Andreas Friedrich Stebenow, a single farmer, arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 16 August 1766 aboard a snow-brig named Neptunus (Neptune) under the command of Skipper Johann Graap.
Andreas Stafenon [sic] is recorded on a list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767.
Andreas Stebenow [recorded as Stephan], a merchant (Kaufmann), and his [new] wife Katharina Elisabeth settled in the Volga German colony of Stephan on 24 August 1767. They are recorded there on the 1767 census in Household No. 1.
It is believed that it is after Andreas Stephan that the colony received its German name of Stephan.
The widow and children of Andreas Stebenow are recorded on the 1798 census of Stephan in Household No. Sp05.
The death of Nikolaus Stebenow, son of Andreas Stebenow, is recorded in 1825 on the 1834 census of Stephan in Household No. 15.
The Oranienbaum passenger list records that Andreas Stebenow came from the German region of Mecklenburg. The 1767 census records that Andreas Stephan [sic] came from the German village of Rostock.
[Some documents translate this surname as Stephanov or Stephan.]
- 1834 Stephan Census (Households No. 15, 95).
- 1850 Stephan Census (Households No. 21, 145, 146, 147).
- 1857 Stephan Census (Households No. 21, 147, 148, 149).
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Auswanderung deutscher Kolonisten nach Russland im Jahre 1766 (Moscow: Idt & Rauschenbach, 2019): 34.
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Deutsche Kolonisten im Jahr 1766 in Oranienbaum und in den Siedlungsorten: Die Kuhlberg-Listen (Moscow: Idt & Rauschenbach, 2024): 743.
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Einige Kapitel aus der Geschichte des Kolonisationsprojekts von Katharina II, 1763-1775. (Moscow: Idt & Rauschenbach, 2021): 213.
- 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): Sp05.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 4 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2008): 221.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): #5942.
- Rauschenbach, Georg. Deutsche Kolonisten auf dem Weg von St. Petersburg nach Saratow: Transportlisten von 1766-1767 (Moscow: G.V. Rauschenbach, 2017): #6338.
Brent Mai