There are 3 Messer families that arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 9 June 1766 aboard the ship Die Jungfer Friederika (The Maiden Friederika) under the command of Skipper Hans Christian Korsholm. Their relationship with each other, if any, needs further research.
(1) Martin Messer, son of Johannes Adam & Sabina Messer of Weißkirchen, was born 21 August 1700.
Martin Messer, son of the deceased Johannes Adam & Sabina Messer of Weißkirchen married on 25 January 1729 to Susanna Steinbach, daughter of Johannes & Anna Maria Steinbach of Bommersheim.
Susanna Messer née Steinbach died in 1741 at the age of 33. Widower Martin Messer remarried on 6 May 1743 to Susanna Steinbach, daughter of Johannes & Christina Steinbach. She had been born in 1718.
The births of three children born to Martin Messer and his second wife Susanna Steinbach: (1) Heinrich, born 29 July 1746, died 18 February 1750; (2) Heinrich, born 23 March 1752; and (3) Johannes Konrad, born 18 September 1755, died 9 September 1757.
Martin Messer died 27 December 1755.
Susanna Messer née Steinbach remarried on 28 November 1758 in Oberursel to the widower Nikolaus Glock of Stierstadt. [See Glock Family.]
Heinrich [Messer] (age 14) arrived in Oranienbaum with his mother and step-father Johann Nikolaus & Susanna Glock.
Widow Susanna Glock and her son Heinrich [Messer] are recorded on the list of those being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767 along with a note that Susanna died in route [sic].
Heinrich Messer and his mother Susanna Glock are recorded on the 1767 census of Preuss in Household No. 132. Living with them are Anna Barbara Wimmer, widow of Michael Wimmer (who had died 4 November 1767), and her daughter Anna Barbara (age 1). They had settled in Preuss on 15 July 1767.
Heinrich Messer and his family are recorded on the 1798 census of Preuss in Household No. Ps18.
(2) Nikolaus Messer, a farmer, and his wife Katharina arrived in Oranienbaum.
Nikolaus Messer and his wife have not been located on the list of those being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767, nor have they been located on the 1767 census.
Nikolaus Messer and his wife are recorded on the 1798 census of Preuss in Household No. Ps19.
Nikolaus Messer is recorded on the 1811 census of Preuss in Household No. 18 along with a note that he relocated to the colony of Köhler in 1799.
(3) Mattias Messer, a wheelwright, and his wife Amalia arrived in Oranienbaum.
Widow Amalia Messer is recorded on the list of those being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767 along with a note that she died en route.
The Oranienbaum passenger list records that these 3 Messer families came from the German region of Mainz. The 1767 census records that Heinrich Messer came from the German village of Stierstadt in the Kurmainz.
- 1811 Preuss Census (Household No. 18).
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Auswanderung deutscher Kolonisten nach Russland im Jahre 1766 (Moscow: Idt & Rauschenbach, 2019): 29.
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Deutsche Kolonisten im Jahr 1766 in Oranienbaum und in den Siedlungsorten: Die Kuhlberg-Listen (Moscow: Idt & Rauschenbach, 2024): 148.
- 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, Ps19.
- Parish register of Saint Crutzen Catholic Church in Weißkirchen.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 3 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2005): 438.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #905, #909, #910.
- Rauschenbach, Georg. Deutsche Kolonisten auf dem Weg von St. Petersburg nach Saratow: Transportlisten von 1766-1767 (Moscow: G.V. Rauschenbach, 2017): #1722, #1723.
Brent Mai
Anonymous2
The parish register of Saint Crutzen Catholic Church in Weißkirchen records the marriage of Martin Messer to Susanna Steinbach on 25 January 1729.
Source: Anonymous2.