Johann Peter Bötter, son of Johann Heinrich Bötter & Anna Gertraud Eckel, was born about 1706, probably in Arheilgen, today a district in the north of the city of Darmstadt, in Hesse. He married to Anna Barbara Heidelbach, daughter of Johann Heinrich Heidelbach, on 18 December 1744 in the Evangelical Church of Arheilgen.
They had eight known children, each baptized in Arheilgen: (1) Elisabetha, born 23 April 1745 and baptized 25 April 1745; (2) Johannes, born 8 July 1746 and baptized 10 July 1746; (3) Johann Carl, born 28 March 1749; (4) Anna Gertraud, born 21 November 1751; (5) Johann Heinrich, born 18 May 1756, baptized 23 May 1756, and died 11 July 1757; (6) Johannes (again), born 2 November 1758 and baptized 5 November 1758; (7) Johann Philipp, born 17 September 1761 and baptized 18 September 1761; and (8) Elisabetha Katharina, born 29 July 1764 and baptized 1 August 1764.
Johann Peter and his family emigrated to Russia, departing from Lübeck aboard the Danish galliot Engel Rafail with skipper Konstadt at the helm. They arrived in Oranienbaum on 8 August 1766. The family arrived in the colony of Lauwe on 5 September 1767, where they are recorded on the 1767 census in Household No. 46. By the time of 1798 Lauwe census, son Johannes is recorded in Household No. Lw02, and son Johann Carl is registered in Household No. Lw21.
Johann Georg Bötter, a relative of Johann Peter Bitter, was born and baptized on 22 April 1738 in Arheilgen. He was the son of Georg Jacob Bötter & Elisabetha Stork. He married Johannetta Maria Mösser, daughter of Johann Peter Mösser, on 22 April 1761 in Arheilgen. They had three known children, each baptized in Arheilgen: (1) Johann Joseph, born 25 July 1761, baptized 26 July 1761, and died 5 August 1761; (2) Elisabetha, born in 1762; and (3) Anna Barbara, born 10 April 1765 and baptized on 12 April 1765.
Johann Georg and his family emigrated to Russia, departing from Lübeck by the snow-brig Maria Sophia with skipper Johann Bauer. They arrived in Oranienbaum on 25 July 1766. On 5 September 1767, they also settled in the Volga German colony of Lauwe , where they are recorded on 1767 census in Household No. 47.
This surname is most often spelled as "Bitter" in Russian and American records.
- 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).
- Parish records of Arheilgen (LDS Film No. 1190531).
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 3 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2005): 47.
- Pleve, Igor. List of the Colonists to Russia in 1766 "Reports by Ivan Kulberg" (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): 174, 229.