Johann[es] Luft, a farmer, his wife Katharina, and sons (Johann Heinrich, age 20; Wilhelm, age 17½; Adam, age 15; Konrad, age 10¼; Johann, age 8; Nikolaus, age 5¼) 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 settled in the Volga German colony of Schilling and the widow of Johannes Luft and some of their children are recorded on the 1775 census of Schilling in Household No. 84. Son Wilhelm Luft and his family are recorded on the 1775 census of Schilling in Household No. 82. Son Heinrich Luft and his family are recorded on the 1775 census of Schilling in Household No. 32.
The surviving Luft sons are recorded on the 1798 census of Schilling in Households No. Sg030, Sg033, Sg081, and Sg084.
The Oranienbaum passenger list records that Johann Luft came from the German region of Isenburg.
- 1775 Census of Schilling (Nos. 32, 82, 84).
- 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): 230.
- 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): Sg030, Sg033, Sg081, Sg082, Sg084.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #1633.
Brent Mai