OGSA - 2 - Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America

OSTFRIESEN GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA

AMERICANAMERICAN-OSTFRIESEN ZEITUNG Eala Freya Fresena! Lever Dod Als Slav! April 2008 Volume 11, Issue 2

Hermann Fuls

Johanna Fuls

THE SECRETS IN OLD PHOTOGRAPHS

OSTFRIESEN-AMERICAN ZEITUNG

OSTFRIESEN GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA

Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America

Eala Freya Fresena! Lever Dod Als Slav! April 2008 Volume 11 Issue 2 The newsletter of the Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America is published four times a year. Please write: Lin Strong, Editor, OGSA Newsletter, 168 North Lake Street, Forest Lake, MN 55025 or email [email protected] with comments or suggestions. We are happy to consider any contributions of genealogical information. Whether we can use your material is based on such factors as general interest to our members, our need to cover certain subjects, balance through the year and available space. The editor reserves the right to edit all submitted materials for presentation and grammar. The editor will correct errors and may need to determine length of copy. Contributors are responsible for accuracy, omissions and factual errors. Cite documentation for facts or statistical information and give complete source for all abstracted or transcribed records. Other than the exceptions given, all or part of this publication may be copied without fee provided that: copies are not made or distributed for direct title commercial advantage; the OGSA copyright notice, the name of the publication and its date appear; and notice is given that copying is by permission of the Ostfriesen Genealogical Society. You must contact the editor for permission to publish in any form. Materials not otherwise attributed, were prepared by the editor. Copyright © April 2008 Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America/Lin Cornelius Strong

OGSA MEMBERSHIP MEMBER PRIVILEGES include four issues of the American Ostfriesen Zeitung (January, April, July, October), four program meetings each year and one special event, special member order discounts, and access to the OGSA library.

Mail Address: 1670 South Robert Street, #333, West St. Paul, MN 55118 Change of Address: [email protected] Officers are elected for a two year term and will serve during 2007 and 2008. OGSA OFFICERS: President—Sharon Arends, [email protected] (952) 906-9677 Vice President—Gene Janssen, [email protected] Treasurer—Lübbert Kruizenga, [email protected] Recording Secretary—Nancy Jensen, [email protected] Past President—Buck Menssen, [email protected] BOARD MEMBERS: Lin Strong: [email protected] / [email protected] Dr. James Limburg: [email protected] Ray Kleinow: [email protected] Jill Morelli: [email protected] Rick Gersema: [email protected] Zella Mirick: [email protected] COMMITTEE COORDINATORS: Program & Meeting Committee: Open, You can help! Publicity: Open, do you have time? Library: Zella Mirick (651) 452-2574 Membership Coordinator: Sharon Arends (952) 906-9677 Mail Coordinator— Zella Mirick, Nancy Jensen AMERICAN-OSTFRIESEN ZEITUNG STAFF: Lin Strong, News Editor / Cell 651-269-3580 / [email protected] Contributing Authors: Jill Morelli, Rudy Wiemann, Gene Janssen, Zella Mirick, Jeanee Thompson Columnists: Jeanee Thompson, Ray Kleinow, Rudy Wiemann, Lin Strong NOTE: All Board Members and Officers will be up for election January, 2009. If you are interested in serving, please contact the Vice President who heads the nominating committee. Distance is not an problem as we can also tele-conference all meetings.

NEW! OGSA 2008 MEMBERSHIP—Send your check for $18 (high speed internet, newsletter sent by pdf file) or $28 for paper copies payable to OGSA 1670 South Robert Street, #333, West St. Paul, MN 55118 NEW! Foreign membership is $18 if sent by pdf file—$30 if paper copies. You can deposit your membership at Sparkasse Emden if you prefer. ♦

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The membership year is from November 1 through October 31. You will receive one reminder post card in December 2008 if you do not renew before the end of the year. If you join midway during the year, you will receive the code to download all back issues for that year or paper copies if you join at the $28 level. Back issues for the past years may be available for purchase. Please include your name, address, email address, phone number and eight names you are researching in Ostfriesland along with their village names. If you have any question about your membership, please do not hesitate to contact the membership coordinator!

OGSA MISSION STATEMENT OGSA is headquartered in Minnesota and our official name is Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America. Anyone with ancestors from Ostfriesland or who has an interest in Ostfriesland is welcome to join. The purpose of the group is exclusively educational, and specifically to: ♦ Foster and increase interest in Ostfriesen genealogy. ♦ Provide an association for those interested in Ostfriesen genealogy. ♦ Provide an opportunity for exchange of knowledge about Ostfriesland. ♦ Encourage the establishment of Ostfriesen genealogical resources. ♦ Hold meetings for instruction and interest of its members. ♦ Collect and, when practical, publish genealogical, biographical and historical material relating to people of Ostfriesen descent. ♦ Work with other similar societies to preserve and protect Ostfriesen genealogy and heritage. Our organization is a 501C3 non-profit organization. Your donations are tax-deductible.

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Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America

APRIL 2008

MOIN, ALLE! When you read this, I’ll soon be on my way to Ostfriesland, one of my favorite places in the world. A group will be meeting me later in the month and we’ll be there for May Day. Fun! If you want pictures of a specific village, email or call me before I leave, if possible! Don’t wait. First of all, thanks to all of you who wrote notes to the board members and myself about the January newsletter. Yes, it is a lot of work, but it is a legacy for future generations, too. Your nice comments and suggestions are appreciated. Remember, this is YOUR newsletter and the only contact we have with many of you! Take a minute, jot down a thought or comment—they are always read. Your comments have led to the many changes you notice in the newsletter. There have been a lot of positive comments on the color pictures in the online version of the newsletter, too. And, yes you can print some of the pictures on photo paper and frame them! Make sure you read the stories sent to us by our readers. This is what you send us—and we love it. I got one of them two months after Marilyn sent it by email, but I did get it. What fun to learn how they traveled in those first cars! And Zandra’s article gives us a whole new slant on how difficult life was for our ancestors.

Inside this issue: Photographs & Their Secrets

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OSB Update, Germany 1871

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Suurhusen’s Leaning Tower

7,8

How Jenny Broke The Ice…

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Land & Capacity Measures

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Travels in the North of Germany Levees of Harlingerland

10 11-13

Member News

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City of Emden

14-16

News from Ostfriesland

17-19

German Recipes, Waffles Kleinsander vs. Broer Milffs

19 20-21

What is an Armenvorsteher?

