AMERICANAMERICAN- ---OSTFRIESEN … · AMERICANAMERICAN- ---OSTFRIESEN ZEITUNGOSTFRIESEN...

AMERICANAMERICANAMERICANAMERICAN----OSTFRIESEN ZEITUNGOSTFRIESEN ZEITUNGOSTFRIESEN ZEITUNGOSTFRIESEN ZEITUNG A PUBLICATION OF THE OSTFRIESEN GENEALOGICAL SOCIET Y OF AMERICA

EALA FREYA FRESENA! LEVER DOD ALS SLAV! April 2007 Volume 10, Issue 2

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OSTFRIESEN GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY OSTFRIESEN GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY OSTFRIESEN GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY OSTFRIESEN GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY Research Facility: 168 North Lake Street, Unit #3, Forest

Lake, MN 55025 Officers are elected for a two year term and will serve during 2007 and 2008. OGSA OFFICERS: President—Sharon Arends, [email protected] Vice President—Gene Janssen: email: [email protected] Treasurer—Lübbert Kruizenga, [email protected]

Recording Secretary—Nancy Jensen, [email protected] Past President—Buck Menssen, [email protected] (new)

BOARD MEMBERS: Lin Strong: (651) 269-3580 (cell) [email protected] (New) Dr. James Limburg: [email protected] Ray Kleinow: [email protected] Greg Thorne: [email protected] Jill Morelli: [email protected] C. Robert Appledorn: [email protected] Rick Gersema: [email protected] Zella Mirick: [email protected] (NEW!)

COMMITTEE COORDINATORS: Program & Meeting Committee: Buck Menssen Publicity: Lübbert Kruizenga, Lin Strong Library: Lin Strong, Zella Mirick Membership Coordinators: Crystal Olson, Norm Hensley Mail Coordinator— Zella Mirick

AMERICAN-OSTFRIESEN ZEITUNG STAFF: Lin Strong, News Editor Contributing Authors: Jill Morelli, Rudy Wiemann, Gene Janssen, Zella Mirick, Jeanee Thompson Columnists: Jeanee Thompson, Cheryl Meints, Lin Strong Zella Mirick

A M E R I C A N - O S T F R I E S E N Z E I T U N G

A P U B L I C A T I O N O F T H E O S T F R I E S E N G E N E A L O G I C A L S O C I E T Y O F A M E R I C A

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, For-est 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 mate-rials for presentation and grammar. The editor will correct er-rors and may need to determine length of copy. Contributors are responsible for accuracy, omissions and fac-tual errors. Cite documentation for facts or statistical informa-tion 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. Materials not otherwise attributed, were prepared by the editor.

Copyright @ 2007 Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America

OGSA MEMBERSHIP 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 dis-counts, and access to the OGSA library. TO JOIN OGSA—Send your check for $18 ($34—2 years, $48—3 years), payable to OGSA, to OGSA, 168 North Lake Street, #3, Forest Lake, MN 55025. Foreign membership is $22. We can send you our bank and account number and you can deposit your membership at Sparkasse Emden if you prefer. ♦ The membership year is from November 1 through Octo-

ber 31. You will receive one reminder post card in De-cember 2005 if you do not renew before the end of the year.

♦ If you join midway during the year, you will receive all back issues for that year. Back issues for the past year are available for purchase.

♦ Please include your name, address, email address, phone number and eight names you are researching in Ost-friesland along with their village names.

♦ If you have any question about your membership, please do not hesitate to contact us! 651-269-3580

OGSA MISSION STATEMENT

OGSA is headquartered in Minnesota and our official name is Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America. Anyone with an-cestors from Ostfriesland or who has an interest in Ostfriesland is welcome to join. The purpose of the group is exclusively educational and spe-cifically 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, biographi-

cal and historical material relating to people of Ostfriesen descent.

♦ Work with other similar societies to preserve and protect Ost- friesen genealogy and heritage.

Our organization is a 501C3 non-profit organization. Your donations are tax-deductible.

American-Ostfriesen Zeitung

Frisians and the 7th Crusade 4,5,6

Married Once, Twice... 6

The Smokestacks of Midlum Church at Neustadtgödens

7 8

The Thirty Years War—Hessians Ostfriesen Sheep, OSB’s

9 10

Member News, Reunions Edewecht Memorial Cemetery

10 11

Windows to the Past Upleward, Recipes

11 12,13

The Grass is Always Greener... Technology 101

14,15 15

February Storm Flood 1825 Jeanee-Ology 101

16,17 17,18

Windmill on the Prairie Museum in Stickhausen

19 20

News from Ostfriesland Guilds, Zünfte, Innungen

21-23 24

Links to Deep Roots, Notes from the North

25

Friesland in the 15th Century between Burgundy & Oldenburg

26-29

New Members, Franciscan Or-der in Ostfriesland, Books. 2007 Meetings

32-33

34

Marriage Orders, Insert

Conferences, Queries, The Rites of Spring—Easter & May Day

30-31

Inside this issue:

PAGE 3 October 2003 American-Ostfriesen Zeitung

MOIN, ALLE! Happy 10th Birthday OGSA. Wow, how we have changed! About eight of us were at the first meeting and now we have almost 600 members. The first newsletter had four pages and when I see them now, I cringe! Of course you have to realize that this newsletter is much larger than typical due to the wealth of information submitted for this issue. Con-sider this our birthday gift to all of you!

We enjoyed birthday cake at our last meeting! If you didn’t come, you missed a good time and a birthday present that everyone took home!

We’ll have more birthday events planned at the conference in August. You should have received another updated brochure—don’t wait! We have tons of fun and we have lots of things planned! Plus you will meet new lifetime friends—remember it is a FAMILY RE-UNION!

The April meeting is the first weekend in April and is set aside for research. If you can, make sure you come to the June meeting when we take our show on the road and visit a German Specialty shop. Fun!

Do you need some look-ups in OSB? OGSA can help you with that. While we do charge a fee, we will look up all references in all OSB that are mentioned. Start smiling! We’re publishing more books! Von Ostfriesland Nach Amerika, Hoogstraat, Translated by Gene Janssen East Friesians in America, Schnucker/DeWall Butjadingen, Translated by Gene Janssen These are now in print and ready for you to buy! See the last page of the newsletter. The following are either being printed or are being edited. Keep tuned! The Ostfriesen, Who They Were & How They Lived (2003 Hoogstraat Conference Notes) Ostfriesen Names CD-ROM—Ostfriesen Emigrants (Data about 16,000 emigrants) And that’s not all! Gene is presently translating the book Großefehn and I’m putting together The Best of OGSA (Newsletter articles 1997-2003). Bob Appledorn has the German Valley Ortssip-penbuch near completion. And Lynn Reemstma is putting together a biography of Baptist Pastor DeNeui. We can’t do this without all of you! Thanks to all of you who support our projects with your donations, your descendents will someday thank you! If you like ancient history, you need to read the article about Friesland in the 15th century along with some of the other great articles that are in the works. Just think how much we’ve learned about Ostfriesen history, culture and customs in the past ten years! Make sure you read the Links to Deep Roots column on page 24. Cheryl has some excellent suggestions for some channel surfing on the internet! I really enjoyed them. And so many of you are enjoying Zella’s column! We’re so fortunate to have the columnists that we have. Please send them notes telling them you appreciate their work! IMPORTANT NOTICE! If you are terminally late in renewing, you might want to change your ways! As of January 2008, we will need to charge extra if you renew after the new year. We need to send out these newsletters first class and not bulk like the majority of the copies and that is more expensive. Please help us with this! If you have different summer and winter addresses, you need to inform us BEFORE you move, or we will have to again charge for first class mailing. When we send out your newsletters by bulk mail to your home address and they do NOT forward to another ad-dress, but return them to us! We then have to re-mail them by first class. This has re-cently become a larger expense and it’s not fair to the rest of our members! Come on and please help us out—these two items create a lot of work for the volunteers who deal with them!

MOVING?MOVING?MOVING?MOVING? If you move and do not con-tact us, we are charged up to $2 for each issue delivered to you with your old address.

If it is returned, we also have to send it first class and that costs over $1.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE let us know BEFORE you move.

“The French King Louis IX, whose first (Sixth) Crusade had been less than a suc-cess, allowed himself be obligated by the Roman pope to begin another such under-taking. He outfitted a fleet and an army against the Saracens who after their defeat by the Tartars had begun to stir again. Louis sent letters to the Friesians which were delivered by Gerhard, a man of erudi-

tion and eloquence. In these letters the king praised Friesian bravery and piety and extended a friendly invitation to take part in the Crusade, not only because of their bravery, but also because of the friendship which had recently developed through confronting their mutual enemy, the Emperor Wilhelm*. The emissary Gerhard had also received authority from the Pope to win others for this undertaking. He visited all parts of Friesland and in assemblies exhorted the people to offer help the Christians in Palestine. There was no other place where Gerhard would rather stay and he stayed there more often than Norden, a town famous above all others between the Ems and Weser rivers, where he brought order and laws to the still disorganized Dominican monas-tery. His assemblies did motivate the people. Wherever he visited the churches, they voluntarily gave money, and they filled the collection boxes for the crusade which were placed in all churches. For those many received the sign of the cross, and many members of all estates got ready again: the highborn, the rich, and the poor. The leaders of this undertaking went about with greatest zeal to build and outfit a fleet. Meanwhile King Louis made known to the Friesians, whom he especially desired to have along on the undertaking, that he was preparing to depart from the coast of southern France with all troops and in the accompaniment of kings, princes, and bishops on June 24 of next year in order to travel to Palestine. He asked them to also be ready and outfitted at that time with as many men as possible and not withdraw from such a pious undertaking and the certain glory it would bring them as long as such a splendid oppor-tunity was offered to them, and not show themselves unworthy of the fame of their forefathers. But these exhortations were not at all needed among the Friesians, for they gathered money with generosity and signed up so eagerly and in such numbers that it seemed as if they aimed to deplete their home country not only of money but also of men. Neverthe-less, the number of men wanting to take part in the journey ex-ceeded the amount of money needed to supply them. So as to not let the affair be adversely affected by this discrepency, announce-ments were made in the beginning of 1269 throughout Friesland that things should be organized in such a way that the number of men standing by to board the ships should not exceed the amount of money and supplies needed as well as the size of the fleet built for the Crusade. For why should a greater number of men be brought together just so that they had to hurry home again, being

without support and of no use, or to become a burden to the country they were traveling to help? Thereupon a directive was issued according to which every man who wanted to board a ship had to have seven marks silver, six stone jars of butter, half an ox, a ham, half a bushel of flour, and beyond that as many weapons and clothes as would suffice. Women were prohibited from accompanying the army. At various places in the week which followed Easter, after eve-rything had been correctly prepared and the ceremonies in ac-cordance with papal customs had been performed, all boarded the ships, which had been built in the area between the Lauwers and the Elbe rivers, gathered off Borkum, but they had to lie at anchor for not less than 20 days because of the prevailing west-ward winds. Later, all ships which the Friesians had outfitted, namely fifty cog ships besides smaller vessels were grouped together. They all departed around Pentecost and landed at a harbor in Flanders, There they were treated with hospitality by the Duch-ess Margarethe, because the Friesians had freed her from a great danger by slaying Wilhelm of Holland, the worst enemy of Flan-


The Friesians in the Seventh CrusadeThe Friesians in the Seventh CrusadeThe Friesians in the Seventh CrusadeThe Friesians in the Seventh Crusade The Friesians in the Seventh Crusade, Ubbo Emmius, “Friesisiche Geschichte, Volume II Translated by Rudy Wiemann

Return from the Crusade by Karl Friedrich Lessing Rheinisches Landesmuseum

ders. Supported with all things necessary, they soon put to sea again and after experiencing great difficulties reached Marseilles without loss of life, there to unite with the army of the king. But the French King with the King of Navarre and three sons, as well as very many princes, had already sailed from the harbor of Aigues-Mortes, not far from Marseilles (he had waited in vain for the Friesians beyond the fixed date for a while) and was now en route to Africa. Various reasons had motivated him to take this action. He had heard that the Tunisian king wavered in his religion and that there was hope that he would choose Christian-ity if his people would allow it. Furthermore, he had learned that the Saracens in Egypt and Syria were steadily receiving supplies and soldiers from Africa. If these were denied them, and the African kingdom were de-stroyed, he then could more easily defeat the sultans in those regions. Also they constantly annoyed the lands of his brother Charles on Sicily, in Italy, and in southern France. His brother would then be able to go on the Crusade with him, if he were freed from that danger. To all Christians who wanted to visit Asia or Egypt, these Afri-cans were a danger, and even now they threatened the French fleet. In the end, the Egyptian, be it if he was afraid for Tunis or because he was thinking of invading Europe and thus keep the Europeans away, had already sent enormous numbers of troops to Tunis. Thus the King thought it wiser and also easier to first wrestle the Africans down to take away the steady fear of them from the Europeans and to take away from the barbarians the hope for support, and then to lead the victorious army directly to the Orient. For that reason he had already sent Edward, the son of the English king, with another fleet and another army ahead to Palestine. There he was to keep the Saracens occupied so that they could not send help to the Africans, and so level the path for a final victory. And at first everything went well for the king, such that his good fortune seemed to correspond to his piety. He reached the harbor of Carthage without a problem, despite efforts by the Africans to keep him out. Carthage itself he soon took by force. As the vic-tor he now wanted to hurry to Tunis. On his way he slew 10,000 barbarians in a single battle . He pressed to the city with attack and siege to a point where its surrender seemed imminent. But then on account of the unhealthy climate a pernicious epidemic gripped the army and laid low the King’s son John and then the King himself (that happened on the 25th of August). Now suddenly the good fortune reversed itself. The Friesians, to get back to them, landed with their fleet on Sardinia. Confused by the various kinds of advice they received, some were pulling them hither, others yon, they finally followed their preachers, and almost against their will dropped Palestine and sailed for Africa. But as it happens when something is done without con-viction, progress was slow. They stayed in Sicily for a while, and only shortly before the King’s death or at the very time he died did they land in Carthage. Confused by the unexpected death of the King on account of whose bidding they had traveled here, they resolved to sail on to Palestine.


But then Charles, King of Naples and brother of Louis, appeared with a fleet and fresh troops, and he was soon followed by the English-man Henry, son of Emperor Richard, the Duke of Corn-wall, also with a sizable num-ber of troops. They completely restored the morale of the shocked army and also diverted the Friesians from their plan who followed Charles’ suggestion and placed themselves under the command of Count Henry of Luxembourg. The war flared up again. When they saw that it would be drawn out by the siege, they, being without fear and unwilling to tolerate delay, could only be dissuaded with difficulty from attacking the Saracens in a disorderly fashion and at the wrong time. In the end they and the cavalry were led in good battle order against the enemy who came storming out of his encampment. The commander begged the Friesians not to start something thoughtless and reckless during the attack. But they proved by their deeds that they showed as much strength as courage in bat-tle. The whole hostile army was confused by great losses it sus-tained and forced to flee and driven into the river which runs around Tunis. No fewer perished in the river current then by the


sword. Thus, the Friesians again made a name for themselves. The enemy was shut within his walls again by this defeat. Fi-nally it came to a point where he, his cour-age broken, offered peace terms to the Christians.

