Gantz

Associated Colonies
Place of origin
Neunkirchen, Modautal, Hessen, Germany
Description

Konrad Ganss, son of Johann Jakob Ganss, was born about 1730 in Neunkirchen, a very small town near west of Fränkisch-Crumbach (southeast of Darmstadt). He married Maria Barbara Vetter on 15 September 1757 in the Neunkirchen Evangelical Church. Maria Barbara, daughter of Wendel & Anna Maria Vetter, had been born 13 January 1735 and baptized 15 January 1735 in Neunkirchen. In 1758 they had a son, who was named Philipp Jakob.

Konrad Ganss and his family immigrated to Denmark (Schleswig-Holstein), departing from Altona, Duchy of Holstein, on 6 June 1761 under the leadership of Johann Peter Hornus. They arrived in the city of Schleswig, Duchy of Schleswig, on 6 June 1761.

While living in Denmark, they had two new sons: Johann Ludwig, who was born in 1761, and Johann Peter, who was born in 1762. They decided to immigrate to Russia in May 1763.

During the journey to the Volga German colonies a new baby was born; they named him Johann Sebastian.
The Konrad Ganss family arrived in the colony of Shcherbakovka on 15 June 1765 and are recorded there on the 1767 in Household No. 10.

The descendants of Konrad Ganss are registered on the Shcherbakovka 1798 Census in Households No. Sv20, Sv21, & Sv34, where the son Philipp Jakob has become Friedrich. All of them are listed as "Gantz."

Sources

- Eichhorn, Alexander; Eichhorn Jacob & Mary. The Immigration of German Colonists to Denmark and Their Subsequent Emigration to Russia in the Years 1759-1766 (Deiningen: Steinmeier, 2012): 264, 413, & 684.
- 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).
- Parish records of Neunkirchen, Starkenburg, Hesse-Darmstadt (LDS Film No. 1269703).
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 4 (Göttingen: Nordost-Institut, 2008): 247.

Researchers
Corina Hirt