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Isn’t this is a great way for all of you to get involved. Write down one of the stories you heard many times through the years. Don’t worry about spelling or punctuation, we can help you with that! Get a new notebook and start writing stories in it every morning with your cup of coffee or tea. You might surprise yourself with some of the stories you remember. Talk to your siblings, they may have an entire different slant on that story. It will get you talking to your relatives, too, which may be a good or bad thing! ☺

A Trip to Clara City

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Finding your “Lost” Women

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Prawn Fisherman of the Dollart

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Holtgaste’s Church Bells

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Technology 101

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Make sure you read the article “Travels in the North of Germany” on page ten. This book was written in 1820 and gives you a great glimpse at life in that time—life observed by an English gentleman. We will only quote the information on Ostfriesland, but this is a two volume set if you are interested in obtaining the books. It is available from amazon.com.

Links to Deep Roots

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How often do you check our website? You might find someone who is researching one of your lines! Answer one of them—who knows, you might find a cousin! The database of Ostfriesen emigrants that Gene Janssen has spent more than a year on is now finished—the first volume of this valuable resource. Once you receive it, you may wish to submit your data—or maybe you have more information on someone who is included. Please let us know! Just think of how many more emigrants there were—and this is only a beginning. [email protected]—email Gene today! See page 31!

The Seven Years War to the Batavian Republic

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Writing Your Family History

28-29

Ancestral Numbering Systems

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Membership Information

30

Social Status

30

Spring Book Sale

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NEW—Emigration Database!

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2008 Picture Contest, Programs

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Enjoy Spring—it’s been a long time coming in this neck of the woods!

Klaasohm-the great winter festival OF Borkum

Klaasohm Mask Every year on the evening of December 5th an intriguing public festival takes place on the island of Borkum. The boys and men of Borkum celebrate an event, which has a Christian, heathen and nautical origin. The origin of this celebration comes from the time when men went out to sea to hunt whales. The women during those times stayed at home and raised the family. On their return from sea, the men had to re-established their authority over their household and thus were expected to earn the respect of their wives by swatting them on the buttocks with a cow horn in a traditional "Klaasohm" ceremony. On this evening, a masked man rides on a horse around the island and gives candy to the children. This part of the custom is reminiscent of the St. Nikolaus celebrations, which are very popular in the Netherlands, where St. Nikolaus also gives presents to children. Many of the men dress in strange and crazy costumes made of feathers and furs and Cow Horn fight each other. The weaker ones may even win against their stronger neighbors. This takes place accompanied by a loud racket from hand-made instruments. It was at one time believed that the demons and evil spirits which assembled on the island during the year will drift with the sound of the instruments out to sea. In 1830, the organization "Borkumer Jungs von 1830" was founded and still exists today. This organization and celebration is in many ways a mystery and portions are secret. No one is talking, so it may always remain that way. (ED. NOTE: Want more info? Check it out on the internet—You Tube has a short clip, too!) Author: Astrid Dirks 3

Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America

“OLD PHOTOGRAPHS AND THE SECRETS THEY HOLD” Part One My quest to identify the approximate date on photographs of my great-grandparents, Herman and Everwiena Fuls (front cover) led me to study types of photography and to use my knowledge of historic clothing as resources. Photographs of our ancestors are a link to the past which we would not have otherwise. Photographs help us connect with a person’s life and times past. However, it is very annoying and frustrating to find unidentified photographs in a box or album that must surely be of family members or maybe friends of the family. Of course, this is a habit we should not follow so that future generations won’t be blaming us for not labeling our photographs. In this article I hope to provide you with information about early photography and the clothing details that will help put an approximate date on the mystery photographs you have in your possession. This article will be limited to the 1850s-1900s. A second article covering 1900-1920 will come later. Have you ever wondered who “Uncle John” in an old photograph really is? If John was a popular name in your early family history it can be more difficult to identify. However, there are a number of ways to go about solving this mystery. First, you might compare the face with photographs of other relatives named “John” that already have been identified. Using such features as shape of ears, position of eyes, shape of mouth and hairline details are helpful. Even if they are a different age at the time of the photograph, some physical details don’t change. Using the history of photography from its beginning in the 1840s can help ascertain when a photo was taken. There are many resources available on the internet and in books. I will only cover some examples to get you started. At the end of this article there is a list of resources you might want to use in the future. The earliest type of photography was the Daguerrotype begun in 1838. This method peaked in use from 1847 to 1854 but lasted until 1860. Daguerrotype photographs were made of silver on copper and have a mirror effect when turned. Most Daguerrotype plates were mounted in cases with elaborate frames and a padded satin or velvet cover which was rose colored. The next method to come along was the ambrotype which first appeared in 1854 and peaked in use between 1855 and 1860. These were made by coating a piece of glass with silver nitrate and exposing this to the image. They were always cased because of their fragile nature. Ambro4

types lasted until 1866, although one source said 1881. It may be difficult to distinguish between the Daguerrotype and the ambrotype. Thus, if you have a cased photograph you know it had to be done between 1838 and 1866. Another method of photography to appear in the 1850’s was the tintype. They are usually more difficult to date than other examples because they spanned a longer time-frame. Tintypes peaked from 1861 to 1870, but can be seen as late at 1900. Tintypes are made of iron so they are misnamed. Common sizes were from 2 x 2 ½ inches or 2 5/8 x 3 ¼ inches. Most tintypes found today are of poor quality. Several varieties of mountings were used with tintypes. One called the “Gem” format, placed the photograph in a ‘cartouche’ sleeve with a decorative design around an oval opening. Another mounting was in a brass locket but they are not commonly found today. While examining the tintypes in my collection I found one that had a postage stamp affixed to the back. Why was this stamp placed there? Postage stamps were used as tax revenue stamps to help pay for the Civil War. From Aug 1864 to Aug 1866 photographs were taxed. This is one way to narrow the date of a photograph easily. A very common photograph from 1858 to 1880 was the carte de visite (Right two pictures—front and back). These are cards with an albumen photograph mounted to it and were 2 3/8 x 4 ¼ inches in size. There are several types of features which can make dating them easier. One feature is card thickness ranging from 0.5 mm in 1858 to 1 mm in 1900. Another feature is card corners. Square corners are pre-1870 and rounded corners after that. Image size varied also starting with less than ¾ inch to filling in the complete card. Other features such as borders, backgrounds and colors also changed. You can locate more specific details on all these features using the internet. The next type of photograph you might find in your family collection of photos is the cabinet card (next page, top). They appeared in 1866 and peaked between 1875 and 1895. Early cabinet cards were used only for landscape views. Like the carte de visite, the photo is mounted on a card stock but the size is larger. The cabinet card is 6 ½ x 4 ¼ inches. Early photos were sepia, which is a brown tone. Later photos used soft, silverfish tones and rich blacks. Dating

Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America

the cabinet card can be done by studying the details on the card. These details include the card stock, card colors, borders and edges, and lettering. The early card stock was lighter in weight and square in size. In the 1890’s scalloped edges were used. Card colors start with white, off white or light cream. From 1880-1890 different colors were used on the face and back of mounts. Borders and lettering differed widely so it is best to use a resource available on the internet. It is important to check the lettering used on the back of the card used to identify the photographer. Using methods of photography and the details they provide is just one way to help identify when a photo was taken. The next step is to look at what the person or persons in the photograph are wearing. The history of clothing can give you clues about the time and lifestyle of your ancestors including special events such as baptisms, marriages and special occasions. In addition to the clothing worn, hairstyles and styles of facial hair on men will be included. Female Clothing and Appearance 1850-1900 Women’s clothing (and also that of girls age five and above) from 1850 to 1870 included the “crinoline” as the dominant feature. This style of dress has a very large bell-shaped skirt. The bodice was fitted and had a dropped armhole. Sleeve styles included a narrow fit from the shoulder to the wrist. Some sleeves were narrow at the shoulder and wide at the wrist with a muslin undersleeve. Detachable lace or plain collars are used at this time. In most photographs of this period, women’s hair was generally parted in the middle and pulled back into a bun. Sausage curls or ringlets might be seen at this time. Beginning in the late 1860’s back fullness was a feature of female dresses for most of the period from 1870-1890. This back fullness was known as the “bustle”. In the 1870’s a full bustle was created by manipulating the fabric at the back of the skirt and required a support. Because many photographs only show the front of the dress, it may be hard to see the bustle. Most of these garments were two-piece which matched in color. Sleeves may be three-quarter length and set into the armhole. Look for a jacket-like bodice with extensions below the waist in front, a high neck, and lots of ruffles, trims and

other frills during this time. Hairstyles in the 1870’s may have added hair pieces and were arranged in braids or long curls. From 1878 to 1883, the bustle silhouette is modified, with a gradual diminishing of the bustle dimensions. Skirts fit smoothly over the hips. The DRESS WITH BUSTLE necklines and sleeves do not change radically. After 1883, the bustle returns but in a softer, draped construction. The skirt is flat or draped in front. The bodice is short. Sleeves were generally close fitting, ending above the wrist. High, fitted, boned collars were seen in almost all daytime dresses. Because the necklines were high, hair styles were pulled higher on the head. In the 1890’s, also known as the “gay nineties”, we see a change in the silhouette of female dress. This was the era of the “hour-glass” style of dress. To obtain this look, sleeve styles were large and wide on the top, the waist was as small as the corset could make it, and the skirt flared out into a bell-like shape. The dress was twopiece and usually of matching color and fabric. The large sleeve was called a “leg-o-mutton” and had fullness in the upper part and was fitted on the lower part. Skirts were gored, fitting smoothly over the hips with some back pleating or fullness. The ladies hair had a curled fringe at the front and the back often arranged in a coil. Young girls, age five or six and above, were often dressed like adult women. However, you will often see them in shorter length versions of the dresses seen on adults. Infants, both boys and girls, are dressed alike and it may be hard to date them or know the gender of the infant by using clothing alone. Male Clothing and Appearance 1850-1900 In the 1850’s, men’s suits consisted of three pieces, a coat, a waistcoat (vest) and trousers. Coats were of three styles including a formal tailcoat with a short, square “cut-in” front and tails in back, a frock coat which was fitted through the torso with a skirt attached, and the sack jacket that was loose and without a waistline and short lapels. Waistcoats were either single or double breasted and had a 5

Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America

lapel collar. Although not always visible in photographs, trousers were wider at the top and narrow at the ankle. Neckties, called cravats, were soft and wrapped around the deep collar of the shirt. Men’s hair was fairly short and curly or waved and long; full side whiskers were stylish. Moustaches are also seen at this time. During the 1860’s, tail coats are only used as evening wear. Frock coats become longer and sack jackets are seen more often. For those of modest incomes, you will see more sack jackets that are poorly fitted in photographs throughout the late 1800’s. Lapels button higher so little is seen of a waistcoat unless the coat is unbuttoned. Trouser legs widen and striped and checked fabrics might be seen. By the 1860’s being clean shaven was no longer fashionable. From 1870 to 1900 it can be difficult to date men’s photographs because men’s fashions do not change as much as women’s do. Only a few details change during this time. In the 1880’s the Tuxedo was introduced. It was a jacket with rounded edges at the front, a contrasting fabric on the lapels and was worn with trousers that had a band of braid covering the side seams. Waistcoats matched the rest of the suit and were usually double-breasted. Frock coats continued until the 1890’s and the sack coat gained in popularity. Trousers were straight and fairly narrow. Moustaches were popular, worn with side whiskers or a beard. Headwear for men between 1850 and 1870 was the top hat. From 1870 to 1900, the top hat is worn only for formal occasions while bowlers, fedoras/ homburgs and straw boaters are introduced for daytime wear. Clothing for boys (age five and above) between 1850 and 1870 includes trousers or short pants cut similarly to adult men’s. Knickerbocker suits with full cut, knee length pants and sailor suits with trousers or knickers and a blouse or jacket with a flat, square

collar were popular. In the 1870’s knickers become more fitted and look more like short trousers in the 1880’s. A popular style was the “Little Lord Fauntleroy” suit (right) with a wide lace collar and cuffs on a belted jacket, knickers, and a bow at the neck. Other styles for boys and young men mimicked those worn by adult men. Part II of this article will appear in a future issue of the newsletter and will cover 19001920. Written by Grace Keir, January 2008

NOTES FROM THE NORTH: I’m sure many of you are experiencing Spring in your part of the country. As I write this we once again are having snow in Minnesota. Our move to the new library facility has worked out well. We’ve hosted two research days since the beginning of January and are happy to report that we’ve had some very good success stories. I think the long bank of windows allow natural light seems to make the research easier! Our group has another research day scheduled for May 3rd…come check us out, you won’t be disappointed. I want to take a moment to say a few thank you’s. The efforts of Lin Strong and Zella Mirick cannot be discounted during our move. Many emails were exchanged regarding the addition of new members, new merchandise orders, and the answering of questions. On the other side, Zella worked very hard to ensure the shipments of merchandise were processed accurately and in a timely manner. Many new members have also benefited from her expertise – thank you for your generosity in assisting them. We are looking forward to a couple of large OSB shipments from Germany which will make those of you who have been waiting patiently very happy! I also want to say a special thank you our member Cheryl Meints, who has decided not to continue with her newsletter Internet column. Thank you for the great insights you shared in your column through the years. I am pleased to say that Ray Kleinow has agreed to try his hand at a similar column and we appreciate his willingness to share his expertise with the membership. I wish you a happy Spring. Enjoy the rebirth of the earth. As always, feel free to contact me about any issues that might concern you at [email protected] or 952-906-9677. Tschüss! , President

