Two Soltner families arrived in the Volga German colony of Katharinenstadt on 27 August 1766. They are presumed to be brothers, but further research is needed to confirm this relationship.
(1) Johannes Friedrich Soltner (age 23), a baker (Bäcker), and his wife Anna Katharina Dörr (age 15) arrived in the Volga German colony of Katharinenstadt on 27 August 1766 where they are recorded on the 1767 census in Household No. 100. [See Dörr Family.]
Friedrich Soltner and his wife Anna Katharina Dörr are recorded on the 1776 Katharinenstadt Grundbuch [Land Register] in Household No. 111.
Friedrich Soltner and his wife are recorded on the 1798 census of Katharinenstadt in Household No. Ka027.
The 1767 census records that Johannes Friedrich Soltner came from the German village of Grünberg in the region of Hessen and that his wife came from the German village of Hangheim [Hüngheim] in the region of Franken (Franconia). The 1776 Katharinenstadt Land Register records that he came from the village of Marklein [Merchingen] and that she came from the village of Grünberg.
(2) Johann Heinrich Soltner (age 22), a baker (Bäcker), and his wife Elisabeth settled in the Volga German colony of Katharinenstadt on 27 August 1766. They are recorded there on the 1767 census in Household No. 29.
Heinrich Soltner, his wife Johanna Dorothea née Paul (widow Sommer), and son Andreas (age ½) are recorded on the 1776 Katharinenstadt Grundbuch [Land Register] in Household No. 30 along with a note about the birth of another son Heinrich David on 10 October 1777.
In 1786, Heinrich Soltner and his family moved from Katharinenstadt to the Caucasus.
The 1767 census records that Johann Heinrich Soltner came from the German village of Marklein Hanghein [Merchingen Hüngheim] in the Ansbach region. The 1776 Katharinenstadt Land Register records that Heinrich Soltner came from the German village of Marklein Hangheim [Merchingen Hüngheim] in Franken (Franconia) and that his wife came from Marklein [Merchingen].
There are no known surviving male lines of this Soltner family among the Volga German colonies.
- 1776 Katharinenstadt Grundbuch [Land Register] (Households No. 30, 111).
- 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): Ka027, Mv1180.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 2 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2001): 282, 297.
Brent Mai