Johann Jacob Kappel was born on 20 July 1727 in Trebur, a municipality in the southern Hessen district of Gross-Gerau. Johann Jacob's parents were Johann Cristoffer Kappel and Maria Christina (surname unknown). Johann Jacob Kappel had 5 siblings: Johann Daniel born 15 Dec 1723; twins Hans & Anna Catharina born 15 Nov 1724; Johann Peter born May 1729; and Anna Catharina born 18 Dec 1732.
Jakob Kappell, along with his wife Catharina and son Johann Adam, arrived in Russia on 31 July 1766 aboard a Russian packet-boat under the command of Lieutenant Pyotr Malinkov. They settled in Dietel and are recorded there in the Firsy Settlers List in Household No. 33.
The marriage of Johann Jakob Kappel and his wife Catharina, and the baptism of Johann Adam, were not be found in the Trebur parish records.
- Parish records of Trebur (Dekanat Groß-Gerau, Hessen-Nassau Archive) on Archion.de
- Pleve, Igor. Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports by Ivan Kulberg (Saratov: Saratov State Technical University, 2010) p. 190
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 1 (Göttingen: Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 1999), p. 292