Sharon Arends 6

Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America

THE LEANING TOWER OF SUURHUSEN Ostfriesen-Zeitung, 10/31/07 Suurhusen - Located in the Krummhörn area north of Emden, this rural town will have its claim to fame when it sees its church tower entered in the 2009 Guinness Book of Records as the world’s leaningest tower, tilting 5.19 degrees toward the west, whereas the (heretofore) more famous tower of Pisa lists by a mere 4.43 degrees (by Guinness’s reckoning). Rheiderland’s Midlum was sure the honor would all be its, as its church tower reposes at a 6.27 degree slant on a soft substrate of “Darg” (organic material of a sediment covered mire), but its height of 46 feet, merely half that of Suurhusen’s landmark, evidently did not impress the Guinness folks. In this respect Pisa’s tower, of course, has them both beat, rising 183 ft. or 186 ft., depending which side you are on, above the Italian countryside. SUURHUSEN—This small village is located north of Emden in Ostfriesland and in former times was also called Zuiderhusen (Süderhusen), named in part, probably due to its close proximity to Osterhusen and Westerhusen. Suurhusen is mentioned in documents from 1255. A stone with the year 1004 and ceramic objects found in the old church tower point to the fact that the village is much older. Suurhusen currently has about 1200 inhabitants and is administered by the municipality of Hinte. Wikipedia

SUURHUSEN Landkreis Aurich Reformed. (Emsigerland, once part of Diocese of Münster) Rectangular church from the first half of the 13th century. The leaning, west tower of the church is a landmark of the village and highly visible from the highway which goes past the village. The sidewalls were renovated in 1855. Large Gothic window on the south, as well as on the north, has traces of older openings above. Originally, there were two portals in the north wall; closed portal in the west section of the south wall has a horseshoe shaped arch, architecture, and a high, square frame. Lengthwise dimension of the nave shortened in the 15th century when the west tower was added. Three stories of blind arches in the tower. Ground floor contains the entryway with a high, square framework. The interior has a beautiful Romanesque baptismal font of Bentheim style and a memorial tablet for the flood of 1570. The pictures on this page were not a result of the camera or picture being tilted, the church is that crooked. (Noah, Robert, Churches of Ostfriesland, Translated by Gene Janssen)

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Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America

The church in Suurhusen is reminiscent of the old fortress churches of old. Originally the church was 32 metres long and 9.35 metres wide. The church tilts at an angle of 5.19 degrees compared to just 4.43 degrees for the Pisa tower. In 1450, the church was shortened by about a quarter and the tower was built in the space. This tower is considered today to be the most leaning tower in the world and is known as the Leaning Tower of Suurhusen. According to local historian Tjabbo van Lessen, the church was built in marshy land in 1450 on foundations of oak tree trunks which were preserved by the water in the ground. When the land was drained in the 19th century, the wood rotted, causing the tower to tilt. The steeple was closed to the public in 1975 for safety reasons, but re-opened 10 years later after being made safe.

HOW JENNY BROKE THE ICE ... Hesel - Back in 1989 the East German communist state began to allow its citizens to vacation in a foreign country, i.e., if that country was a fraternal Eastern European “Peoples Republic”. Many tourists took advantage of this “thaw” and entered Czechoslovakia and Hungary where they promptly besieged the West German embassy for visas to the West. The “fraternal” governments, figuring that East Germany had brought this embarrassing situation on itself and unwilling to force the guests back from where they came with the world looking on, allowed them to cross the border into Germany and Austria. That is how Jenny and her parents from Leipzig wound up in the village of Hesel in Ostfriesland. Jenny was a school girl then and needed to continue her education in her adopted hometown. But what about the records of her previous studies? She did have the telephone number of her old school in Leipzig, but when Hesel’s school administration rang the school, they flatly refused to divulge any information. A short time later, however, the Berlin wall fell, and now it was Leipzig who called Hesel saying that, after all, the political situation had changed and they would be glad to send Jenny’s records. To this gesture of goodwill they added an invitation to Hesel’s teaching staff to visit Leipzig (four hours to the east of Hesel—about 290 miles). This was accepted and followed up with a visit in the opposite direction. Around Christmastime Leipzig proudly sent its renowned youth choir to Ostfriesland which sang in numerous churches all around Hesel. Eventually a school partnership and a student exchange program grew out of these visits which have continued for 17 years now. In May ‘07 Hesel’s ninth graders had the chance to spend a

week in the big city in Saxony, of J. S. Bach fame. In September Leipzig’s ninth and tenth graders came to Hesel where they took classes in “The East Friesian Coastal Landscape” with emphasis on the coast line, tidal flats, islands, and fishery, etc. A field trip to the island of Norderney rounded out this learning experience. When it was time for the Leipzigers to leave, there was much sadness among many students on both sides, a sign that friendships and social contacts growing out of these exchanges are one of their important derivative benefits. Jenny, meanwhile, in her early thirties now and long gone from Hesel, may be quite unaware of what she started. SOURCE: From Kiek Rin, Nov. ‘07 By W. Bettig and H. Kroon. Translated by Rudy Wiemann 8

Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America

Land and Capacity Measures in OLD Ostfriesland SOURCE: Heyken, Heyko and Eva Heyken, Die Einwohner des alten Amtes Wittmund von 1565 bis 1752 (The Residents in the old District of Wittmund from 1565 to 1752), pp. 611614 Translated by Gene Janssen The usual measurement for land was a Diemat. Documents from the 15th century already use the terms dymede or dymet, as in the wills of Houwe Hedden,1452, Hicke Boings from Werdum, 1491, and Eger Kankena in 1497. Even in the time between the two world wars, the Diemat was the common term used to describe land or agricultural acreages. Balthasar Arend (1640-1687) defined a Diemat as: "A Diemat has 20 Ruten [Rute is related to our rod] on all sides, with the Rute consisting of 12 Fuß (feet), or the amount that one man can mow with a sickle in one day." Nowadays we measure the Diemat a bit more precisely, i.e. 56.74 Ar (1 Ar = 100 square meters or 5,674 square meters, which is a little more than a half hectare (one hectare = 2.47 acres). 1.

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However, in early times a Diemat did not necessarily equal a Diemat. The determining factor was which "foot" measurement it was based on. Around 1670 to 1680 Regemortes surveyed the district of Esens. He did not use the previous Harlinger measurement of one Rhinelander foot = .31385 meters, but the Emden measurement which was the same as the English standard of one foot = .3048 meters. This had raised the number of Diemats in Emden: one Diemat was now 5,351.21 square meters instead of the previous 5,673.7 square meters. Apparently, this alteration was not carried out. In land measurements found in the Esens civil registers and in the Weinkäufen (land transfers) the Diemat remained 5,674 square meters as it stands even today.

