There are four Rüffer (Rieffer) families that arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 4 July 1766 aboard the English frigate Love & Unity under the command of Skipper Thomas Fairfax. Their relationship to each other, if any, needs further research.
(1) Johann Melchior Rüffer, son of Johann Peter & Anna Maria Rüffer, was baptized 3 May 1746 in Wallroth.
Melchior, a single farmer, arrived in Oranienbaum.
Johann Melchi. Rüffer is recorded on the list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767.
Melchior, a single farmer, is recorded on the 1767 census of Nieder-Monjou in Household No. 4. He had settled in Nieder-Monjou on 7 June 1767.
Melchior Rieffer and his family are recorded on the 1798 census of Nieder-Monjou in Household No. Nm08.
The Oranienbaum passenger list records that Melchior Rüffer came from the German region of Hanau. The 1767 census records that he came from the German village of Wellerode.
(2) Johann Rüffer, a farmer, his wife Gertruda, and son Johann (age 2) arrived in Oranienbaum.
Heinrich Rüffer and his wife Gertraut are recorded on the list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767.
Johann Heinrich Rüffer, a single farmer, is recorded on the 1767 census of Nieder-Monjou in Household No. 95. He had settled in Nieder-Monjou on 7 June 1767.
Heinrich Rieffer and his wife are recorded on the 1798 census of Nieder-Monjou in Household No. Nm59.
The Oranienbaum passenger list records that he came from the German region of Hanau. The 1767 census records that he came from the German village of Rheinbach.
(3) Andreas Rüffer, a farmer, his wife Anna, and children (Melchior, age 16; Martin, age 13; Anna, age 10) arrived in Oranienbaum.
Andreas Rüffer, his wife Catharina, and children (Melchior, age 16; Martin, age 13; Margaretha, age 10½) are recorded on the list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767 along with a note that the father Andreas died en route.
Widow Anna Katharina Rüffer, and her children (Johann Melchior, age 16; Johann Martin, age 13; Anna Margaretha, age 11) are recorded on the 1767 census of Beauregard in Household No. 61 along with Johann Martin Rüffer (age 20) and Maria Elisabeth Rüffer (age 18) with whom they had arrived in Oranienbaum and with whom they had been transported to Saratov. On the 1767 census, these latter two are also recorded as children of the Widow Anna Katharina Rüffer. They had settled in Beauregard on 7 June 1767.
Martin Rieffer (born about 1749) and his family are recorded on the 1798 census of Beauregard in Household No. Bo02.
Martin Rieffer (born about 1755) and his family are recorded on the 1798 census of Beauregard in Household No. Bo19.
Anna Margaretha Rieffer is recorded on the 1798 census of Beauregard in Household No. Bo16 as the wife of Georg Böttcher.
Maria Elisabeth Rieffer is recorded on the 1798 census of Meinhard in Household No. Mn31 as the wife of Bernhard Korn.
The Oranienbaum passenger list records that the Reiffer family came from the German region of Hanau. The 1767 census records that they came from the German village of Braunstein.
(4) Widow Anna Katharina Reiffer and her children (Elisabeth, age 5; Johann, age ½) arrived in Oranienbaum.
Eva Catharina Rüffer and her children (Elisabet, age 5¼; Melchior, age ½) are recorded on the list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767.
The Oranienbaum passenger list records that Anna Katharina Rüffer family came from the German region of Hanau.
- 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): Bo02, Bo06, Bo19, Fs10, Nm08, Nm59, Mv1897.
- Müller-Marschhausen, Ernst. “Russland-Auswanderer aus dem Bergwinkel um 1766 und die Spurensuche nach ihrer Rückkehr im 20. Jahrhundert.” [Online]
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 1 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 1999): 193.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 3 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2005): 186, 205.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #1512, #1516, #1517, #1519, #1520.
- Rauschenbach, Georg. Deutsche Kolonisten auf dem Weg von St. Petersburg nach Saratow: Transportlisten von 1766-1767 (Moscow: G.V. Rauschenbach, 2017): #1230-1234, 1242-1247, 1249-1250.
Karl Becker
Brent Mai
Entry from the Wallroth parish register recording the baptism of Johann Melchior Rüffer on 3 May 1746.
Source: Karl Becker.
Entry from the Nieder-Monjou parish register recording the birth on 21 March 1794 of Johann Adam, son Melchior Rüffer and his wife Anna Kunigunde Rüb.
Source: Karl Becker.
Pre-Volga Origin
Volga Colonies
Immigration Locations
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