Mattias Friedrich Gerhardt

Mathias Gerhardt was born about 1745 and migrated to the Volga region, Russia, in 1766. He traveled as a servant to Georg Monschau/Monschauer. Georg Monschau's family and Mathias Gerhardt settled in the village of Brabander and were registered in the 1767 Russian census as residents of household 62. The 1767 census said Georg Monschau was from Freiburg, Germersberg?. In this census record there is no information about Mathias Gerhardt's birthplace. Georg Monschau's family was recorded in the 1798 Russian census in the village of Rothammel. Georg Monschau was already deceased in 1798.

Possibly Mathias Gerhardt moved to the village of Schuck, where he married Katharina (1760). There, he was recorded as Friedrich Gerhardt. Perhaps his full name was Mathias Friedrich or Friedrich Mathias Gerhardt. He probably died in Schuck because Katharina (1760) moved to the village of Franzosen along with her second husband Johannes Jansen (1752-1825) and children Philipp Gerhardt (1780), Mattias Gerhardt (1785) and Maria Appolonia Gerhardt (1781). All these children were recorded in the 1798 census in Franzosen as children of Katharina's deceased husband. In the 1798 census, it was written that the son Philipp Gerhardt was working in the village of Pfeifer.

Two daughters of Friedrich Gerhardt were recorded moving from Franzosen to the village of Huck. These daughters are Maria Eva Gerhardt (1771), wife of Heinrich Neu (1746), and Katharina Gerhardt (1776), wife of Johannes Neu (1773). Maria Eva moved to Huck in 1788 and Katharina moved to there in 1794. Since Friedrich Gerhardt's wife was noticeably young in 1771, she was probably not the mother of Maria Eva (1771) and Katharina (1776). As a result, Friedrich possibly married to another woman before he married to Katharina (1760).

Johannes Jansen (1752-1825), Katharina's second husband, died in the village of Neu-Kolonie in 1825. Philipp and Mattias Gerhardt, sons of Friedrich Gerhard, moved to Neu-Kolonie. Philipp Gerhardt (1780), who got marriage to Anna Margaretha Aqua (1783) from Neu-Kolonie, baptized the son Anton, in 1808, in Franzosen. Mattias Gerhardt (1785) got marriage to Magdalena (1786). Mattias and Magdalena were godparents of Maria Magdalena Klein, daughter of Thomas Klein and Maria Appolonia Gerhardt, in 1808, in Franzosen. Maria Appolonia Gerhard (1781), daughter of Friedri Gerhardt, got marriage to Thomas Klein (1775-before1834) in Franzosen. Thomas was from the village of Husaren. Thomas Klein and children moved to Neu-Kolonie before 1834, when this information was given in the Franzosen census. Susana Klein (c.1808-c.1850), daughter of Thomas Klein and Maria Appolonia Gerhard, got marriage to Heinrich Aqua (1805-1879) about 1827 in Neu-Kolonie. Heinrich Aqua (1805-1879) was a nephew of Anna Margaretha Aqua (1783) (wife of Pilipp Gerhardt).

Sources:

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

- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 1 (Göttingen: Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 1999).

- 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).

- 1808 baptism record of Anton Gerhard in Franzosen. In the record, the names of Anton's parents appear as Philipp Gerhard and Anna Margaretha Aqua. His godparentes were Anton Spa...? and Elisabetha Gerhard.

- 1808 baptism record of Maria Magdalena Klein in Franzosen. In the record, the names of Maria's parents appear as Thomas Klein and Maria Appolonia Gerhard. Her godparentes were Mathias and Magdalena Gerhard.

- 1834 Census of village of Neu-Kolonie.

- Information about Gerhard family: https://volga.domains.unf.edu/surnames/gerhardt-brabander

- Information about Monschau family: http://volga.domains.unf.edu/surnames/monschau