There are three Asmus families from Wallernhausen who settled in Volga German colonies. The Johannes Asmus family settled in Walter. The Johann Conrad Asmus and Johann Peter Asmus families settled in Yagodnaya Polyana.
Johannes Asmus family:
Johannes Asmus, son of Caspar and Anna Catharina Asmus, was born 24 February and baptized 26 February 1740 in Wallernhausen and confirmed there in 1754.
Anna Elisabetha Mertz, daughter of Johann Nicolaus Mertz and Anna Katharina Kraft, was born 31 March and baptized 3 April 1738 in Lißberg. Anna Elisabetha had a son Johann Conrad who was born in Lißberg 22 February and baptized 25 February 1761. The baptism record states that Daniel Friedrich Bautz was the child's father. Anna Elisabetha and Daniel Friedrich married in Lißberg in June 1761. Daniel Friedrich Bautz, son of Andreas and Maria Catharina Bautz, was baptized 19 November 1738 in Rudersberg, Oberamt Schorndorf, Württemberg. Anna Elisabetha and Daniel Friedrich had a second child in Lißberg, daughter Anna Sophia, who was born 21 September and baptized 25 September 1763.
The lists of the recruiter Johann Facius describe Anna Elisabetha's household of 4 individuals as follows: Anna Elisabetha Metz, 27 years old widow of Bautz from Lißberg, with one son 5 years old and one daughter 3 years old with mother Anna Catharina Metz, widowed. Johannes Asmus is reported separately, described as a 26 year old farmer from Wallernhausen.
The Büdingen marriages report that Johannes Asmus from Lisberg and Anna Elisabetha Mertz from the same place married on 25 June 1766.
Johannes Asmus, his wife Elisabeth, children Johann Conrad, age 5, and Anna Sophia, age 3, and his mother-in-law Anna Catharina arrived in Russia on 18 August 1766. A number of other families from Wallernhausen arrived on the same ship.
Anna Elisabeth, her son Johann Conrad, and her mother Anna Catharina are not reported on the First Settlers List, suggesting that they died during the journey to the villages. Johannes, his new wife Julianna, and children Sophia, age 5, and Maria, age 2 1/2, settled in Walter. They are reported there on the 1767 Census in Household #71.
The movement tables in the 1798 Census report that Sophia Bautz moved to Kratzke and married Christoph Rachÿ (Reich). Widowed Sophia Rachÿ (Reich) is reported in Kratzke Household #36 with a note that she and her children were living in Hussenbach. On the 1798 Census of Walter, Johann Georg Asmus, age 28, is reported in Household #36 and stated to be working in Huck. There is a note indicating that Johann Georg Asmus was the son of Margaretha Magdalena Link and her deceased husband Johannes Asmus. Johann Georg had a sister Elisabeth, born approximately 1773, who married Andreas Hartung in Frank.
Johann Georg is reported in Walter Household #36 on the 1811 Census, and has a son named Georg Heinrich. Sophia's sons Conrad Leis and Adam Reich are living in Hussenbach in 1811.
Johann Conrad Asmus and Johann Peter Asmus families:
Conrad Asmus, son of Heinrich Asmus, and Anna Maria Stang, daughter of Conrad Stang, married in Wallernhausen on 30 November 1739. Conrad and Anna Maria had a total of eight children in Wallernhausen including three children who accompanied them to Russia: Johann Peter, baptized 7 May 1743; Anna Elisabetha, baptized 2 November 1747; and Johann Heinrich, baptized 22 September 1761.
The Büdingen marriages report that Johann Peter Asmus from Wallernhausen married Anna Elisabeth Rontaler on 1 July 1766.
Conrad, his wife Anna Maria, their children Anna Elisabetha, age 19, and Johann Heinrich, age 5, along with Johann Peter and his wife Elisabeth, arrived in Russia on 18 August 1766.
Conrad's son Johann Heinrich must have died prior to departure for the colonies because he is not listed on the Transport List. His wife Anna Maria died during the journey.
The surviving family members settled in Yagodnaya Polyana. Johann Conrad Asmus and his daughter Anna Elisabeth are reported there on the 1767 Census (First Settlers List) in Household #10. Johann Peter Asmus and his wife Elisabeth are reported in Household #12.
Peter Asmus and his family are reported on the 1798 Census of Yagodnaya Polyana in Household #26. Elisabeth Asmus and her family are reported in Household #27.
Sources for the Asmus settlers in Walter:
- Parish records of Wallernhausen on Archion.de
- Parish records of Lißberg on Archion.de
- Parish records of Büdingen on Archion.de
- Parish records of Rudersberg on Ancestry.com, indexes on Family Search and Ancestry, images also on Archion.de
- Facius Lists
- Mai, Brent Alan and Dona Reeves-Marquardt, German Migration to the Russian Volga (1764-1767) (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 2003): p. 97
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): p. 398
- Idt, Andreas and Rauschenbach, Georg. Auswanderung deutsche Kolonisten nach Russland im Jahre 1766 (Second edition). Moscow: 2019. Page 34
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 4 (Göttingen: Nordost-Institute, 2008): p. 311
- Mai, Brent Alan. 1798 Census of the German Colonies along the Volga: Economy, Population, and Agriculture (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1999): Volume 1, pp. 411, 640; Volume 2, pp. 999, 1163
- Koretnikov, Mila, translator and Kevin Rupp, editor. 1811 34 Colonies in Russia Village Census Records (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 2021): p. 403
Sources for the Asmus settlers in Yagodnaya Polyana:
- Parish records of Wallernhausen on Archion.de
- Parish records of Büdingen on Archion.de
- Wirth, Arnold & Kötting, Rainer. Evang. Gemeinde Wallernhausen (Wetterau): Heiraten 1645-1932 (Darmstadt, Germany : Hessische familiengeschichtliche Vereinigung, 1992), p. 1
- Kromm, Georg, translation of Yagodnaya Polyana First Settlers List published by Art and Cleo Flegel in “Research in Hesse”, American Historical Society of Germans from Russia Work Paper, Vol.XIII (Dec,1973)
- Mai, Brent Alan and Dona Reeves-Marquardt, German Migration to the Russian Volga (1764-1767) (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 2003): p. 100
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): pp. 400, 403
- Idt, Andreas and Rauschenbach, Georg. Auswanderung deutsche Kolonisten nach Russland im Jahre 1766 (Second edition). Moscow: 2019. Page 34
- Rauschenbach, Georg. Deutsche Kolonisten Auf Dem Weg Von St. Petersburg Nach Saratow: Transportlisten von 1766-1767 (Moscow: 2017): p. 344
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 2 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2001): p. 175-176
- Mai, Brent Alan. 1798 Census of the German Colonies along the Volga: Economy, Population, and Agriculture (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1999): Volume 1, p. 1036
