Christoph Maier, son of Ulrich & Margaretha Maier, was born on 17 May 1732 in Eisingen, southeast of Karlsruhe.
He married on 29 April 1755 in nearby Berghausen to Elisabeth Margaretha Reichenbacher, daughter of Jacob & Catharina Reichenbacher. She had been born on 26 March 1732 in Reichenbach.
The baptisms of three children born to Christoph Maier & Elisabeth Margaretha Reichenbacher in Söllingen have been located: (1) Margaretha, born 26 April 1754; (2) Georg Michael, born 15 June 1758; and (3) Johann Christoph, born 29 December 1760.
Christoph Meier (age 28), his wife Elisabeth (age 28), children (Margaretha, age 5; Georg Michael, age 4; Christoph, age ½), and Christoph's half-sister Barbara Vogel (age 20) migrated to Denmark (Schleswig-Holstein), arriving in the city of Schleswig on 4 July 1761 where they registered on 24 July 1761. They eventually settled in the Danish colony of Königsberge.
While in Denmark, the baptism of another son Matthias Meyer is recorded in the parish register of Christ Church of Neuwerk Rendsburg on 25 October 1762.
They were dismissed from the Danish colonies on 2 June 1764 and joined the migration to Russia.
Christoph Meier, a farmer, his wife Elisabeth Margaretha, and children (Margaretha, age 13; Georg Michael, age 9; Johann Christoph, age 7; Mattias, age 5) are recorded on the 1767 census of Shcherbakovka in Household No. 4. They had arrived in Shcherbakovka on 15 June 1765.
In 1796, most of the family relocated to the Volga German colony of Kratzke where they are recorded on the 1798 Census in Household No. Kr26.
Subsequent descendants also settled in the colony of Franzosen.
The Eichhorns record that Christoph Meier came from the Markgrafschaft Baden-Durlach. The 1767 census records that he came from the German village of Seline [Söllingen].
- Eichhorn, Alexander, Jacob & Mary Eichhorn. The immigration of German colonists to Denmark and their subsequent emigration to Russia in the years 1759-1766 (Deiningen, Germany: Steinmeier, 2012): 521.
- 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): Kr26, Sv55, Mv2793.
- Parish register of Eisingen (LDS Film No. 1256492).
- Parish register of Söllingen.
- Parish register of Christkirche, Neuwerk-Rendsburg [Schleswig-Holstein].
- Parish records of Reichenbach & Söllingen (LDS Film No. 1238221).
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 4 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2008): 246.
Faye Meier Schantz
Brent Mai
Wayne Bonner
Record of the baptism of Matthias Meyer on 25 October 1762 in the Christ Church parish of Neuwerk Rendsburg.
Source: Brent Mai.