Our earliest known Becker ancestor is Johann Martin Becker born about 1630 in the village of Reichenbach, Baden, Germany. Sometime around 1650 the extended Becker family moved to the villages of Etzenrot and Busenbach, Baden, Germany.
The extended Becker family remained in these two villages until sometime after 1793 when our direct line ancestor Johann Georg Becker moved his family to the village of Wintzenbach, Alsace. Johann Georg and his family remained in Wintzenbach, Alsace until 1808 when they immigrated to the Kutschurgan village of Selz, Russia.
All of the civil and church records show that during their stay in Germany, our extended ancestral Becker families lived in the neighboring villages of Besenbach, Etzenrot and Reichenbach. Due to problems with the churches in these villages, some of the Becker marriagea nd baptismal ceremonies were also held in the village of Ettlingen. There is an implication in some of these records; that at some point, some people who had immigrated to the villages of Busenbach and Spessart had originated from the Alsatian village of Wintzenbach. The baptismal records for my 2x great grandmother Margaretha Becker born 1793 clearly states that she was baptized in the village of Etzenrot.
The period from 1793 and 1808 is also when Johann Georg’s wife Maria Anna (née Schneider) died. However, the precise location and date of her death are unknown. The German meaning of the name Becker is Baker as a person working in a bakery.