Johannes Burkhardt, son of Andreas Burkhardt & Dorothea Klüber, was born 6 July 1732 in Oberhausen, a German village at that time located in the Free Noble Province of Ancient Knights. He was baptized in the neighboring village of Gersfeld the following day. He married in Gersfeld on 15 October 1756 to Margaretha Barthelmeß, daughter of Sebastian Barthelemeß & Elisabetha Wohlmacher. She had been born in Gersfeld on 8 March 1734.
They immigrated to Russia, arriving in the colony of Walter on 10 September 1767 where they are recorded in Household No. 16 on the 1767 census along with their oldest children.
Nicolaus Burkhardt, younger brother of Johannes, was born 19 January 1741 in Oberhausen. He arrived in Walter at the same time, and is recorded there on the 1767 census in Household #106.
- Parish records for Gersfeld & Oberhausen.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 4 (Göttingen: Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2008): 318.