Johannes Schäfer, son of Hans Georg & Maria Magdalena Schäfer, was born 28 February 1696 in Michelbach. He married on 11 January 1724 Fränkisch-Crumbach to Anna Margaretha Flath, daughter of Friedrich Flath & Anna Eva Heusel. She had been born 26 May 1696 in Mümling-Grumbach. [Johannes Schäfer died 28 June 1772 and Anna Margaretha Flath Schäfer died 23 December 1762, both in Michelbach.]
Johannes Schäfer & Anna Margaretha Flath had the following sons, each born in Michelbach: (1) Johann Adam, born 6 February 1725, died 21 December 1799 [in Michelbach]; (2) Georg Philipp, born 13 January 1727; (3) Johann Leonhard, born 6 March 1729; (4) Johann Christoph, born 23 October 1731; (5) Johann Philipp, born 24 May 1734; and (6) Johann Ludwig, born 13 December 1737, died 23 December 1761.
Two sons are known to have immigrated to Russia.
(1) Georg Philipp Schäfer (born 1727) married on 15 September 1758 in Fränkisch-Crumbach to Elisabetha Catharina Friedrich, daughter of Johann Peter Friedrich & Anna Elisabetha Büchler. She had been born 7 May 1730 in Etzen-Gesäß.
The births of two children of Georg Philipp Schäfer & Elisabetha Catharina Friedrich are recorded in the parish register of Michelbach: (1) Johann Nikolaus, born 22 September 1761; and (2) Susanna Maria, born 18 November 1763. The birth of Maria Eliesabetha Schæffer, daughter of Georg Philip Schæffer from Fränkisch-Crumbach & Eliesab. Cather. [surname not recorded], is recorded in the parish of the Lutheran Church of Büdingen on 8 June 1766 with her baptism following on 9 June 1766.
Elisabeth Schäfer, widow of an unnamed farmer, and her children (Johann Nikolaus, age 7; Elisabeth, age 1½) are recorded on the 1767 census of Yagodnaya Polyana in Household No. 64. They had settled there on 16 September 1767.
Nikolaus Schäfer and his family are recorded on the 1798 census of Yagodnaya Polyana in Household No. Yp17.
The 1767 census records that Elisabeth Schäfer came from the German village of Krumbach [perhaps Fränkisch-Crumbach].
(2) Johann Christoph Schäfer (born 1731) married Maria Elisabeth Glanz who was from Lorbach.
Christoph Schäfer, a farmer, and his family 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.
They settled in the Volga German colony of Messer on 18 June 1767 and are recorded there on the 1767 census in Household No. 52.
In 1798, Christoph Schäfer and his family moved from Messer to Kratzke.
Christoph Schäfer from Messer and his family are recorded on the 1798 census of Kratzke in Household No. Kr23.
The death of Thomas Schäfer in 1823 is recorded on the 1834 census of Kratzke in Household No. 24.
Johann Christoph Schäfer and his family are recorded on the 1834 census of Kratzke in Household No. 50.
Christoph Jakob Schäfer and his brother Johann Heinrich, sons of Johann Christoph Schäfer of Kratzke, are recorded on the 1857 census of Ährenfeld.
Christoph Jakob Schäfer, son of Thomas Schäfer, is recorded on the 1834 census of Kratzke in Household No. 24 along with a note that he relocated to the colony of Dobrinka in 1834 [1833 according to the 1834 census of Dobrinka].
Christoph Schäfer from Kratzke and his family are recorded on the 1834 census of Dobrinka in Household No. 144.
Christoph Schäfer and his family are recorded on the 1850 census of Dobrinka in Household No. 182.
Christoph Schäfer and his family are recorded on the 1857 census of Dobrinka in Household No. 193.
- 1834 Dobrinka Census (Household No. 144).
- 1834 Kratzke Census (Households No. 24, 49, 50, 63).
- 1850 Dobrinka Census (Household No. 182).
- 1857 Ährenfeld Census.
- 1857 Dobrinka Census (Household No. 193).
- 1857 Kratzke Census (Households No. 23, 53, 58, 61, 66).
- Mai, Brent Alan. 1798 Census of the German Colonies along the Volga (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1999): Kr23, Yp17, Mv1763.
- 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): #1209.
- Ortsfamilienbuch Michelbach [Online].
- Parish register of Michelbach.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 2 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2001): 190.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet 1764-1767 Band 3 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis; 2005): 143.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #1746.
Larissa Huse
Brent Mai