Born about 1740 in Hessen, Germany [uncertain]

Wife of Johann Georg Fries — married 1762 in Denmark

Wife of Johann Georg Schmidt — married 1769 in Grimm, Saratov, Russia

Descendants

Died before 1809 in Grimm, Saratov, Russia

Profile manager: Julie Mangano [send private message]

Biography

Katharina (Unknown) Schmidt is a Volga German.

Katharina (Unknown) Schmidt has German Roots.

Family #35 in the 1775 Grimm census.
Family #21 in the 1798 Grimm census.
Family #57 in the 1834 Grimm census.

Although Katharina Geis/Fries was born in Germany, when her family immigrated to the Volga area of Russia, they settled in Ust Zolicha, also known as Messer. According to Center for Volga German Studies at Concordia University, Messer was founded as a Reformed colony on 7 July 1766, located on the Zolicha River near where it meets with the Goloi Karamysh. The 85 founding colonist families came from the Palatinate, Hesse, and Prussia.

She was Johann Georg Schmidt's second wife. His first wife, Katharina Elisabeth, died after 1775 but before 1778. Katharina married Johann Georg before 1779 and their son Johannes was born later than year.

Her age from census to census is not consistent:

• 1798: 40 years old, born 1758
• 1834: 71 years old, born 1754

If she was born in 1758, she was around 40 years of age in 1798 and her oldest child was around 20. This means she was around 20 when she gave birth to son Johannes. In 1834 her age was 71, but this is lower than it should be (40 + 36 years to next census = 76). So she may have been a little younger than 40 in 1798, which would mean the age she gave in 1834 was just 3 or 4 years off.

1775 Grimm Census ^[1]

Family # 35

Head of the Household Johann Georg Schmidt, age 27

Wife Katharina Elisabeth Schmidt, age 30

Child #1 Maria Barbara Schmidt, age 9 months, twin

Child #2 Elisabeth Margaretha Schmidt, age 9 months, twin

Stepdaughters

Child #3 Maria Elisabeth Frieds age 9

Child #4 Anna Maria Fries, age 8

Orphan

Child #5 Margaretha Riegel, age 21

1798 Grimm Census ^[2]

Family # 21

Head of the Household Johann Georg Schmidt, age 43

Wife Katharina Fries Schmidt, age 40, from Messer

Child #1 Johannes Schmidt, age 19

Child #2 Johann Heinrich Schmidt, age 15

Child #3 Johann Martin Schmidt, age 13

Child #4 Johann Konrad Schmidt, age 7

Child #5 Johann Friedrich Schmidt, age 4

Child #6 Margaretha Barbara Schmidt, age 18

Child #7 Anna Maria Schmidt, age 17

Child #8 Anna Margaretha Schmidt, age 10

Child #9 Apollonia Schmidt, age 3

1834 Grimm Census ^[3]

Family # 57

Head of the Household Katharina Schmidt, age 71

Child #1 Johannes Schmidt, age 55

Wife of Child #1 Maria Dorothea Schmidt, age 43

Grandchild #1 Friedrich Schmidt, age 22

Wife of Grandchild #1 Katharina Elisabeth Schmidt, age 22

Great Grandchild #1 Katharina Margaretha Schmidt, age 2

Great Grandchild #2 Anna Katharina Schmidt, 6 months

Grandchild #2 Johann Georg Schmidt, age 20

Grandchild #3 Johann Konrad Schmidt, age 17

Grandchild #4 Louisa Katharina Schmidt, age 15

Grandchild #5 Johann Jakob Schmidt, age 12

Grandchild #6 Johannes Schmidt, age 10

Grandchild #7 Katharina Schmidt, age 7

Grandchild #8 Katharina Barbara Schmidt, age 3

Child #2 Anna Maria Schmidt, age 51

Child #3 Johann Konrad Schmidt, age 44

Wife of Child #3 Elisabeth Schmidt, age 35

Grandchild #9 Michael Schmidt, age 13

Grandchild #10 Anna Margaretha Schmidt, age 11

Grandchild #11 Christian Schmidt, age 8

Grandchild #12 Johann Adolph Schmidt, age 3

Child #4 Katharina Barbara Schmidt, age 36

Child #5 Johann Georg Schmidt, age 31

Wife of Child #5 Katharina Dorothea Schmidt, age 22

Grandchild #13 Georg Heinrich Schmidt, age 7 years 6 months

Research Notes

I may have combined two profiles that should have been kept separate. I am keeping the bios of each for each recreation of each profile. The confusion comes with the 1798 census where it states that Katharina Freis was from Messer. I originally read that as she was a different person from the one who was first in Dobrinka and then Grimm, who we know from the 1775 census had two daughters named Fries from her first husband. But now as I re-read everything, they could still be the same person if she moved to Messer first, before settling in Grimm in 1775. There were no Fries families in the 1767 census, so they would have moved from Dobrinka to Messer after 1767 but before 1775. It's a short window of time, but still possible. That could explain why she was listed in the 1798 census as being from Messer.

Husband Johann Georg Fries passed away at some point before 1769, and she remarried shortly thereafter so she would have someone to provide for her and her young children. Her second husband was Johann Georg Schmidt and they had their first child together in 1770. They went on to have twins born in 1774. The Fries children are listed as Johann Georg Schmidt's step-children in the 1775 Grimm census.

Katharina Elisabeth and Johann Georg Fries immigrated to Denmark from Niederramstadt, Lichtenberg, Hessen-Darmstadt. They departed on 03 June 1762 from the processing site in Altona and arrived in Flensburg on 09 June 1762, in a group led by Johannes Wenner. They were one of the last six groups out of 49 to make this journey. The Immigration of German Colonists to Denmark and Their Subsequent Emigration to Russia in the Years 1759-1766 says that Katharina Elisabeth was Johann Georg's financee, but they must have married either shortly before or after their arrival in Denmark.

At the time that they were recorded as living in Denmark as reserve colonists, they had a two-day-old daughter, Elisabeth Catharina. Their Danish home was number 40 in Colony G18 Neuboerm, in the region of Gottorf. The family left Denmark on 02 May 1764.

The couple immigrated to Grimm, but their daughter Catharina Elisabeth didn't survive the journey. They went on to have three more children:

• Maria Katharina, born 1765
• Maria Elisabeth, born 1766
• Anna Maria, born 1767

Katharina Elisabeth passed away before 1778. Her widower, Johann Georg Schmidt, remarried Katharina Geis. There was some confusion between the two women since they both went by the same name, Katharina, but Katharina Elisabeth was three years older than Johann Georg, and Katharina Geis was three years younger.

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 #35 in the 1775 Grimm census, Johann Georg Schmidt 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 #21 in the 1798 Grimm census, Johann Georg Schmidt family.
3. ↑ 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 18, family #57, Katharina Schmidt family.

See also:

• 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 299 and 407.

• 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, NE, USA; Published 1995; family #35 in the 1775 census, Katarina Elizabeta Schmidt, age 30.

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