspar Grünewald, a farmer, his wife Anna Katharina, and children (Johann Kaspar, age 22; Anna Dorothea, age 17; Kaspar, age 13) are recorded on the 1767 census of Frank in Household No. 65. They had settled there in 1767.
Kaspar Grünewald (the older son) and his family are recorded on the 1798 census of Frank in Household No. Fk067. Kaspar (the younger son) and his family are recorded in Household No. Fk108.
Descendants of this Grünewald family are recorded on the 1834 census of Frank in Households No. 90, 164, 176, 234.
The Oranienbaum passenger list records that Johann Kaspar Grünwald came from the German region of Darmstadt. The 1767 census records that he came from the German village of Feld in the Hessen-Darmstadt region.
(2) Johann Wilhelm Grünewald, son of Johannes Grünewald & Anna Catharina Bücking, was baptized 24 November 1729 in Groß-Felda.
Johann Wilhelm Grunenwald [sic] from Felda near Ulrichstein & Anna Eliesabetha Schmidt from Bobenhausen were married on 8 April 1766 in the Lutheran Church of Büdingen.
This couple has not been located among the Volga German colonies.
- 1834 Frank Census (Households No. 90, 164, 176, 234).
- Mai, Brent Alan. 1798 Census of the German Colonies along the Volga (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1999): Fk067, Fk108.
- 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): #499.
- Parish register of Groß-Felda [Online].
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 1 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 1999): 429.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #6215.
- Rauschenbach, Georg. Deutsche Kolonisten auf dem Weg von St. Petersburg nach Saratow: Transportlisten von 1766-1767 (Moscow: G.V. Rauschenbach, 2017): #8191-8196.
Maggie Hein
Brent Mai