OGSA - 2 - Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America (OGSA)

Transcription

OSTFRIESEN GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
AMERICANAMERICAN-OSTFRIESEN ZEITUNG
Eala Freya Fresena! Lever Dod Als Slav!
April 2008
Volume 11, Issue 2
Hermann Fuls
Johanna Fuls
THE SECRETS IN OLD PHOTOGRAPHS
OSTFRIESEN-AMERICAN ZEITUNG
OSTFRIESEN GENEALOGICAL
SOCIETY OF AMERICA
Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America
Eala Freya Fresena! Lever Dod Als Slav!
April 2008 Volume 11 Issue 2
The newsletter of the Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America is
published four times a year. Please write: Lin Strong, Editor, OGSA
Newsletter, 168 North Lake Street, Forest Lake, MN 55025 or email lstrong@cornernet.com with comments or suggestions.
We are happy to consider any contributions of genealogical information. Whether we can use your material is based on such factors as
general interest to our members, our need to cover certain subjects,
balance through the year and available space. The editor reserves the
right to edit all submitted materials for presentation and grammar. The
editor will correct errors and may need to determine length of copy.
Contributors are responsible for accuracy, omissions and factual errors. Cite documentation for facts or statistical information and give
complete source for all abstracted or transcribed records.
Other than the exceptions given, all or part of this publication may be
copied without fee provided that: copies are not made or distributed
for direct title commercial advantage; the OGSA copyright notice, the
name of the publication and its date appear; and notice is given that
copying is by permission of the Ostfriesen Genealogical Society. You
must contact the editor for permission to publish in any form.
Materials not otherwise attributed, were prepared by the editor.
Copyright © April 2008
Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America/Lin Cornelius Strong
OGSA MEMBERSHIP
MEMBER PRIVILEGES include four issues of the American Ostfriesen Zeitung (January, April, July, October), four
program meetings each year and one special event, special
member order discounts, and access to the OGSA library.
Mail Address: 1670 South Robert Street, #333,
West St. Paul, MN 55118
Change of Address: ogsa@ogsa.us
Officers are elected for a two year term and will serve during 2007
and 2008.
OGSA OFFICERS:
President—Sharon Arends, mnmax424@msn.com (952) 906-9677
Vice President—Gene Janssen, jansseng@cornernet.com
Treasurer—Lübbert Kruizenga, luebbert.kruizenga@gt.com
Recording Secretary—Nancy Jensen, nljen31@msn.com
Past President—Buck Menssen, bmenssen@comcast.net
BOARD MEMBERS:
Lin Strong: Lin@ogsa.us / lstrong@cornernet.com
Dr. James Limburg: jlimburg@luthersem.edu
Ray Kleinow: rayk29@comcast.net
Jill Morelli: jmorell@columbus.rr.com
Rick Gersema: RGersema@aol.com
Zella Mirick: zwmirick@comcast.net
COMMITTEE COORDINATORS:
Program & Meeting Committee: Open, You can help!
Publicity: Open, do you have time?
Library: Zella Mirick (651) 452-2574
Membership Coordinator: Sharon Arends (952) 906-9677
Mail Coordinator— Zella Mirick, Nancy Jensen
AMERICAN-OSTFRIESEN ZEITUNG STAFF:
Lin Strong, News Editor / Cell 651-269-3580 / Lin@ogsa.us
Contributing Authors: Jill Morelli, Rudy Wiemann, Gene Janssen,
Zella Mirick, Jeanee Thompson
Columnists: Jeanee Thompson, Ray Kleinow, Rudy Wiemann, Lin
Strong
NOTE: All Board Members and Officers will be up for election January, 2009. If you are interested in serving, please contact the Vice
President who heads the nominating committee. Distance is not an
problem as we can also tele-conference all meetings.
NEW! OGSA 2008 MEMBERSHIP—Send your check for
$18 (high speed internet, newsletter sent by pdf file) or $28
for paper copies payable to OGSA 1670 South Robert Street,
#333, West St. Paul, MN 55118 NEW!
Foreign membership is $18 if sent by pdf file—$30 if paper
copies. You can deposit your membership at Sparkasse Emden
if you prefer.
♦
♦
♦
♦
The membership year is from November 1 through October 31. You will receive one reminder post card in December 2008 if you do not renew before the end of the
year.
If you join midway during the year, you will receive the
code to download all back issues for that year or paper
copies if you join at the $28 level. Back issues for the past
years may be available for purchase.
Please include your name, address, email address, phone
number and eight names you are researching in Ostfriesland along with their village names.
If you have any question about your membership, please
do not hesitate to contact the membership coordinator!
OGSA MISSION STATEMENT
OGSA is headquartered in Minnesota and our official name is Ostfriesen
Genealogical Society of America. Anyone with ancestors from Ostfriesland or who has an interest in Ostfriesland is welcome to join.
The purpose of the group is exclusively educational, and specifically
to:
♦ Foster and increase interest in Ostfriesen genealogy.
♦ Provide an association for those interested in Ostfriesen
genealogy.
♦ Provide an opportunity for exchange of knowledge about
Ostfriesland.
♦ Encourage the establishment of Ostfriesen genealogical
resources.
♦ Hold meetings for instruction and interest of its members.
♦ Collect and, when practical, publish genealogical, biographical and
historical material relating to people of Ostfriesen descent.
♦ Work with other similar societies to preserve and protect
Ostfriesen genealogy and heritage.
Our organization is a 501C3 non-profit organization.
Your donations are tax-deductible.
2
APRIL 2008
MOIN, ALLE!
When you read this, I’ll soon be on my way to Ostfriesland, one of my favorite places in the world. A group will be meeting me later in the month and
we’ll be there for May Day. Fun! If you want pictures of a specific village,
email or call me before I leave, if possible! Don’t wait.
First of all, thanks to all of you who wrote notes to the board members and myself about
the January newsletter. Yes, it is a lot of work, but it is a legacy for future generations, too.
Your nice comments and suggestions are appreciated. Remember, this is YOUR newsletter and the only contact we have with many of you! Take a minute, jot down a thought or
comment—they are always read. Your comments have led to the many changes you notice in the newsletter. There have been a lot of positive comments on the color pictures in
the online version of the newsletter, too. And, yes you can print some of the pictures on
photo paper and frame them!
Make sure you read the stories sent to us by our readers. This is what you send us—and we
love it. I got one of them two months after Marilyn sent it by email, but I did get it. What
fun to learn how they traveled in those first cars! And Zandra’s article gives us a whole
new slant on how difficult life was for our ancestors.
Inside this issue:
Photographs & Their Secrets
4-6
OSB Update, Germany 1871
6
Suurhusen’s Leaning Tower
7,8
How Jenny Broke The Ice…
8
Land & Capacity Measures
9
Travels in the North of Germany
Levees of Harlingerland
10
11-13
Member News
13
City of Emden
14-16
News from Ostfriesland
17-19
German Recipes, Waffles
Kleinsander vs. Broer Milffs
19
20-21
What is an Armenvorsteher?
21
Isn’t this is a great way for all of you to get involved. Write down one of the stories you
heard many times through the years. Don’t worry about spelling or punctuation, we can
help you with that! Get a new notebook and start writing stories in it every morning with
your cup of coffee or tea. You might surprise yourself with some of the stories you remember. Talk to your siblings, they may have an entire different slant on that story. It will get
you talking to your relatives, too, which may be a good or bad thing! ☺
A Trip to Clara City
22
Finding your “Lost” Women
23
Prawn Fisherman of the Dollart
24
Holtgaste’s Church Bells
24
Technology 101
25
Make sure you read the article “Travels in the North of Germany” on page ten. This book
was written in 1820 and gives you a great glimpse at life in that time—life observed by an
English gentleman. We will only quote the information on Ostfriesland, but this is a two
volume set if you are interested in obtaining the books. It is available from amazon.com.
Links to Deep Roots
25
How often do you check our website? You might find someone who is researching one of
your lines! Answer one of them—who knows, you might find a cousin!
The database of Ostfriesen emigrants that Gene Janssen has spent more than a year on is
now finished—the first volume of this valuable resource. Once you receive it, you may
wish to submit your data—or maybe you have more information on someone who is included. Please let us know! Just think of how many more emigrants there were—and this
is only a beginning. jansseng@cornernet.com—email Gene today! See page 31!
The Seven Years War to the
Batavian Republic
26-27
Writing Your Family History
28-29
Ancestral Numbering Systems
29
Membership Information
30
Social Status
30
Spring Book Sale
31
NEW—Emigration Database!
31
2008 Picture Contest, Programs
32
Enjoy Spring—it’s been a long time coming in this neck of the woods!
Klaasohm-the great winter festival OF Borkum
Klaasohm Mask
Every year on the evening of December 5th an intriguing public festival takes place on
the island of Borkum. The boys and men of Borkum celebrate an event, which has a Christian, heathen and nautical origin. The origin of this celebration comes from the time when
men went out to sea to hunt whales. The women during those times stayed at home and
raised the family.
On their return from sea, the men had to re-established their authority over their household and thus were expected to earn the respect of their wives by swatting them on the buttocks with a cow horn in a traditional "Klaasohm" ceremony. On this evening, a masked
man rides on a horse around the island and gives candy to the children. This part of the
custom is reminiscent of the St. Nikolaus celebrations, which are very popular in the Netherlands, where St. Nikolaus also gives presents to children.
Many of the men dress in strange and crazy costumes made of feathers and furs and
Cow Horn
fight each other. The weaker ones may even win against their stronger neighbors. This
takes place accompanied by a loud racket from hand-made instruments. It was at one time
believed that the demons and evil spirits which assembled on the island during the year will drift with the sound of the instruments
out to sea. In 1830, the organization "Borkumer Jungs von 1830" was founded and still exists today. This organization and celebration is in many ways a mystery and portions are secret. No one is talking, so it may always remain that way. (ED. NOTE: Want
more info? Check it out on the internet—You Tube has a short clip, too!) Author: Astrid Dirks
3
“OLD PHOTOGRAPHS AND THE SECRETS THEY HOLD”
Part One
My quest to identify the approximate date on photographs of my
great-grandparents, Herman and Everwiena Fuls (front cover) led
me to study types of photography and to use my knowledge of
historic clothing as resources. Photographs of our ancestors are a
link to the past which we would not have otherwise. Photographs
help us connect with a person’s life and times past. However, it is
very annoying and frustrating to find unidentified photographs in a
box or album that must surely be of family members or maybe
friends of the family. Of course, this is a habit we should not follow so that future generations won’t be blaming us for not labeling
our photographs.
In this article I hope to provide you with information about early
photography and the clothing details that will help put an approximate date on the mystery photographs you have in your possession. This article will be limited to the 1850s-1900s. A second
article covering 1900-1920 will come later.
Have you ever wondered who “Uncle John” in an old photograph
really is? If John was a popular name in your early family history
it can be more difficult to identify. However, there are a number
of ways to go about solving this mystery. First, you might compare the face with photographs of other relatives named “John”
that already have been identified. Using such features as shape of
ears, position of eyes, shape of mouth and hairline details are helpful. Even if they are a different age at the time of the photograph,
some physical details don’t change.
Using the history of photography from its beginning in the 1840s
can help ascertain when a photo was taken. There are many resources available on the internet and in books. I will only cover
some examples to get you started. At the end of this article there
is a list of resources you might want to use in the future.
The earliest type of photography was the Daguerrotype begun in
1838. This method peaked in use from 1847 to 1854 but lasted
until 1860. Daguerrotype photographs were made of silver on
copper and have a mirror effect when turned. Most Daguerrotype
plates were mounted in cases
with elaborate frames and a
padded satin or velvet cover
which was rose colored. The
next method to come along
was the ambrotype which
first appeared in 1854 and
peaked in use between 1855
and 1860. These were made
by coating a piece of glass
with silver nitrate and exposing this to the image. They
were always cased because of
their fragile nature. Ambro4
types lasted until 1866, although one source said 1881. It may
be difficult to distinguish between the Daguerrotype and the
ambrotype. Thus, if you have a cased photograph you know it
had to be done between 1838 and 1866.
Another method of photography to appear in the 1850’s was
the tintype. They are usually more difficult to date than other
examples because they spanned a longer time-frame. Tintypes
peaked from 1861 to 1870, but can be seen as late at 1900.
Tintypes are made of iron so they are misnamed. Common
sizes were from 2 x 2 ½ inches or 2 5/8 x 3 ¼ inches. Most
tintypes found today are of poor quality. Several varieties of
mountings were used with tintypes. One called the “Gem”
format, placed the photograph in a ‘cartouche’ sleeve with a
decorative design around an oval opening. Another mounting
was in a brass locket but they are not commonly found today.
While examining the tintypes in my collection I found one that
had a postage stamp affixed to the back. Why was this stamp
placed there? Postage stamps were used as tax revenue stamps
to help pay for the Civil War. From Aug 1864 to Aug 1866
photographs were taxed. This is one way to narrow the date of
a photograph easily.
A very common photograph from 1858 to
1880 was the carte de visite (Right two
pictures—front and back). These are
cards with an albumen photograph
mounted to it and were 2 3/8 x 4 ¼ inches
in size. There are several types of features which can make dating them easier.
One feature is card thickness ranging
from 0.5 mm in 1858 to 1 mm in 1900.
Another feature is card corners. Square
corners are pre-1870 and rounded corners
after that. Image size varied also starting
with less than ¾ inch to filling in the
complete card. Other features such as
borders, backgrounds and colors also
changed. You can locate more specific
details on all these features using the
internet.
The next type of photograph you might
find in your family collection of photos is
the cabinet card (next page, top). They
appeared in 1866 and peaked between
1875 and 1895. Early cabinet cards were used only for landscape views. Like the carte de visite, the photo is mounted on
a card stock but the size is larger. The cabinet card is 6 ½ x 4
¼ inches. Early photos were sepia, which is a brown tone.
Later photos used soft, silverfish tones and rich blacks. Dating
the cabinet card can be done by
studying the details on the card.
These details include the card
stock, card colors, borders and
edges, and lettering. The early
card stock was lighter in weight
and square in size. In the 1890’s
scalloped edges were used. Card
colors start with white, off white
or light cream. From 1880-1890
different colors were used on the
face and back of mounts. Borders
and lettering differed widely so it
is best to use a resource available
on the internet. It is important to
check the lettering used on the
back of the card used to identify
the photographer.
Using methods of photography
and the details they provide is just
one way to help identify when a
photo was taken. The next step is
to look at what the person or persons in the photograph are wearing. The history of clothing can
give you clues about the time and
lifestyle of your ancestors including special events such as baptisms, marriages and special occasions. In addition to the clothing worn, hairstyles and styles
of facial hair on men will be included.
Female Clothing and Appearance 1850-1900
Women’s clothing (and also that of girls age five and above)
from 1850 to 1870 included the “crinoline” as the dominant
feature. This style of dress has a very large bell-shaped skirt.
The bodice was fitted and had a dropped armhole. Sleeve
styles included a narrow fit from the shoulder to the wrist.
Some sleeves were narrow at the shoulder and wide at the
wrist with a muslin undersleeve. Detachable lace or plain
collars are used at this time. In most photographs of this period, women’s hair was generally parted in the middle and
pulled back into a bun. Sausage curls or ringlets might be
seen at this time.
