Related Klaus families from Düdelsheim settled in three different Volga German colonies (Balzer, Moor, and Norka):
(1) Johann Stephan Klaus, son of Johann Caspar & Anna Barbara Claus, was baptized in the village of Düdelsheim on 29 December 1717. He married 26 November 1744 to Susanna Kling, daughter of Johann Caspar Kling & Anna Cunigunde Velten. Susanna had been born on 27 March 1717 in Düdelsheim.
The baptisms of four children born to Johann Stephan Klaus & Susanna Kling are recorded in the parish register of Düdelsheim: (1) Johannes, baptized 8 September 1748; (2) Susanna Catharina, baptized 29 August 1751; (3) Johann Peter, baptized 1 March 1754; and (4) Johann Adam, baptized 1 August 1756.
Susanna evidently died before he left for Russia because Johann Stephan is listed as a widower on his request to leave Düdelsheim.
Stephan Klaus arrived with his family from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 4 July 1766 aboard a packet-boat under the command of Midshipman Mankensey.
Stephan arrived as a widower in Balzer on 1 July 1767 and is listed there on the 1767 Census in Household No. 4. [Decker incorrectly identifies this Klaus family (p.82).]
(2) Johann Peter Klaus, son of Johann Caspar & Anna Barbara Claus, was baptized in Düdelsheim on 19 October 1727 and died in 1787 in Norka. He married 30 January 1750 in Düdelsheim to Elisabeth Scheid, daughter of Johannes Scheid and Catharina Hart. She was baptized 15 February 1728 also in Düdelsheim.
Peter and Elisabeth are recorded on the 1767 Census of Norka in Household No. 216, along with their children Johann Heinrich and Katharina. Johann Heinrich had been baptized in Düdelsheim on 14 June 1750 and Katharina on 11 November 1753.
Peter Klaus, his wife Anna Elisabeth, son Johann Heinrich, daughter-in-law Kunigunda, and grandson Peter (age 2½) are recorded on the 1775 census of Norka in Household No. 170.
In 1780, widow Elisabeth Klaus moved from Norka to Anton.
(3) Charlotta Klaus, daugher of Johann Caspar & Anna Barbara Claus, married Adam Scheidt and settled in Moor. [See Scheidt family.]
(4) Johann Peter Claus, son of Johann Peter Claus and Anna Catharina Jacobi (and cousin of the other 3), was baptized in Düdelsheim on 1 July 1744.
Johann Peter Klaus, a single farmer, arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 4 July 1766 aboard a Russian packet-boat under the command of Midshipman Mankensey.
He settled in the Volga German colony of Moor on 18 June 1767. He is recorded there on the 1767 census in Household No. 21 along with his [new] wife Maria Magdalena [Lein], daughter of Johann Konrad Lein & Anna Barbara Pfister, who had arrived in Oranienbaum on the same ship.
The 1767 census records that Johann Peter Klaus came from the German district of Isenburg.
- 1775 Norka Census (Household No. 170).
- Bonner, Wayne H. Volga German Settlers Identified in Isenburg and Other German Church Records Part I (Gardena, CA: Wayne Bonner, 2007): 19.
- Decker, Klaus-Peter, Büdingen als Sammelplatz der Auswanderung an die Wolga 1766 (Büdingen: Geschichtswerkstatt Büdingen, 2009): 82.
- Haynes, Emma Schwabenland. "A Document of 1766 Found in Büdingen, Germany." Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia 3:1 (1980): 1-6.
- 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): An54, An57, Bz078, Bz097, Mo47, Nr178, Nr226, Mv1928.
- Parish register of Aulendiechbach (LDS Film #1201847).
- Parish register of Düdelsheim (LDS Film # 1201789).
- Parish register of Kirchbracht.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 1 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 1999): 72.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 3 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2005): 161, 287.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #1190, #1205.
Wayne Bonner
Clarence Margheim
John Wall
Brent Mai
Maggie Hein