Rau (Näb)*

There are two Rau families that arrived together in Oranienbaum and are recorded together traveling from St. Petersburg to Saratov. Their relationship to each other, if any, needs further research.

(1) Johann Rau, a weaver, and his wife Anna arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 12 September 1766 aboard an English frigate under the command of Skipper Adam Beerfeier.

Johannes Rau and his wife Anna Maria are recorded on the list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767 along with a note that Anna Maria died in route.

It is not known in which colony Johannes Rau settled.

The Oranienbaum passenger list records that Johann Rau came from the German region of Darmstadt.

(2) Ludwig Rau, a single weaver, arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 12 September 1766 aboard an English frigate under the command of Skipper Adam Beerfeier.

Ludwig Rau is recorded on the list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767.

Ludwig Rau, a carpenter (Zimmermann), and his [new] wife Katharina are recorded on an appendix to the 1767 census of Paulskaya in Household No. 126 along with a note that he resettled to the colony of Näb in 1768.

The Oranienbaum passenger list records that Ludwig Rau came from the German region of Darmstadt. The 1767 census records that he came from the German village of Romrod.

There are no known surviving male lines of these Rau families among the Volga German colonies.