Beginning in the late 1860’s back fullness was a feature of
female dresses for most of the period from 1870-1890. This
back fullness was known as the “bustle”. In the 1870’s a full
bustle was created by manipulating the fabric at the back of
the skirt and required a support. Because many photographs
only show the front of the dress, it may be hard to see the bustle. Most of these garments were two-piece which matched in
color. Sleeves may be three-quarter length and set into the
armhole. Look for a jacket-like bodice with extensions below
the waist in front, a high neck, and lots of ruffles, trims and
other frills during this time.
Hairstyles in the
1870’s may have
added
hair
pieces and were
arranged
in
braids or long
curls.
From 1878 to
1883, the bustle
silhouette
is
modified, with a
gradual diminishing of the
bustle
dimensions. Skirts fit
smoothly over
the hips. The
DRESS WITH BUSTLE
necklines
and
sleeves do not
change radically. After 1883, the bustle returns but in a softer,
draped construction. The skirt is flat or draped in front. The bodice
is short. Sleeves were generally close fitting, ending above the
wrist. High, fitted, boned collars were seen in almost all daytime
dresses. Because the necklines were high, hair styles were pulled
higher on the head.
In the 1890’s, also known as the “gay nineties”, we see a change in
the silhouette of female dress. This was the era of the “hour-glass”
style of dress. To obtain this look, sleeve styles were large and
wide on the top, the waist was as small as the corset could make it,
and the skirt flared out into a bell-like shape. The dress was twopiece and usually of matching color and fabric. The large sleeve
was called a “leg-o-mutton” and had fullness in the upper part and
was fitted on the lower part. Skirts were gored, fitting smoothly
over the hips with some back pleating or fullness. The ladies hair
had a curled fringe at the front and the back often arranged in a coil.
Young girls, age five or six and above, were often dressed like adult
women. However, you will often see them in shorter length versions of the dresses seen on adults. Infants, both boys and girls, are
dressed alike and it may be hard to date them or know the gender of
the infant by using clothing alone.
Male Clothing and Appearance 1850-1900
In the 1850’s, men’s suits consisted of three
pieces, a coat, a waistcoat (vest) and trousers.
Coats were of three styles including a formal
tailcoat with a short, square “cut-in” front and
tails in back, a frock coat which was fitted
through the torso with a skirt attached, and
the sack jacket that was loose and without a
waistline and short lapels. Waistcoats were
either single or double breasted and had a
5
lapel collar. Although not always
visible in photographs, trousers were
wider at the top and narrow at the
ankle. Neckties, called cravats, were
soft and wrapped around the deep
collar of the shirt. Men’s hair was
fairly short and curly or waved and
long; full side whiskers were stylish.
Moustaches are also seen at this time.
During the 1860’s, tail coats are only used as evening wear.
Frock coats become longer and sack jackets are seen more
often. For those of modest incomes, you will see more sack
jackets that are poorly fitted in photographs throughout the
late 1800’s. Lapels button higher so little is seen of a waistcoat unless the coat is unbuttoned. Trouser legs widen and
striped and checked fabrics might be seen. By the 1860’s
being clean shaven was no longer fashionable.
From 1870 to 1900 it can be difficult to date men’s photographs because men’s fashions do not change as much as
women’s do. Only a few details change during this time. In
the 1880’s the Tuxedo was introduced. It was a jacket with rounded
edges at the front, a contrasting fabric on the lapels and was worn with
trousers that had a band of braid covering the side seams. Waistcoats
matched the rest of the suit and were
usually double-breasted. Frock coats
continued until the 1890’s and the
sack coat gained in popularity. Trousers were straight and fairly narrow.
Moustaches were popular, worn with
side whiskers or a beard.
Headwear for men between 1850 and
1870 was the top hat. From 1870 to
1900, the top hat is worn
only for formal occasions
while bowlers, fedoras/
homburgs and straw
boaters are introduced
for daytime wear.
Clothing for boys (age
five and above) between
1850 and 1870 includes
trousers or short pants
cut similarly to adult
men’s.
Knickerbocker
suits with full cut, knee
length pants and sailor
suits with trousers or
knickers and a blouse or
jacket with a flat, square
collar were popular. In the 1870’s knickers
become more fitted and look more like short
trousers in the 1880’s. A popular style was
the “Little Lord Fauntleroy” suit (right) with
a wide lace collar and cuffs on a belted
jacket, knickers, and a bow at the neck.
Other styles for boys and young men mimicked those worn by adult men.
Part II of this article will appear in a future
issue of the newsletter and will cover 19001920.
Written by Grace Keir, January 2008
NOTES FROM THE NORTH:
I’m sure many of you are experiencing
Spring in your part of the country. As I
write this we once again are having snow
in Minnesota.
Our move to the new library facility has
worked out well. We’ve hosted two research days since the beginning of January
and are happy to report that we’ve had some very good success
stories. I think the long bank of windows allow natural light seems
to make the research easier! Our group has another research day
scheduled for May 3rd…come check us out, you won’t be disappointed.
I want to take a moment to say a few thank you’s. The efforts of
Lin Strong and Zella Mirick cannot be discounted during our move.
Many emails were exchanged regarding the addition of new members, new merchandise orders, and the answering of questions.
On the other side, Zella worked very hard to ensure the shipments
of merchandise were processed accurately and in a timely manner.
Many new members have also benefited from her expertise – thank
you for your generosity in assisting them. We are looking forward
to a couple of large OSB shipments from Germany which will
make those of you who have been waiting patiently very happy!
I also want to say a special thank you our member Cheryl Meints,
who has decided not to continue with her newsletter Internet column. Thank you for the great insights you shared in your column
through the years. I am pleased to say that Ray Kleinow has agreed
to try his hand at a similar column and we appreciate his willingness to share his expertise with the membership.
I wish you a happy Spring. Enjoy the rebirth of the earth. As always, feel free to contact me about any issues that might concern
you at mnmax424@msn.com or 952-906-9677.
Tschüss!
,
President
Sharon Arends
6
THE LEANING TOWER OF SUURHUSEN
Ostfriesen-Zeitung, 10/31/07
Suurhusen - Located in the Krummhörn area
north of Emden, this rural town will have its
claim to fame when it sees its church tower
entered in the 2009 Guinness Book of Records
as the world’s leaningest tower, tilting 5.19
degrees toward the west, whereas the
(heretofore) more famous tower of Pisa lists by
a mere 4.43 degrees (by Guinness’s reckoning).
Rheiderland’s Midlum was sure the honor
would all be its, as its church tower reposes at a
6.27 degree slant on a soft substrate of
“Darg” (organic material of a sediment covered
mire), but its height of 46 feet, merely half that
of Suurhusen’s landmark, evidently did not
impress the Guinness folks. In this respect
Pisa’s tower, of course, has them both beat,
rising 183 ft. or 186 ft., depending which side
you are on, above the Italian countryside.
SUURHUSEN—This small village is located
north of Emden in Ostfriesland and in former
times was also called Zuiderhusen
(Süderhusen), named in part, probably due to
its close proximity to Osterhusen and Westerhusen. Suurhusen is mentioned in documents
from 1255. A stone with the year 1004 and
ceramic objects found in the old church tower
point to the fact that the village is much older.
Suurhusen currently has about 1200 inhabitants
and is administered by the municipality of
Hinte.
Wikipedia
SUURHUSEN Landkreis Aurich
Reformed. (Emsigerland, once part of Diocese of Münster)
Rectangular church from the first half of the 13th century. The leaning, west
tower of the church is a landmark of the village and highly visible from the highway which goes past the village. The sidewalls were renovated in 1855. Large
Gothic window on the south, as well as on the north, has traces of older openings
above.
Originally, there were two portals in the north wall; closed portal in the west section of the south wall has a horseshoe shaped arch, architecture, and a high, square
frame. Lengthwise dimension of the nave shortened in the 15th century when the
west tower was added. Three stories of blind arches in the tower. Ground floor
contains the entryway with a high, square framework.
The interior has a beautiful
Romanesque baptismal font of
Bentheim style and a memorial tablet for the flood of
1570. The pictures on this
page were not a result of the
camera or picture being tilted,
the church is that crooked.
(Noah, Robert, Churches of Ostfriesland, Translated by Gene
Janssen)
7
The church in Suurhusen is reminiscent of the old fortress
churches of old. Originally the church was 32 metres long
and 9.35 metres wide. The church tilts at an angle of 5.19
degrees compared to just 4.43 degrees for the Pisa tower.
In 1450, the church was shortened by about a quarter and the
tower was built in the space. This tower is considered today
to be the most leaning tower in the world and is known as the
Leaning Tower of Suurhusen.
According to local historian Tjabbo van Lessen, the church
was built in marshy land in 1450 on foundations of oak tree
trunks which were preserved by the water in the ground.
When the land was drained in the 19th century, the wood
rotted, causing the tower to tilt. The steeple was closed to the
public in 1975 for safety reasons, but re-opened 10 years
later after being made safe.
HOW JENNY BROKE THE ICE ...
Hesel - Back in 1989 the East German communist state began to allow its citizens to vacation in a foreign country, i.e.,
if that country was a fraternal Eastern European “Peoples
Republic”. Many tourists took advantage of this “thaw” and
entered Czechoslovakia and Hungary where they promptly
besieged the West German embassy for visas to the West.
The “fraternal” governments, figuring that East Germany had
brought this embarrassing situation on itself and unwilling to
force the guests back from where they came with the world
looking on, allowed them to cross the border into Germany
and Austria. That is how Jenny and her parents from Leipzig
wound up in the village of Hesel in Ostfriesland.
Jenny was a school girl then and needed to continue her education in her adopted hometown. But what about the records
of her previous studies? She did have the telephone number
of her old school in Leipzig, but when Hesel’s school administration rang the school, they flatly refused to divulge
any information.
A short time later, however, the Berlin wall fell, and now it
was Leipzig who called Hesel saying that, after all, the political situation had changed and they would be glad to send
Jenny’s records. To this gesture of goodwill they added an
invitation to Hesel’s teaching staff to visit Leipzig (four
hours to the east of Hesel—about 290 miles). This was accepted and followed up with a visit in the opposite direction.
Around Christmastime Leipzig proudly sent its renowned
youth choir to Ostfriesland which sang in numerous churches
all around Hesel. Eventually a school partnership and a student exchange program grew out of these visits which have
continued for 17 years now.
In May ‘07 Hesel’s ninth graders had the chance to spend a
week in the big city in Saxony, of J. S. Bach fame. In September
Leipzig’s ninth and tenth graders came to Hesel where they took
classes in “The East Friesian Coastal Landscape” with emphasis on
the coast line, tidal flats, islands, and fishery, etc. A field trip to the
island of Norderney rounded out this learning experience.
When it was time for the Leipzigers to leave, there was much sadness among many students on both sides, a sign that friendships and
social contacts growing out of these exchanges are one of their important derivative benefits. Jenny, meanwhile, in her early thirties
now and long gone from Hesel, may be quite unaware of what she
started.
SOURCE: From Kiek Rin, Nov. ‘07
By W. Bettig and H. Kroon. Translated by Rudy Wiemann
8
Land and Capacity Measures in OLD Ostfriesland
SOURCE: Heyken, Heyko and Eva Heyken, Die Einwohner
des alten Amtes Wittmund von 1565 bis 1752 (The Residents
in the old District of Wittmund from 1565 to 1752), pp. 611614 Translated by Gene Janssen
The usual measurement for land was a Diemat. Documents
from the 15th century already use the terms dymede or dymet,
as in the wills of Houwe Hedden,1452, Hicke Boings from
Werdum, 1491, and Eger Kankena in 1497. Even in the time
between the two world wars, the Diemat was the common
term used to describe land or agricultural acreages.
Balthasar Arend (1640-1687) defined a Diemat as: "A Diemat has 20 Ruten [Rute is related to our rod] on all sides, with
the Rute consisting of 12 Fuß (feet), or the amount that one
man can mow with a sickle in one day."
Nowadays we measure the Diemat a bit more precisely, i.e.
56.74 Ar (1 Ar = 100 square meters or 5,674 square meters,
which is a little more than a half hectare (one hectare = 2.47
acres).
1.
2.
3.
4.
However, in early times a Diemat did not necessarily
equal a Diemat. The determining factor was which "foot"
measurement it was based on.
Around 1670 to 1680 Regemortes surveyed the district of
Esens. He did not use the previous Harlinger measurement of one Rhinelander foot = .31385 meters, but the
Emden measurement which was the same as the English
standard of one foot = .3048 meters.
This had raised the number of Diemats in Emden: one
Diemat was now 5,351.21 square meters instead of the
previous 5,673.7 square meters. Apparently, this alteration was not carried out.
In land measurements found in the Esens civil registers
and in the Weinkäufen (land transfers) the Diemat remained 5,674 square meters as it stands even today.
In addition to the Diemat there were other area measurements
which, however, were used less often. The above mentioned
will of Hicke Boings used the term seßhalf styghe hundert.
• This is most likely one hundred square Ruten (rods).
• Four hundred sqaure Ruten are equal to one Diemat.
• A Stiege (Styghe) equals twenty, so that the land measurement dealt with here is 32.5 Diemat.
• The square rods also appear in property lists usually as
100 Quadratruten = 1/4 Diemat.
Smaller properties were measure in Acker. Apparently, one
Acker (notice our word acre)
was equal to a half Gras, so that
three Acker made up one Diemat, making the Acker 1,891
square meters.
Measurements of length found are the Rute (rod), the Fuß (foot)
and the Daumen (thumbs). Once again, confusion reigns, because
there were various lengths used to figure a foot or a rod. Specifically, there was the Rhineland foot (31.385 centimeters) and the
Emden (English) foot of 30.48 centimeters.
• The rod could then be anywhere from 12 to 20 feet.
• These measurements are found mostly in the dike registries as
lengths for the Deichpfänder (those responsible for the upkeep
of the dikes).
For cubic or capacity measures one immediately comes across the
Tonne especially in relation to grain payments or levies.
• One Tonne equals about 200 liter, or more precisely, 1,937
Hektoliter (2.84 bushels).
• One half of a Tonne is a Sack, approximately one hectoliter.
The term for a quarter Tonne is one Vierdup, that is about 50
liters.
• Half of a Vierdup is a Scheffel, about 25 liters.
• Eight Scheffel (the symbol used is ß) make up one Tonne.
• One Vaatje or Fäßhen (vat or barrel) contains about 12-1/2
liters thus equal to a half Scheffel.
• And finally: nine Krug (mugs or tankards with 1-1/3 liter capacity) are equal to one Vaatje.
Of these measurements, only the Tonne and the Scheffel appear in
the civil registries with one appearance of the term, Veerdup.
In 1622 and 1631 in the outlying areas of Dose and Eibenhausen,
the levies contain the terms "1 Stander Roggen" which means 3/4
Tonne. This measurement stands apart from the above system of
measurements.
•
Do you have emigration stories that we can use
in the January 2009 newsletter?
•
That entire newsletter will focus on emigration
and the lives of the emigrants.
