Johann Jakob Ditmar was baptized 16 December 1706 in Maienstockheim, the son of Zacharius and Catharina Barbara Karl. He first married Maria Barbara Pries on 4 November 1733 in Seckenheim. She died in Ladenburg on 17 March 1750. His second marriage on 9 June 1750 was to Anna Maria Ritter. She was baptized in Ladenburg on 6 December 1716, the daughter of Jacob and Anna Maria Ritter. This couple had two children in Ladenburg: Johann Martin, baptized 20 June 1753, and Anna Elisabetha, baptized 8 May 1757.
It is from Ladenburg that the Ditmar family moved to Jütland in 1759. From there they immigrated to Russia, arriving in Balzer on 28 August 1765. The family is recorded there on the 1767 census in Household No. 12.
- Parish records of Ladenburg on Archion.de
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 1 (Göttingen: Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 1999): 75.
Colonists on the Volga from Denmark (Gerhard Lang)