There are several Rudolph families associated with the colony of Leichtling. The first is believed to be the father of the remainder, but their exact relationships to one another need further research.
They both arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 9 June 1766 aboard a ship named Die Perle under the command of Skipper Gerhardt Hermann Thomsen.
(1) Johann Rudolph, a farmer, his wife Anna, and daughters (Barbara, age 25; Eva, age 9; Katharina, age 5) arrived in Oranienbaum.
Eva Margaretha Rudolph (age 13) is recorded on the 1767 census of Leichtling in Household No. 46 as the sister of Nikolaus Rudolph.
(2) Nikolaus Rudolph, a farmer, his wife Eva, and son Johann (age 1¼) arrived in Oranienbaum.
Nikolaus Rudolph, his wife Eva Elisabeth Ludgardt, son Franz (age 5-weeks), and sister Eva Margaretha (age 13) are recorded on the 1767 census of Leichtling in Household No. 46. They had settled there on 14 May 1767.
In 1790, Franz Rudolph moved from Leichtling to Pfeifer.
(3) Sebastian Rudolph & Anna Maria Schnellenbacher were married on 13 March 1766 in the Lutheran Church of Büdingen.
Sebastian Rudolph, a farmer, his wife Anna, and sister Anna (age 25) arrived in Oranienbaum.
Anna Maria Schnellbecher [sic] is recorded on the 1767 census of Leichtling in Household No. 43 as the wife of Franz Mehler with whom she had arrived in Oranienbaum.
(4) Katharina Rudolph is recorded on the 1767 census of Leichtling in Household No. 42 as the wife of Nikolaus Muffert.
The Oranienbaum passenger list records that each of these Rudolph families came from the German region of Friedberg.
The 1767 census records that Nikolaus Rudolph came from the German region of Neustadt.
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Auswanderung deutscher Kolonisten nach Russland im Jahre 1766 (Moscow: Idt & Rauschenbach, 2019): 29.
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Deutsche Kolonisten im Jahr 1766 in Oranienbaum und in den Siedlungsorten: Die Kuhlberg-Listen (Moscow: Idt & Rauschenbach, 2024): 166.
- 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): Lg42, Pf81, Mv1538.
- 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): #424.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 3 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2005): 60, 61.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #1063, #1065, #1066.
Brent Mai