There is a belief that the city could have been conquered or forced to surrender if not for the terrible epidemic that raged among the troops, such that Charles preferred to use it as an ex-cuse to speed the discussions along and return to Europe. The conditions for withdrawal were 1) the return of prisoners and 2) payment to Charles of that tribute which they used to pay to the King of Sicily. Peace was to be kept with all Christians through-out the Mediterranian Sea. Thereafter, the army then led away. Charles returned to Italy with Philip, the son of his brother, and the French and Italians; of the rest everybody went back to his homeland. The word was that they wanted to renew the fighting force and the equipment for the next spring. The Friesians, disgusted by the delays, headed with a few others toward Palestine. While sailing across the hostile sea they were plagued by much misfortune and suffered very many losses due to illness and death. When they arrived in Acron - Woe! - what destitute a situation did they find the Christian state to be in. The Venetians, the Genoese, and the Pisans, who ruled in the cities were engaged in a mutually destructive tussle; and the Knights’ Orders: the Templars, the Teutonics, and the St. Johns suffered from shameful party arguments at a very wrong time. There was no King or Duke to whom they would listen, except for the Englishman who had less success with stopping the dis-agreements then was suitable. The Patriarch had died, and be-

cause of the disagreements, no one else had been appointed to his position. The Saracens who had waited intensely for a favor-able opportunity had attacked the strongest castles of the Teu-tonic and St. Johns Order which were deemed unconquerable, and had taken them or laid siege to them. The Friesians were received joyfully by the Orders. A large party of them was led by the Bishop of Tyrus into the town which was most exposed to the dangers. All clung to the hope of the arrival of the Princes and new armies. When they now were disappointed in this hope, what then were the Friesians supposed to do any longer, as the summer was well along already? For still nobody had followed them and no one was expected to come for the remainder of this year. Charles was occupied with his own affairs and with the strengthening of his power and sat-isfied with the title of King of Jerusalem. Germany without a ruler was driven by internal strife. What were the Friesians then to accomplish there with such a little group against such powerful foes, particularly as the allies were so disunited? Therefore, they asked the Orders for permis-sion to return home which was granted. Then all who were left of their host sailed back on various ships (for they did not trust their own ships any longer which by that time were no longer seaworthy) and were stranded in the harbors of Greece, Sicily, Italy, Sardinia, and France. There they still had to endure more dangers. But most of them returned home one by one, robbed by Greeks, Sicilians, and Italians, dispersed and weakened." *Wilhelm, Count of Holland, had been crowned anti-king to the often excommunicated Emperor Frederick II of Germany by the Prince-Bishop-Elector of Cologne. He was slain in a battle against the Friesians near Alkmaar, north of Amsterdam, in 1256.

By Michael Till Heinze & Lin Strong An interesting entry is found in the church book of Westrhauder-fehn. A man who was Catholic, married his Lutheran wife in the Lu-theran church in Westrhauderfehn and than some time later mar-ried her in the St. Bonifatius Catholic Langholt-Westrhauderfehn Church. Why would they do this? Normally the catholic marriage is a “sacrament” and the couples would be married by a priest in a catholic church outside of We-strhauderfehn (for example Strücklingen or Papenburg) and if later they wanted to baptize their child in a local Lutheran church like Rhaude, the pastor would say “you didn´t get married in my church, please, first get married in my church”. (and of course, “PAY” for it!) Very difficult to under-stand this mixture! Many times when it shows that the couple did not marry until after they had several children, it did not mean that they wanted

illegitimate children. At that time, they simply could not afford to marry, publish the bans, etc. The bans were typically posted for three Sundays prior to the marriage. Sometimes, only after the couple was established and even had several children could they afford the cost of getting married. Therefore, a lot of Catholics are mentioned in the Rhauderfehn area church books from 1702 until 1829, but they are not indi-cated to have another religion. While much of Ostfriesland was mostly Lutheran or Reformed Churches, this area is closer to the more Catholic Papenburg area and you may need to check into this! One of our OGSA members has an ancestor who lived in Bunde in the early 1800’s and he was a Catholic. Why was this a prob-lem? This is the quiz question that you need to answer? If you don’t know, we’ll explain in the next newsletter. Once again, you need to understand Ostfriesen history to under-stand the lives of your ancestors.

MARRIED ONCE, TWICE OR EVEN LATE...MARRIED ONCE, TWICE OR EVEN LATE...MARRIED ONCE, TWICE OR EVEN LATE...MARRIED ONCE, TWICE OR EVEN LATE...


This charming village is located southeast of Jever. The church, dominating the center of the village, founded in 1544 by exiled Mennonites, is a long, rectangular brick struc-ture with stone accents and an apse erected in 1695. A square, west tower with fili-greed, Baroque cupola from 1714. Over the portal an inscribed tablet. Interior: Noteworthy is the painting "Crucifixion of Christ" by Dutch painter, Au-gustin Terweyen, 1679. Altar from the 19th century. Pulpit and baptismal font from earliest beginnings of the church. The organ was built in 1796.

1) Emblem 2) Pulpit

3) Sculpture 4) Altar

5) Church Entrance

e 8

EvangelischeEvangelischeEvangelischeEvangelische----Lutherische Church St. Lutherische Church St. Lutherische Church St. Lutherische Church St. MauritiusMauritiusMauritiusMauritius————NeustadtgödensNeustadtgödensNeustadtgödensNeustadtgödens

St. Mauritius


In August of 1637 the Landgrave William V of Hesse-Cassel, g-g-g-g-grandfather of Frederick II who furnished the British with troops during the American Revolutionary War, set foot on East Friesian soil. An un-flinching Protestant, he had allied himself with Frederick of the Palatinate during the abortive Bohemian phase of the war and was the first German prince to ally himself

with Gustavus Adolphus upon his arrival in Germany. When after Gustavus Adolphus’s death the Swedes were sus-taining reversals, he allied himself with France and thereupon was declared an enemy of the Empire and his realm subjected to Emperor- sanctioned punitive measures, during which, in the so-called Croatian year (the Emperor drew many of his troops from non-German parts of his Empire) it was utterly devastated and its people subjected to unspeakable cruelties. 18 towns, 48 manor houses, and 300 villages were burnt to the ground. With a still intact force of 7,000 disciplined and well-trained troops, among them a French contingent, and with Dutch toler-ance, William swept aside the few redoubts at Diele, Rhaude, Detern, Weener (where he met some resistance from soldiers of the Count and from Emden which was quickly overcome) and established temporary headquarters in Jemgum. On September 5, the Hessians marched into Leer and made preparations for a siege of Stickhausen. The Mansfeld times were still fresh in the memory of many Friesians, and the roads to Emden were clogged with refugees, including Count Ulrich and his court. Others fled to Oldenburg and Jever or shipped over to the islands. However, it soon became apparent that the situation in no way resembled the Mansfeld times as the Hes-sians were well led and disciplined. Of course, they needed money, and before Stickhausen and Friedeburg fell, emissaries of the Count, the Estates, and the Dutch met with them in Leerort (which still had a Dutch garri-son) and worked out a support agreement. Ostfriesland would offer quarters and fuel, mostly peat, for 20 companies @ 100 foot soldiers and seven squadron cavalry @ 50-60 riders plus 12,000 Taler per month in cash. A few days after this agreement the Landgrave died. His wife, the Landgravine Amelia Elisabeth, a very resolute and intelligent woman, had the troops parade past her and her 8 year old boy and accepted for him their oath of loyalty. For her began 13 years of negotiations with the East Friesians, Dutch, Swedes, French, and Imperials: with the latter about the freedom to exer-cise her Reformed religion throughout Germany (not surpris-ingly nixed), with the French about subsidies, with the Swedes about logistical support, and with the East Friesians about greater contributions (though she allowed those to be reduced temporarily when the dikes were breached again). The Swedes and French had a keen interest in her remaining

THE THIRTY YEARS WARTHE THIRTY YEARS WARTHE THIRTY YEARS WARTHE THIRTY YEARS WAR————THE HESSIANSTHE HESSIANSTHE HESSIANSTHE HESSIANS where she was, and the Dutch where glad to see the Empire in a weakened condition. Count Ulrich was chafing under the occupa-tion of his land and was thinking of armed resistance for which he had the support of Aurich and Norden of the Second Estate and of almost the entire Third Estate. Emden and a good part of the First Estate demurred, thinking that this would only make matters worse. They also harbored the sus-picion that their Count in command of an army just might turn into an autocrat like the Count of Oldenburg. The Landgravine, of course, heard of these preparations and brought in additional Hessian troops, and Ulrich was warned by the Swedes that he would have them to contend with. But Ulrich was determined to go ahead, hired discharged merce-naries in the Netherlands and fortified Aurich. Soon there were sharp engagements in Victorbur and Wiegboldsbur. The Hessians threatened to flood the land with their cavalry, the Friesians threatened to flood it with water from the North Sea and burn down their own houses. It took emissaries from the Netherlands and Oldenburg to calm things down, and Ulrich promised to re-duce his troop level to 200 men. In September 1647 a 6,000 men strong Imperial force invaded Ostfriesland from the south, aiming to displace the Hessians. They took Jemgum after a short siege and demanded 5,000 Talers from the Count at once and 17,000 Talers per month thereafter. However, a combined army of Swedes and Hessians remaining in their homeland moved against the Catholic city of Paderborn and forced these invaders to withdraw. The Hessian colonel who had surrendered Jemgum lost his head to the sword. In 1648 peace negotiations began in earnest. First to sign were the Netherlands, finally free and independent, and a completely exhausted Spain. By October, all parties had signed on to the Treaty of Westphalia, and this 30 year nightmare came to an end. Count Ulrich was thankful to God to have lived to see it happen. He died on November 1 of that year. Ostfriesland never had an active part in this war, it just suffered through it, more than some regions, less than others. But there still was no getting rid of the Hessians. Their allied French had insisted on 600,000 Taler in reparations, one tenth of it to be paid by Ostfriesland. The Swedes stayed where they were until they were paid five million Taler, of which Ostfriesland paid 7,000. There were other payments to be made as well such that the first two years of peace seemed as burdensome as some of the war years. But on August 10, 1650, the Hessians finally marched south again and out of Ostfriesland, and on the following Sunday the church bells pealed everywhere to welcome the arrival of peace in the land.

Based on “Geschichte Ost-frieslands” by Onno Klopp and google; Translated by Rudy Wiemann

If you have a used OSB that you no longer need—please check with us to see if someone else is interested in pur-chasing it.


OSTFRIESEN SHEEPOSTFRIESEN SHEEPOSTFRIESEN SHEEPOSTFRIESEN SHEEP For many Ostfriesen, Easter means not only the hunt for eggs, but lambs. Our an-cestors knew a lot more about raising sheep than we do. Sheep played an important part of their lives both for the meat and for their fleece. Sheep are still a common site on the dikes after Easter each year. Two types of sheep, the Marsch and Schnucken (heather) grazers, were indigenous to Ostfriesland. The Marsch species were further divided into three separate types – Inland, Groningen and Friesland sheep. The last were the largest and most im-portant. Sheep seldom grazed on good, arable land. Their close-to-the-ground bite was det-rimental to land seeded to grass and besides sheep were indiscriminate in their grazing choices. Thus the animals were generally herded on roadsides and along canals. In winter, they were seldom sheltered in barns or stalls except during the most extreme cold. On winter days, there was never enough hay to feed them. Until about 1880, villages gave the care of their flocks to a boy who herded them along the dikes. Sheep still graze the dikes today because their foot tread and sharp hooves along the embankment pack and harden the sod on the dikes. Especially in the Krummhörn and Emden areas, sheep were and are still a common site along the dikes. Owners of the smaller Schnucken sheep obtained grazing rights on state owned lands. They were herded in groups of 150 to 500. Under the care of the herders, these flocks grazed land over much of Ostfrieland. Sheepherders were given train-ing from early childhood and became expert in their trade. Especially sought were herders from Hannover, Oldenburg or Munsterland. Pri-vate owners of sheep first had to get a permit to graze on state-owned land and paid a yearly fee of two Stuber to the king’s rent caretaker. Schnucken sheep usually remained outdoors and at night were bedded down in open air enclosures. There was little profit raising sheep on the Moor as this breed was not good for milking and their wool, as compared to the Marsch sheep was of poorer quality. Shearing of the Marsch sheep be-gan in early spring w h i l e t h e Schnucken were sheared in both spring and fall. A pelt of wood weighed about 7509 grams and was sold to hat makers. The fleece of Marsch sheep weighed about four or five kilograms while that of a Frie-sian sheep would weigh upwards of seven kg. The fleece of the Friesian sheep was superior to all other races for the length, fine-ness and suppleness. Most Ostfriesen wool was spun into clothing by village weavers.

FAMILY REUNIONS… ♦ Ruter, Rüter, Reuter Families Family Reunion in Grundy Center, IA. Contact Melvin & Janice Colberg 815-493-6423 or email [email protected] for more information. This event will be held on Saturday, July 14 in Grundy Center, IA. ♦ Descendents of Habbe Cornelius & Ariana Janssen, Sunday, July 15, 2007. Contact Lin Strong for more information. ♦ Wiemann Family Reunion—Contact the

editor for more info.

MEMBER NEWS... Lee Saathoff would like to thank all who sent cards, emails and came to Marion’s funeral. Your prayers were much appreciated. Cheri Peschel has some health issues and appreciates emails and cards. Jan-Ahlrich Sonnenberg from Leer died earlier this year. He was a great friend and many of you from the 2005 tour met him at the Folmhusen School Museum of which he was a great supporter. Ann Gilligan is now popping wheelies in a wheel chair! She and her husband mailed the newsletters for many years and she is a sweetie, and so is Jim!

