Johann Heinrich Beckel and Anna Margaretha Appel were married in Gelnhaar on 12 Dec 1747. The baptisms of eight children are recorded in the Gelnhaar parish records: Johannes, born 6 Mar, baptized 10 Mar 1748 (died 17 Oct 1755); Wilhelmina, born 20 Jul, baptized 28 July 1750; Anna Catharina, born 7 Nov, baptized 12 Nov 1752; Maria Gertraud, born 9 Jul, baptized 14 Jul 1754; Johann Georg, born 14 Sep, baptized 18 Sep 1757 (died 22 Apr 1759); Johann Heinrich, born 2 Dec, baptized 5 Dec 1759; Johann Wolff Hermann, born 31 Mar, baptized 4 Apr 1762; and Johannes born 28 Dec, baptized 30 Dec 1764.
The family arrived in Russia on 15 Sep 1766, and is reported on the Walter First Setter’s List in Family #62 (with the surname incorrectly spelled "Bäcker"). Members of this family are recorded on the 1798 Census in Walter with the surname Begel: Johann Heinrich (age 33) in Household No. 45 (Wt045) and Katharina (age 46) in Household No. 61 (Wt061) married to Leopold Becker.
- Parish records of Gelnhaar, Family Search film #1201724
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010) p. 383
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 4 (Göttingen: Nordost-Institute, 2008): p. 309
- 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): 1000 & 1002
