Two Decher families from the Billertshausen parish emigrated to Russia. Their relationship to each other, if any, is unknown.
Johannes Decher was baptized 8 September 1724 in Zell, the son of Johannes Decher and his wife Maria. Anna Gertraud Schneider was born 13 June and baptized 15 June 1729 in Zell, the daughter of Johann Heinrich Schneider and his wife Maria Elisabetha. Johannes Decher and Anna Gertraud married in Zell on 9 February 1747. They had six children in Zell: Maria Elisabeth, born 1 January, baptized 3 January 1749; Catharina Elisabeth, born 26 June, baptized 27 June 1751 (died 27 November, buried 28 November 1753); Anna Gertraud, born 25 December, baptized 27 December 1753; Johann Georg, born 27 October, baptized 28 October 1756; Johann Conrad, born 24 August, baptized 26 August 1762; and Elisabeth, born 1 November, baptized 3 November 1765.
The Büdingen marriages report that on 4 April 1766 Nicolaus Dechert from Angenrode, Amt Alsfeld, married Eva Elisabetha Schmidt from Zell, Amt Romrod. Johann Nicolaus Decher was born 1 March, baptized 4 March 1739, and confirmed in 1753 in Angenrod, the son of Johannes Decher and his wife Anna Elisabeth. Eva Elisabetha Schmidt was born 3 December, baptized 5 December 1735, and confirmed 1749 in Zell, the daughter of Andreas Schmidt and his wife Anna Maria.
Johannes Decker, his wife, and their five children arrived in Russia on 19 July 1766. Nicolaus Degert and his wife arrived in Russia on 28 July 1766.
Johannes Deckert, his wife Gertrude, along with their children Anna Gertrude, Georg, and 2-week-old daughter Anna Maria are reported on the Müller 1767 Census (First Settlers List) in Household #8. Nikolaus Decher and his wife Eva Elisabeth are reported in the Müller 1767 Census in Household #16.
Anna Gertrude Deckert, widow of Johannes Deckert, and her daughter Anna Gertrude Deckert are reported in the 1798 Census of Müller in Household #36.
- Parish records of Billertshausen, Dekanat Alsfeld, Zentralarchiv der Evangelischen Kirche in Hessen und Nassau, accessed on Archion.de
- Parish records of Büdingen, Zentralarchiv der Evangelischen Kirche in Hessen und Nassau, accessed on Archion.de
- Stumpp, Karl. The Emigration from Germany to Russia in the years 1763 to 1862. (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1982), p. 124
- 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. 60
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010) pp. 237, 310
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Auswanderung deutscher Kolonisten nach Russland im Jahre 1766 (Moscow: Andreas Idt, Georg Rauschenbach, 2019): pp. 32, 33
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 3 (Göttingen: Nordost-Institute, 2005): pp. 177, 179
- 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): Volume 1, p. 740