In addition to the Diemat there were other area measurements which, however, were used less often. The above mentioned will of Hicke Boings used the term seßhalf styghe hundert. • This is most likely one hundred square Ruten (rods). • Four hundred sqaure Ruten are equal to one Diemat. • A Stiege (Styghe) equals twenty, so that the land measurement dealt with here is 32.5 Diemat. • The square rods also appear in property lists usually as 100 Quadratruten = 1/4 Diemat.

Smaller properties were measure in Acker. Apparently, one Acker (notice our word acre) was equal to a half Gras, so that three Acker made up one Diemat, making the Acker 1,891 square meters. Measurements of length found are the Rute (rod), the Fuß (foot) and the Daumen (thumbs). Once again, confusion reigns, because there were various lengths used to figure a foot or a rod. Specifically, there was the Rhineland foot (31.385 centimeters) and the Emden (English) foot of 30.48 centimeters. • The rod could then be anywhere from 12 to 20 feet. • These measurements are found mostly in the dike registries as lengths for the Deichpfänder (those responsible for the upkeep of the dikes). For cubic or capacity measures one immediately comes across the Tonne especially in relation to grain payments or levies. • One Tonne equals about 200 liter, or more precisely, 1,937 Hektoliter (2.84 bushels). • One half of a Tonne is a Sack, approximately one hectoliter. The term for a quarter Tonne is one Vierdup, that is about 50 liters. • Half of a Vierdup is a Scheffel, about 25 liters. • Eight Scheffel (the symbol used is ß) make up one Tonne. • One Vaatje or Fäßhen (vat or barrel) contains about 12-1/2 liters thus equal to a half Scheffel. • And finally: nine Krug (mugs or tankards with 1-1/3 liter capacity) are equal to one Vaatje. Of these measurements, only the Tonne and the Scheffel appear in the civil registries with one appearance of the term, Veerdup. In 1622 and 1631 in the outlying areas of Dose and Eibenhausen, the levies contain the terms "1 Stander Roggen" which means 3/4 Tonne. This measurement stands apart from the above system of measurements.

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Do you have emigration stories that we can use in the January 2009 newsletter?

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That entire newsletter will focus on emigration and the lives of the emigrants.

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Write your story today and send it to Lin Strong, 168 N. Lake Street, Forest Lake, MN 55025 or [email protected] / [email protected]

Another land mass measurement is the Gras, or in the plural, Grasen. Three Gras are equal to two Diemat. One Gras = 3,783 square meters and, thus, one Diemat equals 1-1/2 Gras. 9

Travels in the north of germany Source: Hodgskin, Thomas, Travels in the North of Germany, describing the Present State of the Social and Political Institutions 1820, Archibald Constable & Co., Edinburgh 1820. Every once in awhile a book is found that is meant to be shared. This is one of them. The next few newsletters will include excerpts from this book as it gives fascinating insights into life by an English visitor to the northern regions of Germany in 1819. These articles include his candid impressions of Ostfriesland. There are two volumes to this book, the following quotes are from Volume One, starting at page 277 and will go through page 295. NOTE: The text and spelling of words are copied exactly as written in the book.

tiles. They were larger, cleaner, and altogether betterconditioned than the houses of Oldenburg. At the house where I slept, which was a small one, fine gilded cupboards were filled with old-fashioned china. Two large coarse china vases stood on the table. The fire-place was lined with Dutch tiles. Plates, pans, and kettles, were all kept very clean and bright, and were ranged on the wall with great art and order. The whole of the house, even to the coffee, which was execrable, shewed that the manners of the Dutch had extended to the borders of Oldenburg, and had there stopped. On the whole, however, a great improvement was visible. It was immediately obvious that the people of Friezland had something more than the mere necessaries of life, while those of Oldenburg appeared confined to the gratification of its most simple wants.

...“A dreary walk, on the following day, brought me into East Friezland. On the road some spots were now for the first time inclosing; and there were some marks of an increasing cultivation and improvement. The magistrates have the power, both in Oldenburg and Friezland, of ordering out all the owners of the land, for twenty days in the year, to mend the roads. The evil of this practice is considerably greater in the former country, in which the magistrates are appointed by the crown, than in the latter, where they are elected by the land-owners. I saw a large party of men and women employed in this labor. Each owner of a spot of ground must send one person, or go himself. The opulent farmers send a maid servant; the poor man must leave his own work to go. The soil is sandy; there were no stones to mend the road with. All that the people did, or could do, was to clean out the ditches on the sides, and throw the loose sand into the middle of the road, to be washed back by the next heavy shower of rain. It is evil enough to be compelled to do useful works, but it is rather too much to compel people to waste their time in doing what is at most but of very little service. The people of Holland, who were once free, and who still possess that spirit of enterprise which is given by freedom, have paved most of their roads with small bricks. The dukedom of Oldenburg has conveniences for making bricks, but there the peasants are still employed throwing loose sand out of the ditches.

Much of Friezland, particularly where it borders on Oldenburg, I saw sand and bog, but man is extending his empire over both. All of the banks of the Ems and the borders of the sea which belong to Friezland, are some of the finest marsh lands of the world. The ground is so good that it does not require all the manure the farmers have to give it, and those who live in the fertile part exchange manure for peat, which is chiefly dug into the Hoch Moor, a district bordering on Oldenburg. To facilitate this exchange, canals have been dug from the Hoch Moor to the Ems. The manure is thus employed to improve the sterile, sandy and moory districts, which are inclosing and cultivating, while the extensive market which has thus been opened for the peat, has given a value to what was before a desart. After the wastes I had passed of the provinces of Lüneburg, and Bremen, and of Oldenburg, in which the extent of improvement was the erection of a new sheep hut, or the inclosure of a few acres of ground, it was pleasing to see the spirit of enterprise of which the improvements of Friezland were evidence. The canals were made by a subscription company, a degree of exertion, which is not common in any country where departments of a ministry direct the course of trade, and where making canals and roads are numbered among the duties of the monarch.

There are comparatively few nobles in Oldenburg, and the greater part of the land is held immediately from the grand duke. The good plan has been here following of building the farm houses in the neighborhood of the land which each farmer cultivates. The houses are, however, generally small, thatched, and very dirty. The few people I saw were ill dressed and ugly. The women wore, in general, hats like the men, and, dressed rather after the English manner, reminded me of the degraded females of our seaports.

