Johannes Kohler (abt. 1701)

Born about 1701 in Baden-Durlach, Germany

Descendants

Died [date unknown] in Grimm, Saratov, Russia

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Biography

Johannes Kohler was a Volga German.

Johannes Kohler has German Roots.

Germany-Denmark-Russia

Family B-854 in The Immigration of German Colonists to Denmark and Their Subsequent Emigration to Russia in the Years 1759-1766.

Family Rus14-25 The Immigration of German Colonists to Denmark and Their Subsequent Emigration to Russia in the Years 1759-1766.

Family #34 in the 1775 Grimm census.

Johannes Kohler was born in 1701 in Baden-Durlach, as per the Danish immigration information in The Immigration of German Colonists to Denmark and Their Subsequent Emigration to Russia in the Years 1759-1766.

I tried to verify his birth through German birth records and there are only two births in the right time frame, 1701, plus or minus a year. If he was born in the last four months of the year and the Danish immigration data was taken in May of 1761, then he could have been born in 1700 but had not yet turned 61 years of age. Israel Kohler and his wife Elisabetha were the only Kohler's in Durlach, Baden (Baden-Durlach) who had children born in the right time frame, as least out of the records that are available online. Both children are not named and their gender is unknown. I believe one of these two is Johannes Kohler.

Possible Birth Record #1 ^[1]

Name Kohler

Gender Unknown

Christening Date 29 Sep 1700

Christening Place Durlach, Baden, Germany

Father's Name Israel Kohler

Mother's Name Elisabetha

Possible Birth Record #2 ^[2]

Name Koller

Event Date 1702

Gender Unknown

Birth Date 06 Jan 1702

Birth Year 1702

Christening Date 06 Jan 1702

Christening Place Durlach, Baden, Germany

Father's Name Israel Koller

Mother's Name Elisabetha

Note that in the second listing above, Kohler is spelled Koller, but the parents are obviously the same in both records. Israel and Maria Elisabetha Kohler had at least four children, including Adam and Maria Elisabetha. I believe the unnamed children are a boy and a girl, Johannes and Christina. Daughter Christina's name is found in her marriage record to Johann Adam Knappschneider on 16 Nov 1723.

According to his parents' marriage records, his mother's maiden name was Zachmann. ^[3] The couple was married 11 May 1697 in Durlach, Baden, Germany.^[3] They had two older children, Adam Kohler, born 20 Dec 1698, ^[4] and Maria Elisabeth, born Nov 1699. ^[5] Maria Elisabeth's birth record shows that her father's full name was Johann Israel Kohler. She married Jacob Stahl on 29 Apr 1727. This marriage record also shows that by 1727, her father was a widower.

All the children were raised as Evangelical Lutherans in the Karlsruhe area. Johannes was most likely a farmer, trying to care for his family at a time when that area of Germany had suffered from wars and famines.

In 1759, Danish King Frederick V invited Germans from Hessen and the Palatinate to help settle the area of Schleswig-Holstein, at that time under the control of the Danes. ^[6] The king was interested in converting the marsh lands to arable farm land. ^[6] Germans were known for their good farming skills and for being hard workers, so it seemed like a win-win situation both both Danes and Germans. Johannes decided the opportunity to immigrate to Denmark with his family was too attractive to pass up.

At the time of his immigration to Denmark, Johannes was 60 years old, married to Margaretha, also 60.^[6] The couple immigrated with at least one son, Johannes, age 20, who had recently married Barbara Kayser, age 24.^[6] Another Danish immigrant from the Baden Durlach area was Philip Kohler (B-855), age 23.^[6] With the same surname, it's almost certain Johannes was related to Philip, but there is no usual comment indicating that there was a father-son relationship between the two. Philip may have been a nephew or cousin. Although Philip, too, left Denmark, there is no confirmation that he went to Russia. He is not listed in the 1775 Grimm census, although he may have gone to another village.

Johannes arrived in the City of Schleswig on 09 May 1761.^[6] He and his son too their oath of allegiance to Denmark on 24 July 1761.^[6] Two weeks later he and his family were living at 21 Plessen Hof in Colony G2 Friederichsfeld, in the district of Gottorf.^[6]

The marshlands were very inhospitable to farmers like Johannes. Although the Germans were good farmers with typical farm land, it was far more difficult to convert these former wetlands and grow crops. Most of the German immigrants barely reaped enough to feed their families, let alone to provide food for others in Denmark. When Catherine the Great invited Germans to immigrate to Russia, he and his son Johannes decided it offered them a better opportunity than what was there for them in Denmark.

It's not clear when the family decided to leave Denmark, but records show that both he and his wife and his son and his wife left for Grimm.^[6] Only his son Johannes and his wife show up in the 1775 Grimm census. ^[7] Had the elder Johannes and his wife lived, they would have both been 74 years old. It is most likely that he perished after immigrating to Russia.

Sources

1. ↑ "Deutschland Geburten und Taufen, 1558-1898," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NNNK-9F7 : 28 November 2014), Israel Kohler in entry for Kohler, 29 Sep 1700; citing ; FHL microfilm 1,238,217.
2. ↑ "Deutschland Geburten und Taufen, 1558-1898," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NC8N-TYZ : 28 November 2014), Israel Koller in entry for Koller, 06 Jan 1702; citing ; FHL microfilm 1,238,217.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} "Deutschland Heiraten, 1558-1929," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N8LL-H7R : 26 December 2014), Israel Kohler and Maria Elisabetha Zachmann, 11 May 1697; citing Durlach, Baden, Germany; FHL microfilm 1,238,217.
4. ↑ "Deutschland Geburten und Taufen, 1558-1898," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N5K5-PF5 : 28 November 2014), Israel Kohler in entry for Adam Kohler, 20 Dec 1698; citing ; FHL microfilm 1,238,217.
5. ↑ "Deutschland Geburten und Taufen, 1558-1898," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NRPF-222 : 28 November 2014), Johann Israel Kohler in entry for Maria Elisabetha Kohler, Jan 1698; citing ; FHL microfilm 1,238,217.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8} Eichhorn, Dr. Alexander, Dr. Jacob and Mary Eichhorn, The Immigration of German Colonists to Denmark and Their Subsequent Emigration to Russia in the Years 1759-1766; Bonn, Germany and Midland Michigan, USA; Drukerei und Verlag Steinmeier GmbH & Co. Kg, Deiningen, Germany.
7. ↑ 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.

See also:

• https://www.volgagermans.org/history/journey-through-denmark

• https://www.volgagermans.org/who-are-volga-germans/settlements/original/grimm