QUERIES... Searching for info. on Heie/Heye Meents, born around 1825, place unknown? He was married to Grietje/Greetje Nörder born in 1829 in Riepe. Children: Margrete, Renke, Anna. They first lived near Peoria and later moved to Nebraska. Contact the editor! Searching for relatives of Refert Beek-man. Family left Bremen on Jan. 20, 1907 for Dempster,. SD. [email protected]

Jann Janssen, b. 22 July 1818 Germany, d. 8 Oct 1892 Morrison, Whiteside Co., IL m. 1861 Ger. to Tatje Cordes ("Theda") Gold-stein, b. 8 Apr 1836 Ostfreisland, Germany d. 25 Aug 1927 Illinois; son Cord Hinrich Janssen (later became Henry Johnson), b. 1866 Ger., m. 28 Dec. 1885 Hopkins, White-side Co., IL Amelia Janika b. 1857 Ger, d. 28 Nov. 1894 Morrison, Whiteside Co., Il (Parents Christian Janika & Anna John-son.) Henry & Amelia had a son: George, b. 1 Jun 1886 Morrison, Whiteside Co., IL, d. 5 Feb 1940 Detroit Lakes, Becker, MN m. 21 Sep 1911 Freeport, Stephenson Co., IL to Ida Holdeman. (I have her lineage) Becca Hovde [email protected]


By Zella Weaver Mirick More from the Ostfriesische Nachrichten of days gone by. This was THE newspaper for the immigrant families in the US and the valued contact with those they left behind in Ost-friesland, too. Do you have any back issues? We want them! From the 10 June 1913 issue: Reported from Schirumer/Leegmoor: Innkeeper Coordes of Schirum has torn down the old inn and will build another inn on a new site. (Gasthaus). From the 1 Feb 1885 issue: Engagement of Albertus Lay and Sara Grüs of Hastings, NE Engagement of Harbert Wessels and Geeske Kuper of Arca-dia, IA. Birth of a son on 15 January to Rev. G.E. Engelmann and his wife, born Fokerts, of Applington, IA. Birth of a daughter to R.H. Reints and wife, born Dreyer, of Applington, IA. Birth of a son on 21 Jan 1885, to E. Sinning and wife of Breda, IA. Birth of a daughter to F.J. Hoogstraat and wife of Arcadia, IA. Birth of a daughter on 28 Dec 1884 to Ph. Symens and wife of Baileyville, IL. Birth of a daughter on 29 Dec 1884 to Fr. Hoogstraat and wife of Wall Lake, IA. From the 20 Mar 1915 issue: The following is a partial list of those listed as killed in action (WW I) or wounded and/ or missing and later declared dead. Hermann Janssen, Wittmund; Heinrich Würdemann, Westerholt Heero Korporal, Falchsmeer; Hermann Blum, Westermarsch Hermann Henning, Emden; Herman Lindemann, Hesel Heinrich Wilken, Münkeboe; Dirk Blum, Westermoordorf Johann Bohlsen, Ostfhauderfehn; Eilder Meyer, Bunde Jan Weerda, Barthausen; Gerhard Amman, Langholt Poppe Buttjer, Norden; Ihmel Freese, Hagermarsch Reinhard Janssen Ackermann, Borkum; Hermann Börner, Neustadtgödens Johann Suntken, Oldeborg; Ihmel Janssen, Netzmergrode Thees Garrels, Bühren; Arnold Sejassen, Carolinensiel From the 1 May 1914 issue: Deaths reported from Ostfriesland: Ammersum – Hebe Schulte 81 years Aurich – Margarete, daughter of Ede Menken age 23 years Etta, daughter of Ludwig Specht age 2 years Bakemoor – the widow Helene Jauken born Albers 85 years Berumbur – Heye Börgmann 55 years

THE WINDOW TO THE PASTTHE WINDOW TO THE PASTTHE WINDOW TO THE PASTTHE WINDOW TO THE PAST Boen – Janna, daughter of Bernhard Stubbe, 82 years Borssum – Tönjes Ohling 29 years Detern – Gesina, daughter of Berhard Siefkes, 26 years Ditzum – Koert, son of Koert Immermann, 21 years Ditzumerhammrich – Everdiena, daughter of A. Janssen, 20 years Emden – widow Alberdina Waalkes born Veldhuis, 80 years; Eggerke Wiechmann 66 years; widow Magdalena Möller born Klugkist 56 years; wife of Johann Bandy, Mettina born Arends 44 years Siegelsum – wife of J. Janssen, Tätje born Peters 24 years Uthwerdum – Eilt Claassen 37 years VeenhuserKolonie – Christoffer Blank 66 years From the 10 June 1913 issue: Reported from Westerhauderfehn 19 May: Hermannus Harms Freese is buried today. He was with his par-ents, Gastwirt Hinderk Freese of Rhaudermoor. He was the only son of his parents and died after a long illness. The wife of H.E.Hobbi, Lümke born Drahtjer died in her 66th year. On the 16th died the wife of Johann Evers Taute, Maria born Cas-sen of Holterfehn, age 81 years. Reported from LeMars, Iowa 31 May 1913 The weather is beautiful and warm and the corn is growing well.

STATE OF REMEMBRANCESTATE OF REMEMBRANCESTATE OF REMEMBRANCESTATE OF REMEMBRANCE THE MEMORIAL CEMETERY IN EDEWECHT

Near the end of World War II the strategic plans of the Su-preme Command of the Army made a final decision April 4, 1945 for a line of retreat to the northwest. Under this plan a line from the Ems canal to Oldenburg to Hunte by Elsfleth was to be se-cured. Work contingents and diverse military forces were hur-riedly gathered together and block houses built in the hope that Canadian troops driving from the south could be held back for a few days and that the territory of Ostfriesland might be spared the devastating land battles that were sure to occur. By the middle of April advance elements of Canadian troops had reached the canal so that fortification work came to a halt. In the night of April 16-17 1945 the Canadians advanced in assault boats over the canal by Edewecht to reach the north shore and established a beachhead. The defenders north of the canal launched artillery and air at-tacks. Shells rained down far into the rear areas. The greater part of the inhabitants fled in fright to the neighboring moor land in the hope of escape. When the Canadians finally took the canal a house-to house battle in the town of Edewecht followed. Nearly every house in the town was destroyed. More than 400 German soldiers lost their lives during this bat-tle of several days. They were first buried in field graves and then re-interred in the Memorial Cemetery of Edewecht. On the Cana-dian side about 300 soldiers died in the area of Edewecht-Bad Zwischenahm, most of whom were returned to their home country of Canada for burial.


The Grass is Always Greener...The Grass is Always Greener...The Grass is Always Greener...The Grass is Always Greener... ED NOTE: The last Wednesday in September 2006 a couple of us visited with Teijo Doornkamp and Sigrid Kriiger at the Ar-chives in Groningen. This was a quest for information as we’d heard before that there is a wealth of data in these archives—not only for those who have ancestors in the Netherlands, but also for Ostfriesland. The archives are state of the art—and wonderfully organized. This article is written (with our thanks) by Teijo. During the 2006 visit of OGSA to Ostfriesland, I had the pleas-ure to meet again with Lin Strong and Zella Mirick. Sigrid Kri-jger and I were available to help them search the archives in an efficient way. We spent a whole day in the archives in Gronin-gen, sharing good humor and frustration also when we weren’t able to find what we were looking for. But progress was there! Lin was able to augment a line of her Dutch ancestry from the 19th century back to the early 17th century! And Zella con-firmed a hypothesis in Wedde, strengthening it with original documents. During the visit it became clear that a large amount of Ostfri-sians can be found in these archives. I took up the challenge and wrote this article to pave the way for those who want to be as successful that Lin and Zella were. Hollandgänger In the 17th

records than the genlias site. And it will enable you to search on Ostfrisian place names as well. The catch is you will have to use a Dutch user interface. So if you don’t have a Dutch dictionary, you may want to pick one up and learn some of the basic words.

You can enter free format search criteria here with * as a wild-card. Try it with search criterium ‘Oost Friesland’ (the Dutch name for Ostfriesland). I found 75 different archives (not entries but unique collections of multiple entries) in which this name was present.

♦ The first entry is Doopinschrijvingen (baptism entries). Usage is also free!

Secondary data: Judicial Archives before 1811 A very good resource for genealogy in Groningen are judicial archives. A lot of transcriptions have been made of these archives especially in the Reiderland area (the Dutch region not the Ger-man Rheiderland!). A good website to start here is: http://geneaknowhow.net/digi/resources.html, in which most of the available resources are men-tioned.

A special word on marriage contracts: in Groningen many mar-riage contracts (huwelijkscontracten) have been saved. The rea-son is that in many cases these contracts were written by the church minister of a parish because of the lack of solicitors, etc.

These marriage records contain a wealth of family relations. These transcriptions will look like this (it’s one of my ancestors who was born in Freepsum, I got my first name from his father): H.C. R.A. Nieuw Beerta (V ff fol. 9) 11-5-1732

American-Ostfriesen Zeitung Page 15

Sibrandt Thijen en Hilje Jans. Voor de bruidegom: Anke Thijen, zuster, Eede Thijen, broer, Simon Jans, oom aan moederszijde. Voor de bruid: Jan Harmens, vader, Mentie (Meentje) Jans, broer. Getuigen Geuke Willem Abrahams en Jan Wilkens. (rechterlijke archieven Nieuw Beerta RA V ff fol. 9)

These transcriptions mentioned on Internet are free, those on disk are sold, but are not expensive.

I have an electronic pre-release from the Genlias marriages 1750-1811, it has to be checked so it cannot be published at this time. But, as an example I am including the information in-cluded (in the insert in this newsletter) marriages in which I rec-ognized both male and female to be from Ostfriesland. You’ll note the different ways the place names are spelled. So be prepared and try whatever variation you can imagine. I think it’s clear the Dutch archives are a worthwhile visit. Need help? Contact me at [email protected] and I’ll see what I can do.

TECHNOLOGY 101TECHNOLOGY 101TECHNOLOGY 101TECHNOLOGY 101 COMPUTER GENEALOGY COMPUTER GENEALOGY COMPUTER GENEALOGY COMPUTER GENEALOGY By Lin Strong Okay, I’m in love—with RootsMagic! This program has all of the ease of the old Origins program that (gasp) is what I was still using! I can hear some of you out there groaning, but I liked how easy it was. This one is at least 100 times better. ♦ There is a tutorial that you must watch—it is easily under-

stood, even for those electronically challenged such as me. ♦ The sourcing is actually easy. You can also source an en-

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♦ It will also source your bibliographical data properly for-matted, it’s called fill in the blanks.

♦ There are not only pedigree charts and family charts, but also a descendent chart for up to seven generations from the main page.

♦ The reports are amazing—over 14 types of charts with sub-categories under some of the charts and lists.

♦ Multi-media tabs so you can add pictures, video clips. ♦ To do lists for each individual—and who doesn’t need that? ♦ Adding data or editing facts made easy. ♦ Data can be imported from a GED COM file. ♦ Many different sorting features ♦ Program includes Personal Historian and other features. ♦ Wall charts—in color even ♦ The best part of it—it costs less than $50! ♦ If you’ve been struggling on what program to use, I person-

ally recommend this one due to the ease of use. ♦ www.RootsMagic.com (version 3 is what I previewed). ♦ Phone 800-766-8762 - Don’t wait!


UPLEWARD UPLEWARD UPLEWARD UPLEWARD Excerpted from Google and O. G. Houtrouw’s “Ostfriesland.” Translated by Rudy Wiemann (A Dorf is a small village) This ancient farming town, present population 421, is located in the Krummhörn region of Ostfriesland - the area along the Outer Ems between the Dollart and Ley Bays - six miles south of Greet-siel and within walking distance of the levee. It was first men-tioned around 1,000 AD in the property and tax rosters of Wer-den Abbey in Essen on the Ruhr River (founded by St. Ludger, missionary among the Friesians, in 799) where it was called Plen-nurdh. 500 years later it was Plegewert and variations thereof, probably meaning protective (Ger. Pflegen) Mound (Ger. Warf). Eventually an “Up” was placed in front of it, meaning “on top of”. But all these changes didn’t keep Krummhörner’s from this calling it “Plewert”. Its “Warf” obviously predates the dike by centuries. In fact, archeological excavations point to construction activities there as early as the 5th or 6th century, i.e., the Early Middle Ages. Upleward once possessed a magnificent castle (Burg) which over time was turned into a beautiful Renais-sance dwelling. Here resided the Edelinga family of chieftains of whom a Hilmer was the first member to be mentioned, in 1409. His grandson Ubbo Tidena married into the well-known Beninga family of Grimersum and their descendants would adopt the al-ternate name Beninga. Ubbo’s son Imel fell in the Bat-tle of Jemgum. The last chieftain of this family was Tido II who proudly called himself Chieftain of Upleward, Middelstewehr, Hamswehrum and Uiterstewehr. He died in 1594. His elaborate grave cover stone has been preserved and placed upright in the court yard of nearby Pewsum’s “Burg”. Through inheritance Upleward’s castle along with its estate (three farms @ 350 “Grasen”) and social position went to the zu Inn-und Knyphausen family. That family is still in possession of the well-known drawing of the castle. It was razed in 1782. The Reformed church of Upleward, built in the 14th century in the Gothic style, was formerly dedicated to St. Donatus. The original very narrow windows with pointed arches are still pre-served in the north and south wall. The remaining windows were enlarged in safer times. In the adjacent parsonage, one of the most important Dutch theologians of the 17th century, Johann Bogerman, was born. Bogerman’s father was one of the numerous Dutch refugees who served as pastors to the Reformed congregations in the Krummhörn area. Johann died in 1637 as professor of Theology at the University of Franeker, west of Leeuwarden, in Dutch Westfriesland. (Franeker - Friesian: Frjentsjer - is one of the eleven cities of Westfriesland. From 1585 to 1811, it housed the University of Franeker which was the second oldest university of the Netherlands.)

The schools in Ost-friesland’s towns in the 16th century were well organized and run by the local churches. The pastor was the supervisor and the teacher served as custodian and organist during church services. Dodo Wildvang, the “Geologist of Ost-friesland”, 1873-1940, taught here. With 60,000 drillings he systematically researched Ostfriesland’s soil. They served as the basis for numerous research papers and geological maps. Historically most people in and around this rural town earned their livelihood through farming activities. In the first half of the last century, there were twelve farms and several small-scale operations. In the town itself, besides the parson and the teacher, there were representatives of the usual trades and crafts which make civilized life possible: a mason, a painter, a baker, a grocer, an innkeeper, etc. But this picture is changing. To quote nearby Norden’s well-known TV personality and author Heiko Engelkes (Ostfriesland Magazin, 1/2006) who makes his permanent home in Paris, “Ostfriesland has become more modern, more beautiful. Everywhere one notices that its appearance is being burnished to turn it into a preferred vaca-tionland for the visitor. When one walks through the coastal

Church & Bell Tower

American-Ostfriesen Zeitung Page 13

towns, but also inland through places such as Aurich and Witt-mund, one is forced to say: Impressive! Something is being done here to evoke the feeling that Ostfriesland is neither old-fashioned nor suffering from neglect. A happy union has been created be-tween its traditional character and the modern world which is in harmony with its landscape and is towns.”

Upleward is no exception. It has spruced itself up for the tourist as well. Look it up in the internet and behold the many offers for vaca-tion homes, apartments, rooms, and places to dine. Biking and hik-ing paths have been laid out, and guided walks over the tidal flats at low tide are offered. When the tide is in, there is swimming and surfing.

One thing, though, the coast of Krummhörn does not have - some-thing most tourists drawn to the sea long for - a sandy beach. But those clever Uplewarders have found an answer to this problem: a dry beach. Clear an area on the land side of the dike, bring in thou-sands of cubic yards of sand, set up beach chairs, a volleyball court, a stage, benches, grill station, refreshment stand, a wooden ship for kids to play Störtebeker’s pirates in, and wait for things to happen.

Queries came in from far and wide, “What is a dry beach?” The answer was, “Come and have a look!” and people came, lots of them. After all, a walk from the “dry beach” over the dike to the water’s edge at high tide is no farther than from the back row on the sandy beach of Cancun to getting your feet wet.

Gate at Campen Lighthouse with Upleward Emblem

OSTFRIESEN RECIPESOSTFRIESEN RECIPESOSTFRIESEN RECIPESOSTFRIESEN RECIPES Kris Salava’s family pancake recipes—try them, they are great!

SPECKEN’ DICKEN’ Ingredients: 4 eggs 2 cups dark karo syrup 2 cup milk 2 cups white or wheat flour 1 1/2 cup rye flour 1 Tsp. baking powder 1 1/2 tsp. salt 1/3 to 1/2 of a 1 oz. container of Anise Seed Mix it all together and let sit for a couple of hours or over-night. Then fry in pan at low temp (or they burn) and in oil (spray oils do not work), and add bacon and/or sausage prior to flipping. It makes about 24 small pancakes.

