Jakob DeFei, a barber (Friseur), and his wife Elisabeth settled in the Volga German colony of Katharinenstadt on 3 August 1767. They are recorded there on the 1767 census in Household No. 142.
Jakob De Fage [sic] (age 46), a farmer, and his wife Margaretha née Lang (widow Eckhard) (age 50) are recorded on the 1776 Katharinenstadt Grundbuch [Land Register] in Household No. 3.
In 1787, widower Jakob DeFei left Katharinenstadt.
Both the 1767 census and the 1776 Katharinenstadt Land Register record that Jakob DeFei came from the [French] village of Lingé. The 1776 Katharinenstadt Land Register records that his wife came from the German village of Wehrheim in the Hanau region.
There are no known surviving male lines of this family among the Volga German colonies.
- 1776 Katharinenstadt Grundbuch [Land Register] (Household No. 3).
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 2 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2001): 306.
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