•
Write your story today and send it to Lin
Strong, 168 N. Lake Street, Forest Lake, MN
55025 or lin@ogsa.us / lstrong@cornernet.com
Another land mass measurement is the Gras, or in the plural,
Grasen. Three Gras are equal to two Diemat. One Gras =
3,783 square meters and, thus, one Diemat equals 1-1/2 Gras.
9
Travels in the north of germany
Source: Hodgskin, Thomas, Travels in the North of Germany,
describing the Present State of the Social and Political Institutions 1820, Archibald Constable & Co., Edinburgh 1820.
Every once in awhile a book is found that is meant to be shared.
This is one of them. The next few newsletters will include excerpts from this book as it gives fascinating insights into life by
an English visitor to the northern regions of Germany in 1819.
These articles include his candid impressions of Ostfriesland.
There are two volumes to this book, the following quotes are
from Volume One, starting at page 277 and will go through page
295. NOTE: The text and spelling of words are copied exactly
as written in the book.
tiles.
They were larger, cleaner, and altogether betterconditioned than the houses of Oldenburg. At the house where I
slept, which was a small one, fine gilded cupboards were filled
with old-fashioned china. Two large coarse china vases stood
on the table. The fire-place was lined with Dutch tiles. Plates,
pans, and kettles, were all kept very clean and bright, and were
ranged on the wall with great art and order. The whole of the
house, even to the coffee, which was execrable, shewed that the
manners of the Dutch had extended to the borders of Oldenburg,
and had there stopped. On the whole, however, a great improvement was visible. It was immediately obvious that the people of
Friezland had something more than the mere necessaries of life,
while those of Oldenburg appeared confined to the gratification
of its most simple wants.
...“A dreary walk, on the following day, brought me into East
Friezland. On the road some spots were now for the first time
inclosing; and there were some marks of an increasing cultivation
and improvement. The magistrates have the power, both in
Oldenburg and Friezland, of ordering out all the owners of the
land, for twenty days in the year, to mend the roads. The evil of
this practice is considerably greater in the former country, in
which the magistrates are appointed by the crown, than in the
latter, where they are elected by the land-owners. I saw a large
party of men and women employed in this labor. Each owner of
a spot of ground must send one person, or go himself. The opulent farmers send a maid servant; the poor man must leave his
own work to go. The soil is sandy; there were no stones to mend
the road with. All that the people did, or could do, was to clean
out the ditches on the sides, and throw the loose sand into the
middle of the road, to be washed back by the next heavy shower
of rain. It is evil enough to be compelled to do useful works, but
it is rather too much to compel people to waste their time in doing
what is at most but of very little service. The people of Holland,
who were once free, and who still possess that spirit of enterprise
which is given by freedom, have paved most of their roads with
small bricks. The dukedom of Oldenburg has conveniences for
making bricks, but there the peasants are still employed throwing
loose sand out of the ditches.
Much of Friezland, particularly where it borders on Oldenburg, I
saw sand and bog, but man is extending his empire over both.
All of the banks of the Ems and the borders of the sea which
belong to Friezland, are some of the finest marsh lands of the
world. The ground is so good that it does not require all the
manure the farmers have to give it, and those who live in the
fertile part exchange manure for peat, which is chiefly dug into
the Hoch Moor, a district bordering on Oldenburg. To facilitate
this exchange, canals have been dug from the Hoch Moor to the
Ems. The manure is thus employed to improve the sterile, sandy
and moory districts, which are inclosing and cultivating, while
the extensive market which has thus been opened for the peat,
has given a value to what was before a desart. After the wastes I
had passed of the provinces of Lüneburg, and Bremen, and of
Oldenburg, in which the extent of improvement was the erection
of a new sheep hut, or the inclosure of a few acres of ground, it
was pleasing to see the spirit of enterprise of which the improvements of Friezland were evidence. The canals were made by a
subscription company, a degree of exertion, which is not common in any country where departments of a ministry direct the
course of trade, and where making canals and roads are numbered among the duties of the monarch.
There are comparatively few nobles in Oldenburg, and the greater
part of the land is held immediately from the grand duke. The
good plan has been here following of building the farm houses in
the neighborhood of the land which each farmer cultivates. The
houses are, however, generally small, thatched, and very dirty.
The few people I saw were ill dressed and ugly. The women
wore, in general, hats like the men, and, dressed rather after the
English manner, reminded me of the degraded females of our seaports.
Between where I slept and Aurich, I saw a small spot of ground
newly inclosed. The garden was dug and planted, but the house
was only half built. A man and a woman were sawing trees into
timbers for the roof. The woman was beneath; they were a couple who were just fixing themselves here, and who were building their own house and cultivating their own land. Had they
been young, many happy days might have awaited them, but
they were at that season of life when man should think more of
rest than of toil, - when his house should have given protection
to his children, instead of being then first to be roofed in for
himself.”
Rather a large extent of moor separates Friezland from Oldenburg, and I was sensible of a great difference of appearance in the
houses of the former immediately on entering it. There were
many of them, built of brick, and the roofs were covered with
To be continued; future excerpts will include his impressions of Aurich,
Embden, farmhouses, government, Prussian influences and the independence of the people.
10
The Levees of Harlingerland
Privilege vs. Co-operation
SOURCE: “The Story of the House of
Werdum until 1667” written in Latin by
Ulrich von Werdum, 1632 - 1681, translated into German by Peter Wackwitz,
excerpted and translated into English by
Rudy Wiemann
In the beginning of 1626, a huge mass of
ice driven by strong storms from the
northwest pushed with such force against
the shore that it tore up the levees and
“Siele” (drainage channel gates) all
along Ostfriesland’s coast. In Harlingerland, Martin Eybens, supervisor of the
Count’s record office and “Drost”
(administrator of an “Amt”, i.e., county,
subdivision) in Esens, directed the reconstruction work with efficiency such that the greatest damage
was soon repaired. However, since Ostfriesland, including Harlingerland, had suffered so much through invasions, first by the
marauding Mansfelders, then by the tribute demanding Imperials, the levees could not be brought back everywhere to their
former firmness.
Repair and maintenance was not a co-operative affair, rather
the entire length of the levee in the “Drostei” Esens, as well as
elsewhere, was divided into sections which were assigned to
property owners responsible for their maintenance and repair.
The length of a section was proportional to the size and value
of the assignees’ landed property and was bought, sold, and
inherited along with that property.
Because the hardship caused by the invading armies had affected landowners unevenly, their ability to look after their
levee sections varied, so there were sections which were not
rebuilt to a satisfactory standard. Count Ulrich undertook an
inspection and gave Eyben’s successors the responsibility to
aid those whom they deemed unable to keep their assigned sections in good shape and to lean on the responsible parties in
less affected Wittmund to send needed help to the coast at Ostbense, likewise to put pressure on all section-holding citizens in
the Esens “Drostei”, especially within the nobility, to finish
their repair work and be ready to furnish teams of horses and
labor for two weeks to help bring the sections of less solvent
property owners up to standard. Noncompliance would bring
about swift seizure of property equal in value to the requested
aid.
.
The Count’s decision was based on suggestions by his administrative personnel in Esens with no members of the local nobility consulted. The latter, upon hearing of this, refused to obey,
claiming that no one among the nobility had ever been bur-
dened with maintenance and repair work outside of their socalled hereditary levee sections, especially not of sections which
were the responsibility of the farmers.
The Count in Aurich, upon being notified of this refusal, issued a
harsher directive to the nobility to perform the assigned work
within two weeks or see it placed under contract its cost to be
borne by themselves. A follow-up letter by the local administration offered a choice of co-operation or property seizure. Again
the nobility refused and kept up its refusal till 1630 when seizures
became imminent. Hero von Werdum met with the Count in the
castle of Esens and brought up the age of his lineage and its inherited privileges, but the Count got so angry that he ripped the
man’s sword from his side and hurled it out of the window into
the moat.
.
The emboldened administrators of the “Drostei” Esens thought
that stripping all property owners of their section and instead demanding the cash equivalent of its upkeep to be paid into a designated public fund out of which the levee system as a whole would
be financed would result in a very large pool of money into
which they, as watchdogs, could dip at their leisure.
They and the farmers consulted with the prefect at the Count’s
Court, Karl von Kniphausen (that’s what the Knipensers now call
themselves after changing their family name. Notice the slight!)
who advised the Count to consider the levee system in its entirety, disallow the traditional inherited levee sections, and, in a
complete turnaround of the old order, institutionalized a levee
board to be in charge of the entire coastal flood control system in
the “Drostei” Esens. Hero von Werdum reacted by stating that
the nobility had not been invited to state its case in the discussions leading up to this decision and didn’t feel bound by them,
and that he would not give up his inherited levee section.
11
Four representatives with experience in flood control, all picked
by the Esens office holders, where thereupon invited to the Court
in Aurich for further discussions. None were members of the nobility which was contrary to the fact that the first place among the
subjects belongs to nobility and clergy (first estate). These representatives convinced the Count to approve a board of trustees
which would include representatives of both Wittmund and
Esens, but if Wittmund paid 1,000 “Reichstaler” in emergency
aid, it would be freed from further participation.
The Count’s order further stated that the current problems with
the levees had no other cause but that individual section holders
were paying no attention to the system as a whole and refused to
help those who were not capable of adequately taking care of
their own section.
Furthermore, special funds needed to be raised anyway, because
the levee had to be reinforced in places with expensive wooden
beams, and breakwaters had to be built far out into the tidal flats.
The Count resolved that all land owners in the “Drostei” Esens
were to give up their hereditary levee section for a period of five
years and join the cooperative.
The “Amtsmann” and “Drost” together with the Deichrichter” (levee board chair) and elected representatives of the citizenry were to decide on contracts to be let for work on the levee
system on the basis of the lowest qualified bidder. This resolution
included serious threats toward balkers. Now finally the public
servants could claim for themselves the complete leadership in
matters of coastal flood control, because the clergy, as part of the
first estate, easily fell in line, it being dependent on the Count in
its position. Those among the nobility who were neglectful of
their ancient privileges had done so already.
Hero von Werdum was not so easily won over. He sent a petition
to the Count arguing that as long as anybody could remember the
hereditary levee section of the House of Werdum had been a sixty
“Ruten” (appr. 760’) stretch on the left side of the old Werdum
“Siel” which drained a now dried up ditch. When in the process
of empolderization new levees were built farther out toward the
North Sea, his family was assigned a new section in hereditary
maintenance, also to the left of Harlingersiel, at a dangerous
place along the river Harle which then had been only weakly constructed and which he had to rebuild from the foundation up at
great cost and rebuild again at great cost after the disaster of
1626. Since then he had widened and heightened it every year.
This petition was followed by the modest request to remain in
charge of his assigned section and stay outside of the jurisdiction
of the new levee board. He expressed the strong hope that the
Count would not oppose the old custom and burden him with the
farmers’ obligations to the detriment of his holdings. But this
petition, too, got little attention, neither did a visit of Hero’s wife
to the Countess. When he still refused to join the co-op, two cows
of one of his tenant farmer’s were confiscated which if he didn’t
want to lose them, had to redeem with payment of his assigned
allotment.
12
Things didn’t change in the following year, and again the allotments of some members of the nobility had to be forcibly collected even after they had already done maintenance work on
their hereditary sections. Another petition by the combined
nobility went to the Count which stated that it failed to see how
it owed tribute to the farmers when in neighboring Wittmund
this was not the case. The Count replied that he would not refuse the petition if the administrators in Esens would certify
that this withdrawal from the co-operative would not be detrimental to the system as a whole, which of, course, rendered the
petition mute. The confiscated property which was not redeemed by the refusing nobility was sold.
In the following year, 1634, the nobility again attempted to
circumvent forced participation in the co-operative. Another
petition to the Count was shunted to his legal office in Esens
with the request for a thorough evaluation of all of the reasons
listed by the nobility for avoidance of participation in the cooperative system.
The nobility, upon being requested to provide input, at once
stated in writing the basis for its privileges, quoting tradition
and the history of past conscientious efforts in always keeping
their sections in good condition, and claiming that, inasmuch as
the basis for levee related expenditures was landed property,
not the individual, there existed no legal grounds on which this
change could be argued, including the inability of some of the
very small property owners to fulfill their obligation.
Furthermore, they had leased some of their land in hereditary
tenancy at a preferential rate obligating the tenants to participate in any public fund raising for work on the levees, but holding themselves unencumbered by such burden, except for the
maintenance of their hereditary section. After all, it was the
farmers who were forcing the issue of having the nobility join
the co-operative, and as long as the nobility did not have sufficient opportunity to voice its opposition, it should not be up to
the farmers to enforce the payment of dues.
The Count began to waver, and the paying of dues by the nobility was not enforced that year. But the lines hardened again,
and in the following year the previous year’s dues were forcibly collected. Hero von Werdum thereupon traveled to Aurich
once more and asked the Count to exempt the following families of the nobility from having to join the cooperative: the
House of Werdum, the two estates of Thunum, and the estate
Folkertshausen.
The Südenburg estate was not mentioned, presumably because
the last female heir of the family in residence there had married
a commoner. Forcible collection of assessments stalled temporarily and Hero von Werdum traveled to Emden to meet the
Count in his castle, there to exact a promise from him that he
would soon travel to Esens and make a decision. That he did,
but only to order the local administration to enforce the new
laws with vigor.
After the proposed five year period had ended, the nobility considered the
co-operative dissolved and began to do maintenance work on its old levee
sections again. The overseers nevertheless demanded the assessed contributions which resulted in another petition to the Count, saying that inasmuch as it had already spent a lot of money on the maintenance of the
levees for the farmers, it should finally be freed from this obligation. This
was again denied, and the nobility remained part of the co-operative until
the Hessians came in 1637. Their demands for money and the quartering
of troops impoverished the area to such an extent that funds for the levee
system could not be collected and the need for a cooperative no longer
existed.
About the Author
From “Biographisches Lexikon für Ostfriesland” by the Ostfriesische
Landschaft, and from Houtrouw.
To call Ulrich, like his father Hero in the above excerpt, “Chieftain of
Werdum” does no longer seem appropriate in the 17th century, especially
in view of Harlingerland’s changed political environment. This land, with
its municipal centers of Esens and Wittmund, had been governed without
an assembly of the estates, a “Landtag”, as had the rest of Ostfriesland.
When in 1581 it fell to Ostfriesland through marriage, it preserved its
constitution and its old laws, but representation through the estates was
not extended to it. Friction soon developed between the local nobility
used to decide public issues and administrators appointed by the Count to
carry out his will, or their own. For families like the von Werdums, who
lived in ancestral “Burgen” (castle) which testified to the power of their
ancient lineage seemingly now on the wane, this was hard to swallow.
The tug-of-war between the old order and the new deal, which seems to
be motivated to a considerable extent by spite, is a good example of the
tension this change brought about.
Ulrich received his secondary education at the Latin School in Jever,
studied in Heidelberg, and thereafter stayed in Werdum for 15 years.
During that time he wrote the history of his family which gained him
lasting fame among historians. He accepted diplomatic positions for the
French and Swedish governments, journeying in the service of a French
emissary to Poland to help a French contender to the Polish throne
(which did not succeed) and traveling to Sweden to join his brother in the
service of Count Oxenstierna whom he accompanied to the Imperial
Court in Vienna.
