Ernst Appel (son of Peter Appel from Vilbel) and Anna Catharina Kaltenmorgen (daughter of Conrad Kaltenmorgen) married in Meerholz on 22 May 1766. The 8 April 1766 Civil Registration of their marriage states that Ernst was born 6 September 1733 and Anna Catharina was born 11 April 1734. They had two children in Meerholz: Johann Heinrich, born 4 March, baptized 8 March, died 27 March 1767; and Anna Elisabeth, born 10 July, baptized 13 July, died 12 October 1768. Anna Catharina died in Meerholz on 3 August 1768 and was buried there on 5 August 1768.
Ernst then married Anna Catharina Helmuth in Niedermittlau on 2 March 1769. Anna Catharina was the daughter of Johannes Helmuth and Anna Eva Ruppert and had been born in Niedermittlau on 7 September 1738 and baptized there on 14 September 1738. This couple had two children in Niedermittlau: Ernst Heinrich, baptized 21 January 1770; and Jost Heinrich, baptized 2 November 1771.
Ernst, Anna Catharina, their two children, and Anna Catharina's sister Elisabeth, arrived in Russia on 17 July 1772. They were among a group of families arriving in July and August of 1772 who were transported to the Volga German colonies, settling in Pobochnaya in 1773.
Jost Heinrich Appel and his family are reported in the Pobochnaya 1798 Census in Household #13. His wife is Anna Maria Lamm from Norka.
- Parish records of Meerholz 1740-1787 on Archion.de
- Parish records of Niedermittlau 1746-1802 (including Neuenhasslau and Gondsroth) on Archion.de
- Zivilstandsregister, 1759-1874. Author: Meerholz (Hessen-Nassau). Amtsgericht on Family Search
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Einige Kapitel aus der Geschichte des Kolonisationsprojekts von Katharina II. 1763-1775 (Moscow: Andreas Idt, Georg Rauschenbach, 2021): pp. 393 and 407
- Rye, Richard, translator. 1772 and 1798 Census of Pobochnaya (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1995)
