There are two Gottfried families that arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 12 May 1766 aboard the galliot Anna Catharina under the command of Skipper Daniel Geier. They both settled in the Volga German colony of Kaneau on 7 June 1767. Their relationship to each other is not recorded on the 1767 census, but both are believed to have come from the same place.
(1) Johann Christian Gottfried, a farmer, and his wife Anna are recorded on the 1767 census of Kaneau in Household No. 50.
(2) Johann Peter Gottfried, a farmer, and his family are recorded on the 1767 census of Kaneau in Household No. 60. In 1789, Johann Georg Gottfried moved from Kaneau to Schaffhausen.
The Oranienbaum passenger list records that Johann Christian Gottfried came from the German region of Peterstal while the 1767 census records that he came from the German village of Gondorf. The Oranienbaum passenger list records that Johann Peter Gottfried came from the German region of Braunfels while the 1767 census reports that he came from the German region of Kursdorf. This Gondorf and Kursdorf are believed to be the same place, which could be today what is called Kobern-Gondorf, southwest of Braunfels.
- 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): Kn03, Kn04, Kn05, Sh37, Mv1158.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 2 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2001): 254, 257.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #126, #146.
Brent Mai