Michael Schönfeld, a farmer, his wife Anna Maria, and children (Anna Margaretha, age 12; Johann Heinrich, age 7; Johann, age 3) arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 19 July 1766 aboard a pink named Новая Двинка (New Dvinka [a river in Russia]) under the command of Lieutenant Ivan Perepechin.
They settled in the Volga German colony of Pfeifer on 20 August 1767 and are recorded there on the 1767 census in Household No. 76.
The 1798 census of Volmer records Johannes Schönfeld from Schuck in Household No. Vm23. He is believed to be the younger Johann Schönfeld above.
Georg, Johannes, & Kaspar Schönfeld, sons of Heinrich Schönfeld, are recorded on the 1834 census of Pfeifer in Household No. 23 along with a note that they relocated to the colony of Husaren.
Georg Schönfeld from Pfeifer and his family are recorded on the 1834 census of Husaren in Household No. 26.
Kaspar Schönfeld from Pfeifer and his family are recorded on the 1834 census of Husaren in Household No. 25.
Johannes Schönfeld from Pfeifer and his family are recorded on the 1834 census of Husaren in Household No. 75.
Johannes Schönfeld from Husaren and his family are recorded on the 1857 census of Marienfeld.
Johannes Schönfeld from Pfeifer and his family are recorded on the 1857 census of Marienfeld.
Both the Oranienbaum passenger list and the 1767 census record that Johann Michael Schönfeld came from the German region of Fulda.
- 1834 Husaren Census (Households No. 25, 26, 75).
- 1834 Pfeifer Census (Households No. 23, 116, 151, 159
- 1857 Marienfeld Census.
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Auswanderung deutscher Kolonisten nach Russland im Jahre 1766 (Moscow: Idt & Rauschenbach, 2019): 31.
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Deutsche Kolonisten im Jahr 1766 in Oranienbaum und in den Siedlungsorten: Die Kuhlberg-Listen (Moscow: Idt & Rauschenbach, 2024): 491.
- 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): Pf20, Pf26, Pf33, Vm23.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 3 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2005): 396.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #3843.
Brent Mai