PANNEKOEKEN Heat oven to 425 degrees Ingredients: 5 eggs 1cup flour 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt 1 Tbsp vegetable oil 1 cup milk Put the 1 Tbsp. of oil in a baking dish and place in the oven while it is pre-heating. Sift together flour, salt, baking powder. Beat in milk, then beat in eggs one at a time. When oven is at 425 degrees, pour mixture into the heated oil in your baking dish and bake for 20 minutes. DO NOT open oven before the 20 minutes.

LOW GERMAN FOLK SAYINGS... • Ostfreesland is as ‘n Pankauk, de Rand is’t beste. (Ostfriesland is like a pancake, the edge is the best part.) • Arm Mann Pankauk un riek Mann Krankheit

ruken wiet. (Poor man’s pancake and rich man’s sickness reek a ways.) • Dummste Buuren hemm ‘n dickste Tuffels. (The dumbest farmers have the biggest potatoes.) • Elker Ding hatt ’n Enne, man de Wurst hett twee. (Everything has an end, but the sausage has two.) • ‘N halv Ei is beeter as ’n leege Dopp. (Better half an egg than an empty shell.) • ‘N gaude Schwien frett all. (A good pig eats everything.) • Word nix so heet eeten as ’t kokt word. (Nothing is eaten as hot as it is cooked.)

By Sigrid Krijger-de Grave Sitting in a comfortable, warm apartment we rented on the Dutch `wadden`-isle Schiermonnikoog, with a beautiful view over the dunes and the rough North Sea, I´m inspired to write about an old letter I bought recently on the internet. The letter is from 1825 and refers to the concerns of a citizen of Emden after the February Storm Flood that hit the coast of the northern Nether-lands, Germany and Denmark on February 3 and 4, 1825. Autumn 1824 brought several minor storms and a lot of rain. On February 1, 1825 the weather had already been tempestuous for days. But the weather calmed down a bit on February 2nd. The dikes had been weakened by all the wind and water. The upkeep of the dikes was inferior because of the bad economy of those days. On February 3rd the northern wind suddenly increased. The full moon of that night brought up a spring tide. This combina-tion was too much for the weakened dikes. The dikes broke in several places and the worst flood of the 19th century occurred. About 800 people and 45,000 cattle died that night. The damage in the Netherlands was enormous. Half of the prov-ince of Friesland was flooded, 100,000 hectares of land were under water. The city of Sneek became an isolated island in the middle of the flood and many thousands of animals were lost. The flood lasted until April, when the water finally receded leav-ing disaster in its wake. The influence of the flood, leaving rotten grass land, stinking graveyards and dead animals everywhere, had a long lasting effect. One of them being disease and espe-cially the cholera epidemic that took a tenth of the population of Sneek in the hot summer of 1826. The small island of Schokland, a fisherman’s island in the Zuiderzee, was completely flooded. On the highest spot, there was more than a meter of water. On Urk, the lighthouse died completely because of the high water. The ´Wadden´ Islands met the first attack of the flood waters. 74 inhabitants of Halligen drowned. The main part of Pellworms grass lands were flooded by salt water and the northerly point of Jutland was separated from the main land. In the Netherlands the flood took hundreds of lives, but the northern coast of Germany suffered less. After the huge flood of Christmas 1717, the dike height had been raised and protected much of the shoreline. But still about 200 people drowned in Ostfriesland. The Ostfreisen Islands were especially hard hit. Langeoog broke into three pieces. On Wangerooge the new lighthouse collapsed. Baltrum lost the village Westdorf and only two houses remained on the island. On Juist, the dike at Hammersee broke. On the mainland, Emden suffered most. The dike at Larrelt also broke leaving disaster in its wake. In Wittmund, Deichrentmeis-ter Arend Hoppe and his workmen saved the town by defending the Friedrich Sluice. For his bravery, the King of Hanover hon-

The February Storm Flood of 1825The February Storm Flood of 1825The February Storm Flood of 1825The February Storm Flood of 1825 oured him with a silver medal.

It was a disaster that affected the whole German population. In the entire country, aid commissions collected money and goods to help the flood victims. Help that was deeply appreciated and needed by the victims. This is letter from Heinrich Südern of Emden. “Sent the 20th of April [18]25 To the honourable Provincial Aid Commission in Aurich: The royal government of Lippe-Detmold promised me, from the money collected by the people of Lippen to help the victims of the flood; especially to me in view of my great casualties and in good remembrance to my deceased father, the late pastor senior of the Saint Nicholas Church in Lemgo, the amount of 100 Rth (=Reichs Thaler); because now I lost my money, and the necessary repara-tions cost me a lot; so I'm asking the very honourable Aid Com-mission to take my supplication, in case the 100 Rt aren't in the pay-desk yet, please sent me the money in advance. If the honourable Provincial Aid Commission wants to contribute some for me or my family, as much as you want to, I will accept this with warm feelings. My casualties are much to big. Not only to this last flood; but we had water in the house this last winter eleven times, and were as much times ready to flee. Beside this I'm not able to collect out-standing debts; I'm fully without business, so I'm looking for-ward, breadless and with a huge family, and fearing the future badly. Only implicit faith in God is keeping up my courage. It will be all good at the end, and this I know for sure; the hearts of the honourable Aid Commission will be blessed, by supporting and encouraging me and my family as much as they can. With feelings of the greatest respect and thankfulness, Yours truly, Heinrich Südern, Emden April 19, 1825” Of course I’m curious if this Heinrich did manage to overcome this disaster. If someone has information about the family Südern from Emden, I would very appreciate being informed. Sources:

• http://ppswmm.ppsw.rug.nl/~ruiter/verhalen/overstroming-1825_main.htm

• http://ysbrechtum.com/historie/historie_deel8.htm

• http://www.schokkervereniging.nl/Kranten/Kranten_1985/Het_verlaten_eiland.html

• http://www.sneek.nl/sjablonen/dw/default.asp?objectID=759&linkID=31880&txt=0

• http://www.muehlenapotheke.com/sturm.html

• http://www.unterkunft-ostfriesland.de/ferienwohnung/langeoog.html

• http://www.goruma.de/naturkatastrophen/sturmfluten.html

• http://www.ostfrieslandonline.de/index.spm?sid=10553

• http://www.genealogie-forum.de/ostfrld/geschichte/geschichte09.htm http://www.ostfriesischelandschaft.de/obio/detail.php?id=263 Detail from the letter: „….Mein Verlust ist gar zu groß. Nicht allein bey denen letzten Ueberströmungen; aber wirr haben vorichenn Winter zu 11mal das Wasser im Hause gehabt,



und eben so viel mal sind wir auf dem Sprunge gewesen.. Illustrations: 1) Front of the letter 2) Back of the letter 3) Heinrich Süderns seal

By Jeanee Janssen Thompson Courthouse Documentation After you have studied all of your home sources: Family Bibles, correspondence, old photographs, newspaper clippings, auto-graph books and most importantly, your older relatives; you will need to start looking for documentation for each event that takes place in an ancestor’s lifetime. Birth, death, marriage, taxation, land records and probate. Most useful information from the 1800 and 1900s would have been recorded at the county level. Know when your county was formed, and whether or not it was split from a parent county. There are books at most genealogy libraries listing the county, formation date, parent county, address of the courthouse, phone number, records’ start dates and hours. Or ‘google’ the county and get its information.

In early New England, records were kept at the town level. John Gray’s children were listed between the sale of Martin Dale’s city lot to Gershom Post and the death record of the widow Baxter. If the town records have not been indexed, you will need to read them page-by-page. Many of these old towns have a town histo-rian to contact.

If you live or frequently visit the area near the County Court-house that your ancestors would have used, make friends with the records clerks. Let them know you are willing to get a little dust on your jeans and up your nose digging through old volumes. Be polite but do not monopolize their time. Bring some fresh cookies. Smile; the genealogists behind you will also benefit by your atti-tude and care of the records and record-keepers. Some have al-lowed me entrance into the records room, rather than carry out all the volumes themselves. Find out if you can get actual copies made or if you are allowed to use your digital camera. If they do not allow entry and can’t take the time to assist you, they may have a designated local person you need to contact with your “To Do List”.

If your visit is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime vacation to the ancestral homestead and environs, do your homework before you go so as not to waste precious time. Make sure the records you need have not been microfilmed by the LDS. If they have, you can order them and study them whenever and for however long you would like at your local Family History Center.

Check to see if the record’s index has been posted on the inter-net. If the Social Security Death Index doesn’t give you a clue, Minnesota has posted a death records’ index for a roughly one- hundred-year period: 1901-2001. There is also a birth record in-dex. These will tell you if you are using the right County Courthouse. Illinois has a marriage index available online. Check the relevant state and county internet site. Ances-try.com has indexed some of the older records, some linked to their digital source. Use the digital version of every documen-tation source that you can find, leaving a smaller To Do list for your visit.

At the Court House ask if the older records are available or if

♦ BOOK REVIEW By Lin Cornelius Strong

One of our privileges as genealogists is educating our children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews about our ancestry. So how do you make that interesting enough so they will actually read it?

As I was going through the children’s section at Barnes & No-ble, I found an entire series of books published by Scholastic. The one I found fascinating was IF YOUR Name Was Changed at Ellis Island. Written by Ellen Levine, it was originally printed in 1993 and has recently been updated and reprinted. Easy to read, easy to understand and interesting. Question and answer format for the following: ♦ Why did people leave their homelands? ♦ Why did people come to America? ♦ What did people bring with them? ♦ How long would the ocean trip take? ♦ Where would you sleep and eat on the ship? ♦ What would you do all day? ♦ Was the ocean voyage dangerous? A whole section about what you did after landing is included. ♦ What was the Staircase of Separation? ♦ What happened if you were detained? ♦ What kinds of tests were you given? And several pages on how the immigrants assimilated into the population and what contributions they made. I gave only a sampling of the topics covered in this 80 page book.

Now, how many of you are going to read this book yourself before you give it to a young relative? I did, it was fascinating! Amazon.com has it from $.01 to less than $5 + shipping. I paid $5.99 + tax for a new copy at B & N and didn’t have to pay shipping. I’m going to keep this copy for me!

JEANEEJEANEEJEANEEJEANEE----OLOGY 101OLOGY 101OLOGY 101OLOGY 101


they have been archived off-site. (Sauk County, Wisconsin sent their old probate packets to the County Historical Society, which required an appointment. However, a phone call got a docent to find the packet and bring it to the local library where they had copying capabilities. Luck is not ALWAYS this good to me).

Birth, Marriage and Death records: These are records you proba-bly want a copy of, especially if it is your direct line. If not possi-ble, transcribe everything: name, parents, date, time, informant.

Amended Birth Records: Late 19th century births may not have been recorded at city, county or state level. In order to collect So-cial Security, the applicant would need to produce at least two non-civil records, such as baptism, a doctor’s or midwife’s journal entry, or a certified copy of the 1900 census entry that says the child was 2/12 years old. If the applicant chose, he could have it entered as an amended birth record.

Divorce Records: A century ago the record book for divorces was much smaller than it is today. I admit to a bit of voyeurism here, I want to know why they divorced. “Would not perform her wifely duties….” What? She didn’t sweep the kitchen often enough? I have read some, where the wife related in gruesome detail about being beaten or where the children were physically abused. Given the scope of what constituted discipline in the early 1900s, I shud-der to think of what the courts would classify as abuse.

Guardianship or Orphans’ Court Records: In earlier times, a widow would not be considered a possibility as a sole guardian of minor children and a closely related male relative would be ap-pointed until the mother remarried. In other cases, the children could be apprenticed to a tradesman or indentured as a servant until they came of age. These records would be at the county level, either in a separate file, or included with probate packets. Naturalization Records: These typically are the first papers and depending on year of application may or may not hold earth-shattering clues, but are a nice touch to humanizing the emigrants. Year of arrival and place of application can help with the time line and migration pattern. Records after 1906 should have more pertinent data: place of birth, year of immigration, ship’s name, etc.

Land Records: Look through both Grantor and Grantee indexes for all pertinent surnames, even the daughter by her married name, in case she did a quit claim deed to another survivor to suggest a fa-milial relationship.

The Ostfriesian’s were notoriously land hungry so these records may be extensive. The first land purchase may include the former or current address of the buyer. Later, property sales could be to children when they married or reached their majority. If you can’t get copies of them all, take note of the property description so you can map it on a historical plat map. In the Midwest, plat maps were drawn as a rectangular survey system with Section, Town-ship, Range: NE1/4 of SE1/4, S32, R18; while the Eastern States and New England used the ‘Metes and Bounds’ surveys:

“Beginning at the large oak and adjacent to the land of Mr. Samuel Ward, South 24 degrees and West 204 poles as far as the large rock..”

Other family relationships can be documented if the father sold

land to an adult child with the notation “ To my two daughters, Lucina Gray and Calley Thompson, for the sum of one dollar each, the two small parcels beyond the quarry road, for love and good will…” (This not only proves a relationship, but hints at who the daughters married).

Taxation Records: Did your great grandfather pay taxes on horses, oxen or milk cows? What was the property tax then, compared to now?

Court Records: These records can be a real trial (pun) to go through. Do you want to spend three hours reading a court tran-script to know that your grandfather was the cantankerous old coot who sued everyone in the vicinity or that his fourth child was jailed for horse theft? They may give you a deeper look at your ancestors, but putting the data in the family history could be painful. Trials for nearby neighbors could include a deposi-tion from someone in your family.

Probate Records: These are my personal favorite records. If the index says one of your ancestors has a probate packet, you want to find the complete packet. It should include a will, a list of descendants and their current (at time of probate) address, any codicils to the will, the executor’s name, receipts from each heir with signatures and inventories. Not many of my Ost-friesen ancestors had an estate that required a probate hearing. Today, everyone has a probate hearing. But, many of my New England ancestors left behind wills naming all of their living descendants. These testators, and even some of the ones who were intestate, left behind awesome inventories of their posses-sions at time of death. You can tell by Nathan Thompson’s inventory that he was a carpenter. One of the wealthier widow’s inventory gave a detailed account of her household furnishings, livestock and the number and quality of her gowns and outerwear. Take note of who did the inventory. It is usually a close relative from each side of the family. They were re-quired to agree on the value of each listed item.

If at all possible, get a photo or copy of each document and label it, including the source: “Will of Jonathon Hall in 1804; Litchfield County Historical Society, 82 State Street, Litchfield, CT., (acquired) January 4, 1994.” Or “LDS Film # 115000, Probate records of Litchfield County, CT. 1786-1826, Pages 54-58. (Acquired) Jan. 4, 1993”.

When you get home, transcribe or extract as much of the docu-ment as you can, in many cases there are books with these older wills in print form. Compare what you see in the original with the typed version, before you accept it as gospel. If it seems accurate, add the entire typed (and sourced) version to your history, but include a portion of the original document along with the old writing or the signature, if you can deter-mine it is real rather than the clerk’s copy.

