This surname has been very confusing because of the variety of ways it has been recorded on Russian documents.
Johann Klaudius Bally, son of Johann B[aptiste] & Anna Bally from Valsonne, married Maria Elisabeth Rhein, a widow from Mainz, on 18 April 1746 in the Liebfrauen Church in Mainz. The official name of this Catholic parish is St. Maria ad Gradus, but it is commonly called Libfrauenkirche.
The baptism of their son Johann Michael Bally is recorded in Sankt Quentin Catholic Church in Mainz on 11 February 1747, where the parents are recorded as Johann Klaudius, a tailor, and Elisabeth; and his godfather is recorded as Johann Michael Erbes, also a tailor.
Michael Kladibali (Cyrillic = Кладибали), a tailor (Schneider), age 22, and his wife Anna Margaretha, age 16, are recorded on the 1767 census of Preuss in Household No. 144. They had settled there on 12 May 1767.
Michael and his family are next recorded on the 1798 census of Preuss, with the surname of Klaudibali. Michael's son Johannes is recorded on the 1798 census as well, and again on the 1834 census of Preuss in Household No. 79 under the surname of Klaudebelle (Cyrillic = Клаудебалле). The 1850 and 1857 censuses of Preuss, however, record the surname as Balle (Cyrillic = Балле) in several households. The death of Johannes Balle in 1844 is recorded on the 1850 census of Preuss in Household No. 94.
The 1767 census records that Michael Kladibali [sic] came from the region of Mainz.
- 1834 Preuss Census (Households No. 79, 107, 124).
- 1850 Preuss Census (Households No. 94,147).
- 1857 Preuss Census (Households No. 122, 187).
- 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): Ps38.
- Parish register of Sankt Quentin parish in Mainz.
- Parish register of St. Maria ad Gradus in Mainz.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 3 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2005): 440.
Jochen Podelo
Brent Mai