There are two Eisel families that settled in the Volga German colony of Norka on 15 August 1767. They had both arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 19 July 1766 aboard a barque named Fortitudo (Fortitude) under the command of Skipper John Scott. Their relationship to each other, if any, needs further research.
(1) Johannes Eusel, son of Johann Heinrich & Anna Martha Eusel, was baptized on 28 April 1728 in Friedewald. He married on 4 April 1762 in Ronshausen to Anna Christina Becker, daughter of Anton Bäcker from Ronshausen [see Bäcker family].
They have two children born in Ronshausen: (1) Joachim, baptized 23 August 1762; and (2) Anna Elisabeth, baptized 4 April 1765.
Johann Eisel, a farmer, his wife Anna, and children (Johann, age 10¼; Joachim, age 4; Anna, age 1½) in Oranienbaum.
Johannes Eisel (age 34), a craftsman (Handwerker), his wife Anna Christina, and daughter (Anna Elisabeth (age 3) are recorded on the 1767 census of Norka in Household No. 154. They had arrived in Norka on 15 August 1767.
(2) Johann Georg Eusel, son of Johann Heinrich & Anna Barbara Eusel, was born in November 1740 in Friedewald. He married on 8 July 1765 in Ronshausen to Anna Catharina Becker, daughter of the aforementioned Anton Bäcker from Ronshausen [see Bäcker family].
Johann Georg & Anna Katharina had two children before their marriage: (1) Johann Heinrich, baptized 17 September 1762; and (2) Anna Catharina Elisabeth, baptized 15 February 1764.
Georg Eusel, a farmer, his wife Anna, and daughter Anna (age 2) arrived in Oranienbaum.
Georg Eisel (age 27), a craftsman (Handwerker), his wife Anna Katharina, and daughter Katharina Elisabeth (age 4) are recorded on the 1767 census of Norka in Household No. 149. They had arrived in Norka on 15 August 1767. They
The Oranienbaum passenger list records that Georg Eusel came from the German region of Hessen. The 1767 census records that both of these Eisel families came from the German region of Hessen.
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Auswanderung deutscher Kolonisten nach Russland im Jahre 1766 (Moscow: Idt & Rauschenbach, 2019): 32.
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Deutsche Kolonisten im Jahr 1766 in Oranienbaum und in den Siedlungsorten: Die Kuhlberg-Listen (Moscow: Idt & Rauschenbach, 2024): 462.
- 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): Nr159, Nr200.
- Parish register of Friedewald.
- Parish register of Ronshausen.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 3 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2005): 269, 270.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766 (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #3604, #3607.
Brent Mai
Steve Schreiber