Johann Georg Rühl and Johann Heinrich Hünergardt arrived in Russia together as single men on 13 September 1766. They both settled in the village of Stephan, and the Stephan First Settlers List states that they both came from Helpershain.
The Stumpertenrod parish records (which includes Helpershain) report that Johann Georg Rühl (son of Johannes Rühl) was baptized on 8 January 1740 and confirmed in 1754.
Johann Georg and his wife Elisabeth are reported on the Stephan First Settlers List in Household #21. By the time of the 1798 Census, both Johann Georg Rühl and Johann Heinrich Hünergardt have died. Their widows and children are reported in adjacent households, the Rühl family in Household #8 and the Hünergardt family in Household #9.
- Parish records of Stumpertenrod (including Eckmannshain, Helpershain, and Köddingen) on Archion.de
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): p. 355
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 4 (Göttingen: Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2001): p. 225
- 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): Volume 2, p. 968
