Johann Heinrich Betzolt, a weaver from Saxony, his wife Maria, and children (Johann, age 19; Ludwig, age 12; Eva, age 4) arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 18 August 1766 aboard the galliot named St. Johannes (Saint John) under the command of Skipper Carstens Stahl.
Joh. Henr. Betzold [sic], his wife Elisabeth, and children (Ludwig Henrich, age 20; Johann, age 14; Eva Magdal., age 4) are recorded on the list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767.
He and his wife did not survive the journey to the Volga German colonies. Their children settled in the Volga German colony of Frank in 1767 and are recorded there on the 1767 census: (1) Eva, age 4, in Household No. 1; (2) Ludwig Heinrich, age 13, in Household No. 36; and (3) Johannes, age 18, in Household No. 105.
By the time of the 1798 census, Johannes is living in Hussenbach (Hs097).
Johannes Petzold is recorded on the 1811 Hussenbach census in Household No. 97. His son Valentin is recorded there in Household No. 105.
The Oranienbaum passenger list records that Johann Heinrich Betzold came from the German region of Sachsen (Saxony).
- 1811 Hussenbach Census (Households No. 97, 105).
- 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): 795-796.
- 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): Hs097.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 1 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 1999): 419, 424, 436.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #6365.
- Rauschenbach, Georg. Deutsche Kolonisten auf dem Weg von St. Petersburg nach Saratow: Transportlisten von 1766-1767 (Moscow: G.V. Rauschenbach, 2017): #8099-8103.
Brent Mai