Gies (Walter)

Reinhard Gies, son of Hermann Gies, married Anna Maria Pfeiffer, daughter of Jost Pfeiffer, on 8 May 1727 in Burghaun. Baptisms for the following children of Reinhard Gies are recorded in Burghaun: (1) Anna Maria, 29 August 1730; (2) Maria Catharina, 28 March 1733; (3 & 4) twins Catharina Elisabetha and Eva, 14 February 1735; (5) Maria Catharina, 12 December 1737; (6) Johann Balthasar, 4 August 1740; and (7) Johannes, 16 January 1743. The Burghaun parish records also record the baptism on 20 April 1762 of Johann Heinrich Gies, the illegitimate son of Anna Eva Gies.

The parish register in Büdingen, where families were gathering to immigrate to Russia, record on 10 April 1766 the marriage of "Johannes Gies from Gelnhausen & Maria Catharina Schleich, daughter of the coachman (Fuhrmann) Melchior Schleich from Büdingen" and on 10 June 1766 the marriage of "Balthasar Gies from Burghuhn [sic] & Catharina Rauber from Crainfeld."

There are several Gies families that settled in the Volga German colony of Walter on 25 August 1767. They arrived together from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 13 September 1766 aboard the galliot Die Perle under the command of Skipper Thomson.

(1) Balthasar Gies, a farmer, his wife Katharina, and their newborn son Johann Georg are recorded in Walter on the 1767 census in Household No. 51. The second marriage noted above in Büdingen matches with this couple.

(2) Johann Gies, a farmer, his wife Katharina, and daughter Anna Maria are recorded on the 1767 census in Household No. 53. Since the first marriage noted above in Büdingen records that Johannes Gies is from Gelnhausen, it's not certain that this is the same couple.

However, this Johann Gies (noted above born in Burghaun in 1743) does match the Johannes Geist [sic] who is recorded on the 1798 census of Walter in Household No. Wt063. Subsequent censuses record the descendants of this Johann Geist [sic] family with the surname of Gies (see Household No. 119 on the 1834 Walter Census, for example).

(3) The Oranienbaum passenger list records that Johann Gies (#2 above) arrived with 4 single sisters: Katharina Elisabeth (age 30), Anna Katharina (age 28), Anna Maria (age 28), and Anna Katharina (age 26). The oldest sister is recorded on the 1767 census of Walter living with this same Johann Gies. This list of sisters does not exactly match with those whose baptisms (noted above) are recorded in Burghaun.

(4) Arriving in Oranienbaum on the same ship also was widow Anna Eva Gies and her son Johann Heinrich (age 5). This son is recorded on the 1767 census of Walter living with the Johann Gies family (#2 above) and recorded as a nephew. These two are the Johann Heinrich Gies, the illegitimate son of Anna Eva Gies, whose baptism (noted above) is recorded in Burghaun on 20 April 1762.

The 1767 census records that these Gies families came from the German village of Burghaun in the region of Fulda.