•
MEMBER NEWS...
•
In the last issue I mentioned that Lübbert
Kruizenga became a US citizen in February. But I
gave his wrong email address. Contact him please
at luebbert.kruizenga@gt.com. Lübbert was born in
Weener.
Long time OGSA member, Bill Detmers is home
recovering from surgery. Get well!
Marilyn Stulken’s mom died last month in Nebraska. OGSA member Richard Meenen died this
winter. Our sympathies go to their families.
•
Building Rela tionship s with Grünkohl...
As many of you know, we are reaching out to Ostfriesen
communities around the world. There are communities
of Ostfriesen who no longer live in Ostfriesland, are
called "Butenostfreesen". Our member, Herta Korfé,
wife of OGSA treasurer Lübbert Kruizenga, met with
the group from Cologne, Germany for a visit with another group in the Rhineland and a group from Düsseldorf. Both organizations had a Grünkohlessen (you
know that Grünkohl, or Kale, is the culinary specialty of
the Ostfriesen) in Düsseldorf last January. Antje EvertsMarx, the President of the Cologne group invited Herta
and they had a great evening with good food and drinks
and a lot of stories from Ostfriesland were told, most of
them "up Platt", in Low German. In March, Herta will
meet all the Butenostfreesen Presidents of North RhineWestphalia, of which Antje is also the President, for
their annual meeting. This year, the meeting celebrates
the 50th anniversary of the Butenostfreesen group in
Hagen (close to Dortmund). Herta will represent OGSA
at this meeting and is currently discussing with Antje the
possibility of members of the groups visiting us in Minnesota.
The diaries he kept during those years are another valuable source of historical information. In 1679 he returned to Werdum and rose to the position of Vice-President of the Chancellery of the Duchess Christine Charlotte (Ostfriesland had been upgraded by the Emperor from Earldom to
Duchy in 1654) from which he resigned in 1681. He died that year at his
place of birth and was buried in the church of Werdum (see previous issue).
Member Evelyn Engle started her own business during
2007. "Evelyn's Bunzlau Polish Pottery" and she is
using the name of the town Bunzlau in Schlesien, combined with Polish Pottery since that former part of Germany now is located in Poland, 40 km east of the German border. The six potteries once owned by Germans
were taken over by Polish artisans once the Germans
either fled or were displaced in 1945. She exclusively
imports pottery from the WIZA company formerly Paul
& Söhne in Bunzlau. Now the town is called Boleslawiec. She always has some inventory on hand but
most of the pieces are custom orders.
There in the choir among the departed of his clan his epitaph under his
coat of arms reads: “Der hochedelgeborene und gestrenge Herr Ulrich
von Werdum, Herr zu Werdum, Inn- und Roffhausen, Hochfürstlicher
ostfriesischer geheimbter Raht und vice-Präsident, ist gebohren den 1.
Januarii Anno 1632, gestorben den 20. Martii Anno 1681.” (The high
noble born and astute Sir Ulrich von Werdum, Lord of Werdum, Inn–
und Roffhausen, High Ducal East Friesian Counselor and Vice-President,
was born on January 1, 1632, died on March 20, 1681.)
Evelyn’s next open house will be on June 15. For directions please visit her website, still under construction,
www.evelyns bunzlaupolishpottery.com. Her website
has a link to the importer's website to view all items
available in any of the 41 patterns. Any questions regarding delivery time and prices, please contact Evelyn
via eengle@qwestoffice.net or c612-961-2247.
13
The City of Emden
Source: Rev. J. F. Bertrams “Geographic Description of the Principality Ostfriesland”, 1735. Revised by C. H. Normann in 1785.
Reissued by Theo Schuster, Leer, in 1987.Translated by Rudy
Wiemann
Emden, also spelled Embden, or Emda, received its name from
the river rich in ships which flows past its walls, the Ems. In days
of old it was a small settlement which, according to claims by
several writers, was inhabited by fishermen. The last of its chieftains, called “Drosten” of Emden, was Imel of the House of Abdema. He sided with Focke Ukena against Edzard Cirksena when
the latter was chosen chieftain of Ostfriesland.
However, detachments from Hamburg abducted him in a clever
way in 1431. They invited him on one of their ships lying at anchor in the harbor, hosted him most sumptuously, and, after he
had become intoxicated, sailed away with him with favorable
winds. They took him to a prison in Hamburg where he remained
until he finally died in 1455.
Upon his abduction Hamburg’s troops disembarked at once and
took the city by force. They outfitted it in 1436 with towers and
fortified it with gates which were built with the stones taken from
the destroyed castles of Osterhusen, Westerhusen, Grothusen,
Grimersum, Frepsum, Larrelt, Hinte, Nesserland, and Wilgum.
Thereafter, they handed it over to Count Ulrich Cirksena.
Under the reign of this first Count of Ostfriesland Emden flourished splendidly, and it is now a large, stately, fortified port city
and trading center which at one time was thought of as the foremost in Europe. The city is partial to the Reformed faith. In “XVI
Seculo”, the sixteenth century, when religious persecution in the
neighboring Netherlands got so bad that 7 provinces fell away
from the King of Spain and formed their own free country, it experienced great growth. At that time many foreigners who were
fleeing the tyrannical brutality of the then governor of the
Netherlands, Duke Alba, came to Emden where anyone who
could not be accused of crimes or profound errors in faith was
accepted by the administration with love and goodwill . But
with these refugees a spirit of unrest also seems to have entered
the city: I am pointing at the unlawful striving of citizens to
withhold obedience from their rulers who up to then had governed them with all magnanimity.
Acts of violence already occurred during the reign of Count
Enno II, near the end of the sixteenth century. In 1595 the citizenry rebelled against the Count, its ruler, deposed the council,
elected a new one, tore down the walls around the Count’s castle, which, unfortunately, was garrisoned much too weakly, and
perpetrated a number of other punishable outrages. And so that
they would not be called upon for their deserved punishment,
which would surely have been meted out, they accepted a
Dutch garrison which remained until 1744. In 1757, during the
Seven Years’ War, the city was occupied by the
French and Austrians who left in the following
year.
The city consists of three parts: 1) the Old Town;
2) Faldern, which was formerly a “Herrlichkeit”
of the East Friesian House (Cirksena) had two
churches and was united with the City of Emden
by Count Edzard II in 1569; 3) two suburbs,
which, like Faldern, were part of the “Amt”
(County) Emden, but eventually were incorporated by the city. It has four gates: The Bolthen
Gate, the Neue Gate, the Norder Gate, and the
Heere Gate.
Worth seeing here are the beautiful City Hall,
built in 1574, to which ships can sail up a wide
channel, called Delft, dug all the way from the
Ems; furthermore, the old Große Kirche (Great
Church) built alongside the Ems and decorated
by Count Ulrich I in 1455 with a nice chancel in
which especially the exquisite sepulchral monu-
14
American Ostfriesen Zeitung
ment of Count
Johann I and a
very nice pipe
organ built new
in 1779 should
be pointed out;
then the Neue
Kirche (New
Church) which
was built from 1643 to ‘48 in Faldern; also, the well appointed
“Gasthaus” (poorhouse) which, with the “Klosterkirche”, was
formerly a Franciscan monastery, the Coetus Ecclesiastitus
still gathering in that church once a week; finally, the Latin
school, established by Countess Anna, and a variety of municipal schools.
Emden, by the way, boasts of its church as being the mother
of most of the Reformed churches in the Netherlands. It sent
delegates to the “Synodum Dordracenam” (National Synod of
the Reformed Church in Dordrecht, 1618 to 1619) where the
articles of faith were promulgated (The Canons of Dordrecht)
which she has accepted and defended. Fourteen churches in
and around Emden are within the jurisdiction of the Reformed
Inspection.
The Lutheran congregation, which is quite numerous, formerly did not have the right to exercise its faith in the city of
Emden, and it did not receive the right to annually conduct
four services in a suitable house until 1685. However, since
1749 it may conduct its services free and unobstructed on
every Sunday, and, furthermore, in 1774 with the highest
royal permission it built a new and beautiful church from the
ground up on the so-called Bastion, where two preachers are
now serving. The Roman Catholics and Mennonites here also
enjoy full religious freedom.
The city is administered by 4 mayors, 1 “Syndicum” (city at-
torney), eight councilmen, of
which one is the “Camerarius”
(i.e., Chamberlain), and three secretaries. The College of Forty,
which defends the privileges of the
common citizen, was created in
1589. In 1750 an Asiatic Trading
Company was established here, its
privileges granted by the King, for
which the city’s harbor was declared a free harbor in 1751. However, the company was dissolved
in 1769. Whaling was pursued here
at one time as well, but after a
Neue Kirche Emden
great loss of about 100,000 guilders the entire enterprise was closed down in 1757. In 1783 a new
Asiatic Trading Company was created which continues today.
The city has been garrisoned since 1763 by a Royal Prussian Volunteer Battalion, commanded by General von Courbiere. For this
battalion brand-new barracks were built in 1765, and on November
10 the troops moved in.
In the beginning of 1769 a Royal Bank branch was established here.
In that year also the herring fishery was established. On June 11,
1770, the company sent out the first 6 trawlers which returned with
such a good catch that in the following year four additional ships
were sent out .
The industry continued to grow and grow so that the company now
owns 44 herring trawlers and three cutters. Concerning the herring
fishery in this province, it should be noted that already in 1597 the
city had pursued it, which is confirmed by a printed ordinance of
that time of which a copy is still on file in Emden’s city hall. However, no trace can be found shedding light on the reasons for its
failure.
The Correctional and Spinning House, formerly located in Greetsiel, was moved here in 1777. About this institution the
book “Historische Beiträge” (Contributions) says the
following: In the Principality Ostfriesland there also
exists a prison and work house, which was established in
1755 with royal permission in the old castle in Greetsiel,
a small town near the sea, and operates under the direction of the royal government in Aurich, where the
royal etc. chamber is occasionally called upon for advice in economic matters.
Its income consists in part of the interest from a fund of
3,400 Reichstaler established at the founding of this
institution which is invested at 4 1/2 and 5% and earns
annually 148 Reichstaler, and in part of annual contributions by the “Ostfriesische Landschaft” of 200 Reichstaler, furthermore, from the Esen orphanage 50 Reichstaler, and from the head tax 35 Reichstaler, also, from
the average surplus of the “Ostfriesischen Intelligenzen”
periodical over a 10 year period, amounting annually to
about 250 Reichstaler, plus, the annual amount of work
done by inmates which may approximately taken as 100
Reichstaler. Total: 783 Reichstaler.
15
The pictures on
this page show
an Emden that no
longer exists.
Emden was
heavily bombed
during WW II
and little of the
city seen today
existed prior to
WW II.
The coat of arms of Emden
consists of a black shield
separated into three fields.
The lowest fields depicts
flowing water which represents the Ems River flowing past; the middle field
shows a red wall with five
towers which stand for the
city; the upper field displays a harpy wearing a
yellow crown and spreading
its wings over the wall, a
reference to the princely
house to which this city
formerly belonged as hereditary property.
16
NEWS FROM OSTFRIESLAND
Oberledingerland - Lake Langholt, a small, protected body of water between East and West
Rhauderfehn is silting up. To dredge it, the state of Lower
Saxony has received funds from Brussels but wants to put them
to use only if the Levee Authority of Stickhausen, in charge of
drainage, levees, and locks in this area, agrees to act as its contracting authority from hereon in. Stickhausen is agreeable, as it
now pays 60,000 euros per year to the state for work to be done
here under contract and thinks it can do better. However, it first
wants all drainage control structures, among them five Weirs in
the “Rote Riede”, a natural waterway which flows right by Lake
Langholt, to be brought up to standard or replaced. The canals
affected are the Hauptfehnkanal and the Südgeorgsfehnkanal.
Anzeiger für Harlingerland, 11/6/07
Friedeburg - From the “Ossiloop” - Ostfriesland’s popular 25
year old spring “mini-Marathon” from Leer to Bensersiel in six
stages - to the “Ironman” event on Hawaii is a bold leap, but to
Armin Klein, a musician with the “Bundeswehr” (German army)
stationed in Wilhelmshaven and father of three, it’s a natural progression. He did the 3.8 km ocean swim, 180 km bicycle race,
and a full-length Marathon in a little over 10 hours, well within
the 17 hours allowed for the event. This put him in 373rd place
among 1,800 participants, among them 100 professionals. A respectable result, indeed. His next “Ironman” entry will be in
Roth, near Nürnberg, where there’ll be no lei for him, but where
memories of mild breezes and blue ocean swells might make him
forget the pain of the strain and draw even greater reserves of
strength out of him.
friesland’s more than 50 photovoltaic power generators did not
expect good results for the year. However, those turned out better than thought; the 1.35 MW generated exceed last year’s total
by more than three percent. The operators are now satisfied that
a normal year weatherwise in Ostfriesland makes it possible to
operate such equipment economically.
Lübbertsfehn - The Nature Preservation Station in Lübbertsfehn
is housed in an old farm building where school classes and kindergarten groups come in increasing numbers to learn about the
“Fehn” environment. Last year 60 school classes from Aurich
and Leer Counties, plus 22 kindergarten groups and 20 school
classes who had already participated in similar programs in
Ihlow or Westrhauderfehn, attended. This is about all the two
young staff ladies, Silke Rothenbusch and Annika Koopmann,
who are absolving a Volunteer Ecological Year at this station,
can handle. They were asked by local parents to offer a program
which might pry their small fry away from computers and TV
sets, particularly in the wintertime. So the Station added an afternoon program once a month in which kids can spy on Nature’s secrets through microscopes and other detection devices.
Presently 25 “little Lübbos”, as they are called, are enrolled in
this program. To keep up with demand, a third volunteer position at the Station is planned.
Wittmund - The railroad depot in this county seat, which once
served the Esens to Wilhelmshaven section of the German
Bundesbahn (Federal Railroad), has stood unoccupied for many
years looking more desolate as time went on. It was finally sold
to a couple from Bremen for a nominal amount with the understanding that it would restore the building and make it suitable
for some commercial purpose. These Bremen folks, the lady was
born in Wittmund, are now developing plans which call for
completion of this restoration work this year. The upper floor
will serve as living or offices space, while the ground floor
could be put to gastronomical use. When completed, the old
eyesore will be a downtown attraction and a reminder of the
time when Wittmund could be reached by railroad.
Jeversches Wochenblatt, 11/6/07
Friesland/Ostfriesland - The storm surge predicted for yesterday
failed to develop. The storm tide’s medium height stood at 1.33
meters above ordinary high water elevation, a normal occurrence
for this time of year, despite 60 mph gales (#10 on the Beaufort
Scale) which will produce 30 ft. waves. More stormy weather is
expected. The state office for coastal affairs publishes weather
warnings on its homepage www.nlwkn.niedersachsen.de
Ostfriesische Nachrichten, 11/6/07
Victorbur - Since 1967 Aurich has been without passenger train
service, since 1996 without freight train service. Its passenger
shuttle trains used to meet the trains on the main line EmdenNorden/Norddeich at Abelitz, best known by the depot which
was built there in 1906. The long distance traveler, however, also
had the choice of boarding a through-coach as a direct connection
between Aurich and Berlin. The old Aurich-Abelitz right-of-way
is still unencumbered, and on it new tracks with new concrete ties
are being laid. They will be used for freight traffic only. A resumption of passenger traffic is not planned.
