There are 3 Kühlthau families that settled in the Volga German colony of Norka. They came from neighboring villages in Germany. The first 2 are siblings, but the relationship to the third, if any, requires further research.
(1) Catharina Elisabeth Külthau, daughter of Johannes Külthau & Barbara Dorn, was born in Oberzell and baptized on 1 May 1740.
Elisabeth Külthau married on 9 February 1764 in Oberzell to Johannes Hölzer.
Johann[es] Hölzer, a farmer, and his wife Elisabeth arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 9 August 1766 aboard the Russian galliot Strelna under the command of Lieutenant Sornev.
Elisabeth Hölzer née Külthau evidently died shortly thereafter because Johannes Hölzer settled in the Volga German colony of Norka on 15 August 1767 and is recorded there on the 1767 census in Household No. 5 along with his [new] wife Anna Maria and their 2-week-old son Johann Georg.
(2) Just Külthau, son of Johannes Külthau & Barbara Dorn, was born in Oberzell and baptized on 16 August 1743.
Just Kühlthau, a farmer, and his wife Magdalena arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 9 September 1766 aboard the Russian galliot Strelna under the command of Lieutenant Sornev.
They settled in the Volga German colony of Norka on 15 August 1767 and are recorded there on the 1767 census in Household No. 127.
Just Kühlthau and his wife are recorded on the 1798 census of Norka in Household No. Nr053.
Both the Oranienbaum passenger list and the 1767 census record that Just Kühlthau came from the German district of Hessen.
There do not appear to be any surviving male lines of Just Kühlthau among the Volga German colonies.
(3) Nicolaus Külthau, son of Johann Heinrich Kühlthau & Anna Margaretha Meinhard, was born in Weichersbach and baptized on 18 December 1739.
Nikolaus Kühlthau and his wife Katharina arrived from Lübeck on 9 August 1766 aboard the pink Slon under the command of Lieutenant Sergey Panov.
They settled in the Volga German colony of Norka on 15 August 1767 and are recorded there on the 1767 census in Household No. 141.
Nikolaus Kühlthau and his family are recorded on the 1798 census of Norka in Household No. Nr207.
The Oranienbaum passenger list records that Nikolaus is a weaver while the 1767 census records that he is a craftsman. Both documents record that he came from the German district of Hessen.
- Idt, Andreas & Rauschenbach, Georg. Auswanderung deutsche Kolonisten nach Russland im Jahre 1766 (Moscow: 2019): 29, 33.
- 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): Nr053, Nr207.
- Parish register of Mottgers (including Oberzell & Weichersbach).
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 3 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2005): 263, 267.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #4096, #4975, #4975.
Brent Mai
Maggie Hein