Johannes Zimmermann, son of Friedrich Zimmermann & Eva Heinrich, was born 17 October 1719 in Kapsweyer.
He married in 1744 in Bergzabern [today Bad Bergzabern] to Maria Margaretha Heinrich, daughter of Johannes Wendel Heinrich & Christina Wildmaser. She had been born 28 November 1721.
They have the following children:
(1) Mattias Zimmermann married in 1764 to Margaretha Nist, daughter of Michael Nist & Margaretha Maz.
(2) Eva Zimmermann, born in 1748; died 5 April 1750.
(3) Kaspar Zimmermann, born 18 January 1750.
(4) Johannes Georg Zimmermann, born 20 August 1753.
(5) Johannes Bernard Zimmermann, born 19 September 1756; died 16 July 1760.
(6) Margaretha Zimmermann, born 17 September 1761.
(7) Katharina Zimmermann, born 2 August 1763.
Three Zimmermann families arrived together from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 19 July 1766 aboard the galliot named Elisabeth Catharina under the command of Skipper Heinrich Ludwig Gottknecht. They all settled in the Volga German colony of Seelmann. Based upon the information above, the first two are father and son. The relationship to the third (Michael), if any, requires additional information.
(1) Johann Zimmermann, a farmer, and his wife Margaretha, and sons (Kaspar, age 17; Johann Georg, age 14; Wilhelm, age 3-weeks) arrived in Oranienbaum.
Johannes Zimmermann and his family arrived in Seelmann on 15 July 1767 and are recorded there on the 1767 census in Household No. 25.
(2) Mattias Zimmermann, a farmer, his wife Margaretha, and son Martin (age 1½) arrived in Oranienbaum.
Mattias Zimmermann and his wife Margaretha arrived in Seelmann on 16 August 1767. Margaretha died on 6 September 1767. Widower Mattias Zimmermann is recorded on the 1767 census of Seelmann in Household No. 77.
(3) Michael Zimmermann, a single farmer, arrived in Oranienbaum.
Michael Zimmermann and his wife Elisabeth arrived in Seelmann on 15 July 1767 and are recorded there on the 1767 census in Household No. 24. Elisabeth is believed to be the widow of both Alexander Morbius and Friedrich Zanner. It is believed that Elisabeth's children (recorded as Georg Zanner, age 8, and & Christoph Zanner, age 4) are actually her children by Alexander Morbius. [See Morbius Family.]
The Oranienbaum passenger list records that these three Zimmerman families came from the German region of Alsace. The 1767 census records that all of them came from the German village of Kanswehr [Kapsweyer] in the Alsace region.
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Auswanderung deutscher Kolonisten nach Russland im Jahre 1766 (Moscow: Idt & Rauschenbach, 2019): 32.
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Deutsche Kolonisten im Jahr 1766 in Oranienbaum und in den Siedlungsorten: Die Kuhlberg-Listen (Moscow: Idt & Rauschenbach, 2024): 396.
- 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): Sm01, Sm35.
- Parish register of Kapsweyer.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 4 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2008): 154, 163.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #3033, #3036, #3037.
Brent Mai