Johann Philipp Spreuer (son of Johann Konrad Spreuer & Anna Margaretha Herrmann) was born on 15 March 1723 in Weitersborn and baptized in Simmern unter Dhaun on 19 March 1723. He married there to Maria Anna Julianna Schneider (daughter of Johann Wilhelm Schneider from Niederreidenbacherhof) on 12 January 1751.
They had five children, all born in Weitersborn and baptized in Simmern unter Dhaun: Anna Margaretha, born on 10 February 1752, baptized on 13 February 1752; Johannes, born on 25 April 1756, baptized on 29 April 1756; Johann Konrad, baptized on 10 December 1758; and twins Elisabetha Katharina and Johann Peter, born on 28 January 1762, baptized on 1 February 1762.
Johann Philipp Spreuer and his family immigrated to Russia and daughter Anna was born in route. They arrived from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 25 July 1766 aboard a packet-boat under the command of the Lieutenant Sornev. During the trip from there to Saratov, both Johann Philipp's wife and little daughter Anna died.
The remaining family arrived in the colony of Dietel on 1 July 1767 and are recorded there on the 1767 census in Household No. 3.
Johann Philipp and his descendants are still recorded in Dietel on the 1798 Census in Households No. Dt41, Dt42, & Dt43. By this time, son Johannes has moved to the colony of Frank where he is recorded on the 1798 Census in Household No. Fk051.
The Spreuer/Spreier family can be traced back to Peter Spreier, born about 1667, son of Conrad Spreier from Henau.
- Küstner, K. Herbert. Die Einwohner von Weitersborn 1596-1900 (Haan, Germany: K.H. Küstner, 1992)
- Küstner, K. Herbert. Königsau und Henau, Einwohner, 1685-1900 (Kirn, Germany: Verbandsgemeinde Kirn-Land, 199?)
- Parish records of Simmern unter Dhaun (Indexes of FHL Film No. 493218) and images on Ancestry.com
- Pleve, Igor. List of Colonists to Russia in 1766 "Reports by Ivan Kulberg" (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): 184.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 1 (Göttingen: Nordost-Institut, 1999): 280.
- 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).