Aurich - It’s been a rainy summer, and the operators of Ost17
Aurich - The lighting of Aurich’s downtown area will be modernized in accordance with a plan worked out by the administration and approved by the city council’s urban renewal committee. The aim is to create an unmistakable atmosphere designed
to make downtown more attractive and inviting for an evening
stroll, to make it easier to find one’s way to cultural events, and
to highlight special architectural and historic attractions. Business and property owners affected by this plan will have be approached and their agreement sought. Considered also are variations in lighting intensity as the evening progresses as a way of
merging up-to-date economical and technological approaches.
Emden - According to fishing regulations of Lower Saxony, children under ten years of age may not fish, even when in the company of an adult with a fishing license. When between 10 and 14
yeas of age, they are allowed to fish with supervision. This law
has its basis in the prevention of cruelty to animals, particularly
where vertebrates are concerned to which fishes belong. Vertebrates may only be killed by someone with proven expertise, i.e.,
in the case of fishing by someone who has taken a test and obtained a fishing license. This law is now being modified and will
allow children as young as eight years of age to fish when accompanied by a licensed adult. Reasons stated for the change are,
among others, children growing up in today’s media dominated
world will not be traumatized by seeing a fish being killed, and
waning interest in fishing among young people, a trend which the
“Bezirksfischereiver band” (District Fishery Association) for Ostfriesland is attempting to counter, keeping in mind the future of
the association.
Aurich - The number and size of retail stores in Ostfriesland is
increasing, and competition over preferred locations, downtown
vs. near town, is tough, with the near-town location winning, as
downtown is even losing its typical owner-operated specialty
stores. This trend is apparent is Aurich as well. The Chamber of
Commerce and Industry (Industrie- und Handelskammer) for
Ostfriesland and Papenburg announced that last year close to
400,000 sq.ft. of retail floor space were applied for of which a
third was actually developed, largely on the fringes of town. In
the Chamber’s opinion, this trend can only be reversed with a
purposeful program of marketing and invigoration for the downtown business districts.
across the breadth of northern Germany. Its (translated) title is
“Mirror Fragments” with the Low German word for mirror
repeated three times using different pronunciations used within
the “Platt” speaking realm, spelled phonetically here as Speegle
-, Speagle-, Spigle-Splitter. (The High German word for mirror
is “Spiegel”). In the words of the chair of the Homeland Association for Low German Culture, who introduced this book in
Oldenburg, it mirrors the “colorful spectrum of the Low German language with its various dialects by drawing on local
backgrounds such as castles, churches, towns, landscapes,
etc.” (Note that he calls Platt a language, not a dialect.) Also
included are essays which have education, farming, historical
events, and regional cultural attributes as their main theme.
Rheiderland Zeitung, 1/30/08
Papenburg - Employees of Meyer Werft, Papenburg’s big shipyard, were surprised when a large contingent of border police
swarmed over the yard and began to check their IDs. An immediate inquiry at the district customs office in Oldenburg yielded
no statement concerning the operation, other than the fact that
it had been routine check lying within the province of “Office
of Revenue Control Undocumented Labor, Emden.”
Aurich - The Lutheran Church Parliament of the (Church) District of Aurich assembled in Timmel to discuss the merger of
its subdivisions (Kirchenämter) Aurich, Harlingerland, and
Norden. It was resolved that Aurich and Harlingerland would
merge in 2009 and be joined by Norden in 2013. Their offices
will be concentrated in a new building in Aurich. Also adopted
was the finance and staffing plan for 2009 to 2012. The Church
District Aurich must reduce its personnel cost by five percent,
or 310,000 Euro, which necessitates the cutting of non-pastoral
staff positions in congregations and “Diakone” (the Protestant
nursing order).
Borkumer Zeitung, 1/26/08
Ostfriesland - 17,600 seals were counted last year on the tidal
flats along the German, Danish, and Dutch coast, a year earlier
than expected after a virus decimated the herds in 2002. Seals
haven’t been hunted for a long time and are enjoying ideal conditions for an undisturbed future in the security of the Tidal Flats
National Parks.
Moordorf - The local playhouse “Moordörper Spöldeel” (Platt:
Moordorf’s Play Platform) has requested a sizable sum of support
money from the community Südbrookmerland, as this troupe has
not only lost all of its inventory but also its stage in a fire of the
old “Gasthof Onkel Harm”, which will not be rebuilt. The troupe
wants to use the facilities of a local kitchen studio which will
require structural changes costing about 40,000 Euro. Südbrookmerland’s financial guidelines permit a contribution of 6,890
Euro, and discussions center around the possibility of increased
aid for the “Spöldeel” through an interest free loan.
Neue Ems-Zeitung, 1/26/08
Emsland - The Low German “Schriever Kring” (Writers’ Circle)
has sponsored an essay anthology by Low German authors from
18
Neuharlingersiel – The annual winter break in the tourism industry gets its usual interruption during carnival time on the
Rhine. To accommodate these “carnival refugees” this town
offers a wine seminar, “Boßel” games, and a Monday-beforeLent sauna. Carolinensiel opens its Siel Harbor Museum
(“Siel” = levee gate) and several islands make their indoor
pools available for the guests - who will disappear after Ash
Wednesday.
Rheiderland Zeitung, 1/31/08
Weener - A traffic circle, long in the discussion stage, will be
built to ease the traffic flow at the interchange between downtown Weener and the federal highway brushing past it. A recommendation for this project was passed by Weener’s Construction and Environmental Committee which had studied
computer models incorporating moving traffic units being
routed through the planned circle vs. directed by a stop-and-go
light. The circle won hands-down. It will cost about 400,000
Euros to build, of which Weener will have to contribute about
125,000 Euros. The federal government and Leer County will
pay a large portion of the balance, and there is an expectation
that funds will be made available from the federal village renewal program. The project should be completed by June.
Norden - This town received the welcome news that its proposals for urban planning have been approved by Brussels, and
that EU moneys should be forthcoming for a development project in Norddeich, where a new beltline highway has made
space available for new construction which will result in the
shifting of its urban center, and in Norden itself where the closing of the Doornkaat distillery has made a sizable urban tract
available for projects designed to strengthen the town’s vitality.
It is hoped that these projects will result in new impulses for the
tourist trade.
Aurich - The Mixed Choir of Middels was founded in 1960, and
its performances have been enduringly popular. Its two weekend
appearances in Ogenbargen’s “Alte Post” once again drew a hallfilling audience. The group’s popularity is partly to be found in
the variety of its musical offerings. For these performances folk
songs were the theme. It often cooperates with the Theater Group
of Middles for an evening’s entertainment, and so it was at the
“Alte Post” where its songs framed a comedy in three acts spoken
in Platt.
GERMAN RECIPES–IT’s time for waffles
Almond Waffles with Raspberry Cream
(Mandelwaffeln mit Himbeercreme)
Sweetheart Waffles with Strawberries & Cream
(Grießwaffeln mit Erdbeeren & Sahne)
Ingredients:
1 package vanilla sugar* 50g fresh raspberries
5 Tbsp. raspberry jam
1-2 Tbsp. raspberry syrup
2 Tbsp. powdered sugar 2/3 lb. (300g) Quark*
3/4 cup ground almonds 4 oz. heavy cream
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup corn starch
2/3 cup flour
4 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
9 Tbsp. unsalted butter
Preparation: Melt the butter and mix with the sugar, vanilla
sugar and eggs until fluffy. In a separate bowl, mix the flour,
corn starch and baking powder. Gradually add the dry ingredients and the cream to the mixture. Fold under the ground almonds. In a preheated waffle iron bake waffles until light
brown. For the cream combine the quark, powdered sugar, raspberry syrup and the jam until smooth. Separate each waffle into
five hearts. Spread the cream on one of the waffles and place
another one on top. Garnish with fresh raspberries.
The ingredient known as "Grieß" in German can be substituted
by either semolina (available at well-stocked gourmet stores) or
the readily available cream of wheat. Semolina is made from a
harder wheat grain and will give this dish a nice grainy texture,
whereas cream of wheat will blend into the waffle batter.
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
1 lb strawberries
10 Tbsp. unsalted butter, soft
1/2 cup sugar
5 eggs
1 cup semolina
1 tsp. baking powder
1 Tbsp. corn starch
10 oz. (300 ml) heavy cream
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2-3 Tbsp. butter
5 Tbsp. strawberry jam
3 Tbsp. orange juice
1/3 oz. (10ml) cherry Juice 1 Tbsp. powdered sugar
zest from 1 lemon
Preparation: With an electric mixer blend the soft butter, sugar
and lemon zest until smooth. Separate the yolks from the egg
whites. Add the yolks to the butter mixture. In a separate bowl,
combine semolina, baking powder and corn starch and add them
together with the cream gradually to the butter-egg mixture.
Whisk the egg whites with the lemon juice until stiff and fold
under the mixture.
Lightly grease the waffle iron with butter. Bake the waffles at
low temperature until light brown. Clean the strawberries and cut
them into wedges. In a separate bowl, combine
the strawberry jam, orange juice, cherry juice until smooth, then
add the strawberry pieces. Shortly before serving, dust the waffles with powdered sugar and serve with strawberries and
whipped cream.
Hazelnut Waffles with Blackberry Cream
(Haselnusswaffeln mit Brombeercreme)
Ingredients:
9 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 package vanilla sugar*
4 eggs
2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup corn starch
2 teaspoons baking powder
4 oz. heavy cream
3/4 cup (100g) finely ground hazelnuts 2/3 lb. cream cheese
8 Tbsp. blackberry jam
2 Tbsp. Powdered sugar
1/3 lb. Blackberries
Powdered sugar for dusting
Preparation: With an electric mixer, beat the melted butter with
the sugar, vanilla sugar and eggs until fluffy. In a separate bowl,
combine flour, corn starch and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients and the cream gradually to the butter-egg-sugar mixture. Fold in the ground hazelnuts. Prepare waffles in preheated
waffle maker. Combine the cream cheese, confectioners' sugar
and blackberry jam until smooth. Serve the waffles with the
cream and fresh blackberries. Dust with confectioners' sugar.
Serves: 4
* Note: You may substitute 1) ricotta cheese for Quark or contact Erika who has it in stock; 2) vanilla extract for vanilla sugar
(or check the internet for other substitutes).
Recipes courtesy of Erika Neidert, German Specialty Imports
(952) 226-2563 Erika@germanspecialtyimport.com
http://www.germanspecialtyimport.com
19
“Kleinsander vs. Broer Milffs”
Submitted by Zandra Milfs Ogata
REMELS
Last year I went to Aurich with Lin Strong and three others to do genealogy
research. On Monday morning we began our research at the Staatsarchiv in
Aurich and attempted to understand the complicated system for retrieval of
information. Not having a fluent knowledge of German was certainly a hindrance; we all could read a little but were never-the-less overwhelmed by the
enormity of trying to find a needle in the proverbial haystack.
Expecting nothing, I opened one of the bound indexes and casually scanned
for some familiar words. The name “Broer
Milffs” popped out at me and I was excited to see the name of my great-greatgreat-great-grandfather. I ordered the file, not knowing what I would get.
When I opened the folder I was stunned to see the actual court papers from a
trial. Lin was sitting beside me and can attest to the tears I shed upon actually
touching these artifacts from the past.
Although the calligraphy was beautiful, reading it was impossible so I ordered
and paid for photo copies of the file to be sent to me, certain that I could find
someone to translate them and tell me what crime this fourth great grandfather was accused of. When the CD arrived, I printed out the 79 pages and
proceeded to ask for help.
My attorney friend could read some of the Latin but gave up without finding
much information. My son-in-law, who is proficient in German, could read
some words but said it would take someone schooled in Germany to read it. I
then turned to Wiard Hinrichs of Ostfriesland who is also a member of the
OGSA Discussion group. Wiard had helped me with research ideas prior to
the trip and I knew him to be a scholar and informed researcher. It was Wiard
who made this trial come to life for me.
Broer Milffs was discovered on private land, carrying a gun, and was approached by a “princely hunter”, Johann Brunken. On Sunday, June 12, 1720
Broer was shot in his legs from 80 to 90 steps in the encounter and was
brought to trial, accused of poaching.
"Violence in hunting and poaching was frequent. At a fox-hunt in Schoo (SW
of Esens) 11 Nov 1729, the hunter Harm Janssen Brunken injured two peasants from Barkholt and Westerbur. He was said to be drunken and sued afterwards (Herquet p. 226). Hinrich Lampe, peasant in Sandhorst, was denounced for poaching. His house was ransacked thoroughly on 15 Dec 1718
by the princely master of huntsmen, Franz Heinrich von Frydag and his two
hunters, Warner Richtering and Christian Rose. Lampe abnegated, was tortured on 27 Jan 1719 with thumbscrews and put on the stretching bank (yet
not stretched), was flagged on the marketplace in Aurich 11 Feb 1719 and
banished from the country. He did confess to only one case, but was convicted of poaching at least three times (Herquet p. 236-238).
Broer Milfs was shot Sunday 9 June 1720, three weeks after Pentecost.
The next year 30 May 1721, two days before Pentecost, hunter Warner
Richtering controlled the fields near Ostersander and noticed a man, whom
he approached by horse. Richtering received a shot of 30 to 40 pellets from
the suspect, who had retreated behind a bush and fired from 12 steps distance. He died 9 June 1721 in Ostersander. The perpetrator (said to be a
poacher from Schirum) was not recognized (Herquet p. 207). These cases
20
LEER
may explain why both sides appealed for justice.
During the reign of Georg Albrecht (1708-1734)
princely hunts in Hesel and Remels normally took
place in September. They are recorded (with lists of
the game shot down) for 1714, 1716, 1717, 1719,
1722, 1723 and 1729 (Herquet p. 210-211). On the
Milfs incident in 1720, Brunken's statement from 11
June 1720 may reveal more details, but that data has
not as yet been translated.
Broer was found guilty and ordered to pay. He
appealed the guilty decision every year: in 1721,
1722, 1723, and 1724. In 1725, the Hofgericht (a
district court for privileged persons such as nobility
and clergy, major offences, and appeals from local
courts) accepted the appeal and decided to throw
out the lawsuit and acquit the defendant.
The prosecutor appealed, so the law faculty of (then
Prussian) Duisberg University was asked for a ruling. It confirmed the previous decision to acquit the
defendant, but allowed the prosecutor not to refund
the defendant’s expenses. So, after much expense
and five years, Broer Milffs was acquitted of the
crime. In 1736, Broer inherited his father’s considerable estate (Kopfschatzungsregister 1719) of a
Vollen Heur und Zwey.
In his later years Broer Milffs was a respected landowner and represented Amt Uplengen parishes in the annual conventions of the East
Frisian estates in the years 1745, 1747-51, 1763-1767, 1769-1772. He
was also an Armenvorsteher in the Remels (Uplengen) church.
(Almoner, official church community position responsible for providing
relief to the poor, position of great responsibility and honor in a community)
Broer owned House No. #l (picture p.20), by the church, in Remels,
which was in turn passed on to his heirs. His farmland was inherited by
his eldest son, my third great-grandfather. This property might eventually have been my grandfather’s if he had chosen to remain in Ostfriesland rather than emigrate to America.
