Becker

Spelling Variations
Böcher
Becher
Becker
Associated Colonies
Place of origin
Lauter (Laubach), Gießen, Hessen, Germany
Description

The Queckborn parish records report the baptisms of twins Jost Conrad Böcher and Johann Conrad Böcher. They were born in Lauter on 24 December 1747 and baptized on 26 December 1747. Their parents were Johann Heinrich Böcher from Lauter and Elisabetha Velten, who had married on 16 September 1732. 

The Büdingen marriages report that Jost Conrad Böcher from Queckborn and Eliesabetha Rühl from Villingen married on 27 May 1766. This couple arrived in Russia on 15 September 1766 on the same ship as numerous other settlers in Frank, Walter and Hussenbach. By the time of their arrival in Frank, they had a newborn daughter named Magdalena. They are recorded on the Frank First Settlers List in Household #71 with their surname now spelled Becher.  

It is possible, though not proven, that Jost Conrad's twin Johann Conrad may also have gone to Russia. There is a Johann Conrad Becher on the same ship as Jost Conrad. This individual may be the same Johann Conrad who is reported on the Walter First Settlers List in Household #90, said to be from "Lautern". The Frank First Settlers List also includes a Johannes Becher, who is also said to be from Lauter. This Johannes Becker is on the same ship as Jost Conrad and Johann Conrad. It is not clear how Johannes is related to the twins. Research continues on the various Becker families who settled in both Frank and Walter.

Conrad Becker is still living in Frank in 1798, reported in Household #71 on the 1798 Census, now married to Katharina Lapp from Norka. The 1811 Census reports that he died in Frank in 1811.

Sources

- Queckborn parish records, 1662-1807, Family Search Film #1201572
- Mai, Brent Alan and Dona Reeves-Marquardt. German Migration to the Russian Volga (1764-1767) (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 2003): p. 90
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010) p. 386
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 1 (Göttingen: Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 1999): p. 430
- 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 1, p. 415
- Koretnikov, Mila, translator and Kevin Rupp, editor. 1811 34 Colonies in Russia Village Census Records (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 2021): p. 83

Researchers
Maggie Hein
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