The Reverend Samuel Theophil Bonwetsch is the son of Pastor Christoph Heinrich Bonwetsch and Beate Christiana Friedrich. He was born 4 September 1832 in Katharinenfeld (Caucasus) and died 26 April 1914. He served in Galka from 1858-1874; in Fresental from 1875 to 1876, and in Kursk from 1876-1906.
He studied theology at the seminary in Dorpat and was ordained on 16 September 1856. Samuel is the father of Pastor Emil Friedrich Bonwetsch.
He married in Yagodnaya Polyana on 10 December 1857 to Marie Eugenie Hegele, daughter of Pastor Christian Gottlieb Hegele & Nancy Galloway. Eugenie was born in Beideck on 4 December 1839 and died 30 May 1910.
Amburger, Erik. Die Pastoren der evangelischen Kirchen Rußlands (Lüneburg, Germany: Institut Nordostdeutsches Kulturwerk, 1998).
Schnurr, Joseph. Die Kirchen und das religiöse Leben der Russlanddeutschen – Evangelischer Teil (Stuttgart: AER).