Katharina Elisabeth (Vorath) Meisner (abt. 1753)

Born about 1753 in Mecklenburg, Germany

Wife of Johann Georg Meisner — married about 1795 in Dinkel, Russia

Died [date unknown] in Dinkel, Russia

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Biography

Katharina (Vorath) Meisner was a Volga German.

Katharina (Vorath) Meisner has German Roots.

Family #67 in the 1767 Laub census.
Family #Dn21 in the 1798 Dinkel census.

Katharina Elisabeth Volrath was born in 1753 in Mecklenburg, Germany, to parents Johann Philipp and Margaretha Dorothea Vorrath. She was one of at least eight children.

Her parents were solicited to immigrate to Russia by Recruiter Le Roy. They departed from Luebeck on the Denish Galliot Engel Rafail and arrived in Oranienbaum on 08 August 1766. The family is listed in the Kulberg Reports on page 230:

"Vorrath Johann Philipp, Luth., farmer from Mecklenburg,, doc. no. 3502, wife: Margaretha Dorothea, children: Hans, 22, Johann Carl, 5.5, Margaretha Dorothea, 25, Catharina Maria, 23, Catharina 3/4, Catharina Maria, 20, Catharina Elisabeth 13, Christina, 3.5.

I included the exact Kulberg Report entry above so you can see the unusual placement of all the daughters. Daughter Catharina, 9 months old, is listed out of age order. Typically when that happens, it signals that the child is the daughter of one of the older children in the listing. It's not clear that that is what it means in this case. It also casts a shadow on who the parents are of the final three daughters in the list, Having children aged 25 to newborn seems a little unusual, but not at all impossible, in this family. Although one mighty be tempted to guess that current wife Margaretha Dorothea was a second wife, the oldest daughter has the same name, making it appear she was named after her mother.

One year later, in 1767, it appears that all but three of the family members perished on the difficult journey to the Volga. The only survivors were:

• Johannes, age 20
• Johann Karl, age 8
• Katharina Elisabeth, age 16

The siblings lived initially in the village of Laub and appear as family #67 in the first census.

In the 1798 census it appears that another sister may have survived, Katharina Maria, born 1746, which suggests that she may have married prior to arriving in the Volga Region, resulting in her being listed separately from the rest of her siblings, whether in Laub or another village. She was married to Georg Sommer, age 70, in family #Lb40.

By 1798, Katharina Elisabeth had moved to Dinkel, where she met and married Johann Georg Meisner. She was 45 years old, 14 years older than her husband. Her age suggests that this may not have been her first marriage. That said, there are no children living with the Meisners at the time of the census. Any children she had with Georg would have been under the age of 10.

Sources

• Pleve, Igor; Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766, "Reports by Ivan Kulberg;" Saratov State Technical University, Saratov, Russia; published in Saratov 2010; page 230, Catharina Elisabeth Vorrath, age 13, parents Johann Philipp and Margaretha Dorothea Vorrath.

• Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet 1764-1767, Heerstellung: Mecke Druck and Verlag, 37115 Duderstandt; Published 1999; page 36, family #67, Katharina Elisabeth Vorrath/Vorath, age 16.

• Mai, Brent Alan; 1798 Census of the German Colonies along the Volga, Volume 1; American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, Lincoln, Nebraska; Published 1999 and 2005; page 358, family Dn21, Katharina Vorath, age 45.

• Mai, Brent Alan; 1798 Census of the German Colonies along the Volga, Volume 1; American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, Lincoln, Nebraska; Published 1999 and 2005; page 665, Katharina (Maria) Vorath Sommer, age 53.