Johann Jacob Hessler (son of Johann Jacob Hessler of Niedergründau) was baptized on 15 December 1718. Anna Maria Meininger (daughter of Johannes Meininger of Mittelgründau) was baptized on 2 December 1725. Johann Jacob and Anna Maria married in Rothenbergen on 26 August 1745. Baptisms were recorded for the following children, all born in Rothenbergen: Johann Conrad, born 5 February and baptized 12 February 1747 (died 30 April 1754); twin daughters born 28 May and baptized 29 May 1751, Anna Margaretha (died 16 May 1754) and Christina; Anna Margaretha, born 22 May and baptized 25 May 1755; Elisabetha, born 24 January and baptized 26 January 1760 (died 27 Jan 1760); and twin sons born 5 February and baptized 7 Feb 1762, Valentin (died 5 Mar 1764) and Friedrich. Jacob Hessler died on 8 Nov 1762. On 5 Jan 1764, Anna Maria Hessler (widow of Jacob Hessler) married Hartmann Ifland (son of Johannes Ifland from Lützelhausen) in Rothenbergen. They had a daughter Catharina, born 2 January and baptized 8 January 1765. Hartmann, Anna Maria, and three of the Hessler children (Christina, Anna Margaretha and Friedrich) arrived in Russia on 9 August 1766. Hartmann apparently died during the journey to the villages. On the Norka First Settler's List, Anna Maria is reported as the wife of Conrad Fischer in Household #67, and the three Hessler children are reported under the surname Ifland in Household #67a. Christina (born 1751) later marries Konrad Reich who is also living in Conrad Fischer's household in 1767 (#67b).
Anna Margaretha Hessler (born 1755) married Johannes Burbach (born 1753). He is the son of Johann Heinrich and Anna Justina Burbach (born 1722).
The Norka First Settler's List also includes Heinrich Hessler and his wife Katharina in Household #72. This couple arrived on the same ship as the Ifland family. This couple married in Lübeck on 4 Jun 1766. The Gründau parish records report that Johann Heinrich Hessler, son of Johannes Hessler, was born on 21 February and baptized on 25 February 1738.
Further research is necessary to determine the relationship between these two Hessler families.
- Parish records of Gründau on Archion.de
- Facius List extractions
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010) p. 262
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 3 (Göttingen: Nordost-Institute, 2005): p. 246-247.
- 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.
