Lorenz Müller, his wife Katharina, and children (Wilhelm, age 18; Nikolaus, age 16; Margaretha, age 13; Bernhard, age 4) arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 15 August 1766 aboard a snow-brig named Drei Gebrüder (Three Brothers) under the command of Skipper Ludwig Münzenberg.
Widower Lorenz Müller and his sons (Wilhelm, age 19; Nicolaus, age 16; Bernhardt, age 4) are recorded on a list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767 along with a note that son Bernhardt died in route.
Widow Margaretha Müller (age 20) and her unnamed husband [Wilhelm Müller] settled in the Volga German colony of Seelmann on 24 August 1767. She is recorded there on the 1767 census in Household No. 80 along with a note that her husband had died on 6 November 1767.
Orphaned siblings Nikolaus Müller (age 15) and Margaretha (age 14) are recorded on the 1767 census of Hölzel in Household No. 38 along with the Johannes Manlinger family. The 1767 census does not record a relationship between the Müller and Manlinger families.
The Oranienbaum passenger list records that Lorenz Müller came from the German region of Isenburg. The 1767 census of Seelmann records that Widow Margaretha Müller came from the German region of Reutlingen.
There are no known surviving male lines of this Müller family among the Volga German colonies.
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Auswanderung deutscher Kolonisten nach Russland im Jahre 1766 (Moscow: Idt & Rauschenbach, 2019): 33.
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Deutsche Kolonisten im Jahr 1766 in Oranienbaum und in den Siedlungsorten: Die Kuhlberg-Listen (Moscow: Idt & Rauschenbach, 2024): 730.
- Oranienbaum passenger list (#5844) [not included in the Kuhlberg List published by Igor Plehve].
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 2 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2001): 118.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 4 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2008): 164.
- Rauschenbach, Georg. Deutsche Kolonisten auf dem Weg von St. Petersburg nach Saratow: Transportlisten von 1766-1767 (Moscow: G.V. Rauschenbach, 2017): #6585-6588.
Brent Mai
Image from the Oranienbaum passenger list recording the arrival in Russia of Lorenz Müller and his family.
Source: Brent Mai.
Image 2 from the Oranienbaum passenger list (lines 240-243) recording the arrival in Russia of the children of Lorenz Müller.
Source: Brent Mai.