Johannes Bauer was born 26 October 1719 in Nieder-Kinzig. He married 3 November 1740 in Höchst im Odenwald to Elisabeth Katharina Schmidt.
At least six children were born in Germany before departure for Russia: (1) Katharina Elisabeth, born 24 January 1744 in Pfirschbach; (2) Anna Margaretha, born 6 December 1747 in Ober-Kinzig; (3) Johann Jacob, born 14 August 1750 in Pfirschbach; (4) Johann Georg; (5) Anna Sophia; and (6) Eva Margaretha, born 27 January 1761.
Johannes Adler and Anna Dorothea Dey were married 30 November 1729 in Langendiebach. They have one known son, Johannes, born 3 May 1748 in Gettenbach, today part of the Gründau municipality. Anna Dorothea Dey had been born 23 May 1708 in Mittelgründau. The Dey line can be traced back several generations in Mittelgründau.
Son Johannes arrived in Russia with his widowed mother. They settled in the colony of Kolb on 13 May 1767 and are recorded there on the 1767 census in Household No. 12.
Johann Jacob Horn, son of Paulus Horn & Maria Dorothea Kessler, was born on 14 November 1734 and baptized on 21 November 1734 in the Evangelical Church of Steinbach, today part of the parish of Fernwald. He married to Anna Catharina Schneider, daughter of Heinrich Schneider & Maria Dorothea Petri, on 30 July 1760 in the same church. Anna Catharina had been baptized there on 2 November 1735.
They had two known children, each baptized in Steinbach: (1) Johann Caspar, on 25 December 1761; and (2) Anna Margaretha, on 23 September 1764.
The Reverend John N. Sauer was born on 12 January 1890 in Mannsburg, Bessarabia (Russia). He immigrated with his family to the United States in 1901 aboard the S.S. Lahn and settled in Lind, Washington. He graduated from Redfield Seminary in 1920, after which he served as circuit riding pastor in Burt, North Dakota.
The Rev. Laureno Sitzman serves as the president of the Iglesia Evangélica Luterana del Paraguay (IELP) (Evangelical Lutheran Church of Paraguay). Pastor Sitzman traces his Volga German ancestors to the colony of Frank.
Peter Sinner, son of Johannes Sinner, was born in Schilling on 10 April 1879. He began his career as an apprentice trader with the Reinecke Brothers flour mills in Saratov. He continued to study, and in 1898 passed the exam to become a teacher. He was assigned to the school in Enders. He became quite a proliferic writer. In 1927, he moved to Leningrad working both as a teacher and journalist.
Dr. Jerome "Jerry" Siebert received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1964 in Agricultural Economics. He was appointed as Cooperative Extension Specialist in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Berkeley in April 1966. During his tenure at Berkeley, he had a variety of assignments, most related to agricultural marketing with special emphasis on the California dairy and poultry industries.
Dr. Siebert, a Volga German descendant, has served as the president of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia.
Moses Lake was originally called Neppel after the German town from which many of the early settlers had immigrated. In 1938, it was renamed in honor of Chief Moses of the Sinkiuse tribe. Many Volga Germans have settled in Moses Lake, Washington.
Specialist Jeremiah W. Schmunk, 20, an Infantryman assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 161st Infantry, a part of the 81st Armored Brigade, died July 8, 2004 as a result of hostile action near Baghdad. SPC Schmunk graduated from Warden High School in Warden, Washington in May 2002 and immediately joined and began training with the Washington Army National Guard. Before deploying with his unit in March 2004, Jeremiah attended Columbia Basin College in Pasco, Washington.
Sarepta was founded by the Herrnhutt Brethren (the Moravians) from Saxony in Germany. Dietz (pp. 407-414) outlines the special agreements that were negotiated with the Russian government to gain permission for the establishment of the colony. In August 1765, the first group of Moravian colonists arrived in Saratov. From there, they launched their search for an appropriate settlement location. They chose a location 28 versts south of Tsaritsyn where the Sarpa River flows into the Volga. On 23 August 1765, the Moravian brethren began laying out their new settlement.