Eske / Gessen
Matthias Eske, a farmer, his wife Susanna Sophia, son Hartwig (age 8), and stepson Johann Bartel arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 8 August 1766 aboard the Danish galliot Der Engel Rafael under the command of Skipper Ehlert Kongsted.
Martin Jesscky [sic], his wife Sophia Friederica [sic], and son Hartwig (age 10) are recorded on the list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767.
They settled in the Volga German colony of Stahl am Tarlyk on 5 September 1767 and are recorded there on the 1767 census in Household No. 33.
Gottfried Eske and his family are recorded on the 1798 census of Stahl am Tarlyk in Household No. St23.
This family is recorded on the 1834 census of Stahl am Tarlyk in Household No. 30 under the surname of Gessen (Гесенъ). This surname (Gessen) continues on the 1850 census of Stahl am Tarlyk in Households No. 47, 48, 49, & 50.
The 1767 census records that Martin [sic] Eske came from the German village of Borg in the Mecklenburg region.
- 1834 Stahl am Tarlyk Census (Household No. 30).
- 1850 Stahl am Tarlyk Census (Households No. 47-50).
- 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): St23.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 4 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2008): 212.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #3475.
- Rauschenbach, Georg. Deutsche Kolonisten auf dem Weg von St. Petersburg nach Saratow: Transportlisten von 1766-1767 (Moscow: G.V. Rauschenbach, 2017): #7259-7261.
Brent Mai