Anna Barbara Rusch was born in 1759, probably in or around Schlitz, Hessen, Germany. Her family immigrated to Russia in 1766, but her parents did not survive the trip from St. Petersburg to the Volga River region. She and her brother Johann Adam were taken in by Andreas Braun and his wife Dorothea. The couple had a young son the same age as her brother.
Head of the Household Anna Barbara Rusch, age 8, orphan, Lutheran from Schlitz
Brother Johann Adam Rusch, age 5, orphan, Lutheran from Schlitz
Living with Andreas Braun in household #8, whose 5-year-old son Johann was probably friends, at least from their time together in Russia, with Johann Adam Rusch
Family # 8
Head of the Household Andreas Braun, age 38, craftsman from Wehdra
Wife Dorothea Braun, age 30
Child #1 Johann Braun, age 5
By 1775, neither Dorothea nor her son Johann were still living, and Johann Braun had remarried Angelina, born in 1730, and the couple had two daughters, Anna Dorothea, 7, and Margaretha Elisabeth, 6. Although it's possible the girls were the daughters of his first wife, usually the census states those details in the notes section. It's more likely that Dorothea and Johann died after reaching Grimm and being accounted for in the 1767 Grimm census. Some time after that, she and her son passed away, and her widowed husband remarried. The new couple had their first child in 1767-1768.
Child #1 Anna Dorothea Braum [sic], age 7 years 6 months
Child #2 Margaretha Elisabeth Braum [sic], age 6
Child #3 Adam Rusch, age 12, orphan
Child #4 Anna Palova Rusch, age 15, orphan
In the 1775 census, her middle name is said to be Pavlova, but that doesn't sound like a typical German name. It may have been her mother's last name at birth, or it may have been a mistake on the part of the census taker. I added Pavlova to the middle name field above for the time being. If I can determine her given names through a birth record, I will update this profile accordingly.
Anna Barbara Rusch is not mentioned with any Rusch family in the 1798 census.
[3]
She had probably married by that year and was listed with her husband's family, possibly in another village, since the 1798 census did include the last name at birth for the majority of all the wives listed in the census and her name was not listed.
Research Notes
Here is the only possible birth record I've been able to find thus far for her, and the middle names are not a match.
Birth Record
Name Anna Maria Elisabeth Ruesch
Event Date 1742 - 1771
Event Date 1758
Gender Female
Birth Date 06 Dec 1758
Birth Year 1758
Christening Date 17 Dec 1758
Christening Place EVANGELISCH, OESTRICH ISERLOHN, WESTFALEN, PRUSSIA
Father's Name Michel Ruesch
Mother's Name Gerderuth
Sources
↑
Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet 1764-1767, Band 2, Herausgegeben von Alfred Eisfeld under Mitarbeit von Sabine Eichwald, Published by the Nordost-Instsitut - 38085 Göttingen, 2005; page 74, family #8a, Anna Barbara Rusch and her brother Johann Adam Rusch; and family #8, Andreas Braun family.
↑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 in the 1775 Grimm census, Johann Braun family.
↑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.
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