VGI Updates

There are 3 Messer families that arrarrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 18 June 1766 aboard the ship Die Junger Friederika under the command of skipper Christian Korsholm. Their relationship with each other, if any, needs further research.

(1) Heinrich [Messer] (age 14) arrived in Oranienbaum with his mother and step-father Johann Nikolaus & Susanna Glock.

Johannes Messer, a farmer, and his family settled in the Volga German colony of Messer on 7 July 1766.  They are recorded there on the 1767 census in Household No. 1, and Johanness Messer is recorded as the mayor (Vorsteher) of the colony.

The 1767 census records that Johannes Messer came from the German region of the Kurpfalz.

The colony of Messer is named after its first mayor, Johannes Messer.

Johannes Messer immigrated to Russia, but he did not survive the journey. Three of his surviving children settled in the Volga German colony of Norka on 2 September 1767:

(1) Elisabeth Messer (age 5) is recorded on the 1767 census of Norka in Household No. 194 with the Georg Bauer family.  Georg Bauer is recorded as her step-father, but his wife at the time (Anna Margaretha, age 24) is not old enough to be the mother of the Messer siblings.

Heinrich Messer, a farmer, his wife Anna Margaretha, and children (Katharina, age 18; Anna Katharina, age 12; Wilhelmina, age 8; Johann, age 5) arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 9 September 1766 aboard the pink Slon under the command of Lieutenant Sergey Panov.

They settled in the Volga German colony of Norka on 15 August 1767.

Heinrich Messer, a farmer, his wife Anna Margaretha, and children (Katharina, age 19; Anna Katharina, age 13; Wilhelmina, age 9; Johannes, age 7) are recorded on the 1767 census of Norka in Household No. 52.

There are a couple of Fischer families that are affiliated with the Volga German colony of Norka. It is unknown at this time how, if at all, they are related to each other except in the ways described.

(1) Konrad Fischer (born about 1735), a single farmer, arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 9 August 1766 aboard the pink Slon under the command of Lieutenant Sergey Panov.

Christian Span from Oberissigheim & Anna Catharina Lochmann from Himbach were married on 7 October 1761.  The baptisms of two of their children, both born in Himbach, are recorded in the Eckartshausen parish register: (1) Johann Heinrich, born 30 October 1762; and (2) Catharina Ferdinanda, born 1 July 1765.

Christian Spahn, a farmer, his wife Katharina, and children (Johann Heinrich, age 4; Katharina, age 1½) arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 9 August 1766 aboard the pink Slon under the command of Lieutenant Sergey Panov.

Widow Anna Margaretha Repp and her two children (Anna Maria, age 14, and Konrad, age 11) arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 9 August 1766 aboard the pink Slon under the command of Lieutenant Sergey Panov.

They settled in the Volga German colony of Norka on 15 August 1767 and are recorded there on the 1767 census in Household No. 59.

They are recorded on the 1775 census of Norka in Household No. 204.

Both the Oranienbaum passenger list and the 1767 census record that the Repp family came from the German district of Isenburg.

Johannes Schreiner, son of Conrad and Anna Margaretha Schreiner, was born on 20 September 1715.  Magdalena Gerdt, daughter of Conrad Gerdt, was born on 10 December 1717 in Hüttengesäß. Johannes and Magdalena married on 14 January 1745.  Among their children, each born in Wiedermus are: (1) Johann Phillip, born 10 January 1746; (2) Johann Conrad, born 30 March 1753; and (3) Anna Christina, born 20 March 1760.

There are three Eberling families from Büdingen who settled in the Volga German colony of Norka. Their relationship to each other, if any, requires further investigation.

(1) Heinrich Carl and Appolonia Eberling had five children, all baptized in Büdingen: (1 & 2) twins Johannes and Johann Joachim, 21 July 1743; (3) Johanna Catharina, 19 December 1745; (4) Johann Georg, 4 February 1748; and (5) Eva Elisabetha Justine, 8 September 1751.