Martin Gerber, son of Sebastian Gerber & Maria Magdalena Igers, was baptized on 23 October 1718 in the Catholic church of Grünsfeld, a town about 25 kilometers southwest of Würzburg in Baden-Württemberg. He married Anna Margaretha Mayer, daughter of Leonhard Mayer & Maria Barbara Eidel, on 21 February 1746 in Grünsfeld. She had also been baptized there on 10 April 1717.
They had eight known children, each baptized in Grünsfeld: (1) Maria Rosina, born and baptized on 27 November 1746; (2) Dorothea, baptized on 31 March 1748; (3) Maria Barbara, born and baptized on 6 October 1749; (4) Andreas, baptized on 5 April 1751; (5) Elisabetha, born and baptized on 25 March 1753; (6) Johann Peter, born and baptized on 16 January 1755; (7) Johannes Andreas, born and baptized on 27 May 1756; and (8) Johannes, baptized on 5 August 1759.
Martin Gerber died in Germany. His widow Anna Margaretha Mayer and the children immigrated to Russia. After arriving in Russia, she remarried to Joseph Gerstner. He had a son from a previous marriage, Johannes.
The combined Gerber-Gerstner family is recorded in Herzog on the 1767 Census in Household No. 15. On the 1798 Census of Herzog, the Gerstners are recorded in Household No. Hr18.
After 1798, all the Gerstners moved to the colony of Mariental.
- Leus, Pavel M. & Leicker, Anthony J. Mariental, Russia : A census of a colony in 1834. (2001).
- Leus, Pavel M. & Rupp, Kevin D. Herzog, Russia : A census of the Village in 1834. (2002).
- 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).
- Parish records of Grünsfeld (LDS Films No. 1046291 & 1046342).
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 2 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2001): 91.
Darrell Brungardt
Corina Hirt
Brent Mai
Pre-Volga Origin
Volga Colonies
Immigration Locations
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