Armenvorsteher: the Armenvorsther administered the money set aside
for the poor people in a church district. They collected the interest for
the loaned money (Armengelder) and they gave out loans and they were
responsible for the wise spending of the funds. In the 16th and in the
17th century, two Kirchenvorsteher (church wardens) were also the Armenvorsteher. In the middle of the 17th century different people did
this job. There were always two Armenvorsteher for each church—one
for the bookkeeping and the other was an assistant. Larger cities always
had two or more pastors; but in a smaller village there was usually one
pastor along with one Kirchenvorsteher and one Armenvorsteher. These
were positions of great responsibility and honor in a church.
SOURCE:
*E.and H.Heyken, Wittmund und seine Bürger von 1540-1800
KRISTALLNACHT REMEMBERED
Norden - For 20 years a memorial site in this city has
reminded the present generation that its place was once
occupied by a synagogue. Here Hitler’s night of persecution (Kristallnacht = Night of Broken Glass) of November 9/10 in 1938 is annually commemorated.
This 2007 observance was special, as Jews from foreign
countries with ties to Norden participated. They came
for the German premiere of the film documentary
“Kleiner (Little) Rudy” by Michelle Stein Teer, granddaughter of Rudy Wolff, a Jewish citizen of Norden,
who fled before the Nazis as a fifteen-year-old and now
lives as an 87-year-old in Israel. Infirmity of advanced
age prevents him from coming, but his daughters and
another granddaughter will be on hand.
Coming also from the Netherlands was the granddaughter of an Auschwitz survivor from Norden. The movie
was created in 2005 when Wolff came to Norden to participate in the “Week of Coming Together” and the dedication of a memorial on the Jewish cemetery. The film
shows Wolff as he leads his granddaughter on a guided
tour through the town with emphasis on the sites of his
boyhood. It includes visits with old school friends, and a
speech to a local high school class during a memorial
service at the cemetery.
SOURCE: Ostfriesen-Zeitung, 11/6/07 / R. Wiemann
Germany after 1871
The Holtgaste Church Bells Ring
As of November 6, 2007, Ostfriesland’s two oldest
church bells in the tower of Holtgaste are ringing once
again over farms and meadow land of this Lutheran village in the midst of mostly Reformed Rheiderland. They
were cast around 1300 and 1379, weigh about a ton
each, and were manually rung until 1960 in which year
they were hooked up to electric motors.
At that time they also received new clappers, made, as it
turned out, of metal which was much too hard and
caused excessive wear on the struck surface areas. These
worn places have been carefully brazed and ground by
the bell foundry which also attached new steel suspension fittings.
New as well are the electric motors, now timed so that
the bells will always peel in sequence, important as they
produce nearly identical vibrations and could conceivable do damage to both if struck simultaneously in the
confined space of the free standing bell tower. The congregation Holtgaste/Soltborg is looking forward to a
successful conclusion of their fund drive to raise the
33,000 Euro which this project will cost.
SOURCE: Rheiderland Zeitung, 11/6/07 / Wiemann
21
A TRIP TO CLARA CITY
Submitted by Marilyn Stulken—As remembered by my Mom
(Lenora) and my Aunt Thelma (now 96 and going strong).
First, some backgound: My Grandma, Tomke Maria Reiners,
married Albert Julius Katzberg in February 1911. They settled on
a farm west of Juniata, Nebraska. Grandma's cousin, Harm Wallrich Reiners, came from Minnesota for the wedding and met
Grandpa's sister, Minna Olga Katzberg. "Uncle Harm and Aunt
Minnie" were married the next year in Nebraska. After farming
for a few years in Nebraska, they moved back to Uncle Harm's
home—to a farm near Clara City, Minnesota. They were members of Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Clara City, where Uncle
Harm's father, Wallrich Frerichs Reiners, had been active from
earliest times.
In 1925, Grandma and Grandpa, and five kids ages four to thirteen, took off in their 1917 Model T Ford to visit Uncle Harm
and Aunt Minnie at Clara City. Aunt Thelma remembers what a
time Grandma had trying to pack for seven people, and describes
a luggage rack, which folded like an accordion and was fastened
permanently onto the running board on the driver's side of the
car. She thinks they might have covered the luggage with some
oilcloth to keep it clean and dry.
Grandpa did all
the driving. Most
of the time,
Grandma was in
front with Uncle
Wilbur, the youngest, and the four
others were in
back. Occasionally, there was
some shifting of
people from back
to front. Aunt
Thelma remembers that Grandpa and Grandma had a map, and
they never got lost, although there were a couple of stops at filling stations to check on directions. I asked if they had any flat
tires along the way. They did have one.
Except, perhaps, for the roads leading up to Uncle Harm and
Aunt Minnie's place, the roads they used were graveled. For the
first part of the trip, they used the DLD—Denver-LincolnDetroit—highway (later US 6). Aunt Thelma tells me that when
they got to Lincoln, highway traffic was blocked because there
was a circus in town. Grandma was upset, because it was already nearly noon, but Grandpa, who loved circuses, said to her,
"Just calm down and enjoy the parade." They drove to a parking
lot and walked over to watch the show.
Mom remembers that they made it from Juniata to Omaha/
Council Bluffs, the first day—a distance of about 170 miles.
True to the stories one hears about Model T's, the machine
couldn't make it up the hill at Council Bluffs. All but the driver
got out and he tried again, this time with success.
They stayed overnight at a cheap hotel in Council Bluffs. It was
near the railroad track and noisy! Nobody got much sleep that
night. And Aunt Thelma for sure didn't get any sleep because
she had seen a sign telling what to do in case of fire. She stayed
awake all night just in case there was a fire.
PICTURE: Model T Running Board Rack
The car was open. There were curtains that snapped in place if
the weather got bad. These were stored under the back seat when
not in use. Mom remembers that people got "pretty dusty" riding
in that open car.
On the way up to Uncle Harm and Aunt Minnie's, it rained, and
the passengers got wet because the snap-in curtains were not water-tight. The windshield wiper, which was only on the driver's
side, was manually operated. There was a handle at the top of the
windshield, inside the car, which was connected directly to the
shaft of the wiper.
22
After driving all day the second day, they arrived at Uncle Harm
and Aunt Minnie's, where they stayed. Mom recalls that they
"ate all the time— breakfast, lunch, dinner, lunch, supper,
lunch..." It was also the first time Mom had gooseberries. Aunt
Thelma, too, remembers that "all we did was eat—lots of freshbaked rolls…and lots of fruit trees." Uncle Harm had a threshing rig. The wheat had been harvested and he was going from
place to place, threshing the grain. All the places he went to
were homes of relatives, and wherever he went everybody gathered for meals.
Aunt Thelma said to me, "It was a fun time." And apparently it
was! It's a trip I've heard about all my life.
Finding your “lost women”
Submitted by Jill Morelli
If you are like me you have a large number of women in your database that fall into two categories :
• those that have no surname because the first time they are
identified is as married women into the family and
• females who “disappear” when they marry because you do
not know the spouse’s name.
Under certain conditions I have found ways to solve the mysterious
surname issue using on-line databases that are making these problems
more solvable. I am so pleased with finding this “tool” that I want to
share it just in case you haven’t discovered it yet.
For people who lived in Iowa in 1925 and fall into one of the categories above, one of the most important databases is the 1925 Iowa census. This “off year” census included, in addition to the normal enumeration data, the names of parents of all enumerated. Included in the
listing will be the name of the enumerated individual’s father, his age
(if still living) and birth location and the mother’s birth name, her age
(if still living) and location of birth. Included is the location of marriage of the parents.
To use this database, I started with women who had no known surname because they had married into the family. I ran a report of all
1.) women,
2.) who had a residence at some time in Iowa,
3.) and had no surname.
This yielded 187 women. Using the Iowa census, I found the birth
names for over half. The other half had moved from the state prior to
1925, gotten married after 1925, or had some other reason for not
being enumerated.
and entering the surname in the father’s surname field, I could get all the
children of that family ….including surnames of the wives
who married brothers and surnames of the husbands of the
sisters. If I was missing one or two of the siblings I would
try different spellings or even fill in different fields to see
if I could get a “hit”.
Once you log in the home page of ancestry, enter your
ancestor’s name and fill in the country as USA and the
state as Iowa. Included also are the other off year elections
so you might want to confine your search to the 1925 census, a field about ½ down the list of available search fields.
Be aware that the parent information is on the
second page so once you get the actual image of
the enumeration, use the tool bar to turn the page!
Ancestry is available either by subscription or
through your local public library.
Web address: http://www.ancestry.com/search/
Default.aspx
Another on-line data base that is helpful is the
Minnesota Birth and Death index maintained by the MN
Department of Health. While more limited in scope you
can find the birth name of the mother of the child if you
can find the birth record or the death record of the individual. Once I find the woman’s surname, I run a search for
that surname and see if there are any other children to the
couple.
Web address: http://people.mnhs.org/bci/
Then I realized that I could use this tool also to find the married name
of women when I did not know who they married. Once again I ran a
report of
1.) women
2.) from Iowa
3.) who were listed in the 1920 census but did not have a 1930 census.
I will run this report again for those with 1910 census but no 1920 or
1930 census. I probably found about 50% of the spouses of the
women of interest.
Another database that is a bit more restricted is the South
Dakota birth index. This index is for those births’ that are
over 100 years old. This basically covers a time frame
from the late 1800s to 1907. Since this was a time when a
lot of our ancestors moved to South Dakota I have filled in
many blanks using this database. It, too, includes the birth
name of the mother of the child.
But what about the women who died before 1925? I found I could
find the birth names of women who had died well
before the 1925 census if I could find a child that, as
an adult, was enumerated.
The California death on-line index is another that helps
find “lost women”. The CDI uses the Social Security
index for its data source, but posts more information than
the SSDI does, and includes the birth names of the deceased.
In the end I was regularly finding birth names and
married names for my “lost” Iowa women who were
born as early as 1830! This database is available
through ancestry.com. It should be noted that the
transcription of the surnames is very irregular and
you have to work the search fields to get to the individual of interest. I found that by taking a family
23
Web address: http://apps.sd.gov/applications/
PH14Over100BirthRec/index.asp
Web address: http://vitals.rootsweb.com/ca/death/
rch.cgicj=1&o_xid=0000584978&o_lid=0000584978
These latter three databases are free, provided by their
respective governmental agencies or through rootsweb.com.
Happy hunting!
TECHNOLOGY 101
Submitted by Ray Kleinow
This page of the OGSA newsletter is intended for
tips and tricks, new info, and anything else we
think will help you use your computer more efficiently to do your Ostfriesland research. Is this
information you can use and would like to see in this column?
Remember, this is YOUR newsletter column! What do you
want it to be? Send your comments to Ray Kleinow at
rayk29@comcast.net
Laptop vs Desktop? Want your computer with you on visits,
research trips, etc? Thinking of buying a new computer to replace your desktop? Perhaps you should at least consider a laptop. The prices have really dropped in the last few years and
the power (speed and capacity), are very competitive with
desktops. Weigh the pros and cons for your needs. You may be
better off with a laptop. The weight, size and price are now at a
level that most people can handle and you are taking your full
capabilities with you when you travel, visit research sites, etc.
This means your e-mailer, genealogy programs, databases, and
notes are all there with you.
Wireless Connections on the Road? How to keep up with
your emails, connect to the internet, etc? One of the advantages
of a laptop is that wireless connections are available in most
areas. Most newer laptops have wireless modems built in, so
just find a “Hotspot” in a coffee shop, etc. and check with them
on how to connect. Usually it is very inexpensive or free. Then
you can keep up with your emails, add/correct your research
work, etc., the same as if you were home. Or, perhaps you have
a data connection available with your cell phone? Many services will add this for a month at a time, so you can turn it on
when you leave home and then shut off when you return.
(Usually they will require a full month). You must check with
your cell phone provider for details.
Portable Applications Don’t want to buy a new computer, or
carry a laptop, but do want your genealogy program and databases along? And you can use a computer where you are going? Perhaps this method is the answer. There are ways to install your genealogy program and your databases on a flash
drive. Then all you carry is the flash drive. When you arrive at
your destination and are given access to a computer, you
merely plug the flash drive into the USB port, and start up the
genealogy program from the flash drive. It does not require
installing the program on that computer. It also does not leave
anything on the host computer. You can run the program as if it
was installed on that computer, updating, showing, printing
(using their printer), whatever. When finished, shut down the
program, unplug the flash drive and you will be off that computer. Nothing is changed on their computer. See http://
www.everythingusb.com/software.html for more details.
Faster Bootups? Are you tired of waiting for your computer to
boot up? Wish it could do this in a few seconds, not minutes?
Perhaps you might look at replacing your present mechanical
hard drive with a Solid State Hard Drive. No moving parts, (all
electronic, not mechanical), high data transfer rates, low power
consumption, and no noise! Yes, they are “spendy” to start
with, but if you have two hard drives in your laptop, (many do, or
you can order them configured as such), exchange the one where
Windows is installed, and leave the other as is. Then use the old
hard drive in an external case as an extra drive. Such cases are
about $50 for good quality ones, (I like Adaptec’s), and you now
have more room, faster boot ups and faster operations. Go to
www.google.com and type in “solid state drive” (without the
quotes), for more information.
LINKS
TO
DEEP
ROOTS
Submitted by Ray Kleinow
Watch for the smaller sites!
We see many new smaller sites with smaller databases (but with a
smaller fee as well) showing up on web searches. Especially
small genealogy societies that have the data of its area and the
people to help you with questions. It gets quite expensive to have
your own Ancestry.com subscription. Always remember, the valuable site is the one that has the data you need. It may not be in a
huge database. So, “Google it” and check them out. (Remember
that the MGS Library has a subscription to Ancestry.com and others.) Your subscription to OGSA gives you free access at the
MGS Library.
Searching for Ostfriesen Roots in Cook County, IL?
Cook County, Illinois Birth, Marriage & Death Records are being
digitized and should be online beginning in January 2008. They
will be available on a searchable website. It is part of a yearlong
effort to digitize the county’s 24 million vital records, dating from
1871, after the Chicago fire destroyed previous records. Scanning
and indexing are complete and they are uploading about a million
records per week. Birth certificates at least 75 years old, marriage
certificates more than 50 years old and death certificates, more
than 20 years old will be available for a fee and downloadable at
home. Certified copies will not be available online. Nor will social
security numbers. When complete, they will announce the website
address.
New York Times' Archives Available Free of Charge
The New York Times is making its archives from 1851 to 1922
and from 1987 to the present available on the web at no charge.
The material from 1851 to 1922 is not copyrighted and was available for modest fees and articles published from 1851 to 1922 can
be read free. Go to http://www.nytimes.com and give it a try.
toppassengerlists.com
Here is a new site that might be of help to OGSA researchers. It is
also interesting because of various interactions you can have with
the site. http://www.toppassengerlists.com
Great Lakes Passenger Lists
Did some of your line come through the Great Lakes and then
Michigan? Check out this site of passenger lists. Great Lakes Passenger Lists
24
Ostfriesland from the Seven Years’
War to the Batavian Republic
SOURCE: Onno Klopp, “Geschichte Ostfrieslands”, Vol. 3
Excerpted and translated by Rudy Wiemann.