Between where I slept and Aurich, I saw a small spot of ground newly inclosed. The garden was dug and planted, but the house was only half built. A man and a woman were sawing trees into timbers for the roof. The woman was beneath; they were a couple who were just fixing themselves here, and who were building their own house and cultivating their own land. Had they been young, many happy days might have awaited them, but they were at that season of life when man should think more of rest than of toil, - when his house should have given protection to his children, instead of being then first to be roofed in for himself.”

Rather a large extent of moor separates Friezland from Oldenburg, and I was sensible of a great difference of appearance in the houses of the former immediately on entering it. There were many of them, built of brick, and the roofs were covered with

To be continued; future excerpts will include his impressions of Aurich, Embden, farmhouses, government, Prussian influences and the independence of the people.

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Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America

The Levees of Harlingerland Privilege vs. Co-operation SOURCE: “The Story of the House of Werdum until 1667” written in Latin by Ulrich von Werdum, 1632 - 1681, translated into German by Peter Wackwitz, excerpted and translated into English by Rudy Wiemann In the beginning of 1626, a huge mass of ice driven by strong storms from the northwest pushed with such force against the shore that it tore up the levees and “Siele” (drainage channel gates) all along Ostfriesland’s coast. In Harlingerland, Martin Eybens, supervisor of the Count’s record office and “Drost” (administrator of an “Amt”, i.e., county, subdivision) in Esens, directed the reconstruction work with efficiency such that the greatest damage was soon repaired. However, since Ostfriesland, including Harlingerland, had suffered so much through invasions, first by the marauding Mansfelders, then by the tribute demanding Imperials, the levees could not be brought back everywhere to their former firmness. Repair and maintenance was not a co-operative affair, rather the entire length of the levee in the “Drostei” Esens, as well as elsewhere, was divided into sections which were assigned to property owners responsible for their maintenance and repair. The length of a section was proportional to the size and value of the assignees’ landed property and was bought, sold, and inherited along with that property. Because the hardship caused by the invading armies had affected landowners unevenly, their ability to look after their levee sections varied, so there were sections which were not rebuilt to a satisfactory standard. Count Ulrich undertook an inspection and gave Eyben’s successors the responsibility to aid those whom they deemed unable to keep their assigned sections in good shape and to lean on the responsible parties in less affected Wittmund to send needed help to the coast at Ostbense, likewise to put pressure on all section-holding citizens in the Esens “Drostei”, especially within the nobility, to finish their repair work and be ready to furnish teams of horses and labor for two weeks to help bring the sections of less solvent property owners up to standard. Noncompliance would bring about swift seizure of property equal in value to the requested aid. . The Count’s decision was based on suggestions by his administrative personnel in Esens with no members of the local nobility consulted. The latter, upon hearing of this, refused to obey, claiming that no one among the nobility had ever been bur-

dened with maintenance and repair work outside of their socalled hereditary levee sections, especially not of sections which were the responsibility of the farmers. The Count in Aurich, upon being notified of this refusal, issued a harsher directive to the nobility to perform the assigned work within two weeks or see it placed under contract its cost to be borne by themselves. A follow-up letter by the local administration offered a choice of co-operation or property seizure. Again the nobility refused and kept up its refusal till 1630 when seizures became imminent. Hero von Werdum met with the Count in the castle of Esens and brought up the age of his lineage and its inherited privileges, but the Count got so angry that he ripped the man’s sword from his side and hurled it out of the window into the moat. . The emboldened administrators of the “Drostei” Esens thought that stripping all property owners of their section and instead demanding the cash equivalent of its upkeep to be paid into a designated public fund out of which the levee system as a whole would be financed would result in a very large pool of money into which they, as watchdogs, could dip at their leisure. They and the farmers consulted with the prefect at the Count’s Court, Karl von Kniphausen (that’s what the Knipensers now call themselves after changing their family name. Notice the slight!) who advised the Count to consider the levee system in its entirety, disallow the traditional inherited levee sections, and, in a complete turnaround of the old order, institutionalized a levee board to be in charge of the entire coastal flood control system in the “Drostei” Esens. Hero von Werdum reacted by stating that the nobility had not been invited to state its case in the discussions leading up to this decision and didn’t feel bound by them, and that he would not give up his inherited levee section. 11

Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America

Four representatives with experience in flood control, all picked by the Esens office holders, where thereupon invited to the Court in Aurich for further discussions. None were members of the nobility which was contrary to the fact that the first place among the subjects belongs to nobility and clergy (first estate). These representatives convinced the Count to approve a board of trustees which would include representatives of both Wittmund and Esens, but if Wittmund paid 1,000 “Reichstaler” in emergency aid, it would be freed from further participation. The Count’s order further stated that the current problems with the levees had no other cause but that individual section holders were paying no attention to the system as a whole and refused to help those who were not capable of adequately taking care of their own section. Furthermore, special funds needed to be raised anyway, because the levee had to be reinforced in places with expensive wooden beams, and breakwaters had to be built far out into the tidal flats. The Count resolved that all land owners in the “Drostei” Esens were to give up their hereditary levee section for a period of five years and join the cooperative. The “Amtsmann” and “Drost” together with the Deichrichter” (levee board chair) and elected representatives of the citizenry were to decide on contracts to be let for work on the levee system on the basis of the lowest qualified bidder. This resolution included serious threats toward balkers. Now finally the public servants could claim for themselves the complete leadership in matters of coastal flood control, because the clergy, as part of the first estate, easily fell in line, it being dependent on the Count in its position. Those among the nobility who were neglectful of their ancient privileges had done so already. Hero von Werdum was not so easily won over. He sent a petition to the Count arguing that as long as anybody could remember the hereditary levee section of the House of Werdum had been a sixty “Ruten” (appr. 760’) stretch on the left side of the old Werdum “Siel” which drained a now dried up ditch. When in the process of empolderization new levees were built farther out toward the North Sea, his family was assigned a new section in hereditary maintenance, also to the left of Harlingersiel, at a dangerous place along the river Harle which then had been only weakly constructed and which he had to rebuild from the foundation up at great cost and rebuild again at great cost after the disaster of 1626. Since then he had widened and heightened it every year. This petition was followed by the modest request to remain in charge of his assigned section and stay outside of the jurisdiction of the new levee board. He expressed the strong hope that the Count would not oppose the old custom and burden him with the farmers’ obligations to the detriment of his holdings. But this petition, too, got little attention, neither did a visit of Hero’s wife to the Countess. When he still refused to join the co-op, two cows of one of his tenant farmer’s were confiscated which if he didn’t want to lose them, had to redeem with payment of his assigned allotment. 12

