Johann Phillip Wilhelm, son of Johannes Wilhelm & Susanna Charlotta Höhn, was born 1 Jul 1744 in Lützelhausen. He was baptized in the Reformed Church in Altenhaßlau. His parents had been married on 4 January 1736 in Lützelhausen, just south of Gelnhausen.
Johann Philipp immigrated to Russia, marrying Elisabeth Schmidt on 5 March 1766 in nearby Büdingen on the way. The couple arrived at the port in Oranienbaum, Russia, on 18 June 1866 aboard the ship Die Perle under the command of Skipper Thompson. They were travelling with Elisabeth's brother Johann (age 18).
The Wilhelms settled in the colony of Kolb on 13 May 1767, where they are recorded on the 1767 Census in Household No. 20. They are still recorded there on the 1798 Census in Household No. Ko27.
- Landeskirchliches Archiv Kassel > Gelnhausen > Altenhaßlau > KB reform. 1653-1771, Bild 1320 (www.archion.de)
- 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).
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 2 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2001): 390.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): 89.
