There are two Prester families that traveled together to Russia, settled in the colony of Norka, and whose descendants moved to the colony of Grimm. Their relationship to each other, if any, needs further research.
(1) Johann Wilhelm Prester (who died 13 January 1749) married Catharina Elisabeth Margarethe Stang (born 25 September 1711; died 27 July 1789 [in Philippseich]). The births of four of their children are recorded in Neuhof: (1) Maria Dorothea, born in July 1741; (2) Anna Maria, born 11 October 1742, died 11 January 1743; (3) Johann Valentin born 31 October 1743; and (4) Johann Georg, born 26 November 1746, died 26 January 1747.
Valentin Proester from Neuhoff near Philips Eich [sic] & Sÿbilla Lehnart [sic] from Sprendlingen were married on 10 June 1766 in the Lutheran Church of Büdingen. Anna Sybilla Leonhardt had been born 23 June 1736 in Sprendlingen. [See Leonhardt Family.]
Valentin Prester and his wife Sibilla arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 29 July 1766 aboard the ship Apollo under the command of Skipper Friedrich Detloff Mörenberg.
Valentin Prester, a farmer, and his wife Sibilla settled in the Volga German colony of Norka on 15 August 1767 where they are recorded on the 1767 census in Household No. 111.
Heinrich Prester, son of Valentin Prester, is recorded on the 1798 census of Norka in Household No. Nr114 along with his mother [and stepfather Heinrich Fischer] and a note that Heinrich Prester is working in the colony of Grimm.
The Oranienbaum passenger list records that Valentin Prester is a hosier [stocking maker] while the 1767 census records that he is a farmer. Both documents record that he came from the German district of Isenburg.
(2) Nikolaus Prester, a farmer, his wife Maria Elisabeth, and daughter Katharina Elisabeth (age 13) arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 29 July 1766 aboard the ship Apollo with Skipper Friedrich Detloff Mörenberg at the helm.
Nikolaus Prester, a farmer, his wife Maria Elisabeth, and daughter Katharina Elisabeth (age 14) are recorded on the 1767 census of Norka in Household No. 152. They had settled in Norka on 15 August 1767.
Nikolaus Prester, his wife Elisabeth, daughter Katharina, and son-in-law Jakob Guio are recorded on the 1775 census of Norka in Household No. 140.
In 1792, Nikolaus Prester and his family moved from Norka to Schaffhausen.
In 1795, Friedrich Prester moved from Norka to Grimm.
In 1796, Konrad Prester moved from Norka to Grimm.
Maria Elisabeth Prester, widow of Nikolaus Prester, is recorded on the 1798 census of Schaffhausen in Household No. Sh41 along with their daughter Katharina and her family.
Both the Oranienbaum passenger list and the 1767 census record that Nikolaus Prester came from the German district of Hessen.
Alexander Prester from Grimm and his family are recorded on the 1857 census of Brabander in Household No. 178.
Descendants of these families use the surnames of Prester and Brester.
- 1775 Norka Census (Household No. 140).
- 1857 Brabander Census (Household No. 178).
- Groß, Bernd. Das Familienbuch Dreieichenhain (Dreieich, Germany: ImHayn Verlag). [Online]
- Knöß, Heinrich & Ute Sehring. Familienbuch Sprendlingen [Schriften der Hessischen familiengeschichtlichen Vereinigung e.V. Nr. 53] (Dreieich: 2013): #3732.
- 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): Gm016, Gm018, Nr114, Sh41, Mv1975, Mv2008, Mv2020.
- Mai, Brent Alan and Dona Reeves-Marquardt, German Migration to the Russian Volga (1764-1767) (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 2003): #686.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 3 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2005): 258, 270.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #5021, #5196.
Brent Mai