VGI Updates

Christian Schmidt, a single farmer, arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 2 August 1766 aboard an English frigate named Love & Unity under the command of Skipper Thomas Fairfax.

Christian Schmied [sic] is recorded on a list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767.

It is not known in which colony he settled.

The Oranienbaum passenger list records that Christian Schmidt came from the German region of Nassau.

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

Andreas Schäfer, a farmer, his wife Anna, and his mother-in-law Margaretha [surname not recorded] arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 2 August 1766 aboard an English frigate named Love & Unity under the command of Skipper Thomas Fairfax.

Andreas Schäffer [sic], his [new] wife Catharina, and [mother-in-law] Margaretha Kint [sic] are recorded on the list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767.

Johann Leichner, a stocking maker (Strumpfwirker), and his wife Maria arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 2 August 1766 aboard an English frigate named Love & Unity under the command of Skipper Thomas Fairfax.

Johann Leichner and his wife Margaretha are recorded on a list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767 along with a note that Johann died en route.

It is not known in which colony the widow Leichner settled.

Johann Sauer, a single cobbler (Schuhmacher), arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 2 August 1766 aboard an English frigate named Love & Unity under the command of Skipper Thomas Fairfax.

Joh. Georg Sauer and his wife Anna Maria are recorded on a list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767.

It is not known in which colony they settled.

The Oranienbaum passenger list records that Johann Sauer came from the German region of Hessen.

Adam Meess, a farmer, his wife Anna, sons (Adam, age 3; Franz, age ½), and sister-in-law Anna [surname not recorded] (age 36) arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 2 August 1766 aboard an English frigate named Love & Unity under the command of Skipper Thomas Fairfax.

Joh. Adam Meess and Ana Marg. Wiessmann [presumed to be the sister-in-law] are recorded on a list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767.

It is not known in which colony they settled.

Widow Katharina née Guth and her sisters (Katharina, age 32; Anna, age 22) arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 2 August 1766 aboard an English frigate named Love & Unity under the command of Skipper Thomas Fairfax.

The Widow Katharina married Konrad Epp with whom she had arrived in Oranienbaum. 

Konrad Epp, a single farmer, arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 2 August 1766 aboard an English frigate named Love & Unity under the command of Skipper Thomas Fairfax.

Conrad Bonifacius Epp is recorded on a list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767 along with his [new] wife Veronica Catharina Gut [sic] and her sisters (Catharina & Louisa) along with a note that Conrad Epp as well as his two sisters-in-law died en route.

It is not known in which colony the widow Epp settled.

Johann Hermann Birck, a farmer, his wife Anna Maria, and children (Anna Maria, age 13; Johann Peter, age 6) arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 11 August 1766 aboard a ship named Кир Иоанн (Cyrus John) under the command of Midshipman Gavriil Poddubskii.

Johann Herman Birck, his wife Anna Maria, and children (Anna Maria, age 13; Johann Peter, age 6) are recorded on a list of colonists being transported from St. Petersburg to Saratov in 1767 along with a note that both mother and daughter died en route.