Johann Conrad & Elisabeth Schäfer had four children who immigrated to Russia. Mother Elisabeth and four of the children and their families arrived together from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 9 August 1766 and settled in the Volga German colony of Huck on 17 August 1767.
(1) Johannes Schäfer was baptized on 26 December 1719 in Neuenschmidten. On 7 November 1743, Johannes married Anna Margaretha Baÿer, daughter of Peter Baÿer from Udenhain. The baptisms of four children, all born in Udenhain, are recorded in the Hellstein parish register: (1) Anna Maria, baptized 21 November 1745; (2) Elisabetha, baptized 22 December 1748; (3) Anna Elisabeth, born 4 March 1756, baptized 7 March 1756, died 2 January 1757; and (4) Johann Conrad, born 8 February 1764, baptized 10 February 1764.
Johann[es] Schäfer, a farmer, his wife Anna Katharina, and children (Anna Maria, age 23; Elisabeth, age 30; Johann Konrad, age 2½) arrived in Oranienbaum. They are recorded on the 1767 census of Huck in Household No. 80.
(2) Elisabeth Schäfer was baptized in Hellstein on 7 July 1726. She married Johann Peter Kreick in Schlierbach on 24 July 1752. They and their children are recorded on the 1767 census of Huck in Household No. 78.
(3) Johann Conrad Schäfer and his twin sister Anna Catharina were baptized in Hellstein on 15 August 1734. Johann Conrad and Anna Catharina Wahn, daughter of Johann Reinhard Wahn, were married in Hellstein on 29 April 1756. [Anna Catharina had been baptized in Oberreichenbach on 23 November 1732.] The baptisms of four children, all born in Hellstein, are recorded in the parish register of Hellstein: (1) Maria Magdalena, born 17 December 1756, baptized 26 December 1756, died 1 March 1757; (2) Johann Wilhelm, born 18 November 1758, baptized 26 November 1758; (3) Anna Elisabeth, born 27 June 1761, baptized 5 July 1761, died 19 June 1763; and (4) Johannes, born 28 February 1764, baptized 4 March 1764.
Konrad Schäfer, a farmer, his wife Anna Katharina, children (Johann Wilhelm [recorded as Wilhelmina in 1767], age 7; Konrad, age 2-weeks), and his mother Elisabeth arrived in Oranienbaum. They are recorded on the 1767 census of Huck in Household No. 82.
(4) Johann Wilhelm Schäfer (born about 1744) arrived as a single cobbler (Schuhmacher) in Oranienbaum. He is recorded on the 1767 census of Huck in Household No. 79. He is believed to be the child of Johann Conrad & Elisabeth Schäfer although record of his birth has yet to be located in Hellstein.
Both the Oranienbaum passenger list and the 1767 census record that these Schäfer families came from the German region of Isenburg.
- Decker, Klaus-Peter. Die Auswanderung von 1766/67 aus der Grafschaft Ysenburg-Büdingen nach Russland, pp. 170-171.
- 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): Hk38, Hk39, Hk58.
- Parish records of Hellstein.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 2 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2001): 159, 160.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #4932, #4933, #4934, #4936.
Maggie Hein
Brent Mai
Pre-Volga Origin
Volga Colonies
Immigration Locations
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