Johann Benedictus Weiss, a son of Johann Wilibrordus Weiss & Lucia Wiolett, was baptized on 24 June 1742 in the Catholic Church of Bernkastel, today part of the joint administrative town of Bernkastel-Kues, situated about 35.5 kilometers northeast of the city of Trier.
Johann Benedictus Weiss and his wife Angelica Fuchs emigrated to Russia, departing from Lübeck by a ship under the command of skipper Gabriel Wild. They arrived at the port in Oranienbaum, Russia, on 15 September 1766. They arrived a year later, on 11 September 1767, in the colony of Hölzel where they are recorded on 1767 census in Household No. 7.
By the time of 1798 census, Johann Benedictus, his wife Angelica and their son Christian along with his family, are still recorded in Hölzel in Household No. Hz07, but accompanying notes explain that he is serving as schoolmaster in the colony of Seelmann. In 1790, daughter Barbara had moved to the colony of Seelmann; she is recorded there in Household No. Sm11.
- 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 Bernkastel (LDS Film No.585965).
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 2 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2001): 110.
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010): 418.