Johann Gottlob Meisner, born about 1699, son of Michael Meisner and Anna Katharina Haag, was from Reichelsheim, southeast of Darmstadt. He married there on 16 September 1732 to Elisabeth Katharina Laut, daughter of Johann Adam Laut and Eva Eisenhauer. She was born 17 May 1705 in Ober-Ostern. They had 5 children born in Reichelsheim: Alexander (b. 8 December 1732), Johann Wendel (b. 20 September 1735), Eva Catharina (b. 25 Feb 1738, d. 7 May 1740), Johann Georg (born 23 March 1741), and Johann Heinrich (born 17 March 1744).
The Meisner family immigrated to Denmark (Schleswig-Holstein) where they settled in the colony of Julianenebene on 24 July 1761. The Eichhorn book describes their origin location as Billings, Amt Lichtenberg. Details about the family can be found in both the Online Ortsfamilienbuch for Billings and the Online Ortsfamilienbuch for Reichelsheim.
While in Denmark, son Johann Georg married Elisabeth Schäfer on 31 May 1763 in the colony of Hohn. Son Johann Heinrich married on the same day to Margaretha Barbara Risch.
On 10 January 1765, the Meisner brothers left Denmark and immigrated to Russia where they settled in the colony of Grimm . Heinrich is recorded in Grimm on the 1798 Census at Household No. Gm176.
- Wolf, Heiner. Familienbuch Reichelsheim, 1643-1875, Volume 2, p. 1280
- Eichhorn, Alexander, Jacob & Mary. The Immigration of German Colonists to Denmark and Their Subsequent Emigration to Russia in the Years 1759-1766 (Deiningen, Germany: Steinmeier, 2012).
- Clausen, Otto. Chronik der Heide- und Moorkolonisation im Herzogtum Schleswig, 1760-1765 (Husum: Husum Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft, 1981): 801-802.
- Lang, Gerhard. German Colonists of Denmark on the Volga .
- 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).
- Parish records of Reichelsheim - LDS Film No. 1195016.