Many familiar Volga German names appear in the parish records of Hellstein, which included the towns of Hellstein, Neuenschmidten, Schlierbach, and Udenhain. Among them were three sons of Hans Heinrich Brill from Neuenschmidten.
Hans (Johann) Heinrich Brill and Anna Elisabeth Laÿs (daughter of Conrad Laÿs from Spielberg) married in Neuenschmidten on 5 November 1711. Among their children (all baptized in Neuenschmidten) were: Johann Heinrich, baptized in January 1715; Johannes, baptized 11 August 1726; and Johann Heinrich baptized 22 October 1728.
Johann Heinrich Brill (son of Hans Heinrich Brill) and Barbara Elisabeth Erbe (daughter of Johann Peter Erbe) married on 17 March 1747. The births of eight children are recorded in the Hellstein parish records, baptized on the following dates: Anna Elisabeth, 30 October 1747 (died); Maria Elisabeth, 27 December 1750 (died); Johann Heinrich, 29 January 1752; Johann Jacob, 13 October 1754; Anna Margaretha, 11 January 1757 (died); Conrad, 23 February 1758, Anna Catharina, 24 April 1761; and Elisabeth Catharina, 16 December 1763. This couple arrived in Russia with five children on 9 August 1766. This couple with their three surviving children (Johann Heinrich, Johann Jacob, and Elisabeth Catharina) are recorded on the Norka First Settler's List in Household #73.
Johannes Brill and Elisabeth Hahn married in Lübeck on 2 July 1766. This may be Eva Elisabeth Hahn, born in Altengronau on 2 December 1744, the sister of Melchior Hahn. This couple arrived in Russia on the same ship as the Hahn family and the other Brill families. They settled in Norka and are reported there on the First Settlers List in Household #77.
Johann Heinrich Brill (son of Hans Heinrich Brill from Neuenschmidten) and Anna Elisabeth Kropp (daughter of Peter Kropp from Rinderbügen) married in Rinderbügen on 30 October 1755. The baptisms of two children are recorded in the Rinderbügen parish records: Johannes, born 4 June, baptized 8 June 1760 (died) and Johannes, born 12 December, baptized 18 December 1763. This family arrived in Russia on the same ship as the other Brill families, and were accompanied by Anna Elisabeth's brother Johann Jacob Kropp and mother Anna Maria. This Brill family settled in Norka and are reported there on the First Settlers List in Household #76.
- Parish records of Hellstein (including Neuenschmidten, Schlierbach, and Udenhain) on Archion.de
- Parish records of Rinderbügen on Archion.de
- Decker, Klaus-Peter. Die Auswanderung von 1766/67 aus der Grafschaft Ysenburg-Büdingen nach Russland, p. 103
- Lists of the recruiter Johann Facius
- 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. 167
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010) pp. 259 and 264
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 3 (Göttingen: Nordost-Institute, 2005): pp. 248 and 249
