Johannes Braun (abt. 1730)

Born about 1730 in Germany

Descendants

Died [date unknown] in Grimm, Saratov, Russia

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Biography

Johannes Braun was a Volga German.

Johannes Braun has German Roots.

Family #10 in the 1767 Grimm census.

Family #92 in the 1775 Grimm census.

Family #131 in the 1798 Grimm census.

Note: His surname is spelled Braun in the Kulberg Reports, the 1767 and 1798 Grimm censuses. Only in the 1775 census is his surname spelled "Braum." For this reason I am spelling his surname "Braun" in this profile.

Johannes Braun was born about 1730, probably in the Gerzen area of what is now Germany. This information is taken from records documenting his immigration to Russia in 1766. ^[1] Located on that same page of the Kulberg Reports are 5 more families who traveled together on the same ship, the Pink Lev, that arrived in Russia on 22 July 1766.^[1] Heading up one of those families was Andreas Braun, who was probably related as a brother or cousin to the Johannes Braun of this profile, even though Andreas said he came from Werder, a town about 330 miles north of Gerzen. ^[2] One possibility is that the men were born in Gerzen but headed north with their families, eventually ending up in Werder before deciding to immigrate to Russia.

Johannes and his family made the Volga German village of Grimm their home.

1767 Grimm Census ^[3]

Family # 10

Head of the Household Johannes Braun, age 34, Lutheran shoemaker from Gerz[en]

Wife Anna Helena Braun, age 34

Child #1 Anna Dorothea Braun, 7 weeks old

Andreas Braun, who was probably his brother, is identified in family #8 of the 1767 Grimm census. ^[4] The most compelling reason for believing the two men to be closely related is that after the death of Andreas and his wife, Johannes and his wife took in the two orphans who had been living with them: Anna Barbara Rusch and Johann Adam Rusch, as documented in the 1775 Grimm census.

1775 Grimm Census ^[5]

Family # 92

Head of the Household Johannes Braum [sic], age 45

Wife Angelina Braum [sic], age 45

Child #1 Anna Dorothea Braum [sic], age 7 years 6 months

Child #2 Margaretha Elisabeth Braum [sic], age 6

Also living with the family:

Orphan #1 Johann Adam Rusch, age 12

Orphan #2 Anna Barbara Rusch, age 15

There were other Rusch families who lived in Grimm, probably all related to each other, and yet the Rusch orphans lived with the Braun families. This suggests that the orphans had an even closer relationship with the Brauns. They may have been younger siblings of Andrea's Braun's wife, making her a Rusch by birth. Perhaps the children were their niece and nephew through one of her brothers. Or perhaps a Braun sister married Michael Rusch, making the children their paternal niece and nephew. There are are only two Rusch families in the Kulberg Reports, and they are not matches to the children. There are no Rusch families in Danish records. It's possible their surname was misspelled, but then were the other Rusch families living in Grimm just a coincidence?

We never learn the last name at birth of Andrea's wife Anna Dorothea because she passed away before the 1798 census, the only census to list the maiden names of all the married women living in Grimm.

By 1798, neither of the Rusch children is listed as living with the Braun family, nor are they listed anywhere else in the Grimm census. It's not clear if they moved to another village or were no longer living. Johannes Braun was named as a 67-year-old widower. The only child who remained living with him was daughter Anna Dorothea, who by that time had married Johann Valentin Ramig and had one child living with them.

1798 Grimm Census ^{[6] [6]}

Family # 131

Head of the Household Johannes Braun, widower, age 67

Child #1 Anna Dorothea Braun Ramig, age 31

Husband of Child #1 Johann Valentin Ramig, age 31

Grandchild #1 Katharina Barbara Ramig, age 2

Research Notes

I believe there is an error in the 1767 Grimm census regarding the two Braun families, listed just a few families apart in the census. The listings look like this:

8. Andreas Braun, 38, craftsman from Wehrda, Wife: Dorothea, age 30; Son: Johann, 5

8a. Anna Barbara Rusch, 8, orphan, Lutheran, from Schlitz. Brother: Johann Adam, 5; Father: Michael Rusch, deceased; Living with Andreas Braun in household with Johannes Braun.

