Johann Georg Zilch was confirmed in Ronshausen in 1746. His parents, Johannes Zilch and Anna Gela Becker, married in Ronshhausen on 24 February 1717. Johann Georg Zilch and his wife Katharina Elisabeth (surname unknown) had at least two children in Ronshausen: Johann Conrad (baptism not found) and Johann Valentin, baptized 22 March 1764.
The Zilch family arrived in Russia on 19 July 1766 on the same ship as the Anton Becker family, Johann Georg Becker family, Johannes Eisel family, Johann Georg Eisel family, and Johann Wilhelm Schreiber, all of whom came from Ronshausen and settled in Norka.
During the journey to the Norka, Johann Georg and Katharina Elisabeth Zilch's son Johann Valentin died, and their son Johann Heinrich was born. The family is reported on the 1767 Census (First Settlers List) in Norka Household #145.
The 1775 Census of Norka reports Johann Georg and Katharina Elisabeth in Household #151 along with their sons Johann Conrad and Johann Heinrich, and their daughter Gertrude.
The movement table in the 1798 Census reports that Gertrude moved to Kolb in 1792 to marry Ernst Thiel, and also reports that Johann Heinrich moved to Kolb in 1798. Johann Conrad remained in Norka and is reported there in the 1798 Census in Household #158 along with his wife and children.
The 1811 Census includes Heinrich Zilch and his sons in the household of his brother-in-law Ernst Thiel in Kolb Household #29, and Conrad Zilch and his sons in Norka Household #158.
Conrad Zilch is still alive and living in Norka in 1834. The Norka Communion Register reports that he was born in 1760 in "Rundhausen".
- Parish records of Ronshausen, Hersfeld-Rotenburg, Hessen on Archion.de
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Auswanderung deutscher Kolonisten nach Russland im Jahre 1766, 2nd edition (Moscow: 2019): p. 32
- Idt, Andreas and Georg Rauschenbach. Deutsche Kolonisten im Jahr 1766 in Oranienbaum und in den Siedlungsorten: Die Kuhlberg-Listen (Moscow: 2024): p. 462
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010) p. 236
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 3 (Göttingen: Nordost-Institute, 2005): p. 268
- Rye, Richard, translator. The 1775 and 1798 Censuses of the German Colony on the Volga, Norka: Also Known as Weigand. (Lincoln, Neb.: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1995): 1775 Household #151; 1798 Household #158
- 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): pp. 177 and 283.
- 1834-1845 Norka Communion Register images
