Katharina Elisabeth (Rant) Werner (abt. 1763)

Born about 1763 in Germany

Wife of Michael Werner — married before 1782 in Grimm, Saratov, Russia

Descendants

Died [date unknown] in Grimm, Saratov, Russia

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Biography

Elisabetha (Rant) Werner was a Volga German.

Elisabetha (Rant) Werner has German Roots.

Family #21 in the 1775 Grimm census.
Family #26 in the 1798 Grimm census.
Family #256 in the 1834 Grimm census.

Elisabeth Rant was born about 1763, either in Germany or in one of the earliest established colonies in the Volga region of Russia. She is not listed in the 1767 Grimm census. She appears to be a match for the oldest daughter of Margaretha Ran/Rahn in the 1775 Grimm census.

1775 Grimm Census ^[1]

Family # 21

Head of the Household Margaretha Ran [Rahn?], age 39, widow

Child #1 Katharina Elisabeth Ran, age 10 years 6 months

Child #2 Dorothea Ran, age 8 years 3 months

Child #3 Katharina Barbara Ran, age 3 years 6 months

Child #4 Elisabeth Margaretha Ran, age 1

Elisabeth was Michael Werner's second wife, 25 years younger than he was. In 1798 she was 35 years old and he was 60.

Her husband's first wife was named Anna Katharina, a woman 10 years older than him. As of 1775, the couple had no children living with them, and at 36 years of age, Michael Werner doesn't appear to be old enough to have grown children who are married and living in another household.

By 1798, Anna Katharina is not mentioned, he's married second wife Elisabeth, and there are five children living in his household. I'm not sure all the children belong to Elisabeth, but there is no notation that the two oldest are from his first wife. Typically the census taker adds a remark if the children belong to the first wife or husband.

The problem with first wife Anna Katharina being the mother to the two oldest children is that she would have become pregnant with the oldest child in 1782-1783, when she was 54 years old, and had the next child when she was 58 years old. That doesn't seem physically possible for that day and age.

There is a seven year gap between the two oldest and the three youngest children. Elisabeth Rant is old enough to be the mother of all the children if she married Michael when she was 19 to 20 years of age. The gap between the second and third children could be explained by miscarriages or stillborn children.

1798 Grimm Census ^[2]

Family # 26

Head of the Household Michael Werner, age 60

Wife Elisabeth Rant [?] Werner, age 35

Child #1 Johann Michael Werner age 1 week

Child #2 Katharina Regina Werner, age 15

Child #3 Maria Margaretha Werner, age 11

Child #4 Anna Barbara Werner, age 4

Child #5 Louisa Barbara Werner, age 2

She was probably the older sister to Anna Margaretha Rant Stehl. Their birth place was either in Germany or in one of the earliest colonies settled in Russia. Neither they or their parents appear in the 1775 Grimm census. There are no Rants in the Kulberg Reports and The Immigration of German Colonists to Denmark and Their Subsequent Emigration to Russia in the Years 1759-1766. Either the surname is misspelled, their parents arrived in the earliest group of immigrants in 1763, or both.

There is a Rampe family that appears in the Volga German Transport List, but the daughters' names are not a match with Anna Margaretha and Elisabeth. ^[3]

1834 Grimm Census ^[4]

Family # 256

Head of the Household Elisabeth Werner, age 75

Child #1 Michael Werner, age 34, from household #51

Wife of Child #1 Elisabeth Margaretha Werner, age 29

Grandchild #1 Regina Werner, age 6

Grandchild #2 Johann Konrad Werner, age 5

Grandchild #3 Katharina Margaretha Werner, age 4

Grandchild #4 Johann Jakob Werner, age 2

Research Notes

Her surname in the 1775 census is almost certainly spelled incorrectly as Ran. There are only a few immigrants who could be a match for her father.

• Johann Rahn, a Lutheran smith from Darmstadt, and wife Catharina, no children at the time of immigration to Russia. ^[5] If this father is a match, then his wife's full name was Catharina Margaretha or he was married twice.

• Claus Ramm, German immigrant to Denmark and then Russia, unmarried when he arrived in Denmark.^[6] Probably a brother or cousin to Detlef Ramm. He may have married in Denmark. There is no record of a Volga German village to which he may have immigrated.

• Detlef Ramm, German immigrant to Denmark and then Russia, unmarried when he arrived in Denmark.^[7] Probably a brother or cousin to Detlef Ramm. He may have married in Denmark. He may have married in Denmark. There is no record of a Volga German village to which he may have immigrated.

There were no surnames similar to Ran-Rahn-Ramm in the 1767 Grimm census. I also checked for less likely transcription error-prone names like Rau, Rand, and Rant. She may be a match with one of these women:

• Elisabeth Rant Werner ^[8]

• Elisabeth Rand, daughter of Christoph Rand, married Moor from Bauer in 1791. ^[9] This may give insight into the name of her father, Christoph.

Immigrants from Denmark went to temporary villages to stay until the permanent Volga villages were ready for settlement. If her family came from Denmark, this could explain why the surname is missing from the 1767 Grimm census. On the other hand, there was movement between the different Volga villages, and the family could have immigrated straight from Germany and simply lived in more than one village before they settled in Grimm.

According to the 1775 census, her father was deceased by the time the census was taken. Her youngest sister was just a year old in 1775, indicating that her father died in between 1773 and 1775.

Sources

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 #21 in the 1775 census, Margaretha Ran family.
2. ↑ 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 #26 in the 1798 census, Michael Werner family.
3. ↑ Transport of the Volga Germans from Oranienbaum to the Colonies on the Volga 1766-1767, translated and edited by Brent Alan Mai; Published by the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1998, Lincoln, Nebraska; page A-81, Immigrant Numbers 4357-4361, page 453, lines 444-449, Christ. Rampe, Anna Marg. Ramp, Anna Maria Rampe, Maria Rampe, and Maria Christina Rampe.
4. ↑ 1834 Census of Grimm in the District of Saratov, Russia, dated 2 February 1835; Translated by Brent Mai, Concordia University, Portland, Oregon; Published by Dynasty Publishing, Beaverton, OR, USA; Published 2011; page 76, family #256, Elisabeth Werner family.
5. ↑ Pleve, Igor. List of Colonists to Russia in 1766, "Reports by Ivan Kulberg," Ministry of Education and Science of Russian Federation, Saratov State Technical University; Published in Saratov, Russia 2010; page 339, Johann Rahn, document number 5288.
6. ↑ Eichhorn, Alexander, Dr., and Dr. Jacob and Mary Eichhorn. The Immigration of German Colonists to Denmark and Their Subsequent Emigration to Russia in the Years 1759-1766, Druck and Bindung: Druckerei and Verlap Steinmeier GmbH & Co. KG, 86738, Deiningen, Germany; Published 2012; pages 552, B1292a, Claus Ramm.
7. ↑ Eichhorn, Alexander, Dr., and Dr. Jacob and Mary Eichhorn. The Immigration of German Colonists to Denmark and Their Subsequent Emigration to Russia in the Years 1759-1766, Druck and Bindung: Druckerei and Verlap Steinmeier GmbH & Co. KG, 86738, Deiningen, Germany; Published 2012; pages 553, B1293, Detlef Ramm.
8. ↑ 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 #26 in the 1798 census, Elisabeth Rant [?], age 35.
9. ↑ 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; line #41 in the Appendix of the 1798 census, Elisabeth Rand, daughter of Christoph Rand.