There are several Sommer families that apparently settled in the Volga German colony of Wittmann.
(1) Johannes Sommer, his wife Elisabeth, and children (Maria, age 18; Christina, age 17; Anna, age 12; Heinrich, age 8; Katharina, age 1½) arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 15 September 1766 aboard a ship under the command of Skipper Hans Karholm.
Johannes Sommer, his wife Elisabeth, and children (Maria, age 18; Christina, age 17; Anna, age 12; Heinrich, age 8; Catharina, age 2) are recorded on the list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767 with a note that father Johannes, son Heinrich, and daughter Catharina died en route.
Daughters Christina & Maria are recorded on a list of Beauregard recruits appended to the 1767 census in Household No. 78 along with their stepfather Philipp Jung who arrived with them on the same ship in Oranienabum.
Christina is recorded on the 1798 census of Wittmann in Household No. Wm41.
(2) Nikolaus Sommer, a single man, also arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 15 September 1766 aboard a ship under the command of Skipper Hans Karholm. Nicolaus is recorded with Johannes and his family on the list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767 along with a note that he died en route.
(3) Widow Katharina Sommer and her children (Johann, age 16½; Maria, age 15; Joseph, age 12; Johann, age 8) arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 15 September 1766 aboard a ship under the command of Skipper Franz Nikolaus Schröder.
Widow Catharina Sommer and her children (Johann, age 17; Maria, age 16; Joseph, age 15; Johann Friderich, age 8) are recorded on the list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767 along with a note that son Johann Friderich died en route.
The children are recorded on an appendix to the 1767 census of Beauregard in Household No. 75 with a note that they settled in the Volga German colony of Wittmann in 1768.
Son Joseph is recorded on the 1798 census of Mariental in Household No. Mt82 with his ex-wife and daughter recorded in Household No. Mt81. A note on the 1798 census records that Joseph is working in Pokrovsk [Engels].
(4) Johann Heinrich Sommer, a single hosier (Strumpfwirker), arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 15 September 1766 aboard a ship under the command of Skipper Franz Nikolaus Schröder.
Johann Heinrich Sommer is recorded on the list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767.
He is recorded on an appendix to the 1767 census of Beauregard in Household No. 75 along with Maria, Peter, and Joseph (above) identified as his siblings - and a note that they settled in the Volga German colony of Wittmann in 1768.
(5) Katharina Sommer, a single woman, arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 15 September 1766 aboard a ship under the command of Skipper Franz Nikolaus Schröder.
Catharina Sommer is recorded on the list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767.
The 1767 census records that Heinrich Sommer and his siblings came from the German village of Pfaffenheim.
- 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): Mt81, Mt82, Wm40.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 1 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 1999): 212.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 4 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2008): 364.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766 (Saratov: State Technical University, 2010): #6821, #6822, #6823, #7057, #7058.
- Rauschenbach, Georg. Deutsche Kolonisten auf dem Weg von St. Petersburg nach Saratow: Transportlisten von 1766-1767 (Moscow: G.V. Rauschenbach, 2017): #4517-4523, 4713-4719.
Brent Mai