Johann Caspar Schmidt, son of Johann Ludwig Schmidt & Maria Barbara Suchan, was baptized 30 January 1725 in Rodheim, northwest of Nidda. He had been born in nearby Vetzberg. He married in Kinzenbach on 6 June 1754 to Anna Catharina Gorr, daughter of Johannes Gorr & Anna Katharina Pfaff. She had been born 15 May 1736 in Heuchelheim.
They had three children, all born in Vetzberg and baptized in Rodheim: (1) Anna Maria, born 22 October 1758; (2) Magdalena Catharina, born 10 December 1761; and (3) Anna Margretha, born 4 March 1765.
The family arrived in Oranienbaum on 12 May 1766 aboard the galliot Anna Catharina with Skipper Daniel Geier. They settled in the Volga German colony of Kaneau on 10 May 1767 where they are recorded on the 1767 Census in Household No. 65 along with newborn Anna Elisabeth (age 6 months). The youngest daughter who had been born in Germany (Anna Margaretha) must have died between Oranienbaum and Kaneau, because she is not recorded there on the 1767 census.
Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 2 (Göttingen: Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2001): 258.
Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): 35.
Kirschnick, Ulrich. Ortsfamilienbuch Ober-Ramstadt