Nikolaus Schönwetter (became Bontemps in French), son of Schönwetter & Joanna Merres, was born 12 June 1718 in Filsdorf (Filstroff in French).
Nikolaus (Jr.) Bontemps married Anna Maria Lang.
The parish register of Filsdorf records the baptisms of the following children born to Nikolaus (Jr.) Bontemps & Anna Maria Lang: (1) Nikolaus, born 20 October 1748; and (2) Margaretha, born 30 December 1750.
Anna Maria Bontemps née Lang died. Nikolaus (Jr.) Bontemps remarried to Katharina Raux [?].
Katharina Bontemps née Raux [?] died. Nikolaus (Jr.) Bontemps remarried on 28 August 1759 to Joannatha Koster, daughter of Jean Claude Koster & Elisabetha Schreffer [Jean Claude Koster had married Elisabetha Schreffer on 11 January 1718]. Joannatha Koster had been born 10 November 1718.
The parish register of Filsdorf records the baptisms of the following child born to Nikolaus (Jr.) Bontemps & Joannatha Koster: Maria, born 20 March 1762.
Nikolaus Bontemps, a farmer, his wife Johannetta, and son Nikolaus (age 18) arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 16 August 1766 aboard a galliot named Adler (Eagle) under the command of Skipper Paul Adolph Drath.
Nicolaus Bontems [sic], his wife Johanna [sic], and son Nicolaus (age 20) are recorded on the list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767 along with a note that father Nicolaus died en route.
Nikolaus [junior], his [newly-wed] wife Anna, and mother Johannetta are recorded on the 1767 census of Hölzel in Household No. 36. They had settled in Hölzel on 11 September 1767. Anna, the wife of Nikolaus [junior] is believed to be Anna Arnold, sister-in-law of Stephan Seelmann, who was traveling with them from St. Petersburg to Saratov.
In 1788, Nikolaus Bontemps and his family moved from Hölzel to Seelmann.
Katharina Bondang, widow of Nikolaus Bondang, her children by Nikolaus Bondang (Anna, age 19; Katharina, age 15; Margaretha, age 13; Johannes, age 11; Michael, age 9; Christoph, age 8; Susanna, age 6; Anna Maria, age 1), and Gerhard Bondang, the son of Nikolaus Bondang by his first wife, are recorded on the 1798 census of Seelmann in Household No. Sm17.
The death of Gerhard Bondang in 1801 is recorded on the 1811 census of Seelmann in Household No. 17.
Michael Bondang, son of Nikolaus Bondang, is recorded on the 1811 census of Seelmann in Household No. 17 along with a note that he relocated to the colony of Neu-Kolonie in 1809.
Michael Bondang, son of Nikolaus Bondang, from Rohleder is recorded on the 1811 census of Neu-Kolonie in Household No. 33 along with a note that he had arrived in Neu-Kolonie from Rohleder in 1809.
The Oranienbaum passenger list records that Nikolaus Bontemps came from the German region of Lothringen. The 1767 census records that Nikolaus Bontemps came from the German village of Winsdorf in the Lothringen region.
Researcher Viktor Becker records that this family came from the German village of Filsdorf in the Moselle region of what today is in France.
- 1811 Neu-Kolonie Census (Household No. 33).
- 1811 Seelmann Census (Household No. 17)
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Auswanderung deutscher Kolonisten nach Russland im Jahre 1766 (Moscow: Idt & Rauschenbach, 2019): 33.
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Deutsche Kolonisten im Jahr 1766 in Oranienbaum und in den Siedlungsorten: Die Kuhlberg-Listen (Moscow: Idt & Rauschenbach, 2024): 747.
- 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): Sm17, Mv0932.
- Parish register of Filsdorf [Filstroff].
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 2 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2001): 117.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #5972.
- Rauschenbach, Georg. Deutsche Kolonisten auf dem Weg von St. Petersburg nach Saratow: Transportlisten von 1766-1767 (Moscow: G.V. Rauschenbach, 2017): #7536-7538, 7593.
Brent Mai
Viktor Becker
Anonymous2