Johann Jacob Best, son of Hanns Jacob and Maria Barbara Best, was baptized in Ochsenbach on 18 May 1724. Maria Magdalena Henne, daughter of Johannes and Anna Barbara Henne, was born in Pfrondorf and baptized 26 April 1727 in Kirchentellinsfurt. Johann Jacob and Maria Magdalena married in Ochsenbach on 5 November 1748. The Ochsenbach parish records report the baptisms of seven children: a stillborn child, born 9 Jul 1749; Johannes, born 17 September, baptized 18 September 1750, died 28 January 1752; Christoph Friedrich, born 19 April, baptized 21 April 1754, died 19 April 1758; Johann Jacob, born 18 August, baptized 19 August 1755, died 9 October 1761; Christina Barbara, born 12 December, baptized 13 December 1760; Christoph Friedrich, born 22 January, baptized 23 January 1762; and Johann Friedrich, born 12 April, baptized 13 April 1764.
Johann Jacob arrived in Russia on 31 May 1766 with two children: Christina, age 5 1/4, and Julianna, age 1/2. By the time they arrived in Russia, they had one surviving child, Christina. The family is reported on the Frank First Settler's List in household #20.
- Parish records of Ochsenbach, Dekanat Vaihingen an der Enz, Landeskirchliches Archiv Stuttgart, on Archion.de
- Family Search Indexes of Film #1184602, Evangelische Kirche Ochsenbach (Brackenheim)
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010) p. 61
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 1 (Göttingen: Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 1999): p. 422
