Johann Balthasar Ickes, son of Johannes Ickes (1712-1784) & Anna Maria Wagener (1711-1788), was born 1 June 1740 in Altenstadt, just west of Büdingen. At some point, he moved to the nearby town of Friedberg.
Balthasar immigrated to Russia arriving from Lübeck at the port in Oranienbaum on 8 August 1766. He arrived in Kutter on 8 July 1767 as is recorded on the 1767 Census in Household No. 7 along with his new bride. They are also recorded in Kutter on the 1798 Census in Household No. Kt16.
Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 2 (Göttingen: Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2001): 477.
Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): 212.
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).