Happy hunting! Jeanee Janssen Thompson moved two years ago to Fort Myers, FL with her husband and many pets. They do not have an Ost-friesen society and she’s recently started attending a Germanic society—and they don’t even know where Ostfriesland is! Their loss!

so the few people living in the area raised livestock which they then walked to market in Chicago nearly 100 miles to the north. In the mid 1850’s, two things happened which changed the region to what we know today as an area with some of the most produc-tive grain farms in the world. People from parts of Europe (like Ostfriesland) who had experience draining flat land for raising crops began to settle the area. And railroads began to crisscross the land. The emergence of grain farming led to the need for mills to proc-ess some of the grain into flour and meal for local use. The wind blows with great regularity in central Illinois as it does in western Europe. To harness the wind to power their mill, the builders used the same techniques they were familiar with in their native land. A look at recent Benson phone books reveals many names like Campen, Geiken, Heiken, Reiner, Gerjets, Janssen, Menssen, Hinrichs, Folkers, Peters, Harms, Heineke, Gerdes, Tjarks and Tjaden. Benson has been without a commercial windmill for nearly 100 years now. But that may be about to change. A company that constructs wind farms to generate electricity has been negotiating with area farmers to construct 79 windmills in the area around Benson. Each would be 400 feet tall and visible from nearly 20 miles away.


We would like the donation of a copy of your family history for our OGSA Research Center. Please send it to OGSA.

Oldenburg Genealogical Society http://www.genealogienetz.de/vereine/OGF/index_e.html

Submitted by Dennis Faulk The flat prairie of Central Illinois would seem, at first glance, an unlikely place to find a windmill of the type typically seen in Holland or the Ostfriesland area of Germany. However, the town of Benson had just such a windmill from the 1870’s until it was condemned and torn down in 1910.

The nearly treeless middle part of Illinois was among the last areas of the state to be settled. The flat land did not drain well and contained many ponds, sloughs and seasonal lakes. The early settlers preferred timber land for their farms perhaps feeling that if the land wouldn’t grow trees, it would not grow their crops. There were no rail-roads to transport farmer’s grain to market

THE WINDMILL ON THE PRAIRIE THE WINDMILL ON THE PRAIRIE THE WINDMILL ON THE PRAIRIE THE WINDMILL ON THE PRAIRIE


Walk up these steps and you enter another world, a world steeped in the past. A world where you have your own personal cannon in a window enclave on the main floor (1). Stickhausen was at one time an important fortress and later a county seat.

After much violent discord, Hamburg pledged its dominion to the then Chief and later Count of Ostfriesland, Ulrich Cirksena in the 1400’s. At this time the Fort Stickhausen was erected.

As a border fortification, it took the place of the older so-called Key Fort in neighboring Detern and it became the administrative seat of the “Amt” Stickhausen in 1464 when Ostfriesland officially became a County of the Realm. The fort at first consisted of a stone house surrounded by a moat, and of an outlying fort with gate and maintenance buildings. A wall and a second moat surrounded the whole compound. Count Edzard I built a mighty

tower on the SE corner of the main fort. Additional building activity took place in 1501, and it is this tower that is now open as a museum. The property is privately owned and possibly in need of more regular upkeep, but it offers a fascinating look at history.

You will enjoy the display of early dishes, clothing and cook- ing utensils (2); a huge dining hall with chandeliers (3); and 4) how about your own personal jail cell on the second floor. There is a wonderful selection of displays, antique furnishings and weaponry. Make sure you bring your camera as there are great views from the upper level of the tower, too. (Pictures/Text—Lin Strong)

THE MUSEUM AT STICKHAUSENTHE MUSEUM AT STICKHAUSENTHE MUSEUM AT STICKHAUSENTHE MUSEUM AT STICKHAUSEN

2

1 2

3 4

NEWS FROM OSTFRIESLANDNEWS FROM OSTFRIESLANDNEWS FROM OSTFRIESLANDNEWS FROM OSTFRIESLAND Rheiderland Zeitung, 10/1/06 Papenburg - Meyer Werft is working on the first of four cruise lin-ers for the German tour operator AIDA of Rostock, a subdivision of Carnival Corp. It will be called AIDA Diva and measure about 825’ in length and 100’ in width. It will be easily recognized by a novel design detail, developed by Partner Ship Design of Hamburg, which calls for large exterior windows running through three decks in the middle of the ship which allow daylight to flood its interior. About 640,000 German vacationers have gone on a high seas cruises gen-erating a 1.5 billion dollar business of which AIDA took a 35% share. This number is expected to grow to to a billion passengers by 2010 by which time AIDA expects to have 7 cruise ships in opera-tion. Anzeiger für Harlingerland, 10/1/06 Jever – Yesterday an event with a long tradition in Germany took place in this town - the pre-testing of the first barrel of a brewer’s new brew year by a commission of influential citizens. The highly regarded 150-year-old Jever Brewery sent its sample in a historic wooden barrel to city hall where the testing commission met behind closed doors to draw its conclusions. It will very likely base them on more appropriate testing methods than those employed in medie-val Bavaria, where the beer was poured over a bench on which the testers than sat still for a given length of time. If upon rising the bench stuck to their pants, the beer was considered fit to be mar-keted at the full price. This method, however, never did catch on in Jever, presumably because its citizens don’t normally wear Leder-hosen. A document will be issued to the Jever Brauerei stating the commission’s findings. Anzeiger für Harlingerland, 10/1/06 Wangerooge - The island’s community council agreed to the largest building program in years - the reconstruction of the Beach Prome-nade West, an important element in the future development of the island as a sea resort. The new property utilization plan calls for the removal of the resort building “Count Luckner” to accommodate, among other things, a “Place by the Sea” with service buildings for the resort guests. Also planned is a four-star hotel. State and county will help with the finances. Such help will be needed as the island’s tax base, including the popular weddings in the old lighthouse, falls short of covering the million euro project. Ostfriesische Nachrichten, 10/1/06 Timmel - This rural town, part of the consolidated community of Großefehn, will be the location of the future Timmel Equestrian Touristik Center. Its officers will consist of the political leaders of the community which will transfer 600,000 euros to the Center’s coffers as startup capital. Altogether the community will invest 1.4 million euros in this undertaking out of the total of 4.7 million euros required. Ostfriesische Nachrichten, 10/1/06 Aurich - The BMW dealerships in Aurich and Leer have been closed. The initially prospering business began to suffer during a general economic downturn which lowered BMW’s share of new car registrations in Ostfriesland to 5%, compared to about 8% in much of the rest of Germany. An investor group which tried to breathe new life into the company has also thrown in the towel, and Munich is now looking for someone to take over these locations. Ostfriesen-Zeitung, 10/29/06 Emden - Sales of winter tires began to perk up several weeks ago,

and business now is booming. This is the first year in which there will be legal consequences for anyone not having pre-pared his/her vehicle properly for the snowy season. The new law was already a hot topic in 2005, and the number of winter tires sold then was double that of the year before. All-weather tires are legal and sell even better in level Ostfriesland, al-though experts here view them with some skepticism. A set of four winter tires will go for $480 to $600. Rheiderland Zeitung, 10/29/06 Soltborg - The Rheiderland levee and levee gate maintenance departments plan to centralize their offices, equipment ga-rages, and supply depots in Soltborg, conveniently located at the halfway point of their flood control section which totals 30 miles of dikes and 220 miles of rivers and canals. One build-ing is already at their disposal at the new location, namely the old pump house at the foot of the Soltborg Interceptor Canal. It was built in 1924 and was left standing when a new one was built in 1978. The sale of properties no longer needed will help pay for new construction. An old dike in this area has already been taken down, its heavy alluvial soil moved to the Ditzum area to strengthen the levee system there. Anzeiger für Harlingerland, 10/29/06 Friesland – A Rußian sailor was swept overboard yesterday 10 miles north of Langeoog Island during a heavy storm with 75 mph winds and 10 foot waves. A fellow crew member saw him drifting in his yellow survival suit and quickly raised the alarm which was transmitted at once to the sea rescue stations along the German coastline, to other organizations able to send out helicopters, as well as to ships already in the search area, which was reckoned to be 2.5 square nautical miles. The sea rescue vessel “Bernhard Gruben” from Norderney was first to spot him and took him on board. He seemed none the worse for the experience but was sent to a hospital in Olden-burg for observation. Jeversches Wochenblatt, 10/29/06 Jever - The directress of Jever’s Castle Museum, Dr. Antje Sander, celebrated the 10th anniversary in her position among bouquets of flowers donated by her staff and leading person-alities of the city and Friesland County. Born in Jever and raised in the Rhineland, she studied history, archeology, pale-ography, and numismatics, all with emphasis on the Middle Ages. Upon graduating soon after Germany’s reunification, she accepted an offer from Schwerin, Mecklenburg, to lead its Historical Museum with the added responsibility for the pres-ervation of the historical assets of that city. This tested her mettle, as she had to cope with the result of so many years of neglect. She applied for her present position when it became vacant. Her experience in restoration work gained in east Ger-many was brought to bear on plans for major renovation and upgrade programs for Maria’s old Castle. With money coming from Brussels and endowments from public institutions, a 15 year renewal plan was developed, the first stage of which, a million dollar heating and air conditioning system, has already been completed. Her competency has found approval by many visiting VIPs from within and outside of Germany. Ostfriesische Nachrichten, 10/29/06 Aurich/Hannover - A Greater Ostfriesland County already



exists - at least on paper. The Association of Tax Payers of Lower Saxony is ready to present its proposal for the restruc-turing and consolidation of the state’s 37 counties and munici-pal region Hanover. The study is said to accommodate East Friesian sensibilities by proposing to combine its three coun-ties Leer, Aurich, and Wittmund, plus the city of Emden into one political entity. The tax payer association’s interest lies in the creation of larger administrative units, and its thoroughly researched proposals will go far in promoting an idea that has been discussed among political parties for some time. Ostfriesische Nachrichten, 10/29/06 Brookmerland - On Monday the church of Marienhafe will celebrate the 175th anniversary of its rededication. Originally built around 1250 as a place of pilgrimage, the large basilica, laid out on a cruciform plan, partially collapsed in 1819. As there were insufficient funds available for rebuilding it in its original size, the Napoleonic War had just been fought, a con-tractor from Carolinensiel undertook its reconstruction at cost on a greatly reduced scale, the way it appears today. Ostfriesische Nachrichten, 10/29/06 Norden/Kiel - The North and Baltic Sea coasts of Germany are well prepared for the coming autumn storm surges. That is the word from the State Office of Lower Saxony for Coastal Protection in Norden and its State of Schleswig-Holstein equivalent in Kiel. Together these two states invested 91 mil-lion euros in the strengthening of surge levees while giving consideration to the effect of predicted climate changes. Spe-cial attention was centered on levee sections considered vul-nerable due to particularly strong assaults during the past years. For Ostfriesland this meant bringing the levee in the Ems estuary near Riesum up to the new standard. Rheiderland Zeitung, 11/3/06 Weener - The operation of the kitchen of the Senior Center Rheiderland in Weener has been taken over by a commercial firm. It prepares 200 meals per day, 60 of which are carried out by the local deaconess chapter under its Meals on Wheels program. Other carryout service benefits the kindergartens of Weener and Holthusen. Talks are being held with schools who are changing over to an all-day system. Ostfriesische Nachrichten, 11/3/06 Cuxhafen - The heavy storm in the North Sea during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday caused the 1000 ton freighter Cementina to lose power and drift helplessly in the roiling sea. The towering waves made it impossible for the captain to send crew members astern to lower the anchors as breakers were continually washing over the deck. Neither were rescue ves-sels able to throw a line over to her. When the storm finally abated somewhat and anchors could be lowered, the chains broke and the ship continued to drift until it ran aground. Ac-cording to experts, the storm did not endanger the power mills in the North Sea which will furnish a considerable part of Ger-many’s electricity needs in the future, but helpless giants drift-ing among them would be sure to raise the level of concern. Ostfriesen-Zeitung, 11/28/06 Filsum - Saturday a huge fire destroyed large parts of the pro-duction halls of Kolthoff Corp., local plastics processing and recycling plant. The damage is estimated at more than 2 1/2 million dollars. Arson is strongly suspected, although spe-cially trained canines did not react to any accelerants that may

have been used. The company’s 18 employees are already busy with cleanup work and do not expect to be laid off. Owner Ralf Kolthoff is in discussion with insurance and construction compa-nies and machinery manufacturers concerning a startup efforts asap. Cooperation between police, emergency units, hazardous materials transporters, and helicopters during the fire functioned well. Thus rescue crews could be kept away from a gas tank which when it exploded hurled parts 300 feet through the air without causing inju-ries. Ostfriesen-Zeitung, 11/28/06 Leer - The Advertisers Association Leer promised more Christmas illumination for downtown this year and received assurances of a 50,000 euro contribution from the city for its realization, but a check of the light chains in storage showed that the entire installa-tion is aging and the substitutions of parts thereof would not be ad-visable. A whole new system will cost 150,000 euros, which could be raised, but before taken bids for it the associates prefer to use this year’s Christmas season to study installations in other cities and gain a better understanding of what may be new in the market and at what price. Rheiderland Zeitung, 11/28/06 Ditzum - The Consolidated Community Jemgum is moving ahead with its plan for a swimming lake in Ditzum and thinks it will soon have the finances secured, with help from Brussels. It has bought a 30 acre piece of property and conducted thorough groundwater studies which proved a normal salt and ammonium nitrate content, the latter being treatable with oxygen. This proposed artificial swimming lake, though much smaller than the one in Holtgaste, will nevertheless be a drawing card for vacationing families in sum-mers to come. Anzeiger für Harlingerland, 11/28/06 Esens - The project group “Monasteries in the Consolidated Com-munity Esens” undertook a field trip to the Dutch province Gronin-gen to study architecture and construction methods of medieval monastic settlements. From the study of a few surviving cloisters they expected to get a better understanding of the physical appear-ance of Harlingerland’s old monasteries and convents Oldekloster, Schoo, Pansat, Margens, and Marienkamp of which only fragments are left at the old sites. In their day they must have exercised great influence not only on the religious life but on the intellectual and cultural awareness in the region as well. The small and relatively well-preserved monastery in ter Apel, south of the city of Gronin-gen, now a museum, offers valuable insights into the physical ap-pearance of monasteries typical for this region, as did the large Cis-tercian monastery museum at Aduard, north of Groningen, found-ing monastery of Ihlow, which had a special exhibit on building materials used at the time and whose refectory is still in use as the village church. Anzeiger für Harlingerland, 11/28/06 Wittmund - Investors are proposing two solar parks north of Witt-mund, one in Groß Charlottengroden with 46 movable 30’ by 70’ panels, the other in Funnix with 25 table modules. The county’s construction and planning committee is presently discussing these proposals, including their eligibility for grant moneys under the renewable energy law. Jeversches Wochenblatt, 11/28/06 Jever - 360 women attended Saturday’s Breakfast Meeting for Women in Jever’s “Schützenhof” restaurant. The main speaker was Marion Buchheister, pastor and counselor from Hamburg who ad-


♦ Do you have historical data on a village with strong Ostfriesen roots? We’d love to hear from you!

