VGI Updates

Widow Katharina Knaub and her children (Katharina Friedrika, age 17½; Johann Konrad, age 14; Ludwig, age 12; Johann Heinrich, age 10; Philipp Peter, age 8; Magdalena, age 1½) arrived from Lübeck at the port in Oranienbaum on 21 July 1766 aboard the snow-brig Mercurius under the command of Skipper Christian Heinrich Abelßen.

On the same ship arriving in Oranienbaum were Valentin Traub and his wife, Eva.  Eva died at some point during the journey to the colonies, and Valentin married the widow Katharina Knaub.

Anton Herdt, a farmer, and his wife Anna arrived from Lübeck at the port in Oranienbaum on 4 July 1766 aboard the English frigate Love & Unity under the command of Skipper Thomas Fairfax.  They settled in the Volga German colony of Messer on 18 June 1767.

Anton Hardt, a farmer, and his wife are recorded in Messer on the 1767 census in Household No. 58.

Widower Anton Hardt and his family are recorded on the 1798 census of Messer in Household No. Ms02.

Valentin Benzel, a farmer, and his family arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 13 September 1766 aboard a ship under the command of Skipper Johann Grapp.

They settled in the Volga German colony of Kautz on 3 August 1767. They are recorded there on the 1767 census in Household No. 17.

In 1790, Ulrich Benzel moved from Kautz to Kolb.

The 1767 census records that the Benzels came from the German village of Ensheim in the Pfalz.

Christian Reiber, a bread maker (Semmelbäcker), and his wife Anna Katharina settled in the Volga German colony of Kautz on 3 August 1767.  They are recorded there, along with their 3-week-old son Johann Georg, on the 1767 census in Household No. 16.

The 1767 census records that the Reibers came from the German village of Bornheim in the Pfalz.

Jeorg Jacob Kauz [sometimes spelled Kauss, Kauz, Kauzen], son of Peter & Maria Elisabetha Kauss, was baptized in the parish church in Erpolzheim on 2 March 1730. According to records in Russia, he had been born in the village of Ungstein a few kilometers west of Erpolzheim.

Ulrich Schmidt, a farmer, and his wife settled in the Volga German colony of Kautz on 20 July 1767.  They are recorded on the 1767 census in Household No. 8.

Ulrich is recorded as a widower on the 1798 census in Kautz (Kz13).

The 1767 census records that the Schmidts came from the Swiss village of Schleitheim, just across the border from Baden-Württemberg.

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