Well I got curious...
Here's a family tree for Leonhard Reiswig.
Tree says this:
Leonhard Reiswig
Born 01 SEP 1812 in Bellagwesch, Tschernigov, Russia
Died 27 DEC 1902 in Hillsboro, Marion, Kansas
Married 02 Oct 1841 Leonhard Reusswig to Johanna Catharina Philippina Neumann
Among other sources: St. Petersburg Lutheran Evangelical Archives: Grunau Colony and Outlying Villiages 1833 - 1885, Family History Library, records extracted by Retta Cunningham Donovan, Donna J Schmidt and Marie Kafton Shepherd
Immigration: 18 JUN 1879 Gellert; Hamburg & Harve to New York
Leonhard Reiswig, 64, farmer
Philippina Reiswig 58, wife [ = Johanna Catharina Philippina Neumann]
Daniel Reiswig 16, child
Wilhelm Reiswig 15, child
Family of Peter Reiswig (seems to be an older son?) and still more family members are traveling with them. See link.
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&d...1880 US census (as indexed on Ancestry.com)
Liberty Township, Marion County, Kansas
Lenart Ruswick 66, b Russia, parents b Russia, farmer
Martha Ruswick, 61, b Russia, parents b Russia, keeping house
Daniel Ruswick 17 son, b Russia, works on farm
William Ruswick 16, son, b Russia, works on farm
Much more on the link. This is one of the most fully documented online trees I've seen. Good job.
This area is in a part of Ukraine that has also been part of Russia (if I am understanding what I am reading!) Tschernigov = Chernigov. This is indeed in what is called the Black Sea region on the following website:
http://www.grhs.org/villages/kherson/jekaterinoslaw/kleinwer...And here are the Reiswigs of Belowesch, Tschernigov:
http://www.grhs.org/vr/tschernigov/BeloweschChern.htmAnd the earliest traced ancestor in this surname line was born ca 1752:
1807-1809 Census
Jagan [Johann] Reuswig, 55, from: Niedermitlau/Gelnhausen-Hessen, arrived in 1776 Evangelist-Lutheran, Landman, 22 arces
Frau Marielies age 42,
and children
SOURCE: The Emmigration From Germany To Russia In The Years 1763-1862, Dr. Karl Stumpp, p 405.
Rule of thumb is don't take online family trees online at face value, but this certainly seems credible. These Germans from Russia genealogists are incredible.
BTW Searching this place Bellagwesch, Tschernigov on map I think it's about halfway between the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea (maybe that's why you mentioned both) in present-day Ukraine. It has different names in Ukrainian, Russian, and German.