Martin Dening, a farmer, his wife Anna Maria, and son Johannes (age 1½) are recorded on the 1767 census of Louis in Household No. 25. They had settled there on 14 June 1766.
In 1788, Martin Dening and his family moved from Louis to Herzog. In 1796, Michael Dening (born about 1768) and his family moved from Herzog to Mariental.
Michael Dening (born about 1816) moved from Herzog to Friedental where he is recorded on the 1850 census in Household No. 16. When Friedental was abandoned in the 1860s, Michael and his family relocated to Liebental where they are recorded on the 1874 family list.
The 1767 census records that Martin Dening came from the German village of Bitsch in the region of Lothringen.
- 1834 Mariental Census.
- 1850 Friedental Census (Household No. 16).
- 1857 Friedental Census (Household No. 18).
- 1874 Liebental Family List.
- 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): Hr27, Mt50, Mv0841, Mv1584.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 3 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2005): 85.
Brent Mai