Two Bechthold families are recorded in Kutter. They are presumed to be brothers, but their exact relationship to each other, if any, needs further research.
(1) Johannes Betcholt [sic], a farmer, his wife Gertruda, daughter Anna (age 2¼), and servant Anna [surname not recorded] (age 25) arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 20 August 1766 aboard a galliot named Catharina Eleonora under the command of Skipper Peter Rehder.
Markus Bechtholt (age 32), a farmer, and his wife Gertrude are recorded on the 1767 census of Kutter in Household No. 50. They had arrived there on 29 July 1767.
The widow and children of Markus Bechtold are recorded on the 1798 census of Kutter in Household No. Kt66 along with a note that the widow Margaretha Bechtold is working in Balzer.
The two sons of Markus Bechthold (Johann Georg & Johann Friedrich) are recorded on the 1834 census of Kutter in Households No. 113 & 138.
The 1767 census records that Markus Bechtholt came from the German region of Hanau.
Markus Bechthold and his family immigrated to Russia from the German village of Hintersteinau.
(2) Michael [sic] Bechthold, a farmer, his wife Anna Katharina, and son Johann (age ¾) arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 28 July 1766 aboard a Russian pink named Vologda [an historic Russian city] under the command of Lieutenant Sergey Bartenyev.
Melchior Bechtholt (age 30), a farmer, and his wife Anna Katharina are recorded on the 1767 census of Kutter in Household No. 53. They had arrived there on 29 July 1767.
The Oranienbaum passenger list records that Michael [sic] Bechthold came from the German region of Isenburg. The 1767 census records that Melchior Bechtholt came from the German region of Isenburg.
- 1834 Kutter Census (Households No. 113, 138).
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Auswanderung deutscher Kolonisten nach Russland im Jahre 1766 (Moscow: Idt & Rauschenbach, 2019): 33, 34.
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Deutsche Kolonisten im Jahr 1766 in Oranienbaum und in den Siedlungsorten: Die Kuhlberg-Listen (Moscow: Idt & Rauschenbach, 2024): 610, 815.
- 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): Kt66.
- Müller-Marschhausen, Ernst. “Russland-Auswanderer aus dem Bergwinkel um 1766 und die Spurensuche nach ihrer Rückkehr im 20. Jahrhundert.” [Online]
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 2 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2001): 488-489.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #6523.
Brent Mai