Ravensberg

Associated Colonies
Place of origin
Kürnbach, Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Description

Johann Georg Christian Ravensperg, son of Johannes Ravensperg, was born in 1721 in Kürnbach, today a town in the district of Karlsruhe in Baden-Württemberg. He married Barbara Weiss, daughter of Johann Georg Weiss, on 17 April 1742 in the Kürnbach Evangelical Church. She had been baptized there on 10 January 1720.
They had three children, each born in Karlsruhe and baptized in Kürnbach: (1) Georg Adam, born 7 June 1743, baptized 8 June 1743; (2) Katharina Barbara, born 12 October 1744, baptized 13 October 1744; and (3) Anna Maria, born 3 October 1747, baptized 4 October 1747.

Johann Georg Christian Ravensperg, his family, and his servant Engelhardt Schaff immigrated to Denmark (Schleswig-Holstein), departing from Altona, Duchy of Holstein, on 7 June 1762 under the leadership of Christoph Paquet. They arrived in the city of Flensburg, Duchy of Schleswig, on 12 June 1762. In 1763, son Georg Adam married Eva Elisabetha Haase, daughter of Leonhard Haase.

Johann Georg Christian and his family are recorded in Denmark until 12 January 1765; his son Georg Adam & his wife are registered until 22 April 1765. At some point before 1766 both families immigrated to Russia.
During the journey to the Volga German colonies Johann Georg Christian died. His daughter Katharina Barbara married Johann Christoph Arnold, and daughter Anna Maria (Barbara) married Johannes Dubs.
Widow Barbara and his son Georg Adam arrived in the colony of Rosenheim on 15 March 1766. They are recorded there on the 1767 census in Household No. 50.

Descendants of Johann Georg Christian Ravensperg are registered on the Rosenheim 1798 Census in Households No. Rm01, Rm09, & Rm42, where their surname has become Ravensberg.

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): 304, 555, & 682.
- 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 Kürnbach (LDS Film No. 1272389).
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 4 (Göttingen: Nordost-Institut, 2008): 74.

Researchers
Corina Hirt