Two Bickart [Picard in some sources] families arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 9 June 1766 aboard an English frigate named Love & Unity under the command of Skipper Thomas Fairfax. They also both arrived in the Volga German colony of Galka on 27 July 1767. They are presumed to be mother and son, but further research is needed to verify this relationship.
(1) Konrad Bickart, a farmer, his wife Karolina, and daughter (age 4-weeks) arrived in Oranienbaum.
Konrad Bickart, a farmer, and his family are recorded on the 1767 census of Galka in Household No. 48.
In 1794, Balthasar Bickart and his family moved from Galka to Astrakhan.
(2) Widow Veronika Bickart and her children (Judith, age 22; Johann, age 15¼; Balthasar, age 10¼) arrived in Oranienbaum.
Widow Veronika Bickart and her sons are recorded on the 1767 census of Galka in Household No. 49.
In 1797, Just Bickart moved from Galka to Astrakhan.
The Oranienbaum passenger list records that these families both came from the German region of Isenburg. The 1767 census of Galka records that they both came from the German village of Orlen [?] in the region of Isenburg. A researcher named Albert reports on the forum of wolgadeutsche.net that this Bickart family came originally from Orleshausen in Hessen.
- 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): 245.
- 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): Mv0676, Mv0687.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 2 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2001): 32.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #1751, #1752.
Brent Mai
Albert (via Forum of wolgadeutsche.net)