Fuchs (Yagodnaya Polyana)

Johann Nikolaus Fuchs, son of Johann Franz Fuchs & his first wife Elisabeth Katharina Eicher, was born 29 December 1728 in the German village of Merxheim. Johann Nikolaus married Anna Elisabeth (surname unknown), and they raised their family in Martinstein, across the river from Merxheim.

The births of 5 of their children are recorded in the parish register of Martinstein: (1) Anna Eva, born 9 May 1752; (2) Johann Nikolas, born 25 May 1756; (3) Johann Philipp, born 19 May 1759; (4) Maria Catharina, born 29 April 1762; and (5) Johann Wilhelm, born 3 September 1765.

Johann Nikolaus Fuchs, a farmer, his wife Anna Elisabeth, and children (Anna Eva, age 17; Johann Nikolaus, age 9; Philipp, age 7½; Anna Katharina, age 5; Johann Wilhelm, age 1) arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 13 September 1766 aboard the galliot Die Perle under the command of Skipper Thomson.

Father Johann Nikolaus Fuchs must have died in 1766-1767 while they were in St. Petersburg.

Widow Elisabeth Fuchs (died en route) and their children (Anna Eva, age 17; Joh. Nicolaus, age 13; Johann Philipp, age 10; Maria Catharina, age 6; Johann Willhelm, age 1½, died en route) are recorded on the list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767.

The surviving children are recorded there on the 1767 census of Yagodnaya Polyana in Household No. 80 where they had settled on 16 September 1767.

Some researchers have erroneously concluded that Johann Georg Fuchs who settled in the Volga German colony of Hussenbach was a brother of this Johann Nikolaus Fuchs. This has been documented to be untrue.

Konrad Fuchs and Georg Fuchs from Yagodnaya Polyana and their families are recorded on the 1857 census of Neu-Yagodnaya-Polyana.

The 1767 census records that the Fuchs family came from the German village of Messein [?] in the Pfalz region.