Heinrich Sielwerst [sic], a hatmaker (Hutmacher), and his wife Margaretha Wenlid settled in the Volga German colony of Katharinenstadt on 27 August 1766. They are recorded there on the 1767 census in Household No. 61.
Heinrich Sievers (age 31), his wife Margaretha née Vennlied (age 35), and daughters (Christina, age 6; Anna Maria, age 2½) are recorded on the 1776 Katharinenstadt Grundbuch [Land Register] in Household No. 82 along with a note that son Johann was born in 1778.
The 1767 census records that Heinrich Sielwerst [sic] came from the Dutch town of Amsterdam in Holland. The 1776 Katharinenstadt Land Register records that Heinrich Sievers was born in Amsterdam and that Margaretha née Vennlied was born in the town of Schysteven in Holland.
There are no known surviving male lines of this family among the Volga German colonies.
- 1776 Katharinenstadt Grundbuch [Land Register] (Household No. 82).
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 2 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2001): 289.
Brent Mai