Johann Franz Fischer, son of Johann Nicolaus Fischer (b. 14 Aug 1688) & Anna Ottilia Ackermann (b. 6 January 1699), was born 10 January 1725 in Ober-Ramstadt, southeast of Darmstadt. Franz's first wife, Magdalena, died 29 September 1759. They have no recorded children, although the oldest of the children by his second wife could be.
Franz remarried to Anna Elisabetha (surname unknown), who was born in 1729. They have the following children: Elisabetha Catharina (born in 1759); Anna Margaretha (born in 1761); and Johann Peter (born in 1762; died in 1765).
Franz, Anna Elisabetha, and oldest daughter Elisabeth Katharina (age 10) arrived in Oranienbaum on 15 June 1766 aboard Die Vergelte Weintraube from Lübeck sailing under Skipper Anderson. These three, along with newborn daughter Henriette Katharina (age 3 months), arrived in Warenburg on 12 May 1767 and are recorded there on the 1767 Census in Household No. 25.
There is a note in his church record of Ober-Ramstadt that reads: "1757 desertierter französischer Soldat, 1759 enrollierter (angeworbener); Musketier unter Erbprinz Louis zu Pirmasens, ab 1761 Senior; Wohnort: Ober-Ramstadt" [1757 deserted as a French soldier in 1757, re-enlisted (recruited) in 1759; musketeer in the service of Prince Louis of Pirmasens, and was a senior from 1761 on; residence: Ober-Ramstadt].
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 4 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2008): 325.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): 72.
- Kirschnick, Ulrich. Ortsfamilienbuch Ober-Ramstadt (online)
Bill Pickelhaupt