Aqua
The Aqua family moved from Italy to Germany before 1750 and settled in the village of Hattersheim, today part of metropolitan Frankfurt directly across the Main River (northwest) from the Frankfurt Airport.
Johannes Peter Aqua, son of Antoni Josephi & Petronella Aqua, was baptized on 29 November 1726 in Codogno, Italy. He moved to Hessen where he married on 12 October 1750 in the Catholic Church of the neighboring village of Hochheim to Maria Anna Weninger, daughter of Johann Georg Weninger & Maria Elisabetha Keim. Maria Anna had been born 8 April 1724 and baptized in the same church. They had a number of children, all baptized in this same church, including: (1) Apollonia, born 27 June 1751 & baptized 28 June 1751; (2) Johann Baptist, born & baptized on 24 June 1753; (3) Andreas Anton, born 17 June 1756, died 21 April 1757; (4) Karl, born 30 August 1758, died 18 September 1758; and (5) Elisabetha, born 24 September 1763, died 20 February 1764.
The Aqua family immigrated to Russia, sailing from the port of Lübeck aboard the galliot Der Jan with skipper Markus Dragun at the helm, and arriving at the Russian port of Oranienbaum on 14 September 1766. They settled in the Volga German colony of Keller on 5 September 1767 where they are recorded on the 1767 Census in Household No. 64.
In 1774, Keller was destroyed by attacks from the nomadic peoples of the area, and the Aqua family relocated to the newly-formed colony of Neu-Kolonie.
Aqua descendants are recorded there on the 1798 Census in Households No. Nk27 & Nk45.
Georg Aqua and his family are recorded on the 1811 census of Neu-Kolonie in Household No. 25.
The family name has many spellings throughout the centuries and across the continents: Aqua, Acqua, Aqwa, Akwa, Akva.
- 1811 Neu-Kolonie Census (Household No. 25).
- 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): Nk27, Nk45.
- Parish records of Codogno (Italy).
- Parish records of Hochheim (LDS Film No. 1270321).
- Parish records of Hattersheim (LDS Film No. 1270177).
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 2 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2001): 355.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical Universiy, 2010): #5671.
João Vicente Akwa
Irma Sabelfeld
Entry in the parish register of the Church of St. Biagio & the Immaculate Conseption of Mary in Codogno recording the baptism of Johannes Peter Aqua on 29 November 1726 (bottom of the page).
Source: João Vicente Akwa.
Baptismal register of the Church of St. Biagio & the Immaculate Conseption of Mary in Codogno.
Source: João Vicente Akwa.
Entry from the 1798 census of Neu-Kolonie recording the widow and children of Johannes Aqua.
Source: Irma Sabelfeld.