Johann Peter Blumenschein, son of Johann Peter Blumenschein & Maria Elisabetha Rebscher, was born 24 May 1707 in Reichelsheim. He married 4 May 1728 in Reichelsheim to Maria Susanna Pegius, daughter of Johann Philipp Pegius. She had been baptized 12 August 1711 in Reichelsheim.
The baptisms of the following children born to Johann Peter Blumenschein & Maria Susanna Pegius are recorded in the parish register of Reichelsheim: (1) Louisa Catharina, born 14 October 1727; (2) Johanna Elisabetha, born 12 August 1729, died 21 May 1741 [in Gronau]; (3) Georg Wilhelm, born 18 September 1730, died in 1730; and (4) Johann Heinrich, born 4 November 1733.
Maria Susanna Blumenschein née Pegius died 10 October 1733 in Reichelsheim. Johann Peter Blumenschein remarried on 9 February 1734 in Reichelsheim to Anna Catharina Klinger, daughter of Johannes Klinger & Anna Barbara Boßler. She had been born 16 April 1707 in Pfaffen-Beerfurth and was baptized 17 April 1707 in Reichelsheim.
The baptisms of the following children born to Johann Peter Blumenschein & Anna Catharina Klinger are recorded in the parish register of Reichelsheim: (1) Anna Catharina, born 1 September 1736; (2) Anna Elisabeth, born 9 July 1738 [in Gronau]; (3) Anna Maria, born 17 August 1739 [in Gronau]; and (4) Anna Elisabetha, born 17 March 1744 [in Gronau].
The eldest daughter, Margaretha Elisabeth married first in Büdingen on 17 May 1766 to Benedict Reh. He died on 20 May 1766, and she married on 19 June 1766 to Christoph Zürkobel from Brensbach.
Peter Blumenstein [sic], a farmer, his wife Anna Maria, and children (Anna Maria, age 25; Johann Adam, age 20; Anna Margaretha, age 15; Anna Margaretha, age 6) arrived from Lübeck at the port in Oranienbaum on 15 September 1766 aboard the snow-brig Die Frau Dietrika under the command of skipper Joachim Friedrich Luhn along with Christoph Ziergibel & his wife Elisabeth [Blumenschein].
Joh. Peter Bluhmenschein [sic], his wife Anna Maria, and children (Anna Maria, age 24; Joh. Adam, age 20; Anna Margaretha, age 14) are recorded on the list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767 along with Christoph Zirgubel and his wife Margar. Elisab. [Blumenschein].
Peter and Anna Maria do not appear to have made it to Yagodnaya Polyana, but the children are recorded there on the 1767 census of Yagodnaya Polyana in Households No. 46 & 47.
Conrad Blumenschein, also from Reichelsheim, immigrated to Russia as well. Johann Conrad Blumenschein (age 38), a single farmer, is recorded on a list of colonists dated 23 September 1765 who were gathering in the town of Worms. They had arrived in Worms on 19 September 1765.
Konrad Blumenschein, a farmer, his [new] wife Susanna, and daughter Maria Barbara (age 1) are recorded on the 1767 census of Bauer in Household No. 10. They had arrived in Bauer on 20 July 1766.
He and his wife are also recorded on the 1798 Census in Bauer in Household No. Br12, but appear to have had no surviving male descendants.
The 1765 Worms list records that Johann Conrad Blumenschein came from the German region of Reichelsheim. The 1767 census records that he came from the German village of Reichelsheim near Erbach.
The Oranienbaum passenger list records that this Blumenschein family came from the German region of Erbach.
- Heiss, Manfred. Ortsfamilienbuch Beerfelden. [Online]
- HfV Kartei Blumenschein.
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Einige Kapitel aus der Geschichte des Kolonisationsprojects von Katharina II, 1763-1775 (Moscow: Idt & Rauschenbach, 2021): 128 (#367).
- Kirschnick, Ulrich. Ortsfamilienbuch Gronau. [Online]
- 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): Br12, Yp40.
- Mai, Brent Alan, trans. Transport of the Volga Germans from Oranienbaum to the Colonies on the Volga: 1766-1767 (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1998): A-59.
- Mai, Brent Alan and Dona Reeves-Marquardt, German Migration to the Russian Volga (1764-1767) (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 2003): #655, #704, #1221.
- Parish register of Büdingen.
- Parish register of Gronau.
- Parish register of Reichelsheim.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 1 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 1999): 117.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 2 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2001): 185.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #6089, #6107.
- Rauschenbach, Georg. Deutsche Kolonisten auf dem Weg von St. Petersburg nach Saratow: Transportlisten von 1766-1767 (Moscow: G.V. Rauschenbach, 2017): #7180-7184.
- Wolf, Heiner. Familienbuch Reichelsheim: 1643-1875, Band 2 (2018):1084.
Brent Mai
Bill Pickelhaupt