10. Johannes Braun, 34, Lutheran shoemaker from Gerz; Wife: Anna Helena, 34; Daughter: Anna Dorothea, 7 weeks old.

In the census listings above, it appears that the Rusch orphans were living with Andreas and Dorothea Braun and their son Johannes.

The wording is odd:

"Living with Andreas Braun in household with Johannes Braun" in the Andreas Braun listing, but not in the Johannes Braun listing.

It's possible the two men were brothers, but they still had separate households in the 1767 census. Did one man take responsibility for the orphans while the children lived with the other family?

HOWEVER, in the 1775 Grimm census, the listing for the family looks like this:

92. Johann Braum [sic], 45, wife Angelina, age 45, daughters Anna Dorotea, 7 years 6 months, and Margareta Elizabeta, 6 years. Orphans Adam Rusch, 12, and Anna Pavlova Rusch, 15.

In the 1775 census, there is no listing for an Andreas Braun; he probably died between 1768-1769, since his widow remarried to Andreas Getz, had a child with him in 1770, and passed away before 1775, giving her husband Andreas Getz enough time to remarry a woman named Elisabeth. At the time of the 1775 census, household #90 included:^[5]

• Andreas Getz, head of the household, age 33, widower of Dorothea Braun Getz
• Elisabeth Getz, Andreas' second wife, age 42, widow of Mr. Lochmann
• Georg Wilhelm Getz, age 4 years 5 months, probably the son of Andreas and Dorothea Braun Getz
• Johannes Braun, stepson, age 12 years 6 months, son of Dorothea Braun Getz
• Jakob Lochmann, stepson, age 8, son of Elisabeth Lochmann Getz
• Maria Elisabeth Braun, stepdaughter, age 6 years 7 months, son of Dorothea Braun Getz

So what happened to the orphans who lived with Andreas and Dorothea? They appear to have switched households, now (in 1775) living with Johann and Angelina Braun and their two daughters. That doesn't sound like a simple switch unless the the children were related to the Braun men, not Andrea's wife.

This is not a huge issue for the Rusch orphans, especially if they were not blood relatives with the Brauns. But it is interesting to learn that something happened to Andreas and Dorothea Rusch, something not recorded in a census, and that the orphans who lived with them went to live with the only other Braun family in Grimm.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Pleve, Igor. List of Colonists to Russia in 1766, "Reports by Ivan Kulberg," Ministry of Education and Science of Russian Federation, Sartov State Technical University; Published in Saratov, Russia 2010; page 167, Johann Braun, Lutheran shoemaker from Gerzen, document number 2394, wife Anna, daughter Elisabeth, age 3.
2. ↑ Googlemaps, googlemaps.com, distance between Gerzen and Werder, see: http://bit.ly/2Wt2Gb1.
3. ↑ Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet 1764-1767, Heerstellung: Mecke Druck and Verlag, 37115 Duderstandt; Published 1999; page 74, family #8, Andreas Braun, age 38, craftsman [shoemaker] from Wehrda; wife Dorothea, age 30; son Johann [sic], age 5.
4. ↑ Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet 1764-1767, Heerstellung: Mecke Druck and Verlag, 37115 Duderstandt; Published 1999; page 74, family #8, Andreas Braun, age 38, craftsman [shoemaker] from Wehrda; wife Dorothea, age 30; son Johann [sic], age 5.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} The 1775 and 1798 Census of the German Colony on the Volga, Lesnoy Karamysh, also known as Grimm; Published by the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Published date: 1995; family #92, Johannes Braun family.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} The 1775 and 1798 Census of the German Colony on the Volga, Lesnoy Karamysh, also known as Grimm; Published by the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Published date: 1995;