Blumenschein

Johann Peter Blumenschein was born 24 May and baptized 25 May 1707 in Reichelsheim. He first married Susanna Maria Pacius in 1728. She died in 1729. He then married Susanna Margaretha Heist, daughter of Johann Philipp Heist and Margaretha Klinger, on 24 November 1729 in Reichelsheim, near Erbach, in Hessen. After Susanna Margaretha's death in 1751, Peter remarried there to Anna Maria Orth on 29 February 1752.

Peter and Susanna Margaretha had 12 children according to the Reichelsheim Familienbuch. He, his 3rd wife Anna Maria, and 5 of the 10 children immigrated to Russia. The eldest daughter, Margaretha Elisabeth married first in Büdingen on 17 May 1766 to Benedict Reh. He died on 20 May 1766, and she married on 19 June 1766 to Christoph Zürkobel from Brensbach.

The family arrived from Lübeck at the port in Oranienbaum on 15 September 1766 aboard the snow-brig Die Frau Dietrika under the command of skipper Joachim Friedrich Luhn. Peter and Anna Maria do not appear to have made it to Yagodnaya Polyana, but the children are recorded there on the 1767 Census in Households No. 46 & 47.

Johann Conrad Blumenschein, a single man, is recorded on a list of colonists dated 23 September 1765 who had gathered in Worms. His town of origin is listed as Reichelsheim and he is described as a farmer. He was born 3 December 1728 in Ober-Ostern. He settled in Bauer and is reported there along with his wife and daughter on theFirst Settlers List in Household #10.

The two Blumenschein men are distantly related as both are descendants of Hans Blumenschein born 1653 in Reichelsheim.