Two Bernhardt families settled in the Volga German colony of Rothammel on 21 August 1767. They both arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 16 August 1766 aboard a snow-brig named Neptunus (Neptune) under the command of Skipper Johann Graap.
(1) Anton Bernhardt, a farmer, his wife Barbara, children (Margaretha, age 5¼, and Anna, age 1¼), and [step-]children (Katharina [Lauer]; Lorenz [Lauer], age 13) arrived in Oranienbaum.
Neither of the daughters appear to have survived because they are not recorded on the 1767 Rothammel. Anton & Barbara are recorded on the 1767 census of Rothammel in Household No. 6 along with stepchildren (Katharina Lauer, age 20; Lorenz Lauer, age 17).
(2) Johannes Bernhardt, a farmer, arrived in Oranienbaum with his wife Anna Maria and son Jakob (age ½).
Johann Bernhardt and his wife are recorded on the list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767.
The young son did not survive, as Johannes and Anna Maria are recorded without children on the 1767 census of Rothammel in Household No. 22.
Johannes Bernhardt (age 28) and his family are recorded on the 1798 census of Rothammel in Household No. Rt32, but it is unknown whether Anton or Johannes is the father of this 28-year-old Johannes.
Johannes Bernhardt and his family are recorded on the 1834 census of Rothammel in Household No. 3 and two of his sons are recorded there in Household No. 56.
The Oranienbaum passenger list records that both of these Bernhardt families came from the German region of Nassau. The 1767 census records that they both came from the German village of Springen in the Nassau region.
- 1834 Rothammel Census (Households No. 3, 56).
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Auswanderung deutscher Kolonisten nach Russland im Jahre 1766 (Moscow: Idt & Rauschenbach, 2019): 34.
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Deutsche Kolonisten im Jahr 1766 in Oranienbaum und in den Siedlungsorten: Die Kuhlberg-Listen (Moscow: Idt & Rauschenbach, 2024): 741.
- 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): Rt32.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 4 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2008): 82, 85.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #5930, #5931.
- Rauschenbach, Georg. Deutsche Kolonisten auf dem Weg von St. Petersburg nach Saratow: Transportlisten von 1766-1767 (Moscow: G.V. Rauschenbach, 2017): #6473-6474.
Brent Mai