Büdingen, Germany 1766 Document

AHSGR, Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 1980

A Document of 1766 Found in Büdingen, Germany
By Emma Schwabenland Haynes

(Excerpts)
(Page 1)
In Work Paper No. 9 for October 1972 on page 50, I described a very interesting document dated October 30, 1766 which is in the library of Büdingen Castle east of Frankfurt, Germany. During the past year several people have written to ask for further details of this historic paper, which lists the names of twenty-five heads of families who left Germany for the Volga.



Since not all members of AHSGR possess early issues of our publications, may I repeat that Büdingen was the most important “Sammelplatz” or gathering place of those Germans who wanted to emigrate to Russia in the late eighteenth century. The town was headquarters for a Russian commissioner named Facius who moved to Büdingen after being expelled from Frankfurt. Numerous edicts had been passed by the rules of south-western Germany prohibiting emigration. But in spite of their efforts, it is presumed that approximately 27,000 people left for the Volga after 1763.

The Russian government preferred that stable citizens settle in their domains, and for that reason 375 marriages took place in the Protestant church of Büdingen between February and July of 1766. In 1971, shortly after our Society was organized, I made a trip to Büdingen to look at these marriage lists…

At the same time, I also went to the castle of Büdingen, which is used as a home by members of the family. They have hired a full time archivist, Frau Dr. Reimers, to take care of the manuscripts and books belonging to the castle. I asked Dr. Reimers for documents and other material going back to the year 1766 when hordes of would-be emigrants converged on the city. To my great disappointment she said that nothing remained except five pages listing the citizens of Düdelsheim and Rohrbach who had left for Russia.(1) At my request she made a copy of the document, three pages of which are reproduced in this issue of the Journal.

At the top of the first page… may be roughly translated as, “A report most respectfully submitted to the highly esteemed government chancery of the Count of Ysenburg- Büdingen.”

The document then goes on to say that all of the subjects who left the country for Russia have sold their goods and peroperty and have paid the necessary taxes, with the exception of:

(MY NOTES: The following is the complete list given.)

1. Johann Stephan Claus, who has given everything to his step-son, Johann Henrich Menges, on condition that if he arrives safely in Russia, his step-son will pay off his debts.

2. Andreas Klink. His parents have recently died and their estate is still not settled…

3. Johann Peter Claus, who went to Russia as an unmarried traveling artisan, has given his share of the family property to his brother Johannes to be used until he returns home again or writes that his part should be sold.

4. Conrad Raab has sold his possessions but this will scarcely pay for all of his debts.

5. Johann Henrich Scheyd with his wife made so many debts through disorderly living that he could hardly repay them. In a few years he would have had to go begging or else become a shepherd’s servant at the home of his father-in-law Hohnstein. He would not have been good either for his master or for the community. At his departure he turned over all his goods to his brother, Johann Adam Scheyd to pay the interest which must be met before other payments are made….

(MY NOTES: The following is NOT a complete list given. I have listed only names that may or may not be directly related.)

From ROHRBACH: All were citizens.

Casper Weber’s widow


(Page 2)
…I was very excited to discover that thirteen of the families from Düdelsheim and three form Rohrbach were listed as settling in Balzer.(5) There names and dates of arrival as given by Merkel follow:

From ROHRBACH:

Anna Margareta Weber [presumably of Casper Weber]
August 8, 1767.


NOTES:
(1) Both Düdelsheim and Rohrbach belonged to the “Grafschaft” or earldom of Isenburg- Budingen.

(4) For a complete list of those people who settled in Balzer see Hattie Plum Williams, The Czar’s Germans, published by AH”SGR in 1975, pages 102-105.

(5) My article in 1972 was based upon Jacob Volz's booklet which is not completely accurate.