Johann Jost Gerdt [sic], son of Philip Gerdt, was baptized in Hüttengesäß on 28 August 1710, the son of Philip Gerdt. He married in Hüttengesäß on 4 January 1736 to Catharina Bender, daughter of Johann Bender. She had been baptized 2 January 1711 in Hüttengesäß.
The baptisms of the following children born to Johann Jost Gerdt & Catharina Bender are recorded in the parish register of Hüttengesäß: Anna Barbara, baptized 7 November 1740; and Christina, baptized 3 April 1744, died 6 December 1744.
The Lists of the recruiter Johann Facius describe a family of 5 persons: Jost Gerth, age 56, from Hüttengesäß, with his wife, age 55, one son, age 12, and two daughters, ages 20 and 16, a good farmer of the Reformed religion.
Just Erth [sic], a farmer, his wife Katharina, and children (Philipp, age 13; Anna, age 11½) arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 19 July 1766 aboard the galliot named Kronshlot under the command of Skipper Ivan Kunakovskii.
They settled in the Volga German colony of Balzer on 1 July 1767. Widower Just Erth [sic] and son Philipp (age 14) are recorded on the 1767 census of Balzer in Household No. 90.
Subsequent censuses (1798, 1834, and 1857) record this surname as Herdt.
Both the Oranienbaum passenger list and the 1767 census record that Just Erth [sic] came from the German region of Isenburg.
- 1834 Balzer Census (Household No. 24).
- 1857 Balzer Census (Household Nos. 24 & 142).
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Auswanderung deutscher Kolonisten nach Russland im Jahre 1766 (Moscow: Nestor-Historia, 2015): 32.
- List of those recruited by Johann Facius from 13 November 1765 to 18 February 1766.
- 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): Bz052.
- Parish register of Hüttengesäß.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 1 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 1999): 99.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #3013.
Brent Mai
Wayne Bonner