Johann Michael Merck was born about 1680 and died 22 February 1735 in Imsbach. He married 20 January 1714 in Dielkirchen to Anna Ottilia Bender. They had the following children: (1) Anna Elisabeth, baptized 22 September 1715 in Münchweiler; (2) Maria Margaretha, born 20 October 1717, baptized 28 October 1718 in Münchweiler; (3) Johannes, baptized 27 April 1719 in Münchweiler; and (4) Johann Valentin, baptized 7 December 1721 in Münchweiler, died 21 November 1724. Anna Ottilia Bender died and Johann Michael remarried on 13 April 1723 in Imsbach to Anna Magdalena Bugor. They had 5 additional children, each born in Imsbach: (1) Anna Catharina, born in October 1724, died 26 November 1724; (2) Johann Valentin, born 16 September 1725, baptized 19 September 1725; (3) Anna Magdalena, born 2 February 1728, baptized 8 February 1728; (4) Susanna Catharina, born 6 March 1731, baptized 11 March 1731, died 25 January 1733; and (5) Johann Jost, born 22 March 1735, baptized 25 March 1735.
Johannes Merck & Anna Ottilia Mertz, daughter of Simon & Anna Esther Mertz, were married 15 January 1737 in the German village of Imsbach. Anna Ottilia Mertz had been born 25 July 1715 in Münchweiler.
Johannes & Anna Ottilia had the following children, each baptized in Imsbach: (1) Johann Valentin, born 3 October 1737, baptized 6 October 1737; died 20 November 1739; (2) Johann Valentin, born 13 January 1740, baptized 17 January 1740; (3) Anna Esther, born 16 September 1742, baptized 19 September 1742; (4) Johann Adam Merck, born 14 August 1745, baptized 20 August 1745; (5) Elisabetha Barbara, born 14 May 1748, baptized 28 May 1748; (6) Maria Margretha, born 15 September 1751, baptized 19 September 1751; and (7) Johannes, born 20 June 1755, baptized 22 June 1755.
Father Johannes Merck remained in Germany and died in Imsbach on 21 May 1775. Anna Esther Merck married 2 February 1768 in Imsbach to Valentin Amos, son of Nicolaus Amos.
Son [Johann] Adam Merk, a farmer, and his wife Anna Elisabeth arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 8 August 1766 aboard the Danish galliot Der Engel Rafael under the command of Skipper Ehlert Kongsted.
They settled in the Volga German colony of Laub on 19 July 1767 and are recorded there on the 1767 census in Household No. 32.
In 1789, Johann Adam Merk moved from Laub to Jost.
The 1767 census records that Johann Adam Merk came from the German village of Fischbach near Falkenstein.
- 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): Jo35, Lb06, Mv1499.
- Parish register of Dielkirchen (LDS Film #193814).
- Parish register of Imsbach (LDS Film #193917).
- Parish register of Münchweiler (LDS Film #197587).
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 3 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2005): 27.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #3442.
Patricia Gayol Windecker
Brent Mai