Johann Peter Blumenschein was born 24 May 1707. He & Anna Margaretha Heist, daughter of Jacob & Catharina Heist, were married on 24 November 1729 in Reichelsheim, near Erbach, in Hessen. Peter remarried there to Anna Maria Ort on 29 February 1752.
Peter and his first wife had at least 10 children. He, his 2nd wife Anna Maria, and 5 of the 10 children immigrated to Russia. The eldest daughter, Margaretha Elisabeth married first in Büdingen on 17 May 1766 to Benedict Reh. He died on 20 May 1766, and she married on 19 June 1766 to Christoph Zürkobel from Brensbach.
The family arrived from Lübeck at the port in Oranienbaum on 15 September 1766 aboard the snow-brig Die Frau Dietrika under the command of skipper Joachim Friedrich Luhn. Peter and Anna Maria do not appear to have made it to Yagodnaya Polyana, but the children are recorded there on the 1767 Census in Households No. 46 & 47.