Johann Jacob Sauerbrey, son of Johannes & Maria Catharina Sauerbrey, was baptized on 7 October 1708 in Ruit, Baden, a few miles south of Bretten. He married Margaretha Vollmer, daughter of Christoph Vollmer, on 27 January 1733. They had seven children baptized in Ruit: (1) Johann Christoph, born on 17 April 1735; (2) Agnes Regina, baptized on 23 August 1737; (3) Eva Margaretha, baptized on 11 November 1739; (4) Anna Maria, baptized on 17 October 1742; (5) Johanna, born on 1 December 1744; (6) Margaretha Barbara, baptized on 27 April 1747; and (7) Susanna Dorothea, born on 23 February 1750. At some point between 1750 and 1752, the family relocated to Altlußheim. One child, Christina Cordula, was baptized in Altlußheim on 30 August 1752. The family was still living in Altlußheim when daughter Agnes Regina (recorded as Agnes Catharina) married Jacob Besser on 13 April 1760 in Leimen, 50 kilometers northwest of Heilbronn.
Johann Jacob Sauerbrey, his wife, and six of their children emigrated to Denmark (Schleswig-Holstein) along with the Besser couple. They departed from Altona, Duchy of Holstein, on 16 May 1760, and arrived in Fridericia, Jutland, on 25 May 1760. Johann Jacob's wife Margaretha died on 10 June 1760 in Kolding, Vejle Amt, Denmark. He then married Anna Elisabetha Attichin on 2 December 1760 in Kolding.
While in Denmark, Jacob and Anna Elisabetha had at least two children: Johann Andreas, baptized 31 August 1761 in Molkenberg, Vorbasse Sogn, Ribe Amt; and a stillborn daughter, born 9 November 1763 in Vorbasse Sogn, Ribe Amt.
The family is recorded in Denmark until 31 December 1764. Johann Jacob Sauerbrey, his wife Anna Elisabetha, and children Susanna Dorothea, Andreas, and Christina departed from Lübeck by the Russian galliot Catharina Eleonora, with skipper Peter Roeder at the helm. They arrived at the Russian port of Oranienbaum on 20 May 1766. They settled in the Volga German colony of Hussenbach. The Besser family was still reported as living in Denmark on 31 December 1766, and it appears this family did not emigrate to Russia.
On the 1798 Census of Hussenbach, son Andreas is recorded in Household No. Hs046 and daughter Eva Maria in Household No. Hs108. In 1798, daughter Susanna Dorothea is recorded in Schilling in Household No. Sg070 and daughter Christina in Beideck in Household No. Bd36.
- Parish records of Leimen (LDS Film No. 1272781).
- Parish records of Ruit, Baden (LDS Film No. 1192063).
- Parish records of Ruit, Baden, Landeskirchliches Archiv Karlsruhe, on Archion.de
- Parish records of Altlußheim, Baden, Landeskirchliches Archiv Karlsruhe, on Archion.de
- Parish records of Leimen, Baden, Landeskirchliches Archiv Karlsruhe, on Archion.de
- Eichhorn, Alexander. The immigration of German colonists to Denmark and their subsequent emigration to Russia in the years 1759-1766 (Deiningen, Germany: Steinmeier, 2012): 241, 351, 573, 676, & 686.
- Danish parish record extractions by Wayne Bonner and Mike Meisinger
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): 41
- 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 1, pp. 300, 530, 538, and Volume 2, p. 899.
- Nakaji, Susan Hopp. "Reconstructed First Settlers List for Hussenbach," (August 2014): 15.
