Schuster (Leitsinger)*

Two Schuster families from Reuth settled among the Volga German colonies. Their relationship to each other requires additional research.

(1) The parish register of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Reuth records on 16 April 1742 the marriage of Georg Schuster and Margaretha Hager.

The baptisms of the following children born to Georg Schuster & Margaretha Hager are recorded in the parish register of St. John the Baptist Church in Reuth: (1) Adam, baptized 7 August 1742; (2) Kunigunda, baptized 18 April 1744; (3) Johannes, baptized 26 August 1746; (4) Michael, baptized 29 September 1748; (5) Johannes Georg, baptized 12 December 1751; (6) Christoph, baptized 28 August 1754; (7) Johannes, baptized 2 June 1757; (8) Agness, baptized 10 June 1760; and (9) Anna Katharina, baptized 1 March 1764.

Georg Schuster, a farmer, his wife Margaretha, and children (Adam, age 25; Kunigunda, age 22; Michael, age 18; Georg, age 16; Christoph, age 12; Agness, age 8; Hans, age 3; Anna Katharina, age 3) arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 15 August 1766 aboard a snow-brig named Drei Gebrüder (Three Brothers) under the command of Skipper Ludwig Münzenberg.

Georg Schuster and his children (Adam, age 24; Cunigunda, age 22; Michael, age 18; Georg, age 16; Christoph, age 12; Hans Georg, age 10; Agneseas, age 8) are recorded on the list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767 along with a note that Christoph & Agneseas died en route.

Adam Schuster (age 29) and his wife Margaretha (age 40) are recorded on the 1767 census of Leitsinger in Household No. 73.

Michael Schuster (age 19) is recorded on the 1767 census of Leitsinger in Household No. 84 along with his sister Kunigunda [Schuster] (age 25) and her [soon-to-be] husband Christoph Fritzmann.

By 1798, Michael Schuster is recorded in the colony of Neu-Kolonie (Nk06).

Georg Schuster (age 17) is recorded on the 1767 census of Leitsinger in Household No. 17 along with Joseph Hammerschmidt and his wife. A relationship between the Hammerschmidt and Schuster families is not recorded.

The Oranienbaum passenger list records that Georg Schuster came from the German region of Bamberg. The 1767 census records that Georg's oldest son Adam Schuster came from the German village of Reuth in the region of Bamberg.

(2) The parish register of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Reuth records the marriage of Barbara Schuster, daughter of Leonard Schuster, on 4 June 1753 to Johannes Amon, son of Johannes & Katharina Amon. 

Hans Amen, a farmer, his wife Barbara, and children (Hans, age 12; Kunigunda, age 9; Barbara, age 7; Georg, age 4; Johann, age ¾) arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 15 August 1766 aboard a snow-brig named Drei Gebrüder (Three Brothers) under the command of Skipper Ludwig Münzenberg.

Hans Amon [sic], his wife Barbara, and children (Hans, age 14; Cunigunda, age 10; Barbara, age 8; Georg, age 6; Johann, age ¾) are recorded on the list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767 along with a note that father Hans and son Johann died en route.

Widow Barbara Amen evidently remarried to Johann Strobel and then died herself before the 1767 census. The Amen children (Johannes, age 15; Kunigunda, age 9; Barbara, age 7; Georg, age 6) are recorded on the 1767 census of Leitsinger in Household No. 66 as the stepchildren of Johann Strobel. They had arrived in Leitsinger on 19 August 1767. [See AmenFamily.]

There are no surviving male lines of this Schuster family among the Volga German colonies.