dresses these breakfast meetings all over Germany. Her topic on Saturday was, “When anxiety gnaws on the soul”. She explained that anxiety grows out of thoughts and their assessment which need to be thoroughly examined rather than surrendered to through diversion and sedatives. As there are six million people in Germany who suffer from anxiety attacks, her address met with a great deal of interest. The girls’ choir “Cantabile” of the Lutheran congregation of Sande emphasized life’s spiritual side and the beauty of the art it engenders. The next Breakfast Meet-ing for Women is planned for March 10 of next year. The topic then will be, “Take a look, life is beautiful”. Jeversches Wochenblatt, 11/28/06 Wilhelmshaven - The German naval frigate “Mecklenburg-Vorpommern” returned to its home base after a two months tour of duty off the coast of Lebanon. She will be relieved by her sis-ter ship “Brandenburg”. These ships are taking part in an interna-tional effort to prevent the smuggling of arms into that war-torn country. Ostfriesische Nachrichten, 11/28/06 Aurich/Emden - Since May oversize transports from Aurich’s fabricator of large wind power generators, Enercon, to Emden’s harbor have been accompanied by security personnel rather than by the police. Since no problems have come up, the arrangement will be extended by a year. This is good news for Aurich’s police department which normally spends thousands of man-hours on such routine tasks. Enercon moves about 50 transports per week for which special permits are required. Ostfriesische Nachrichten, 12/7/06 Norderney - Installation of a pipeline to house the cables which will conduct power generated offshore across the island and tidal flats to Hilgenriedersiel on the mainland has been freed of con-struction restrictions governing national parks. To preserve the environment the island’s dunes will be crossed by drilling rather than trenching. Ostfriesische Nachrichten, 12/7/06 Aurich - After a twelve months testing period the local hospital has received authorization for the training of specialists in intesti-nal surgery. This authorization will boost the appeal of Aurich’s hospital for young doctors who are now leaving Germany or its health service system in increasing numbers due lack of opportu-nity and inadequate pay. Training in this specialty takes five years during which time one or the other young surgeon may well come to appreciate Aurich’s quality of life and decide to stay. Jeversches Wochenblatt, 12/7/06 Jever - This city with its history of thinking green, to mention its biogas heated youth hostel and swimming pool, now sports a 1,000 sq. ft. photo-voltaic installation on the roof of its new kin-dergarten. In place since August for test purposes, it has now been officially brought on line. In view of the system’s limited capacity - its output would supply only about 3 family homes with power - its 120,000 euro installation cost was too high for the city to fund, but not for the power company which is always ready to test new developments in the harnessing of solar energy. Ostfriesische Nachrichten, 12/19/06 Leer - Two German energy companies will cooperate in the crea-tion of caverns for storing natural gas from Russia which will arrive via pipeline through the Baltic Sea. Underground salt for-mations around Jemgum, near the Dutch border, are well suited for these caverns which will be flushed out at a depth between

3,000 and 4,500 feet below the surface. Storage caverns are needed to balance supply and demand, the latter coming from as far as the line’s terminus in Britain. Ostfriesische Nachrichten, 12/19/06 Aurich - The Savings Bank Aurich/Norden has started a founda-tion with an initial capital infusion of 750,000 euros which it expects to stock up next year. Annual disbursements from this fund will be 30,000 euros and benefit athletics, culture, and education. The savings bank spends 300,000 euros a year on sponsorships and cultural promotion now, to which the new foundation’s contributions will be added. Ostfriesische Nachrichten, 12/19/06 Aurich - The “Bundesnetzagentur”, (lit. Federal Net Agency) annually measures the electromagnetic exposure of citizens at 3,600 points across the country. Last Monday its technicians set up its antennae in Aurich and took readings for two hours. The results are accessible over the Internet under www.bundesnetzagentur.de. Anzeiger für Harlingerland, 12/19/06 Harlesiel - Following a master plan for the reorganization of the harbor which connects the mainland with Wangerooge, work on the first phase involving all of the east harbor has been com-pleted. Parking facilities for cars and buses and the approaches to the docks are in place. More than 3 million euros have been earmarked for the entire project. Anzeiger für Harlingerland, 12/19/06 Esens - “Bear City’s” (ref.: its coat of arms) primary and secon-dary schools together wrote and composed their own rock-and-roll musical, “Mozart rocks”. Even the state’s secretary of cul-ture was present for yesterday’s “world premiere” and was suffi-ciently impressed to state that “such pedagogical pursuits as the active and productive study of music and musical history are appreciated at the state level as well.” Ostfriesen-Zeitung, 1/1/07 Ditzum - The Tourism Association Ems-Dollart will assume responsibility for the “Oll Speitenhus” (Squirt House = Fire-house) vacated by the fire department in 1888 and taken care of since by members of the promotional organization “Our village shall become more attractive”. The building will continue to be used as a community center, meeting place for local organiza-tions and official greeting ceremonies, and for private parties. It hosts from 100 to 150 gatherings annually. The signing cere-mony was part of a special afternoon where tea, finger food, and, for the more daring, “hoppelpoppel”, rum enriched me-ringue, were served and enjoyed. Ostfriesische Nachrichten, 1/1/07 Aurich - For the fourth time in four years approximately 150 swimmers and divers from all over Ostfriesland, Oldenburg, and Papenburg will converge on Aurich’s harbor, launch their home-made floating devices, light their torches, and take to the water to greet the new year in their own chilly way in front of a mill-ing crowd of warmly dressed onlookers. At an inside gathering thereafter, Aurich’s new mayor, Windhorst, will hand out tro-phies to the winners of oldest and youngest participant, best float, best fireworks, etc.


GUILDS, ZÜNFTE, INNUNGEN GUILDS, ZÜNFTE, INNUNGEN GUILDS, ZÜNFTE, INNUNGEN GUILDS, ZÜNFTE, INNUNGEN Guild associations of craftsmen and merchants were organized for self-protection and economic and social gain and flourished between the 11th and 16th centuries in Europe. They became possible only after the rise of villages in the 10th and 11th centuries and were the

most widely used between the 12th and 15th centuries. The guilds governed practices by which apprentices in the crafts gained experience in a specific trade. A decree abolish-ing these associations was enacted in 1859-1860. The following were the stages in training: Apprentices (Lehrlinge, Lehrjunge) Young boys who lived with the family of a master (Meister), an established craftsman who trained the boy for at least three years, but in actuality it could have been from five to nine years. The apprentice received room and board instead of wages. To enroll a son as an apprentice, the family was re-quired to pay a large sum of money to the master. At the end of the apprenticeship, the Lehrling could take an examination (Gesellenprüfung), which after he passed would earn him a journeyman’s certificate (Gesellenbrief) which en-abled him to become a journeyman (Geselle). Traditionally, the journeyman then set off of travels around the country (Wanderschaft) to work for master craftsmen and guilds in towns along his way. The journeyman’s goal was to become accepted as a Meister so that he could in turn open a shop and train apprentices. An-other examination was in many cases required (Meisterprüfung) before he could reach this stage. Another step toward becoming a Meisterstück (masterpiece) as a demonstration of his technical competence in a given field and as a determiner of the journeyman’s admission to the guild. Often apprenticeships came to be limited to the sons and/or other relatives of the masters. Men who passed the master’s test were recorded in a book of masters. (Meisterbuch) Some records associated with guilds: Birth certificates (Geburtsbrief) —illegitimate sons were not accepted into guilds Apprentice records (Ein-und Ausschreiben der Burschen und Lehrbriefe) The traveling pass (Wanderzettel) - a record kept by the guild which gave information about his skills and verified identity, and in which various masters for who0 he worked wrote and attested to the quality of his work. The journeyman was given a Wanderbuch (journey book) as he set out on his travels. In it would be listed the employment records. A record of the travels of a journeyman. Guild Books (Zunftbücher) may be found in state and city ar-chives, in modern guilds and sometimes in the Family History

Library Catalog. Few have been published or filmed. When available they are located under headings similar to the fol-lowing: GERMANY, PREUSSEN, HANNOVER,OCCUPATIONS You can also put the name of a specific village in to see if there are guild records listed. Note that they were not found in very small villages. But cities similar to Emden did have guilds. Guild craftsmen included the following. This is a sampling and not considered a complete listing of every guild found in Ger-many. Sattler, (Gürtler, Riemer, Beutler (Leather workers) Schmiede—Huf-, Nagel und Kuperferschmiede (Blacksmiths, nailsmiths, coppersmiths) Tuchmacher, -färber und –scherer (cloth makers, dyers and cut-ters) Strumpfwirker (Stocking makers) Schuster (Cobblers)Fleischhauer (Butchers) Böttcher (Coopers) Papiermacher (Paper makers) Bäcker (Bakers) Glaser (Glassmakers) Seiler (Rope makers) Töpfer (Potters) Tischler (Cabinetmakers) Buchbinder (Book binders) Müller (Miller) Mechaniker (Fitters, mechanics) Schlosser (Locksmiths) Sporer (Spur makers) Seifensieder (Soap makers) Hutmacher (Hat maker) Gerber (Tanners) Wagner (Coach, wheelmaker) Drechsler (Wood turners) Bürstenmacher (Brush maker) Nadler (Needlemakers) Zingießer (Tin founders) Klempner (Tinsmiths) Goldarbeiter (Goldworker) Schriftgießer (Type founder) Knopfmacher (Button makers) Kürschner (Furriers) Polierer (Burnisher, polisher) Kammacher (Comb makers) Korbmacher (Basket makers) Samtwirker (Velvet worker) Posamentierer (Lace/braid makers) Leineweber (Linen weavers) Schuhmacher (Shoe maker)

Riemer, Shirley J., The German Re-search Companion, Lorelei Press, Sacra-mento, CA., 1997

WAL*MART LEAVES GERMANY Ostfriesische Nachrichten, 1/1/07 Aurich - The giant retailer Wal-Mart sold its interests in Germany to the “Real” division of domestic discounter “Metro AG” which will re-flag 80% of the acquired stores including those in Emden and Norden, but not those in Aurich and Wilhelmshaven. When Aurich’s “Wal-Mart Supercenter” closes its doors on June 30, 2007, they will stay closed. This unhappy New Years news was given to the 65 employees and 40 agents of various service companies working at the Mart who were told that the location did not fulfill “ the economic and strategic prerequisites for a success-ful application of the real concept.” As of this date, ownership of the property is transferred to the Wall Street financial investment house Goldman Sachs.


Notes from the North... Notes from the North... Notes from the North... Notes from the North... The North has had some harsh weather recently. We Minneso-tans managed to get through a very bitter cold February and as I write this note, the weatherman has predicted up to 16 inches of snow. March is now here and with it, hopefully, comes the promise of spring. As I mentioned in my last newsletter note, my New Year goal was to organize my genealogy records. Although I am a rela-tively new researcher, I have gathered information on five sur-names and with that comes the usual stacks of paper. I went to a local office supply store and purchased some Rubbermaid® “Snap Cases”. The case is a clear plastic, can hold oversized paper, and has a hinged lid. I then labeled each case by the individual surname and sorted the paperwork for each family. The cases stack nicely on my office shelf and it has ended the sliding, archival pile of papers. Now each family has their special container. While going through the stacks, I noticed many undocumented photocopies. When I first began, I went willy-nilly through the microfilms and books, never giving a thought to needing the dates, locations, etc. of where I had acquired the document. I now know the importance of this process. Many of the online genealogy sites have downloadable research record forms. Check through a few and find one that will work best for you. If you want a copy of the one I’m using, email me at the ad-dress below and I will be happy to share. For other beginning tips on genealogy, contact our OGSA library for a copy of Jeanee Thompson’s well written article on this topic. Re-member, even the most accomplished genealogist was once a beginner, too. The OGSA Conference Committee is working hard to put to-gether a great summer conference. Many registrants took ad-vantage of the January 31st 10% discount. I encourage those of you who haven’t yet registered to remember our offer of a 5% reduction in fees if we receive your registration by March 31st. Lifelong friendships are made at these events! A new flyer is being developed and will be mailed in early March. We are bringing in new speakers, vendors, and activi-ties for this event. The facility and accommodations are beau-tiful and the food is delicious! (Yes, we’ve taste tested!) Lin has even promised to resurrect her Bonnensuppe!

We hope you can attend the confer-ence—it will be great. Minnesota summers are beautiful and we’d like to share the beauty of our state. Feel free to email me at mnmax424@ msn.com if you have any questions.

Tschüß,SharonTschüß,SharonTschüß,SharonTschüß,Sharon

By Cheryl (Jurgens) Meints GERMANY :

♦ http://www.genealogie-forum.de/ostfrld/kirchen/suchen/liste.htm An Encyclopedia of Ostfriesland Churches and Their Histories by Doris Reuter...excellent photos

♦ http://weener.conne.net/index.php3?hid=003269&wid=1321&sid= Tour Weener (Ems)...click on “English Info’s”

♦ http://www.ansichtskartenversand.com/?gclid=CM_Qy9v2nIg Search Through Thousands of Old Postcards EARLY 20th CENTURY MEDICAL ISSUES :

♦ http://www.cshosp.com/history.php… “Henry Foster’s Vision” by Frederick L. Gifford...from Sanitarium to Hospital

♦ http://epcc.edu/nwlibrary/borderlands/19_tuberculosis.htm “Tuberculosis Turned El Paso into a Health Center” by Ascension Munoz.

