Georg Meisser [sic], a farmer, his wife Maria, and children (Georg, age 22; Eva, age 18; Friedrich, age ½) arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 19 July 1766 aboard a ship named Die Zwei Gebrüder (The Two Brothers) under the command of Skipper Nicolaus Peter Pinck.
Georg Meisser [sic] (Senior), his wife Johanna, and children (Georg Junior [age not recorded]; Eva Maria, age 18) are recorded on a list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767 along with a note that father Georg died in route.
Georg Messer, a farmer, and his wife Sophia are recorded on the 1767 census of Boisroux in Household No. 79. They had settled there on 3 August 1767.
In 1783, Georg Messer and his family moved from Boisroux to Reinhard.
Christian Messer, presumed son of Georg Messer, and his family are recorded on the 1798 census of Reinhard in Household No. Rh13.
The sons of Christian Messer are recorded on the 1834 census of Rohleder in Household No. 5.
Gottlieb Messer, son of Christian Messer, and his family are recorded on the 1834 census of Kaneau in Household No. 54.
Gottlieb Messer and his family are recorded on the 1850 census of Kaneau in Household No. 86.
The death of Gottlieb Messer in 1852 is recorded on the 1857 census of Kaneau in Household No. 94.
Gottlieb Messer, son of Gottlieb Messer, and his family are recorded on an 1865 list of colonists resettled to Lilienfeld along with a note that they had arrived in Lilienfeld from Kaneau on 7 March 1859.
In 1798, Andreas Messer, presumed son of Georg Messer, moved from Reinhard to Boisroux.
Andreas Messer from Reinhard and his wife are recorded on the 1798 census of Boisroux in Household No. Bx23.
Andreas Messer and his family are recorded on the 1834 census of Boisroux in Household No. 94.
The Oranienbaum passenger list records that Georg Meisser [sic] came from the German region of Dessau. The 1767 census records that Georg Messer came from the German region of Dessau.
Various publications record this surname as Mäser, Meiser, Meisser, and Messer.
- 1834 Boisroux Census (Household No. 94).
- 1834 Kaneau Census (Household No. 54).
- 1834 Reinhard Census (Household No. 5).
- 1850 Kaneau Census (Household No. 84).
- 1857 Kaneau Census (Household No. 96).
- 1865 Lilienfeld List.
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Auswanderung deutscher Kolonisten nach Russland im Jahre 1766 (Moscow: Idt & Rauschenbach, 2019): 31.
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Deutsche Kolonisten im Jahr 1766 in Oranienbaum und in den Siedlungsorten: Die Kuhlberg-Listen (Moscow: Idt & Rauschenbach, 2024): 554.
- 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): Bx23, Rh13, Mv0304, Mv2392.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 1 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 1999): 158.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #4329.
- Rauschenbach, Georg. Deutsche Kolonisten auf dem Weg von St. Petersburg nach Saratow: Transportlisten von 1766-1767 (Moscow: G.V. Rauschenbach, 2017): #5082-5085.
Brent Mai
Waldemar Kurt