There are two Schleicher families that settled in the Volga German colony of Norka. Their relationship to each other, if any, needs further research.
(1) Conrad Schleuger from Lieblos and Maria Catharina Kling, widow of Johann Albrecht Volz, married on 22 March 1759. Maria Catharina Kling, daughter of Michael & Angelica Kling, was born 20 September 1734 in Wiedermus. Conrad and Maria Catharina had three children, all born in Wiedermus: (1) Maria Elisabetha, born 23 March 1760; (2) Magdalena, born 29 May 1762; and (3) Anna Elisabetha, born 3 November 1764.
Konrad Schleicher, a farmer, his wife Katharina, daughters (Katharina, age 4; Magdalena, age 3; Elisabeth, age 2), and sister-in-law [surname not recorded] (age 30) arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 9 August 1767 aboard the pink Slon under the command of Lieutenant Sergey Panov.
They settled in Norka on 15 August 1767 and are recorded there on the 1767 census in Household No. 51.
Konrad Schleicher, his wife Katharina, and children (Katharina, age 16; Magdalena, age 13; Johannes, age 8; Konrad, age 3; Elisabeth, age 3) are recorded on the 1775 census of Norka in Household No. 44.
Both the Oranienbaum passenger list and the 1767 census record that Konrad Schleicher came from the German district of Isenburg.
(2) Johann Adam Schleicher, a farmer, his wife Eva Elisabeth, and sons (Nikolaus, age 20; Lorenz, age 17; Johann Melchior, age 12) arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 9 August 1767 aboard the Russian galliot Strelna under the command of Lieutenant Sornev.
They also settled in Norka on 15 August 1767. [Johann] Adam Schleicher, his new wife Maria Magdalena, and sons (Lorenz, age 17; Johann Melchior, age 12) are recorded there on the 1767 census in Household No. 99.
Adam Schleicher and his son Johann Melchior (age 20) are recorded on the 1775 census of Norka in Household No. 131 along with his son Lorenz and daughter-in-law Margaretha, and stepchildren [surname not recorded] (Margaretha, age 18; Nikolaus, age 7½).
Both the Oranienbaum passenger list and the 1767 census record that Adam Schleicher came from the German district of Isenburg.
Variant spellings for this surname include Schleicher and Sleicher [and errantly recorded as Schläger in Household Nr138 on the 1798 Norka Census].
- 1775 Norka Census (Households No. 44, 131).
- Decker, Klaus-Peter. Die Auswanderung von 1766/67 aus der Grafschaft Ysenburg-Büdingen nach Russland ( Büdingen: Geschichtswerkstatt Büdingen, 2015): 174.
- 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): Nr045, Nr135, Nr138.
- Parish register of Eckartshausen (including Wiedermus).
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 3 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2005): 242, 255.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #4024, #4956.
Maggie Hein
Brent Mai