Stössel (Zürich)*

Thomas Stößel was born in Altenkirchen and baptized 25 April 1720 in nearby Bonbaden. He married on 25 January 1754 in Bonbaden to Catharina Judita Strack. She had been born 19 November 1730 also in Bonbaden.

The births of 5 of their children are recorded on the parish register of Bonbaden: (1) Anna Margaretha, born on 30 May 1754; (2) Susanne, born 22 January 1758; (3) Friedrich Heinrich, born 13 November 1761; (4) Johann Eberhardt, born 13 November 1761; and (5) Margot Elisabeth, born 18 July 1764.

Thomas Stössel, his wife Charlotta, and children (Susanna, age 11; Friedrich, age 6; Elisabeth, age 3) arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 15 September 1766 aboard a ship under the command of Skipper Hans Karholm.

Friderich Stezel [sic], his wife Charlotta, and children (Susanna, age 11; Friderich, age 6) are recorded on the list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767.

The list of Beauregard recruits (No. 24) on the 1767 census records Thomas Stössel and his new wife Katharina along with his surviving daughter Susanna.

Widow Katharina, her daughter, and the daughter's family are recorded on the 1798 census of Zürich in Household No. Zr25.

The 1767 census records that Thomas Stössel came from the German village of Bonbaden in the Solms region.

There are no known surviving male lines of this Stössel among the Volga German colonies.