Johann Heinrich Burbach, son of Johann Georg Burbach & Susanna Verneuler, was born in Obersotzbach and baptized on 14 May 1722 in the nearby parish church located in Unterreichenbach.
Johann Heinrich married Anna Justina and the baptisms of at least three children (each born in Obersotzbach) are recorded in the parish register of Unterreichenbach: (1) Melchior, baptized on 17 December 1747; (2) Johann Heinrich, baptized 23 August 1753; and (3) Lorenz, baptized 30 September 1756.
Heinrich Burbach, a farmer, his wife Anna, and childen (Melchior, age 21; Johannes, age 18; Lorenz, age 11) arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 19 July 1766 aboard the barque named Fortitudo under the command of Skipper John Scott.
Heinrich Bierbach [sic], his wife Anna, and sons (Melchior, age 21; Johannes, age 18; Lorentz, age 11) are recorded on the list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767 along with a note that Heinrich died en route.
Justina Burbach, widow of Heinrich Burbach, and children (Johannes, age 18; Lorenz, age 14) settled in the Volga German colony of Norka on 26 August 1767. They are recorded there on the 1767 census in Household No. 185.
Johannes Burbach, his wife Anna Margaretha [Fischer], and son Johannes (age ½) are recorded on the 1775 census of Norka in Household No. 135 along with Anna Margaretha's parents.
Lorenz Burbach (age 22) is recorded on the 1775 census of Norka in Household No. 121 along with his mother Justina and stepfather Friedrich Lehl.
Son Melchior settled in the Volga German colony of Kraft on 18 August 1767 and is recorded there on the 1767 census in Household No. 72 along with a note that he relocated to the colony of Norka in 1768.
Melchior Burbach, his wife Maria Katharina, and children (Elisabeth, age 4; Jakob, age 1) are recorded on the 1775 census of Norka in Household No. 106.
The Oranienbaum passenger list records that Heinrich Burbach came from the German region of Isenburg. The 1767 census records that Melchior Burbach came from the German village of Burbach in the Isenburg region.
- 1775 Norka Census (Households No. 106, 121, 135).
- Decker, Klaus-Peter. Die Auswanderung von 1766/67 aus der Grafschaft Ysenburg-Büdingen nach Russland (Büdingen: Geschichtswerkstatt Büdingen, 2015): 104.
- 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): Nr088, Nr111, Nr142, Nr214.
- Parish register of Unterreichenbach.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 2 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2001): 411.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 3 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2005): 278.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #3655.
- Rauschenbach, Georg. Deutsche Kolonisten auf dem Weg von St. Petersburg nach Saratow: Transportlisten von 1766-1767 (Moscow: G.V. Rauschenbach, 2017): #2417-2421.
- Stumpp, Karl. The Emigration from Germany to Russia in the years 1763 to 1862 (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1982): 123.
Roger Burbank
Brent Mai