♦ http://virus.stanford.edu/uda/… Read about “The Influenza Pandemic of 1918” by Molly Billings

♦ http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/influenza-epidemic/… “The Deadly Virus”...click on “View The Documents and Photos”

♦ http://www.pandemicflu.gov/general/greatpandemic2.html#top “The Great Pandemic of 1918: State by State” MISCELLANEOUS :

♦ http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/welcome.html National Register of Historic Places...link to “State Listings” and “Historic Districts”

♦ http://www.quintinpublications.com/uscatalog.html Quintin Publications… “America’s Genealogy Store”

♦ https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/index.html The Genographic Project...click on “Your Genetic Journey”

♦ http://www.google.com/language_tools Google Language Tools...Search Specific Languages or Countries

♦ http://www.oldobits.com/… “US and Canadian Obituaries 1890-1920” Old Obituaries for Purchase

♦ http://exulanten.com/pipe.html… Immigrants’ voyages described in excellent article, “Across the Wide Atlantic”

♦ http://historylink101.com/lessons/farm-city/story-of-farming.htm “Story of Farming” by Eric Rymer...scroll down to “Story of Farming” and “Pictures of Farm Equipment”

♦ http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/special/ppcs/ppcs.html

If you find a great site that you would like to share or want to send com-ments, please contact me at [email protected] (please put OGSA in subject line)

LINKS

TO DEEP ROOTS


were part of. They also sent emissaries of the first estate (nobility) to Holland to explain to the Burgundian that Gronin-gen never had obeyed a Count of Holland, but had for several centuries been under the protection of the Church of Utrecht. When the invasion of the Danes (Norsemen) had caused great destruction and confusion, the town had officially been given back to Utrecht by the Emperor. They asked that the Duke, as a Christian prince, leave Groningen untouched or submit the affair to the imperial or papal court. To this the Burgundians gave an unclear reply, but in the fol-lowing spring they asked for emissaries to see the Duke “before he would take up arms”. In the following discussions with Groningen and the Friesians, the Burgundians were un-clear and contradictory in their demands, so that the Friesians asked to have them stated in writing. As they had thought, it was about money. The Duke demanded one silver coin per Friesian citizen, equivalent to the best coin he minted at that time, but as the emissaries were instructed to agree to no more than one “stüver” (small coin) per house, they went home. The Friesians beyond the Lauwers called another meeting of the estates in which the Duke’s demands were considered de-meaning and unbearable. They decided to go to war rather than submit and moved against Dokkum which was breaking ranks by cooperating with the Burgundian and obtaining favorable promises from him (as bait for the rest of Friesland). The duke was then cooperating with his brother-in-law, King Edward of England, to fight French pirates by outfitting a fleet for the protection of the coasts of Flanders, Zeeland, and Holland. The Friesians had good reason to fear that it would also be used against them. They occupied Dokkum and looted it. They then looked for mercenaries and proffered an alliance with Gronin-gen against the common foe. While Charles was busy else-where, that city was making major investments in its defensive works which would protect its citizens and those of the sur-rounding countryside should the Burgundian army appear. At that time (1472), people were further made unsure by a fiery apparition (a comet) which ignited in the sky and first moved south while its fiery tail stretched toward the west, moving north after two weeks, then remaining in place for a while until it grew pale and disappeared. While this was going on, Countess Theda of Friesland on this side of the Ems, in conformity with the estates, strengthened an old fortification near the village of Sander which was di-rected against the tendency of Count Gerhard of Oldenburg to threaten his neighbors. He was attempting to wrest Holstein away from his own brother, the King of Denmark, and invaded the lands belonging to the diocese of Bremen whose prince-bishop allied himself with the cities of Hamburg and Lübeck to drive him back. Meanwhile, Duke Charles had been treating with the King of France and was free to reinforce his army in Gelderland. The Friesians between the Lauwers and Vlie received an open letter from the Gelderland estates asking for auxiliaries and promising to reciprocate should the need arise. The Friesians

were ready to send them, but Groningen voted for caution, as Gelderland was probably already lost to the Duke, to which the Friesians agreed. But there was disagreement among the Friesians in Leeuwarden on how to proceed - should they make prepara-tions for their defense or should they just submit, as many were counseling. That’s how it stood with the Friesians between the Lauwers and the Vlie. But the Friesians on this side of the Lauwers (Note: between the Lauwers and the Ems, now part of the Province of Groningen, Netherlands) who were allied with Groningen, and who were worried about the might of the Burgundian as well, renewed their treaty with that city for another ten years. The treaty stated that if a prince were to attack any part of their alliance, the other parts should come to its assistance. Among themselves peace should prevail, and four law making assemblies should gather every year. It was also enacted that grain should not be exported unless it was imported first, and that beer should not be brewed except for household consumption, and that only Groningen beer should be sold in the taverns. Emissaries were sent to Theda and the Friesians on this side of the Ems to negotiate an armed alliance against the Burgundian who doubtlessly threatened all of Friesland and saw in the Ems no limit to his ambition. Even though he had not made any an-nouncements concerning the Friesians on this side of the Ems, nothing was more clear than that his demands concerned all Frie-sians. Therefore, it would be necessary to fight the common dan-ger with combined force. The freedom of all Friesians, which they were heir to from their ancestors, was more valuable than life itself and called for a united defense. Everyone between the Ems and Weser was in agreement. This famous alliance was put down in writing and contained the fol-lowing (in part): “Countess Theda of Ostfriesland, Knight Sibo of Dornum, Chieftain Edo Wiemken of Jever (to name a few here) the rest of the nobility and the whole population of Ostfriesland shall enter in a twenty year treaty with the Senate and the people of Groningen, the nobility, the judges and the common folk of Fivelgo, Hunsingo, Langewold, and Humsterland (regions of Friesland on this side of the Lauwers). Should the very famous Duke Charles of Burgundy invade any of these Friesian regions within the stated span of time, all others will come to its aide. To the region invaded first, the others will, within eight days of its becoming known, send 1,000 very well armed men in the pay of those that send them. Their supplies will be furnished by those that send them until they cross the Ems, after which their supplies will be furnished by the region they are sent out to help.” They were determined to attack Charles as the Swiss had done. Groningen sent emissaries to the Friesians beyond the Lauwers, reminding them to cease interior discordance in the interest of the whole. The free Friesians had not paid tribute to anyone for cen-turies and were used to fighting bravely for the freedom of their land. They had won marvelous victories against their enemies


and had often defeated Normans, the Batavians, the Utrechters, the Lorrainers, and the Saxons, and had dyed the domestic soil red with their blood. They had defeated King Wilhelm of Holland and other famous princely champions. If they put their mind to it, the Friesians on this side of the Lauwers and their allies beyond the Ems would be ready to end all rivalry with them and enter into a mutual alliance. The Friesians beyond the Lauwers were very glad to hear this, as this was more than they had hoped for. They promised a two year armistice, if that should be agreeable to the Friesians on this side of the Lauwers and their allies beyond the Ems. They asked for a meeting in which the contract would be written down. Theda was informed of this by the senate of Groningen and asked to name a date to meet in that city. Before Theda had gotten the agreement of all the Friesians be-yond the Ems, it was rumored that Duke Charles had brought all of Gelderland under his control and had turned his army south to Lorrain to expand his realm there. His departure took away from the Friesians the immediate threat of an invasion, and the treaty was not formalized. Meanwhile, the Friesians on this side of the Ems were hit by unexpected adversity from the opposite side. Gerhard (Gerd) of Oldenburg was stirring again. A prolonged drought had made the peat bogs between Oldenburg and Ostfriesland passable, enabling him to invade by way of Westerstede and the Lengener Moors which for many miles form the divide between Oldenburg and Ostfriesland. Bypassing the “Lengener Burg” at Großsander, he marched through Kleinsander, Remels, Strackholt, Bagband, Hesel, Holt-land and Brinkum, laying waste, setting fires, and making off with much plunder, including a great herd of cattle, toward Detern and home. But the fortifications which he had bypassed, Großsander and Stickhausen, in the end did him in, as their contingents ap-peared in front and back of his army as it was stretched out along the Jümme levee. Over 1,000 of his men were slain and his plunder was recaptured, though Gerhard himself escaped. Thirsting for revenge, Gerhard now undertook several incursions into Ostfriesland through Friedeburg with the connivance of its chieftain Sirk which moti-vated the chieftains of Jever, Innhausen, Kniphausen, and Gödens to treat with Countess Theda about gathering materiel and merce-naries to take the war back to Sirk and Gerhard. While this was taking place, Groningen had sent emissaries to the Emperor who was staying in Cologne after having broken off ne-gotiations with Duke Charles who had asked him for a promotion to king. These emissaries had the right to negotiate for the Frie-sians beyond the Lauwers as well and were to ask the Emperor for safeguards of their old freedom against the Burgundian and for verification of the treaties and understandings between Groningen and its “Ommelanden” for all time and for protection by the Em-pire against outside force.

After prolonged negotiations the treaties were signed. In this document the Emperor commanded that the land of the Frie-sians between Ems and Lauwers, which had been free from ancient times and had obeyed no one but the Empire, with eve-rything it included, i.e., its fortresses, towns, small towns, cas-tles, villages, and fiefs should remain in the situation it was in, and that the treaties and understandings it had negotiated with Groningen for its protection should remain inviolate. He testified that he was taking it into the protection of the Em-pire and that he would not tolerate without punishment if some-one were bold enough to arouse discord or exert force against it. Another document which was given to the Friesians beyond the Lauwers had a similar content. In this way the restlessness of those days was brought to an end. Meanwhile, Gerhard of Oldenburg was keeping up his small scale invasions of Ostfriesland by way of Friedeburg. Upset by this, the East Friesian estates mustered troops, took Reepsholt and then in the hands of Sirk tore down one wall of its church tower so it could no longer be used for defensive purposes. That is the way the tower has remained to this day. Gerhard kept invading and harassing the lands across his eastern bound-ary as well, until it was enough for the Prince-Bishop of Bre-men and Münster, who formed an alliance against him and asked Countess Theda to join, which she did. The combined armies now swept through Oldenburg and soon had Gerhard bottled up in his fortress. His many princely rela-tives persuaded the allies to settle for a peace agreement rather than Gerhard’s destruction, an agreement which, of course, Gerhard had no intention of keeping. To the contrary, he en-tered into a treaty with Duke Charles whose was invading a


town on the Rhine and had to be driven off by Emperor Freder-ick III. The treaty was aimed at the Friesians and went as follows: “Charles maintains his claim to all of Friesland by right of in-heritance, not only to the land west of the Ems to the Vlie, but also to the land lying east of the Ems, which is ruled by Theda for her sons. He engages Gerhard for an annual payment and obliges him with a strictly binding agreement to obedience and faithfulness; he engages him for all eventualities and gains him for waging war on any foe. When the Burgundian invades Friesland with all his might and wages war on it, Gerhard shall exert all his power and that of his people against Ostfriesland. He shall have no less than 600 riders and 4,000 foot soldiers, which have been mustered in his realm, under arms. To these he shall add as many as he can from his friends and neighbors. He shall wage war at his own expense, and all he subjugates he shall place under Burgundian overlordship. After Ostfriesland has been subjugated, he shall, if required, transport 2,000 armed men on ships for pursuing the war with the Friesians beyond the Lauwers. These troops he shall fund for two months at his own expense. For the rest of the time he shall, if needed, receive pay for them from Burgundian funds. Should the situation require it, the Duke will send Gerhard 600 soldiers at no cost to him for 6 months, so that he may make the Friesians, already subjected to his incursions and acts of vio-lence, bewildered and inclined to disperse. When the Duke’s soldiers are called back and Gerhard thereafter occupies an area with his own forces, he then must, this the Duke demands, nevertheless hand it over to him and add it to his land. The Duke promises to compensate Gerhard in keeping with the best estimate of his expenses. So that the waging of war for Gerhard may be made easier, the Duke will negotiate with the Bishop of Münster to keep the peace with Gerhard. After all of Ostfriesland has been placed under Burgundian overlordship, Moormerland, Auricher Land, and Jeverland shall be given back to Gerhard in feudal tenure. The highest authority shall remain with the House of Burgundy.” This treaty was sealed on November 1474, and made Gerhard an enemy of the Empire he was part of. Duke Charles’s demand on the Prince-Bishop of Münster to cease his quarrel with Gerhard and return anything taken from him only yielded a reply from the Bishop stating that he wouldn’t give anything back to Gerhard and would consider the Burgundian himself an enemy as well, whom he was ready to march against. The Friesians were now called upon by the Emperor to render assistance against the same Burgundian against whom they themselves not long ago had asked the Emperor for help, and along with Groningen to furnish troops to be placed under the command of the Prince-Bishop of Münster who was to join the army of the Emperor and drive Duke Charles away from the Rhine. A few skirmishes were fought before papal emissaries convinced the parties to make peace. The Emperor’s army was

dismissed, and the Friesian and Groningen contingents of the Bishop’s army were sent home. Trouble for Ostfriesland began anew when Sirk of Friedeburg, a friend of Gerhard and foe of the Cirksenas, passed away. A de-tachment from Oldenburg, sent to take over, was kept at bay by quick thinking Friesians (by far most of the Friedeburgers were Friesian) until the Countess Theda could be summoned to settle the matter with a detachment of troops. Gerhard thereupon pre-pared a new incursion, but was intercepted and badly beaten and his son taken prisoner. The son was held in Berum until the end of the warfare. Gerhard then turned his attention east. After his wife died, he temporarily left the reigns in the hands of his oldest son, Johann, who har-bored his father’s hostility toward the Friesians, especially so in view of the fact that his brother was still their prisoner. But the Friesians finally were rid of one enemy, namely the Duke, who was defeated by the Swiss in three decisive battles, in the last of which he lost his life (1477). After Gerhard’s return, peace negotiations began, a peace agree-ment was signed and Gerhard’s son released. Again Gerhard turned his attention east until the Prince-Bishop of Münster and Bremen overran his country and dictated peace terms to him. Not having learned his lesson, he still kept Ostfriesland’s border re-gions on edge with minor incursions till Countess Theda sent a fleet into the Weser and Hunte rivers for a looting expedition of her own. An East Friesian punitive incursion into Oldenburg in the Detern area in 1486 went very badly, but Oldenburg was financially ex-hausted and in need of peace. Gerhard gave the reigns to his son Johann, as Enno in Ostfriesland was taking over from his mother, Theda. In the following year (1487), mutually agreeable peace terms were worked out, and nineteen years of war and prepara-tions for war had come to an end. Peace for Ostfriesland, though, didn’t last long, as soon thereafter her erstwhile ally, the Prince-Bishop of Münster, eager for a seafaring port, laid claim to the area on both side of the Ems River. The Bishop had even persuaded Groningen, which also envied Emden’s commercial success, to join him in diverting the Ems River into a new bed from the village of Heede through bog and heath to the Dollart (then) near Bellingwolde. The digging indeed began with considerable energy in 1482 but was soon enough discontinued in view of the project’s scale and a growing fear of likely future problems and disadvantages. Meanwhile, the East Friesien hastened to set up fortifications at Diele between the Ems and the nearby impassable Burtanger Bogs to await the com-ing attack. A concluding note: Ostfriesen usually consider all of Friesland to the west, in the Netherlands, Westfriesland. In the Netherlands Westfriesland, it is understood to be that part of ancient Friesland located west of the Zuiderzee, once the Vlie River, which, iso-lated as it was from the rest of Friesland, already fell to the Counts of Holland in 1250. Ubbo does not mention this “Friesland beyond the Vlie” in connection with these events.

♦ We are also looking for village histories for our col-lection. Please contact us if you know one is avail-able. If you are done with your copy, we’d like it!


MEMBERSHIP INFORMATIONMEMBERSHIP INFORMATIONMEMBERSHIP INFORMATIONMEMBERSHIP 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? This is one way we find new members! Contact us! If we missed your name, contact us! Email change - Gretchen Freesemann [email protected]

Beggs, Connie, 3275 Co. Rd. 4105, Greenville, TX 75401 Re-searching: Swyter, Dirksen (Loquard)

Brand, Shawn, 58286 Co. Rd 4N, Plainview, MN 55964 507-534-2856 [email protected] Researching: Rewerts, Bauman, Brams

Buck, Juliane, 2610 Cornwall Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45231

Christopher, Bill, 13516 E. 166th St., Noblesville, IN 46060 317-773-3656 [email protected]

Decknatel, Don, 12922 Everest Ave So., Apple Valley, MN 55124 952-432-1708

Duitsman, Anna M., 2077 Co. Rd. 2600 N., Gifford, IL 61847 217-694-4741 [email protected] Researching: Claas Neelen Janssen (Aurich), Anna Maria Frederika Redell Duits-man, Wilke Jannssen Duitsman (Riepe / Schirum)

Duitsmann, Will , 848 Williamsburg Drive, Naperville, IL 60540 630-369-2591 [email protected] Researching: Duits-man / Vissen (West) Friesland, Wearda / Ammermann, Pollmann, Petersen

Harms, David, 19476 E. 500 North Rd., Fairbury, IL 61739 815-692-2288 [email protected] Researching: Hinrich Hofker Harms (Hannover), Janna (Johanna) Hilwert Saathoff (Hannover) wife of Hinrich, Harm West Harms (Hannover) son of Hinrich, Hiskie Johnson - wife of Harm, Hilwert William Harms (Peoria County, IL) sn of Hinrich Geska (Gesche) Kuhlman – wife of Hilwert.

