Appel (Yagodnaya Polyana)

There are three Appel families that settled in the Volga German colony of Yagodnaya Polyana on 16 September 1767. They are all part of the same Appel family from the German village of Ober-Lais.

Three of them arrived together from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 13 September 1766 aboard the galliot Die Perle under the command of Skipper Thomson.

Heinrich Appel, son of Conrad Appel, married in Unter-Lais on 24 June 1715 to Elisabetha Feller, daughter of Johann Georg Feller from Streithain. Among their six known children are (1) Johann Peter, baptized 26 April 1716; (2) Johann Adam, baptized 20 April 1722; and (3) Anna Elisabetha, baptized in August 1730.

(1) Peter Appel married on 3 April 1739 to Barbara Rühl, daughter of Balthasar Rühl from Ober-Lais. Peter and Barbara's son Johann Heinrich was baptized in Ober-Lais on 25 May 1747.

Peter Appel, his wife Anna Barbara, and their son Johann Heinrich (age 20) are recorded together arriving in Oranienbaum.

Peter Aapel [sic], his wife Anna Barbara, and son Johann Heinrich (age 20) are recorded on the list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767.

On the 1767 census of Yagodnaya Polyana, Peter is recorded as a widower in Household No. 13. Son Johann Heinrich and his new wife Katharina are recorded in Household No. 14.

(2) Johann Adam Appel married and the baptisms of seven of his children (the older three born in Ober-Lais and the younger four born in Unter-Lais) are recorded in the parish register of Wallernhausen: (1) Anna Maria, baptized 5 November 1746; (2) Anna Juliana, baptized 23 January 1749, died 12 April 1751; (3) Johannes, baptized 15 January 1753, died 26 May 1756; (4) Anna Dorothea, baptized 16 November 1755, died 7 June 1756; (5) Simon, baptized 24 July 1757; (6) Johann Heinrich, baptized 19 March 1761; and (7) Eva Catharina, baptized 4 December 1763.

Oldest daughter Anna Maria Appel married on 1 August 1766 in Pastor Bruns's house in Lübeck to Andreas Fischer from the region of Hanau. The marriage is recorded in the parish register of St. Jacob's Lutheran Church in Lübeck.

Andreas Fischer, farmer, and his wife Anna Maria arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 15 September 1766 aboard the snow-brig Die Frau Dietrika under the command of Skipper Joachim Friedrich Luhn.

Johann Adam Appel arrived in Oranienbaum along with his wife Anna Katharina and children (Elisabeth, age 19; Simon, age 9½; Johann Heinrich, age 6; Johann Kaspar, age 2-weeks).

Johann Adam Apel [sic], his wife Katharina, and children (Elisabeth, age 20; Simon, age 10; Johann Heinrich, age 6) are recorded on the list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767 along with a note that mother Katharina and son Johann Heinrich died in route.

The 1767 census of Yagodnaya Polyana records Adam (remarried to a much younger wife) and son Simon in Household No. 15.

(3) Anna Elisabeth Appel, daughter of the deceased Heinrich Appel from Unter-Lais, married on 26 June 1766 in Büdingen to Johann Caspar Rüppel from Wallernhausen [see Ruppel Family].

Johann Kaspar Ruppel, a farmer from Darmstadt, and his wife Elisabeth arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 15 September 1766 aboard the galliot Johannes under the command of Skipper Stahl.

Johann Kaspar Ruppel, his wife Elisabeth, and son Johannes are recorded on the list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767 along with a note that son Johannes died in route.

It is not known in which colony they settled.

Johannes Appel and Georg Johannes Appel from Yagodnaya Polyana and their families.are recorded on the 1857 census of Neu-Yagodnaya-Polyana.

The Oranienbaum passenger list records that these Appel families came from the German region of Darmstadt. The 1767 census of Yagodnaya Polyana records that all of these Appel families came from the German village of Ober Lais in the region of Nidda.