Things didn’t change in the following year, and again the allotments of some members of the nobility had to be forcibly collected even after they had already done maintenance work on their hereditary sections. Another petition by the combined nobility went to the Count which stated that it failed to see how it owed tribute to the farmers when in neighboring Wittmund this was not the case. The Count replied that he would not refuse the petition if the administrators in Esens would certify that this withdrawal from the co-operative would not be detrimental to the system as a whole, which of, course, rendered the petition mute. The confiscated property which was not redeemed by the refusing nobility was sold. In the following year, 1634, the nobility again attempted to circumvent forced participation in the co-operative. Another petition to the Count was shunted to his legal office in Esens with the request for a thorough evaluation of all of the reasons listed by the nobility for avoidance of participation in the cooperative system. The nobility, upon being requested to provide input, at once stated in writing the basis for its privileges, quoting tradition and the history of past conscientious efforts in always keeping their sections in good condition, and claiming that, inasmuch as the basis for levee related expenditures was landed property, not the individual, there existed no legal grounds on which this change could be argued, including the inability of some of the very small property owners to fulfill their obligation. Furthermore, they had leased some of their land in hereditary tenancy at a preferential rate obligating the tenants to participate in any public fund raising for work on the levees, but holding themselves unencumbered by such burden, except for the maintenance of their hereditary section. After all, it was the farmers who were forcing the issue of having the nobility join the co-operative, and as long as the nobility did not have sufficient opportunity to voice its opposition, it should not be up to the farmers to enforce the payment of dues. The Count began to waver, and the paying of dues by the nobility was not enforced that year. But the lines hardened again, and in the following year the previous year’s dues were forcibly collected. Hero von Werdum thereupon traveled to Aurich once more and asked the Count to exempt the following families of the nobility from having to join the cooperative: the House of Werdum, the two estates of Thunum, and the estate Folkertshausen. The Südenburg estate was not mentioned, presumably because the last female heir of the family in residence there had married a commoner. Forcible collection of assessments stalled temporarily and Hero von Werdum traveled to Emden to meet the Count in his castle, there to exact a promise from him that he would soon travel to Esens and make a decision. That he did, but only to order the local administration to enforce the new laws with vigor.

Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America

After the proposed five year period had ended, the nobility considered the co-operative dissolved and began to do maintenance work on its old levee sections again. The overseers nevertheless demanded the assessed contributions which resulted in another petition to the Count, saying that inasmuch as it had already spent a lot of money on the maintenance of the levees for the farmers, it should finally be freed from this obligation. This was again denied, and the nobility remained part of the co-operative until the Hessians came in 1637. Their demands for money and the quartering of troops impoverished the area to such an extent that funds for the levee system could not be collected and the need for a cooperative no longer existed. About the Author From “Biographisches Lexikon für Ostfriesland” by the Ostfriesische Landschaft, and from Houtrouw. To call Ulrich, like his father Hero in the above excerpt, “Chieftain of Werdum” does no longer seem appropriate in the 17th century, especially in view of Harlingerland’s changed political environment. This land, with its municipal centers of Esens and Wittmund, had been governed without an assembly of the estates, a “Landtag”, as had the rest of Ostfriesland. When in 1581 it fell to Ostfriesland through marriage, it preserved its constitution and its old laws, but representation through the estates was not extended to it. Friction soon developed between the local nobility used to decide public issues and administrators appointed by the Count to carry out his will, or their own. For families like the von Werdums, who lived in ancestral “Burgen” (castle) which testified to the power of their ancient lineage seemingly now on the wane, this was hard to swallow. The tug-of-war between the old order and the new deal, which seems to be motivated to a considerable extent by spite, is a good example of the tension this change brought about. Ulrich received his secondary education at the Latin School in Jever, studied in Heidelberg, and thereafter stayed in Werdum for 15 years. During that time he wrote the history of his family which gained him lasting fame among historians. He accepted diplomatic positions for the French and Swedish governments, journeying in the service of a French emissary to Poland to help a French contender to the Polish throne (which did not succeed) and traveling to Sweden to join his brother in the service of Count Oxenstierna whom he accompanied to the Imperial Court in Vienna.

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MEMBER NEWS...

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In the last issue I mentioned that Lübbert Kruizenga became a US citizen in February. But I gave his wrong email address. Contact him please at [email protected]. Lübbert was born in Weener. Long time OGSA member, Bill Detmers is home recovering from surgery. Get well! Marilyn Stulken’s mom died last month in Nebraska. OGSA member Richard Meenen died this winter. Our sympathies go to their families.

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Building Rela tionship s with Grünkohl... As many of you know, we are reaching out to Ostfriesen communities around the world. There are communities of Ostfriesen who no longer live in Ostfriesland, are called "Butenostfreesen". Our member, Herta Korfé, wife of OGSA treasurer Lübbert Kruizenga, met with the group from Cologne, Germany for a visit with another group in the Rhineland and a group from Düsseldorf. Both organizations had a Grünkohlessen (you know that Grünkohl, or Kale, is the culinary specialty of the Ostfriesen) in Düsseldorf last January. Antje EvertsMarx, the President of the Cologne group invited Herta and they had a great evening with good food and drinks and a lot of stories from Ostfriesland were told, most of them "up Platt", in Low German. In March, Herta will meet all the Butenostfreesen Presidents of North RhineWestphalia, of which Antje is also the President, for their annual meeting. This year, the meeting celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Butenostfreesen group in Hagen (close to Dortmund). Herta will represent OGSA at this meeting and is currently discussing with Antje the possibility of members of the groups visiting us in Minnesota.

The diaries he kept during those years are another valuable source of historical information. In 1679 he returned to Werdum and rose to the position of Vice-President of the Chancellery of the Duchess Christine Charlotte (Ostfriesland had been upgraded by the Emperor from Earldom to Duchy in 1654) from which he resigned in 1681. He died that year at his place of birth and was buried in the church of Werdum (see previous issue).

Member Evelyn Engle started her own business during 2007. "Evelyn's Bunzlau Polish Pottery" and she is using the name of the town Bunzlau in Schlesien, combined with Polish Pottery since that former part of Germany now is located in Poland, 40 km east of the German border. The six potteries once owned by Germans were taken over by Polish artisans once the Germans either fled or were displaced in 1945. She exclusively imports pottery from the WIZA company formerly Paul & Söhne in Bunzlau. Now the town is called Boleslawiec. She always has some inventory on hand but most of the pieces are custom orders.

There in the choir among the departed of his clan his epitaph under his coat of arms reads: “Der hochedelgeborene und gestrenge Herr Ulrich von Werdum, Herr zu Werdum, Inn- und Roffhausen, Hochfürstlicher ostfriesischer geheimbter Raht und vice-Präsident, ist gebohren den 1. Januarii Anno 1632, gestorben den 20. Martii Anno 1681.” (The high noble born and astute Sir Ulrich von Werdum, Lord of Werdum, Inn– und Roffhausen, High Ducal East Friesian Counselor and Vice-President, was born on January 1, 1632, died on March 20, 1681.)