Hartweg, Kenneth, 1 Clinton Place, Normal, IL 61761 309-452-5655 [email protected] Researching: Ewen

Jansen, Ferdie, 14 Greenaleigh Road, Birmingham West Mid-lands B14 4HZ United Kingdom

Koop, Debra E., 17587 State Highway 210, Ironton, MN 56455 (218) 546-6521

Mansfield, Shirley, 1204 Bloomington Rd., East Peoria, IL 61611 309-698-0840 [email protected] Re-searching: Rabenstein, Dahn, Westerman, Miener (Plaggenburg, Ostrichfeld, all of Aurich); Janssen (Octelbur), Rewerts (Ochtelbur)

Miller, Alvin, 3425 Center Point Road, Cedar Rapids, IA 52402 319-393-8152 [email protected] Researching: Muller (Buhren), Wallrichs (Jubberde), Broers (Remels), Frerichs (Bagband), Post (Fiebing), Meyer (Fiebingerfehn)

Schrader, Hans, 5 Eden Drive, Smithtown, NY 11787 631-979-6241 [email protected] Researching: Vienna, Von Hattum, Berent (Marienhaffe), Von Hoen, Von Wingene, Schneider (Norden / Arle / Emden), Janssen (Norden), Linnemann (Hage)

Schroeder, Clara Doorn, 901 S. Chicago Avenue, Kankakee, IL 60901 815-933-1636 [email protected] Researching: Cramer (Westerholt, Dornum), Wilken (Firrel), Doorn, Meier (Selverde, Uplangen), Peters (Dornum) Schroeder.

Wilcox, Dennis & Carol, 609 W 2nd Street, Madrid, IA 50156 515-795-3453 [email protected] Researching: Janssen (Twixlum, Emden), Berends (Emden), Lauterbach (Wybelsum, Emden), Dirksen (Hamswehrum), Rieken

TRUTH IS STRANGER THAN FICTION! By Lin Cornelius Strong OGSA member Jim Foster went to a Pine County, MN Genea-logical Society meeting and raved about our research facility. One of their members called wondering what we had and whether their group could come for a tour.

After a short phone visit, she mentioned that her husband’s an-cestors came from Germany. When questioned about the locale, she got a paper and started to spell out O S T F R, and of course I finished it for her! She gave me the surname, Basche, and stated that they did not know the village. I booted up Gene Janssen’s new emigration data base and found the ancestor named Tebbe Basche living in Litchfield, MN—and told her that he had emi-grated to US from Moorhusen.

Two days later they were in our research center surrounded with the Victorbur and Engerhafe OSB and spent two hours finding pages and pages of ancestor data. They could not have been hap-pier! They left and I went to my computer and had an email from an OGSA member asking if I would like to have a book she had found—on the Basche family! Talk about goose bumps!

Siefken Krieger, Marcia Boden and Noreen Ott recently met at the Sacramento Germanic Genealogy Society Meeting! If you go there, too you might want to look them up! Start a study group with them!

Connie Beggs sent in her membership and included a marriage record for one of her ancestors taken from data found in an Iowa church. I took one look at it and could not believe my eyes. I immediately went to my genealogy program, made a copy of my Swyter lineage and sent it to her—her entire line of Swyters is now done! She was in shock when she called me. And I have ANOTHER cousin! Whoooeeee!

Do you have a membership book? Maybe there is someone in your community that is an OGSA member and you can bravely take the first step to meet them! Let us know what happens! Remember, the Ostfriesen are EVERYWHERE!

UPCOMING ISSUES WILL INCLUDE:

♦ Westerstede ♦ The 2007 OGSA Conference

♦ Nieuweschans ♦ Customs of Baptism

♦ Freepsum ♦ Church Pictures: Tettens, Bagband ♦ The Undertaking Stork ♦ Early Low German Bibles ♦ Newly Translated Books ♦ The Emigration Project ♦ Our Favorite—Tulips! ♦ A Journey from Dunum... ♦ Rysum & Emigration ♦ 1811-1814 Civil Records ♦ The Christian Reformed Church &

the Petersen Family ♦ Emigrant Stories

American-Ostfriesen Zeitung Page American-Ostfriesen Zeitung

***** JUST PRINTED! NEW BOOKS! ***** Ostfriesen Nach Amerika—Jürgen Hoogstraat, translated into English by Gene Janssen. You will want this book! The lives of the emigrant families that came to America. Available for $18 which includes postage and handling. 8 1/2” x 11” format with spiral binding. Updated with maps and photo’s, first time in English! Available May 1, 2007.

Butjadingen, by Hans H. Francksen, Translated by Gene Janssen. The early history of Butjadingen is the history of Ostfriesland. Well written, all new pic-tures. If you like history, you will like this book! $18, colored covers 8 1/2” x 11” format with spiral binding. 100 pages.

The East Frisian in America—Pastor George Schnucker, Translated into English by Pastor Kenneth DeWall / New Updated Version with pictures and maps. Available in June 2007. Colonies of Ostfriesen in America. 197 pages.

Coming in June! The Ostfriesen, Who They Were & How They Lived, By Jürgen Hoogstraat & Lin Cornelius Strong (2003 Conference Lectures put into book format) If you want to know how your 18th century ancestors lived—this is the book! 80 pages.

The Franciscan Order in OstfrieslandThe Franciscan Order in OstfrieslandThe Franciscan Order in OstfrieslandThe Franciscan Order in Ostfriesland by Harm Koch (Ostfriesen-Zeitung, 11/10/06), translated by Rudy Wiemann

Only one Franciscan monastery ever existed in Ostfriesland. It was located in Faldern, a village on Emden’s east side which was incorporated into Emden’s defensive system in the 1570s, although already in 1368 a wooden bridge con-necting town and village is known to have existed.

The Franciscans did not need to put up their own buildings but were established in an existing cloister of unknown affiliation (near today’s Brückenstraße) by Pope John XXII in 1317. Over the centuries this monastery was the site of a number of secular gatherings.

In 1400, representatives of the Hanseatic League, with Hamburg and Lübeck in the lead, held court over Ostfriesland’s sachems who received loot from Störte-beker and his pirates in return for the use of their harbors. During Hamburg’s siege of Emden seven years later the monastery sustained heavy damage.

In 1465, Ulrich I was invested with the title “Count of the Realm” in the “Klosterkirche” (Monastery Church) by representatives of the Emperor in Vi-enna. The first Franciscans to occupy the buildings were “Gaudenten” brothers whose behavior created so much offense that Count Edzard I, the Great, 1491-1528, succeeded in having them replaced with the stricter Observanten who re-stored the trust of the citizenry. As the Reformation progressed fewer monks resided there, and Edzard’s son and successor, Enno II, 1528-1540, tried (but failed) to buy the property to make space available for religious refugees stream-ing in from the Low Countries.

When only seven monks remained within its crumbling walls, they were willing to vacate the place. As Franciscans are not allowed to own property, they refused an offer of a pension by the city, but packed their sacred books and went south to another settlement of pastor’s position in Blaukirchen.

The fairly dilapidated buildings were restored and turned into a “Gasthaus” (poor house). In the “Klosterkirche”, Reformed services were held. It was located right behind City Hall and had an active part in the spiritual life of Emden until it was destroyed by fire in 1938.

OSB UPDATE...OSB UPDATE...OSB UPDATE...OSB UPDATE... If you need one of these books, please contact the editor as soon as possible as the number of books we have in stock for these newly printed books is limited. Books recently printed include the following: ♦ HAGE (2 Volumes), JARßUM, RIEPE,

PEWSUM, WOQUARD (Updated Ver-sion) VICTORBUR/MOORDORF (already sold out)

♦ BUTTFORDE, in stock ♦ CRITZUM, MIDLUM, (2 Volumes), just

arrived! (These villages are located in the Rheiderland)

♦ WOLTHUSEN—June 2007 ♦ BORßUM—Coming Soon! If you are interested in a copy of any of these books, please contact the editor. OSB in stock: Asel, Ardorf, Canum, Wo-quard, Riepe, Hage, Pewsum, Jarßum, Wy-belsum, Eggelingen, Uplengen (several vol-umes of the Remels, Ockenhausen, Hollen and Firrel Books), Hage, ritzum, Midlum, Freepsum, Barstede, Bingum, Böhmerwold, Dunum, Emden French Hugeunot, Land-schaftspolder, Freepsum, Großefehn, Wiesens, Spetzerfehn, GroßMidlum, Marien-chor, Norderney, Potshausen, Riepe, Si-monswolde, Stapelmoor, Wymeer, Twixlum, Veenhusen, Uphusen, Völlen. Others may be available in Germany, please ask if you have questions. Contact the editor with questions, comments. When books sell out, they are seldom reprinted!


EASTER FIRESEASTER FIRESEASTER FIRESEASTER FIRES Easter, coming as it does in the spring, was one of the most important and tradition shrouded holidays of the year. The two Sun-days preceding Easter (Judica and Palmarun) have special meaning for young people, since by custom, the Sunday of Judica was a school free day, while Palmarum (we know it as Palm

Sunday), has a long tradition in Ostfriesland as being Confirma-tion day. For young people of working age, the first Tuesday after Easter marked the day when they began service for a neighboring farmer or an apprenticeship. In many parts of Germany, large fires are still lit on the church grounds or on other open ground on the evening before Easter. These “Easter Fires” are occasions of great joy because winter was over and summer is about to begin. Fires were started on any higher elevation, although this was difficult in Ostfriesland as there are no higher elevations.

In other areas of Germany, the fires are lit on the mountain tops. It is known that the old Germanic tribes worshipped Ostern as the Goddess of the Morning and the coming vernal equinox. But the first Christian missionaries tried to put a Christian spin to the heathen practices by changing the spring equinox celebra-tion fires into celebration of Christ’s victory over death and the re-emergence of the sun as a symbol of spiritual awakening and everlasting life. In earlier time, Easter fires were lit on the seashore near the high tide mark. People believed that springing over such a fire would be an act of cleansing and would give protection against harmful sickness. Small children danced around the fires holding burn-ing brands of sticks or threw wads of hay on the embers. When the fires died down sufficiently, old women took home the coals to start their own hearth fires, carefully preserving the ashes as they were considered a powerful protection against evil spirits. The old crones also spoke of the supposed delights of the setting Easter sun.

MAY DAYMAY DAYMAY DAYMAY DAY————TRADITIONS & DEGREESTRADITIONS & DEGREESTRADITIONS & DEGREESTRADITIONS & DEGREES Unser Ostfriesland May 1998, Translated by George Heikes Anno 1560 “There are times when obscene events occur while celebrating under the Maypole, when hired girls and hired men are wide awake the entire night, dancing, drinking and indulg-ing in improper acts, and otherwise behaving in an indiscreet manner. The State Offices hereby decree that such behavior shall no longer be permitted and that a violation of this act is punishable by a fine of ten Gulden, half of which is to be paid to the city and half to Mayor Besten.” The May Pole was usually the same tree that served several weeks earlier as the symbol of Easter. The tall, makeshift mast rose higher than the nearby houses and was regarded as belong-ing to the whole village. It occupied the choicest location in the village, on the market place, conveniently in front of the village tavern. Formerly, May Day was an occasion for bird shooting, but as time went on, the practice was to hang a chicken enclosed in a chicken crate high in the branches. More than a thousand years ago, the representatives of the Friesen gathered at the Upstalsboom for their yearly convoca-tion. The May Pole was considered a symbol of God’s peace on earth, but the Friesen carried this idea further to mean peace in their land as well. As with other village treasures, the May Pole was subject to being stolen by knaves from neighboring villages. The caused the following ditty to make the rounds:

Maiboom, Maiboom, hol de fast (Maypole, Maypole, stay in place)

Morgen krieg wi fromde Gaste (Tomoroow comes and unfriendly fact)

De wilt uns die Maiboom nemen (He wants to take our Maypole away)

Dan muss wi uns doch schamen. (That will be for us a sorry day.)

Strong drink fueled much of the escapades. There were eating and drinking contests and all night dancing.

Unser Ostfriesland, Translated by George Heikes Village residents start looking for a tall birth tree and it’s brought to the town square. The tree is decked with green branches and paper flowers. Soon, the musicians ready their instruments for the marches, spring songs and dance music. The May Pole tradition is centuries old. As far back as the 12th century, it was the custom to decorate homes and churches at Easter time with garlands of the beech tree. There are many old folk customs that speak of the May fest. In many ways, May 1 was especially important in the lives of the ordinary people. On this day, taxes were payable as “Maigeld” or May money. On this day, the hired boys and girls began a year of work at a new farmstead. Contracts between renters and owners were sealed a this time. On May 1, cattle were taken out to pasture for the first time of the season. Mayfest was a special occasion for fun and amusement. Beer flowed freely and the young people participated in dancing and frivolity. Because they carried their fun to excess and fighting often prohibited by law. A police order decreed by Graf Ulrich in 1677 states “It is a heather and unseemly condition that in parts of our domain May Fest and Fastelnachts Beer is drunk to excess and men and women indulge in lewd acts and conduct themselves for days on end in riotous and Godless behavior. Such acts will be punish-able by a fine of ten Gold Guldens.” The May Fest decoration motif continues to this day in the prac-tice of a bower or garland of greenery over the door or gateway of the homes of newlyweds. May Day today is a village festival with the raising of the decorated Maypole, music played by local musicians and food and drink of many types. It’s still a time for celebrating the advent of Spring.

OUR NEW WEBSITE!

www.ogsa.us

OSTFRIESEN GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 168 North Lake Street, #3 Forest Lake, MN 55025 Address Service Requested

U.S.POSTAGE PAID

PERMIT NO. #21

SATURDAY, JUNE 2, 2007 We’re taking a Field Trip!

German Specialty Imports, 19580 Bernard Avenue, Prior Lake, MN 55372

952-226-2564 We’ll meet Erika for a tour of her shop filled to the brim with all types of gift items from Germany and enjoy samples of her prod-ucts. Cheeses and sausages are imported! You will not want to miss this visit! We’ll carpool from a nearby park. Call Lin at 651-269-3580 if you are planning on attending—or call Erika at 952-2564 for di-rections.

All meetings are open to the public. Please join us and bring a relative or friend!

SATURDAY,

NOV. 3 / 10 a.m. JOIN US AT OUR

ANNUAL TEA PARTY ♦ TABLES SET WITH REAL OSTFRIESEN TEA SETS

♦ ANTIQUE GERMAN SILVER! ♦ OSTFRIESEN TEA, DESSERT

& KLUNTJE’S ARE SERVED! ♦ JOIN US FOR A FUN TIME.

♦ PICTURES OF OSTFRIESLAND

♦ BRING A FRIEND!

The meeting will be held at Becketwood, 4300 West River Parkway, Minneapo-lis. Call for directions—Zella (651) 452-2574 or Jean Haemig (612) 728-1124 or use mapquest.com for step-by-step direc-tions.

2007—UPCOMING EVENTS Saturday, April 7, 2007 The Research Center will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ♦ Research help available! ♦ Come and stay for the day—or come a day early!

AMERICANAMERICAN- ---OSTFRIESEN … · AMERICANAMERICAN- ---OSTFRIESEN ZEITUNGOSTFRIESEN...

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