Conrad Wilhelm Kontschuch, son of Augustini Kontschuch, was born in Ortenberg (near Büdingen) on 20 February 1707. He married Anna Elisabeth Wendel, daughter of Johann Conrad Wendel, on 30 November 1730. They had one daughter: Anna Elisabeth, who died on 7 March 1738. Conrad Wilhelm then married Anna Barbara Blum, daughter of Johannes Blum, on 4 September 1738. They had three children: (1) Georg Christoph, born 6 January 1740; (2) Johann Daniel, born 23 May 1742; and (3) Anna Margaretha, born 15 January 1745. Anna Barbara died on 22 July 1762 and Georg Christoph married a third time to Maria Catharina Krahl on 1 March 1763. They had one son: Johann Daniel, born 13 October 1763.
The surviving members of this Konschuh family immigrated to Russia and arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 13 September 1766 aboard the galliot Die Perle under the command of Skipper Thomson.
Conrad Wilhelm Kontschu [sic] and his son Johann Daniel (age 24) are recorded on the list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767.
Christoph Konstuch [sic], his wife Catharina, and son Johann Daniel (age ¼, died in route) are also recorded on the list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767.
They settled in the Volga German colony of Yagodnaya Polyana on 16 September 1767. The 1767 census of Yagodnaya Polyana records Widower Konrad Wilhelm Konschuh in Household No. 4 and son Christoph and his family in Household No. 2.
Georg Konschu from Yagodnaya Polyana and his family are recorded on the 1857 census of Neu-Yagodnaya-Polyana.
The 1767 census records that both of these Konschuh families came from the German village of Ortenberg near Hanau.
- 1857 Neu-Yagodnaya-Polyana Census.
- Mai, Brent Alan. 1798 Census of the German Colonies along the Volga (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1999): Yp34, Yp39.
- Parish records of Ortenberg.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet 1764-1767 Band 2 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2001): 173-174.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #6283, #6286.
- Rauschenbach, Georg. Deutsche Kolonisten auf dem Weg von St. Petersburg nach Saratow: Transportlisten von 1766-1767 (Moscow: G.V. Rauschenbach, 2017): #7930-7932, 8045-8046.
Maggie Hein
Brent Mai