Johannes Stürtz was born 19 January, baptized 20 January 1716, and confirmed in 1730, son of Johannes Stürtz and his wife Catharina. Johannes married Anna Catharina Mertz, daughter of Simon Mertz, on 27 April 1747. They had six children, all born in Wohnfeld: Johann Simon, born 27 March, baptized 28 March 1748; Anna Catharina, born 15 October baptized 16 October 1751; Anna Elisabetha, born 20 December, baptized 21 December 1754; Anna Kunigunda, born 29 September 1757, baptized the same day (died 30 January 1760); Andreas, born 4 April, baptized 5 April 1760 (died 6 April 1760): and Elisabetha, born 9 October, baptized 10 October 1763.
Johannes, Catharina, and their four children arrived in Russia on 29 July 1766. They traveled to the villages in the same transport group as the Andreas Mohr family who also settled in Stephan. The transport list notes that Johannes Stürtz's wife Anna Catharina died during the journey.
The Johannes Stürtz family is reported on the Stephan First Settler's List in Household #7. Johannes' new wife is Katharina, age 38. The children listed include three of Johannes's children from his first marriage (Simon, age 21, Anna Elisabetha, age 13, and Elisabeth, age 4) and Rosina, age 10, who is probably a child of Katharina from her first marriage.
Simon Stürtz and his family are reported on the Stephan 1798 Census in Household #11.
- Parish records of Bobenhausen II (including Wohnfeld) on Archion.de
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010) p. 329
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Auswanderung deutscher Kolonisten nach Russland im Jahre 1766 (Moscow: Andreas Idt, Georg Rauschenbach, 2019): p. 33
- Rauschenbach, Georg. Deutsche Kolonisten Auf Dem Weg Von St. Petersburg Nach Saratow: Transportlisten von 1766-1767 (Moscow: 2017): pp. 120-121
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 4 (Göttingen: Nordost-Institute, 2008): p. 222
- 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. 969
