Widow Margaretha Kretz [sic] and her son Lorenz (age 4½) arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 19 July 1766 aboard the galliot named Elisabeth Catharina under the command of Skipper Heinrich Ludwig Gottknecht.
Margaretha Breidel [sic], her unnamed husband, a farmer, and their son Lorenz settled in the Volga German colony of Brabander on 26 June 1767. The unnamed husband died on 6 July 1767. Margaretha Breidel and her son Lorenz (age 6) are recorded on the 1767 census of Brabander in Household No. 116 along with a note that they relocated to the colony of Dehler in 1768.
In 1790, Lorenz Kretsch moved from Dehler to Preuss.
Lorenz Kretsch from Dehler is recorded on the 1798 census of Preuss in Household No. Ps18.
The death of Lorenz Kretsch in 1828 is recorded on the 1834 census of Preuss in Household No. 23.
The sons of Lorenz Kretsch and their families are recorded on the 1850 census of Preuss in Household No. 28.
Franz Kretsch, his brother Georg, and their families are recorded on the 1857 census of Preuss in Household No. 34.
The Oranienbaum passenger list records that Margaretha Kretz [sic] came from the German region of Bayreuth [sic]. The 1767 census records that Margaretha Breidel [sic] came from the German village of Burgau in Bayern (Bavaria). Anonymous2 reports that this Kretsch family came from the German village of Tressau near Bayreuth.
- 1834 Preuss Census (Household No. 23).
- 1850 Preuss Census (Household No. 28).
- 1857 Preuss Census (Household No. 34).
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Auswanderung deutscher Kolonisten nach Russland im Jahre 1766 (Moscow: Idt & Rauschenbach, 2019): 32.
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Deutsche Kolonisten im Jahr 1766 in Oranienbaum und in den Siedlungsorten: Die Kuhlberg-Listen (Moscow: Idt & Rauschenbach, 2024): 401.
- 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): Ps18, Mv0377.
- Oranienbaum passenger list [not included in the Kuhlberg List published by Igor Plehve]: #3087.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 1 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 1999): 239.
Brent Mai
Anonymous2
Entry from the 1767 census of Brabander recording the family of Margaretha Breidel and her son Lorenz [Kretsch].
Source: Anonymous2.
Entry from the 1798 census of Dehler recording the movement of Lorenz Kretsch to Preuss in 1790.
Source: Anonymous2.