Schmidt

Spelling Variations
Schmitt
Associated Colonies
Place of origin
Großen-Buseck, Buseck, Hessen, Germany
Description

Johann Georg Schmitt married on 12 May 1744 in Großen-Buseck to Anna Margaretha Grommes. They had 6 known children, all born in Großen-Buseck, north of Frankfurt: (1) Caspar, born 11 September 1746; (2) Johann Philipp, born 26 December 1747 & died 6 January 1751; (3) Catharina, born 14 December 1749; (4) Johann Daniel, born 11 April 1752; (5) Maria Gertraud, born 11 November 1757; and (6) Johann Philipp, born 15 June 1760.

The family immigrated to Russia, arriving from Lübeck at the port in Oranienbaum on 8 August 1766 aboard the galliot Anna Catharina with skipper Johann Joachim Janson at the helm. Oldest son Johann Kaspar was married at some point along the journey to Oranienbaum, as he arrives there with wife Anna.

At some point between Oranienbaum and the Volga German colonies, father Johann Georg dies. Widow Anna Margaretha and the children arrived in Paulskaya on 17 August 1767. They are recorded there in the appendix to the 1767 Census in Households No. 61 (mother and the 4 youngest children) & No. 56 (son Johann Kaspar and his new wife), where they wintered. The family moved to Hockerberg where widow Anna Margaretha Schmidt married widower Johann Caspar Schmidt whose wife had also died during the journey to Russia.

In 1770, Kaspar Schmidt, his wife Anna Margaretha, and her two sons by the previous marriage to Johann Georg Schmid (Johann Daniel & Philipp) moved to Basel . On the 1798 census, widower Johann Caspar is still living in Basel at age 75 in Household No. Bs41.

Son Daniel's widow and children are recorded on the 1798 Census in Basel , Household No. Bs27. Anna's son Kaspar remained in Hockerberg and is recorded there on the 1798 Census in Household No. Hb04. In 1774, daughter Maria Gertrude married Johann Hein from Biberstein and moved there. They are recorded there on the 1798 Census in Household No. Bb08. In 1788, son Johann Philipp also married in Biberstein where his family is recorded in Household No. Bb33 on the 1798 Census.

Sources

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).

Müller, Hanno. Grossen-Busecker Familienbuch (Fernwald-Steinbach: Müller, 1993 & 1999).

Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 3 (Göttingen: Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2005): 360.

Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): 256-257.

Researchers
Hanno Müller
Bill Pickelhaupt
Brent Mai