Christian Lapp, son of Paulus and Anna Maria Lapp, was born in Pferdsbach and baptized on 26 November 1719 at the parish church in Wolf. He married on 13 July 1745 to Anna Catharina Schlingeloff, daughter of Johannes Schlingeloff. She was born about 1727 in Reichlos.
Christian and Anna Catharina have at least the following children, each born in Pferdsbach and baptized in Wolf: (1) Johann Friedrich, baptized 30 October 1745; (2) Johann Christian, born 15 August 1747, baptized 20 August 1747; (3) Anna Barbara, baptized 15 June 1749; (4) Johann Heinrich, baptized 25 December 1752; (5) Johannes Otto, baptized 27 July 1755, died 10 December 1758; and (6) Johannes Christian, baptized 24 June 1759. The father, Christian, was buried on 5 February 1762, and the mother, Anna Catharina, was buried on 17 June 1761.
The village of Pferdsbach was abandoned in 1847 and no longer exists.
Four of the children: Johann Friedrich [recorded as Carl], Johann Christian, Anna Barbara, and Johann Heinrich [recorded as Johann] immigrated to Russia. They arrived in Oranienbaum, Russia on 25 May 1766 having sailed from the Baltic seaport of Reval (now Tallinn, Estonia). They arrived aboard the Russian pink Novaya Dvinka under the command of Lieutenant Ivan Perepechin.
The Lapp siblings settled in the colony of Frank, and are recorded there on the 1767 Census in Household Nos. 14 and 31.
Anna Barbara Lapp married Johann Philipp Hartung from Büdingen during the transport to the settlement area. They travelled with the Lapp family and settled in the colony of Frank in 1767. They are listed in Household Nos. 13 and 14 in the 1767 Census of Frank.
Philipp Hartung is recorded in the Frank 1798 Census in Household No. 36. Carl Lapp is recorded in Frank in Household No. 37.
Johann Christian Lapp (Christian's brother) was born in Pferdsbach and baptized on 23 October 1712. He married Maria Elisabeth Hard, the daughter of Christoffel Hard, on 23 October 1749. Johann Christian and Maria Elisabeth had six children, all born in Pferdsbach and baptized on the following dates: (1) Johann Peter, 20 December 1750; (2) Anna Catharina, 23 April 1752; (3) Johann Heinrich, 30 December 1753; (4) Johann Wilhelm, 15 August 1756; (5) Anna Elisabeth, 2 April 1758; and (6) Anna Margaretha, 9 December 1764.
Johann Christian, Maria Elisabeth, and four of their children arrived in Russia on 28 July 1766 aboard the Russian sailing ship "Vologda". The surname is incorrectly recorded as "Loch" on the Kulberg List and this spelling was used in the subsequent 2010 translation.
Johann Christian and the youngest child Anna Margaretha probably died during the journey to the settlement area. Maria Elisabeth married Johannes Henkel. She, along with her three surviving children, are reported on the Norka First Settlers List (1767 Census) in Household No. 23. The First Settlers List incorrectly states that the father of the Lapp children is Heinrich Lapp.
Anna Elisabeth Lapp married Friedrich Pfenning. This couple and their children are reported on the 1798 Norka Census in Household No. 99.
- Parish records of Wolf (including Pferdsbach) accessed on Archion.de.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): pp. 56-57, 309
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 1 (Göttingen: Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 1999): 421.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 3 (Göttingen: Nordost-Institute, 2005): p. 234
- 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): Vol. 1, pp. 411, 774
- Idt, Andreas and Rauschenbach, Georg. Auswanderung deutsche Kolonisten nach Russland im Jahre 1766 (Second edition). Moscow: 2019: pp. 29 and 33.