After the Peace Treaty of Hubertusburg, Saxony, in 1763, King
Frederick II’s first concern was healing the deep wounds which the
war had inflicted on his land. This began with the introduction of a
solid currency as a precondition to the revival of commercial activity, which for Ostfriesland largely meant seafaring enterprise.
Despite good intentions, the mercantilist views prevailing in that
era made him determined to keep Prussian money in Prussia. His
method of ruling by decree rather than through a cabinet of experts,
including merchants, didn’t help matters either. Every branch of
commerce which resulted in a net outflow of money from Prussia
was forbidden.
Plans were made for an overseas trading company of the kind the
British and the Dutch were operating; however, Prussia had no
colonies, and countries that did would not permit foreign vessels to
trade in their backyard. This made such trade possible only with
China, and connections were established with that country, but
those were soon discontinued. The biggest blow to trade was delivered by London with the passing of the British Navigation Act
which mandated that no ship was allowed to deliver freight to a
British port unless it was built in Britain, belonged to a British company, was captained by a British national, and was manned by a
crew at least a quarter British. Exempt were ships which transported
goods from the country under whose flag they were sailing.
After a victory by the great Dutch admiral de Ruiter over a British
fleet, the Dutch received a concession whereby their ships could
haul merchandize of their own country as well as from Germany to
Britain. This Act entailed great hardship for Ostfriesland which had
about a thousand ships under sail, much more than needed to facilitate its own commerce.
Emden suffered additional damage to its commercial activity when
it received royal permission to exact a customs duty on incoming
freight destined for areas to Ostfriesland’s south, notably Westphalia. Those areas quickly rechanneled their imports through
Dutch harbors. Emden also started up a herring fishery which the
Dutch tried to suppress by lowering the price of their catch sold in
Germany, which the king countered by prohibiting their import.
The American Revolutionary War (1775-83) garnered much sympathy in Europe for the rising republic. France sided openly with
her in 1778, and Dutch merchants and financiers supplied her with
25
money and materiel. The full extent of this Dutch aid became apKing Frederick II
parent when the British forced
one of its convoys into Plymouth Harbor. The British, with
their now greatly superior fleet, reacted by falling upon Dutch
merchantmen and overseas possessions.
For Ostfriesland, though, its neighbor’s misfortune held certain advantages, as many Dutch ship owners applied for citizenship there, which could be obtained for six Talers. This
brought about a British inquiry into the curious fact that 80
ships under the flag of Emden were moored in the Thames
River. Berlin wanted to avoid trouble and urged the shippers
to insist that the captains as well as 2/3 of the crews were
Prussian citizens. Given such circumstances, ships under Emden’s flag sailed for a while to the Dutch East Indies.
King Frederick further strove to fill his treasury by pushing
the creation of “Polders” or “Groden”, as land gained from
the North Sea was his to sell. He introduced the potato as a
crop to lessen the dependence on grain and fostered the populating of peat bogs with willing settlers. No canals were dug
into the bogs, however, and the settlers received no aid but
were taxed instead, so their communities often turned into the
proverbial pockets of poverty, hopelessness, and crime.
The Dutch had pioneered the “Fehn” canal system for the
systematic mining and transporting of peat and as a precondition for successful bog settlements. They were able to sell
their peat in Ostfriesland for less than local operators could.
Seasonal work opportunities existed in Ostfriesland and attracted manpower from far away.
Annually 285 young men from the Earldom of Lippe came to
work in Ostfriesland’s 43 brick yards, making ten million
bricks and roof tiles, and they went home with about 60 Talers in their pockets. At harvest time rural workers from
Oldenburg and Münster came to Ostfriesland’s fertile coastal
areas to fill the farmers’ barns.
The beginning of Prussian rule had come as a blessing. Local
feuding stopped, Emden ceased to be a state within a state,
and taxation was placed under royal supervision. But the siphoning of money to Berlin became noticeable, and then there
was the salt situation.
In the 16th century coarse Portuguese salt was imported and
refined in Emden’s Nesserland. Later Ostfriesland bought its
salt from Lüneburg’s salt
mines. In 1766, King Frederick ordered that salt be
bought from his royal mines
near Minden, fixing the price
as well as the amount to be
taken, the latter being greater
than needed. The
“Landschaft” sold the overage and added the profit to its
account balance. The king
also initiated a tobacco monopoly and discouraged the
drinking of coffee which was decried as unhealthy. Only those
who could afford to buy 20 pounds of coffee were allowed to do
so and roast it themselves.
There were numerous complaints, but the king remained adamant, as 700,000 Prussian Talers were leaving his land for coffee alone while armed bands were smuggling it across the border. People resigned themselves to the situation and roasted rye
and wheat to which they would added a few coffee beans. Tea
did not come under the same scrutiny, as it was consumed only
in Prussian Ostfriesland in appreciable amounts. Berlin seems to
have been lacking a sense for the benefits these libations have
upon a country’s culture and manners, as their consumption entails a decrease in the use of alcoholic beverages.
According to the treaty of 1744, Ostfriesland became a province
of Prussia but was to be kept free of Prussian troops. Only Emden had a small garrison, a lot of its soldiers having been shanghaied. Desertions were announced by four canon shots from the
city’s walls and the ringing of storm bells across the land. 168
messengers hurried on horseback from town to town telling people to be on their guard and what would befall them if they offered aid to the fugitive in any way. A captured deserter could
be made to run the gauntlet which he was not likely to survive.
Public affairs in Ostfriesland during Prussian times were the
responsibility of the “Regierung” (government) and the “Kriegsund Domänenkammer” (lit. Chamber of War and Public Land
Holdings - the land holdings largely consisting of peat bogs and
monastery property taken over during the Reformation). The
name of the former does not really indicate its function; it included the high court, as administration and law were not strictly
separated, and could, with the presence of the president of either
predominant Protestant denomination, sit as a consistory.
The “Kriegs- und Domänenkammer” grew out of the Cirksena
“Ober-Rentei” (primary fiscal office) whose functions were
broadened to where its duties included most public administra-
tive affairs. Prussian Ostfriesland remained organized in eight
“Ämter”, Harlingerland in two. Chief administrators there were
“Amtmann” and “Drost”. King Frederick turned the office of
“Drost” into a pension system for his generals and colonels. His
famous Hussar general, von Ziethen, was “Drost” of “Amt”
Berum. The “Amtmann” ran the administration and law enforcement, could sit as a judge, and function as the “Amt” chief fiscal
officer.
King Frederick was fairly indifferent toward the churches but
insisted on mutual toleration, the first European monarch to do
so. His famous dictum, “In my state everyone may achieve salvation in his or her own way,” is still remembered. The number of
Lutherans in Ostfriesland was on the rise whereas that of the Reformed was declining, which arguably could be blamed on the
fact that Lutheran students of the ministry went to the University
of Halle, whereas Reformed students could no longer go to Dutch
universities but studied at a seminary in Lingen which had a theological faculty of one or two professors and offered little in academic life or tradition.
Prussian students who had studied outside of Prussia were ineligible for state service. Despite all this arbitrariness, some of which
was typical for the times, King Frederick did exercise great influence on education in Germany, as in him it had a prince who not
only was a great war hero (he had trounced the French) but possessed true intellectual weight. His numerous writings and musical compositions bear the stamp of an intellect which was imbued
with a much greater humanitarian spirit than his government exhibited. With his passing in 1786, East Friesians welcomed the
lessening of governmental intrusion in their affairs under his
nephew and successor, Frederick William II, notably manifested
by the recession of the royal tobacco and coffee monopoly.
In 1789 the French Revolution began, which called the whole
nation to arms and threw back the invading troops of reactionary
European monarchs. By 1795, the defenders had turned into conquering heroes and marched into Belgium and the Netherlands.
The latter had its own influential revolutionary Patriot party, had
defeated an invading British landing force and was welcoming
the de facto disseminators of the ideals of the American Revolution with open arms. Soon the Batavian Republic was called out,
and Emden saw the first Dutch Orangists and French émigrés
arrive to be followed by British troops. Eleven regiments of dragoons and six infantry regiments took quarters in and around Emden joined by sizable contingents of fighting French émigrés and
Dutch cavalry plus soldiers who had become detached from their
units. Churches were converted into hospitals where typhoid took
many lives.
Continued on Page 27
26
The Prawn Fisherman of the Dollart
SOURCE: “Ostfriesland”, 1868, by Hermann Meier, translated by
Rudy Wiemann
the fisherman himself in
the wintertime.
The prawn occurs in great quantities on the tidal flats along the North
Sea coast of Germany where it is caught from May to October. Its
very good tasting meat makes it a popular item for dinner and, even
more so, for supper of the people living in this region. Rarely passes a
day on which a prawn selling woman fails to push her cart from house
to house in village and town to offer the sea’s bounty freshly boiled in
brine.
The biggest prawns are caught shortly before the start of the ebb tide
with which they retreat again, the smallest while the tides are on the
move. In the Dollart Bay they were more abundant in the past, their
decrease being blamed on the gradual buildup of sediment.
When he has caught
enough and morning announces itself, he hastens back to sell, or boil, his
catch quickly. Before doing so, however, other creatures, like anchovies,
smelt, grunt, flounder, etc., must be removed, and the larger prawns
separated from the smaller ones with a sieve. The prawn fisherman’s
trade is not a lucrative one, as for a quart of prawns, which he must catch
and often boil and take to town himself, he only gets a Groschen at the
most. In order to makes ends meet, he catches the flounder concurrently
with the prawn.
The prawn caught during the flood tide is preferred to the one caught
at ebb tide as it is stronger and takes on a red coloration during boiling, even though the latter is heavier and is caught in greater quantities. The difference may lie in time elapsing between catching and
boiling.
At the high tide the fisherman can get to his station and back to the
boiling pot quicker, which is important as the prawn lives only for a
short while outside of its element. If it is boiled when already dead it
is less firm, as while it is dying a light, colorless liquid oozes from it,
leaving it less plump. The fisherman likes the cool northern wind in
the summertime as it grants his catch longer life. In the spring and fall
he looks for the warming south wind, as the prawn appears in greater
quantity when moderate temperatures prevail.
The prawn is caught at night as well as during the day, the former
being a better time, as it then won’t die so quickly, turning out redder
and firmer during boiling. The best prawns are caught in late summer.
To get real red prawns one must not be sparing with the salt during
boiling and must take care that the water remains in roiling motion.
To catch the prawn in the Dollart the fisherman goes out mostly in the
evening. At his station he places his wing nets, which have a large rear
compartment, and waits for his prey. From time to time he opens this
compartment and dumps the catch into a basket. The nets are made by
Continued from Page 26
The times of Conflans were brought back to people’s minds
until British ships arrived with back pay for their troops which
were then able to pay for provisions and services. The British
troops had cleared Rheiderland just ahead of the pursuing
French who did not cross the Ems. In March the refugees
moved to the Weser River where transport to Britain awaited
them. Additional transports arrived in Emden to take on the
sick, and the rest of the British troops marched to Bremen for
repatriation. In April of 1795 the Peace Treaty of Basel, Switzerland, was signed, and the stage was set for Napoleon’s appearance.
EDITOR NOTE: The Dollart is a bay partly in the Netherlands and
Germany on the west side of the estuary of the Ems River in 1277. Most
of it dries in low tide and is a bird haven. The Dollart was likely created
between 1219 and 1413 by the rising waterlevel and flooding. The land
was protected by dikes, but in the battle between the schieringers and
vetkopers some dikes were attacked. Some historians think that those
dikes collapsed in 1413 and overflowed into the Rheiderland.
In 1520, the water overflowed the land again and the Dollart had its largest surface. Nowdays it's a paradise for all kinds of birds and other animals that live around water. The foundation of protecting and examining the
landscape
of Groningen, Het
Groninger
EMDEN
Landschap,
organizes
excursions
to the DolEMS RIVER
lart around
three times
a year.
(WikeDOLLART
pedia)
OSB UPDATE
Recent OSB include Gandersum, Borßum, Neermoor (three
volumes). More information on OSB to be published in the next
year will be available in the July issue and on our website. Many
OSB are in stock, please contact us for available OSB.
Publication of the Ortssippenbuch for Suurhusen and Marienwehr are planned for this summer.
Also planned is the Hypothekenbuch Leer 1572-1900
If you are interested in any of these publications, please let us
know as soon as possible and we will contact you when they arrive.
• Check our website often www.ogsa.us
27
WRITING YOUR OWN FAMILY HISTORY
Copyright 2008 © Lin Cornelius Strong
You’re ready to write your family history and have no idea how to
start. What do you include? Do you add adopted children? Do
you include every spouse no matter how vicious or amicable the
divorce? You will be glad to hear there is no hard and fast rule to
those questions. Only you or your family can decide what you put
in or omit from your family history.
No book is worth a rift in family relations; however, you will
never please everyone! It was more important to me to share all
the family data and stories that I had collected over the years. I
kept thinking that one day I could be run over by a bus and all
those stories would be lost!
Some suggestions:
1) A marriage and divorce can be omitted if there were no children. Even if there are children, use your judgment – if there is
great animosity, don’t include the person. Put it only in your
copy.
2) Adopted and foster children can be numbered with other family
members and you can put (adopted) in parenthesis if that is preferred. Ask the parents what they prefer.
3) My grandmother would have been horrified to learn that her
grandparents had to get married, but as I did not write about this
story until she died, she was not upset by it. It was an interesting
story that was worth more than a paragraph in the Bunde, Ostfriesland church records and it gave information about that town in
that time period.
4) So should you write about your great-grandfather’s first family that he abandoned in Germany – probably! Should you write
about a scandal about your parents or grandparents who are still
living? Only you and your family can make that decision.
5) Every family has black sheep, they add some spice to a book.
Was there a horse thief, someone who spent time in jail or even a
penitentiary or insane asylum? Hey, it happened! One friend’s
g.g.grandmother was institutionalized by her husband because he
didn’t want to be divorced and didn’t want her around! She lived
out her life in an asylum—sane. Most women had no rights!
6) One lady called and told me she would not be continuing with
her book as she had found a scandal! Her great-great grandmother was a gypsy. I told her that would only make her book
more interesting, not less! Why wouldn’t you include data like
that?
7) What should you include? Stories about how they lived their
everyday lives – what was important to them. Hand out a questionnaire for family members to use as a guideline. If you can get
some of your family to write about how they celebrated holidays,
how they got in trouble, what fun things they did, games they
played, the common and everyday things that they did that made
up the fabric of their lives. How did their mother wash clothes,
butcher chickens, plant her garden or deal with adversity? That’s
what your children and grandchildren will enjoy reading. Dates
and places are fine – but it is the stories that are the heart of any
book. And make sure there are plenty of pictures in your book!
8) My uncle wrote about how he lost his arm in a corn picker—a
story he’d never even told his brothers or sisters! Give them the
28
option of tape recording their stories,
writing them or telling them to you. Tell them spelling and
grammar is not as important as any story. This uncle is now
deceased, but his stories live on!
