There are two Elsenbach families recorded in Leichtling. Their relationship to each other, if any, needs further research.
Both families arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 31 May 1766 aboard the pink Slon under the command of Lieutenant Sergey Panov. Both families settled in the Volga German colony of Leichtling on 14 June 1767.
(1) Joh. Henrich Sendelbach [sic] & Anna Margr. Seils [sic] were married on 8 March 1766 at the Lutheran Church in Büdingen.
Heinrich Elsenbach, a farmer, and his wife Margaretha arrived in Oranienbaum. They are recorded on the 1767 census of Leichtling in Household No. 5.
The 1798 census of Leichtling (Household No. Lg18) records that Georg Elsenbach is working in the colony of Köhler.
The 1834 census of Leichtling records in Household No. 76 that Michael Elsenbach moved from Leichtling to Kamenka. Michael Elsenbach and his wife are recorded on the 1834 census of Kamenka in Household No. 35.
The Oranienbaum passenger list records that Heinrich Elsenbach came from the German region of Mainz. The 1767 census records that he came from the German village of Aschaffenburg.
(2) Kaspar Elsenbach, a farmer, his wife Eva [Anna?], and son Johann (age 1) arrived in Oranienbaum. Hans Peter [Elsebach] (age 2½) is recorded on the 1767 census of Leichtling in Household No. 20 along with his stepfather Johannes Messler.
Peter Elsebach is recorded on the 1798 census of Leichtling in Household No. Lg43.
The Oranienbaum passenger list records that Kaspar Elsebach came from the German region of Mainz.
[Some translations erroneously report this surname as Sildenbach or Seldenbach or Elobach.]
- 1834 Kamenka Census (Household No. 35).
- 1834 Leichtling Census (Household No. 76).
- 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): Lg18, Lg21, Lg43.
- 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): #387.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 3 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2005): 52, 55.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #538, #559.
Brent Mai