Johann David Elsässer, son of Hartmann Elsässer & Luise Armbrecht, was born on 24 December 1734 in Gelnhausen, northeast of Hanau.
He and his wife Margaretha immigrated to Russia. They arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 19 July 1766 aboard a galliot named Concordia under the command of Skipper Jakob Bauert.
They arrived in Schwab on 8 July 1767, and are recorded there on the 1767 Census in Household No. 25.
In 1795, the family moved to the neighboring colony of Galka, although some descendants remained in Schwab.
Johann Georg Elsässer from Schwab and his family are recorded on the 1857 census of Oberdorf in Household No. 12.
Heinrich Elsässer from Galka and his family are recorded on the 1857 census of Oberdorf in Household No. 43.
David was traveling with a Johann Jacob Elsässer who was also from Gelnhausen (although their exact relationship is yet to be determined). Jacob had married Charlotte Wentzel on 15 March 1766 in Büdingen on the way to Russia. Jacob and Charlotte arrived in Oranienbaum with David, but they have not been found among the settlers who reached the Volga colonies.
- 1857 Oberdorf Census (Households No. 12, 43).
- Frey, Julius. "Auswanderung aus den Kreisen Gelnhausen und Büdingen im Jahre 1766." Geschichtsblätter für Stadt und Kreis Glenhausen. Herausgeber: Geschichtsverein Gelnhausen, 1965.
- 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): Gk32, Gk33, Sb14, Mv2685.
- 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): #435.
- Parish register of Gelnhausen.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 4 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2008): 132.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #2613, #2627.
Albert Bernhardt
Brent Mai
Bill Pickelhaupt