9) Include as many pictures and illustrations as you can as
they add interest to a book. Other things you can include:
Naturalization papers, emigration papers, church documents,
birth, marriage and death certificates, census data. Do you
have pictures of the village where your great-grandmother was
born? Add a map to that page along with the pictures, and you
will capture someone’s attention long enough for them to read
on.
10) There is no one right way to write a family history. What
you have to do is start.
I also prefer to capitalize the surname to eliminate any doubt as
to what is the surname. This is also optional.
So, how do you go about numbering all the descendents of
your great-grandparents or great, great, great, great grandparents. What do you do? You can of course, use a simple outline
format such as the following:
I. Wubbe Dirks AMMERMANN (birth, marriage & death
dates and places)
Spouse: Trientje Freerks PETERSEN (B,M,D data)
(Daughter of Freerk Geerds PETERSEN and Grietje
Jodocus HEDDINGA)
Children:
A. Dirk Wubben AMMERMANN
Spouse: Helena JANSSEN
B: Freerk Wubben AMMERMANN
Spouses: 1) Jantje HAKEN, 2) Geertje FOKKEN,
3) Mattie EMMEN
C. Meemke Wubben AMMERMANN
Spouse: Jan KUIPER
D. Geerd Wubben AMMERMANN
Spouse: Janna FOKKEN
E. Jantje Wubben AMMERMANN
Spouse: Hinderk Nannen FOKKEN
1. William FOKKEN
Spouse: Elizabeth Tebben
2. Antje FOKKEN
3. Nanne FOKKEN
4. Trientje FOKKEN
5. Jantje FOKKEN
Spouse: Heinrich PETERS
CHILDREN:
a. Josie Peters
b. Alice Peters
c. Marjorie Peters
This is a simple version and you should add all the birth, marriage and death information for each person listed. The problem you run into is how do you keep adding generations—what
numbers or letters do you give them? You will note that only
those who are born into the line are numbered. None of the
spouses have a number as they are not a direct descendant.
An additional method is to list the families by generations.
Generation 1—Wubbe Dirks AMMERMANN
Trientje Freerks PETERSEN
Plus their birth, marriage and death dates and places). This
works well if there is a not a lot of children in each family, but
gets very confusing if you have eight or more children per family per generation—it’s called a nightmare.
Another method which may seem at first to be a bit more complicated, is one that I have used in four family history books
that I wrote. Birth, marriage and death data is, of course, included for each person. Again, only direct descendents are
numbered, spouses are listed in my books along with their
birth, marriage and death data along with the names of their
parents in parenthesis. You can also list adopted or foster children, but whether they are numbered is your decision to make.
You can list as many spouses as you wish in this method. Children would be listed under their mother’s entry.
1. Wubbe Dirks AMMERMANN
Spouse: Trientje Dirks PETERSEN
1.1. Dirk Wubben AMMERMANN
(Dirk is the 1st child of the 1st child)
1.2. Freerk Wubben AMMERMANN
(Freerk is the 2nd child of the 1st child)
Spouse 1: Jantje HAKEN
Spouse 2: Geertje Nannen FOKKEN (daughter of
Nanne Geerds FOKKEN & Jantje KUIPER)
Spouse 3: Mattie Emmen
1.3. Meemke Wubben AMMERMANN
1.4. Geerd Wubben AMMERMANN
1.5. Jantje Wubben AMMERMANN
Spouse: Hinderk Nannen FOKKEN
1.5.1. William FOKKEN
(William is the 1st child of the 5th child of
the 1st child)
1.5.2. Antje FOKKEN
(Antje is the 2nd child of the 5th child of the
1st child)
1.5.3. Nanne FOKKEN
1.5.4. Trientje FOKKEN
1.5.5. Jantje FOKKEN
Spouse: Heinrich PETERS
1.5.5.1. Josie PETERS
(Josie is the 1st child of the 5th
child of the 5th child of the 1st
child)
1.5.5.2. Alice PETERS
1.5.5.3. Marjorie PETERS
While on the first reading this may seem more complicated, if
you use it consistently through hundreds of names, it is not
difficult to understand. It was also used as a cross reference at
the rear of the book to include names, addresses, occupations,
telephone numbers and email addresses of current family members. Interestingly enough, family members are adding new
family members to their book more than ten years later by still
using the same numbering system.
Always remember that how you write the book is not as important as
getting it written—one page at a time! Future generations will bless
you for your efforts in preserving their family’s history.
ANCESTRAL NUMBERING SYSTEMS
Research in publications can be confusing if you have no clue as
to what the numbers all mean. Numbering systems are used in all
types of genealogical searches and books to distinquish between
generations.
Books such as the Deutsches Geschlechterbücher, Die
Groeneveld’s and publications such as Quellen und Forschungen
and Ostfriesische Ahnenlisten, as well as American publications
use the following system which is similar to any ancestral chart.
The numbers on a typical ancestral chart are similar to the
following:
|4. Father’s father
|2. Your father—–|
|
|5. Father’s mother
1. Your name—– |
|
|
|6. Mother’s father
|3. Your mother—|
|7. Mother’s mother
Note the numbers! The numbers double with each generation.
The child’s number doubled equals his father: 1 + 1 = 2; for the
mother’s number always add one: 1 + 1 = 2 + 1 = 3.
First Generation
1. Child
Second Generation
2. Father of child (1 + 1 = 2)
3. Mother of child (1 + 1 = 2 + 1)
Third Generation
4. Father of # 2 (grandfather of #1)
5. Mother of #2 (grandfather of #1)
6. Father of #3 (grandfather of #1)
7. Mother of #3 (grandmother of #1)
Fourth Generation
8. Father of # 4
9. Mother of #4
10. Father of #5
11. Mother of #5
12. Father of # 6
13. Mother of #6
14. Father of #7
15. Mother of #7
Note that ancestors double with each generation.
The numbers are also frequently used in reverse:
1 = Patriarch/Matriarch
2 = Son/Daughter (s)
3 = Grandson/Granddaughter(s)
4 = Great Grandson/Great Granddaughter(s)
Charts similar to these do not take into consideration all the
children of a couple, but usualy the direct lineage of a specific
child. A chart may also include spouses without numbering them.
Copy this chart into your research notebook and use it for future
reference. Numbers can go into the hundreds, thousands and
millions, make sure you have a calcuator!
29
MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION
Welcome to OGSA!
Would you like a membership list? We can now email it to
you as an attachment!
Do you know someone who might like a sample copy of our
newsletter—it’s on our website! This is one way we find
new members! Contact us!
New Members:
Mary Flesner Beard, 6768 Pine Arbor Boulevard, Cottage
Grove, MN 55016 651-207-5792 mlgualdoni@comcast.net
Researching: Buss (Ludwigsdorf), Flesner, Heinrich Gerd
Steve Corning, 5396 Virginia Court, Gurnee, IL 60031 847360-0718 scorning@mac.com Researching: Kressen, Piehl,
Schultz, Schutz (Oldenburg)
Hans-Friedrich Coordes, Neuestrasse 35, 26826 Weener
Germany info@nachlassverwaltungen.de
Kathleen & Larry Gray, 6608 Falstaff Road, Woodbury,
NN 55125 651-493-4593 Researching: Betels
(Rechsupweg), Bockelmann (Oldersum)
Cecil Mennen, 23738 Highway 92, Columbus Junction, IA
52738 319-728-3028
Donna Mennen, 5378 183rd Street West, Farmington, MN
55024 651-463-1275 dmennen@gmail.com
Correction:
Keith Ricklefs, 1427 Douglas St., #2, Sioux City IA 51105
712-255-5353 keithrick@fbx.com Researching: Ricklefs
(Eckwarden), Rode (Wiefelstede), Hassmann (Sphole)
Changes of Address:
Judy Gallogly, PO Box 238, Hampton, IA 50441
jgall442@earthlink.net
Barbara Henning, 55 Meade Drive, Coralville, IA 52241
319-887-7040 barbara@henning-nm.us
David W. Look, 237 Jefferson Street, Winchester, VA
22601 540-662-5866
Arlys “Lee” Straayer, PO Box 6808, Champaign, IL 61826
bookworm@dcbnet.com
New Email Address
Judi Poppen djpoppen@netins.net
Dennis & Marge Pfeil dpfeil@gtmc.net
SOCIAL STATUS TERMS
While there has been much written explaining the differences
in the social status during the years, what is needed is a handy
clip and save (or make a copy) column that you can put in your
research notebook. NOTE: These are NOT occupations.
This will give you a quick guide and you can look it up in
more detail at a later time. Please note that this list is not comprehensive!
A Colonist or Kolonist was a person who, with his family,
settled on new moor (peat) land opened to cultivation. They
were induced by promises of a small tract of land of their own.
This was back-breaking labor and the reason so many of these
settlers emigrated to the USA.
The Hausleute often were called Erbgesessener, which means
that this person has inherited his property by a regular law of
succession. (Erbgesessener = sitting on his heritage).
In contrary to the Erbgesessener, we also know the term on
Eingesessener (translated as ‘has been sitting in’) which describes a "lucky man" who succeeded in marrying a Hausmann`s daughter or widow.
Landgebräucher comes up in the 2nd half of the 18th century
after the land reform. It describes a person "using land" and
was mainly used in the Fehn villages where political rights
tied to the possession of a Herd/Platz (small dwelling w/
fireplace) were unusual.
In the Fehn villages, Landgebräucher is often used in connection with the profession of a
Schiffer or sailor (Bargee).
Herd, or hearth, is a term of almost universal meaning. It can
also mean fireplace - Heim und Herd = home and hearth.
The Herdbesitzer (besitz=own) possessed of a "Vollherde" had
special civil and parochial privileges. They were the few who
had a vote in church and community affairs and whose votes
chose the village pastors and village schoolmasters. They also
assessed and collected taxes. In addition to his rights, the
Herdbesitzer also had the duty to see to the maintenance of
roads and canals and had to make provision for the poor of the
Gemeinde (community).
In some of the smaller communities or Gemeinde, there may
have been only a dozen of so possessors of a Vollherd. Some
smaller landholders owned a Halbherd and in a few cases, as
where ownership had been fragmented over the generations
through inheritance, there would be Drittelherdes. Ownership
of a Herd or a fraction was always passed by inheritance. A
full Herd or Platz got a full share a halb Herd, a half share and
so on.
Welcome to
Spring
To be continued; in the next issue the terms of Warfsmann
and Warfsleute will be described.
30
NEW!
UPCOMING ISSUES
WILL INCLUDE:
• Using the Quellen &
This is the CD
ROM you’ve all
been waiting for!
17,665 Ostfriesen
emigrant names
are in this
database.
Much of the data found
in this CD was collected
for over 40 years by Kurt
von Loh from Borßum,
Ostfrielsand. Gene Janssen spent more than one year transcribing the
data into this database. OGSA members have also contributed thousands of names. The database is Excel format—you will need that program to use it. Instructions are in a Word pdf file. $26 includes postage.
• Order your copy today: OGSA, 1670 South Robert Street, #333, West
St. Paul, MN 55118
♦
We need to clean off our books shelves! This sale is only good
during the month of April and you know how the Ostfriesen
like a good Spring Cleaning!
Do you have historical data on a village with strong
Ostfriesen roots?
♦ We are searching for data for an on-going column.
Or send us the information and we will write it for
you!
SPRING BOOK SALE
•
•
•
•
Forshungen
Uplengen & Remels
• Officials & Their
Responsibilities
• The Lost Villages of
the Dollart
• A Trip from Dunum
• Money: Gulden, Taler,
Ort, Schaf and Witten
• Map Reading
• A Prince’s Earldom
• An 1863 Auction
• Finding Obituaries
• Adoption Records
• Climbing Brick Walls
• Strackholt
• Wiesmoor’s Blumenhalle
•
Butjadingen—Historical information on Ostfriesland and
the area to the east of Varel. Dikes & diking, storm floods
and more! Translated by Gene Janssen, this is a must for
your book shelf! $16 (includes postage).
Churches of Ostfriesland—while it does not cover all
churches, it does cover the oldest churches. This book is a
must with information you can include in your family history. Only $12 (includes postage).
Ostfriesen Windmills—colored pictures of all the windmills
found in Ostfriesland, along with a colored map showing
their locations! This is a wonderful book to share with your
family! $12 (includes postage).
Rich Polder Farmers and Poor Moorfolk—if you have not
read this book, you need to. You will
then understand the differences between the classes and why your ancestors came to America for a better life.
Share it with your family. Only $12
(includes postage).
In Emden, the Emder Segelverein (Sailing Club) observed its
centennial year with a festive ball in Emden’s “Gaststätte Lindenhof” confident that its future will match its past in exciting
events. Its team spirit is great, its membership is holding steady
at about 300, and its work with the many enthusiastic youngsters in its ranks holds great promise. Its official birthday will
be celebrated in October. The Club not only offers water sports,
as jogging, gymnastics, and “Boßel games” also play an important role in maintaining the physical fitness required for this
demanding sport. A Paddle-and-Pedal-Station has been set up
on its “Nordtorstraße” property which will liven up the scene
once the biking and canoeing crowd will have checked it out.
http://territorial.de/index.htm
Check this out. Here you will find listings of German villages,
their region, district, etc. from 1945. This is a really valuable
source! Make sure you check it out.
Don’t wait, send your order in today!
Send your order to OGSA, 1670 South
Robert Street, #333, West St. Paul, MN
55118
Oldenburg Genealogical Society
http://www.genealogienetz.de/vereine/OGF/index_e.html
31
2008—UPCOMING EVENTS
RESEARCH DAY
Saturday, May 3, 2008 10 am-4pm
Minnesota Genealogical Society (see right column)
Tour of facility
Research help available
Ancestry.com
Heritage Quest
Contest
2008
Where &
What Is
This?
It is the
first of
three
pictures to
ID this
year.
Contact
Lin@ogsa.
us
PLEASE NOTE:
New Mail Address:
OGSA
1670 South Robert Street, #333,
Nov. 1, 2008
News Editor Address :
Lin Strong (Lin@ogsa.us)
168 N. Lake St., Forest Lake, MN 55025
651-269-3580
New Library Address:
MN Genealogical Society
1185 Concord St. No., South St. Paul, MN
OGSA Phone No. (651) 451-6472
MGS Hours:
Tuesday
6:30—9:30 p.m.
Wednesday
10 a.m.—4 p.m.
Thursday
10 a.m.—4 p.m.
6:30—9:30 p.m.
Saturday
10 a.m.—4 p.m.
Our Annual
Tea Party
Don’t miss this fun
event!
Great
Do you need help accessing your newsletOstfriesen • ter
on our website? You can view this
Tea &
online whether you get a paper copy or
not!
Desserts Please
contact lin@ogsa.us or mnmax424@
www.ogsa.us
msn.com and we’ll walk you through it.
• Or we can also send you a copy by pdf file
if that does not work. The pictures are in
color, you can print it out or just save a
copy on your computer for later use.
ADDRESS CHANGE? Contact us at ogsa@ogsa.us
OSTFRIESEN GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
1670 South Robert Street, #333
Address Service Requested
32
U.S.POSTAGE
PAID
PERMIT NO. #21
Anoka, MN

OGSA - 2 - Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America (OGSA)

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