Johann Peter Hornuss, son of Johann Georg & Maria Katharina Hornuss, was baptized in the Lutheran Church in Durlach, today an eastern suburb of Karlsruhe, on 16 May 1723. He married to Margaretha Barbara Schneider, daughter of Johann Kaspar Schneider & Augusta Sophia Staib, on 4 July 1747 in the Pforzheim Lutheran Church, where she had been baptized on 16 July 1721.
They had a six children, each born and baptized in Durlach: (1) Johann Friedrich (born 13 July 1748; baptized 15 July 1748); (2) Christian Wilhelm (baptized 5 July 1750); (3) Johann August (born 9 September 1752; baptized 10 September 1752); (4) Augusta Sophia (born 11 August 1755; baptized 13 August 1755); (5) Carlina Rosina Katharina (born 29 August 1756; baptized 31 August 1756); (6) Margaretha Barbara (born 1759).
Johann Peter Hornuss, his wife, and five of their children immigrated to Denmark (Schleswig-Holstein). He lead a group that departed from Altona, Duchy of Holstein, on 2 June 1761 without his family. The group under his leadership arrived in the city of Schleswig, Duchy of Schleswig, on 6 June 1761. His family came the following year, departing from Altona on 11 October 1762, arriving in the city of Schleswig on 15 October 1762.
All of them lived in Denmark until 24 April 1765, when they immigrated to Russia. At the beginning of 1766, during the journey from Oranienbaum to the Volga German colonies, a new baby was born; they named her Juliana Christina.
Johann Peter and his family arrived in the colony of Reinwald on 14 July 1766. They are recorded there on the 1767 census in Household No. 1.
At some point before 1798, Johann Peter died. Son Johann Friedrich is registered on the Reinwald 1798 census in Household No. Rw2. Sons Johann August & Christian Wilhelm moved to the colony of Katharinenstadt in 1798. They are recorded there on the 1798 census in Household No. Ka153. A note in the census document indicates that they were not farmers but rather worked in the trading of grain and tobacco.
- Eichhorn, Alexander; Eichhorn Jacob & Mary. The Immigration of German Colonists to Denmark and Their Subsequent Emigration to Russia in the Years 1759-1766 (Deiningen: Steinmeier, 2012): 266, 273, 455, & 680.
- Mai, Brent Alan. 1798 Census of the German Colonies along the Volga: Economy, Population, and Agriculture (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1999).
- Parish records of Durlach (LDS Film No. 1238229).
- Parish records of Pforzheim (LDS Film No. 1336599).
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 4 (Göttingen: Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2008): 29.