Meier

Johann Michael Meyer was born in 1710 in Rohrbach, a village in the district of Heidelberg. He married Anna Maria Schambach.

They had at least eight children, each born and baptized in the Leimen Evangelical Church, about 7 kilometers south of Heidelberg: (1) Johann Michael (born & baptized 6 January 1735); (2) Georg Friedrich (born 24 May 1738; baptized 27 May 1738); (3) Johanna Regina (born 2 September 1745; baptized 4 September 1745); (4) Johann Michael (again), (born 18 June 1748; baptized 21 June 1748; died 14 March 1752); (5) Johann Georg (born 20 April 1751; baptized 22 April 1751; died 6 April 1752); (6) Johann Friedrich (born 21 January 1753; baptized 23 January 1753); (7) Maria Elisabetha (born 29 September 1755; baptized 1 October 1755); and (8) Johann Georg Philipp (born 23 May 1760; baptized 27 May 1760).

Johann Michael Meyer, his wife and five of their children immigrated to Denmark (Schleswig-Holstein), departing from Altona, Duchy of Holstein, on 16 May 1761 under the leadership of Matthias Lohrer. They arrived in the city of Schleswig, Duchy of Schleswig, on 30 May 1761. While living in Denmark, son Johann Michael married Maria Elisabetha (surname unknown) who had been born in 1743, and they had a girl who was named Helena Katharina in 1763. Son Georg Friedrich married Helena Sybilla Katharina (surname unknown), who had been born in 1735, and they had a boy who was named Georg Friedrich in 1763. The extended family lived in Denmark until May/June 1763, when they immigrated to Russia.

During the journey to the Volga German colonies, Johann Michael Sr.'s wife died. The widower and his family arrived in the Volga German colony of Fischer on 28 July 1765, where they are recorded on the 1767 Census in Households No. 5, 6, and 19.

Son Georg Friedrich is registered in Fischer on the 1798 census in Household No. Fs17. Son Johann Georg Philipp Meier moved to the Volga German colony of Nieder-Monjou in 1793; he is recorded there in on the 1798 Census in Household No. Nm31.