Evelyn’s next open house will be on June 15. For directions please visit her website, still under construction, www.evelyns bunzlaupolishpottery.com. Her website has a link to the importer's website to view all items available in any of the 41 patterns. Any questions regarding delivery time and prices, please contact Evelyn via [email protected] or c612-961-2247.

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The City of Emden Source: Rev. J. F. Bertrams “Geographic Description of the Principality Ostfriesland”, 1735. Revised by C. H. Normann in 1785. Reissued by Theo Schuster, Leer, in 1987.Translated by Rudy Wiemann Emden, also spelled Embden, or Emda, received its name from the river rich in ships which flows past its walls, the Ems. In days of old it was a small settlement which, according to claims by several writers, was inhabited by fishermen. The last of its chieftains, called “Drosten” of Emden, was Imel of the House of Abdema. He sided with Focke Ukena against Edzard Cirksena when the latter was chosen chieftain of Ostfriesland. However, detachments from Hamburg abducted him in a clever way in 1431. They invited him on one of their ships lying at anchor in the harbor, hosted him most sumptuously, and, after he had become intoxicated, sailed away with him with favorable winds. They took him to a prison in Hamburg where he remained until he finally died in 1455. Upon his abduction Hamburg’s troops disembarked at once and took the city by force. They outfitted it in 1436 with towers and fortified it with gates which were built with the stones taken from the destroyed castles of Osterhusen, Westerhusen, Grothusen, Grimersum, Frepsum, Larrelt, Hinte, Nesserland, and Wilgum. Thereafter, they handed it over to Count Ulrich Cirksena. Under the reign of this first Count of Ostfriesland Emden flourished splendidly, and it is now a large, stately, fortified port city and trading center which at one time was thought of as the foremost in Europe. The city is partial to the Reformed faith. In “XVI Seculo”, the sixteenth century, when religious persecution in the neighboring Netherlands got so bad that 7 provinces fell away from the King of Spain and formed their own free country, it experienced great growth. At that time many foreigners who were

fleeing the tyrannical brutality of the then governor of the Netherlands, Duke Alba, came to Emden where anyone who could not be accused of crimes or profound errors in faith was accepted by the administration with love and goodwill . But with these refugees a spirit of unrest also seems to have entered the city: I am pointing at the unlawful striving of citizens to withhold obedience from their rulers who up to then had governed them with all magnanimity. Acts of violence already occurred during the reign of Count Enno II, near the end of the sixteenth century. In 1595 the citizenry rebelled against the Count, its ruler, deposed the council, elected a new one, tore down the walls around the Count’s castle, which, unfortunately, was garrisoned much too weakly, and perpetrated a number of other punishable outrages. And so that they would not be called upon for their deserved punishment, which would surely have been meted out, they accepted a Dutch garrison which remained until 1744. In 1757, during the Seven Years’ War, the city was occupied by the French and Austrians who left in the following year. The city consists of three parts: 1) the Old Town; 2) Faldern, which was formerly a “Herrlichkeit” of the East Friesian House (Cirksena) had two churches and was united with the City of Emden by Count Edzard II in 1569; 3) two suburbs, which, like Faldern, were part of the “Amt” (County) Emden, but eventually were incorporated by the city. It has four gates: The Bolthen Gate, the Neue Gate, the Norder Gate, and the Heere Gate. Worth seeing here are the beautiful City Hall, built in 1574, to which ships can sail up a wide channel, called Delft, dug all the way from the Ems; furthermore, the old Große Kirche (Great Church) built alongside the Ems and decorated by Count Ulrich I in 1455 with a nice chancel in which especially the exquisite sepulchral monu-

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American Ostfriesen Zeitung

ment of Count Johann I and a very nice pipe organ built new in 1779 should be pointed out; then the Neue Kirche (New Church) which was built from 1643 to ‘48 in Faldern; also, the well appointed “Gasthaus” (poorhouse) which, with the “Klosterkirche”, was formerly a Franciscan monastery, the Coetus Ecclesiastitus still gathering in that church once a week; finally, the Latin school, established by Countess Anna, and a variety of municipal schools. Emden, by the way, boasts of its church as being the mother of most of the Reformed churches in the Netherlands. It sent delegates to the “Synodum Dordracenam” (National Synod of the Reformed Church in Dordrecht, 1618 to 1619) where the articles of faith were promulgated (The Canons of Dordrecht) which she has accepted and defended. Fourteen churches in and around Emden are within the jurisdiction of the Reformed Inspection. The Lutheran congregation, which is quite numerous, formerly did not have the right to exercise its faith in the city of Emden, and it did not receive the right to annually conduct four services in a suitable house until 1685. However, since 1749 it may conduct its services free and unobstructed on every Sunday, and, furthermore, in 1774 with the highest royal permission it built a new and beautiful church from the ground up on the so-called Bastion, where two preachers are now serving. The Roman Catholics and Mennonites here also enjoy full religious freedom. The city is administered by 4 mayors, 1 “Syndicum” (city at-

torney), eight councilmen, of which one is the “Camerarius” (i.e., Chamberlain), and three secretaries. The College of Forty, which defends the privileges of the common citizen, was created in 1589. In 1750 an Asiatic Trading Company was established here, its privileges granted by the King, for which the city’s harbor was declared a free harbor in 1751. However, the company was dissolved in 1769. Whaling was pursued here at one time as well, but after a Neue Kirche Emden great loss of about 100,000 guilders the entire enterprise was closed down in 1757. In 1783 a new Asiatic Trading Company was created which continues today. The city has been garrisoned since 1763 by a Royal Prussian Volunteer Battalion, commanded by General von Courbiere. For this battalion brand-new barracks were built in 1765, and on November 10 the troops moved in. In the beginning of 1769 a Royal Bank branch was established here. In that year also the herring fishery was established. On June 11, 1770, the company sent out the first 6 trawlers which returned with such a good catch that in the following year four additional ships were sent out . The industry continued to grow and grow so that the company now owns 44 herring trawlers and three cutters. Concerning the herring fishery in this province, it should be noted that already in 1597 the city had pursued it, which is confirmed by a printed ordinance of that time of which a copy is still on file in Emden’s city hall. However, no trace can be found shedding light on the reasons for its failure. The Correctional and Spinning House, formerly located in Greetsiel, was moved here in 1777. About this institution the book “Historische Beiträge” (Contributions) says the following: In the Principality Ostfriesland there also exists a prison and work house, which was established in 1755 with royal permission in the old castle in Greetsiel, a small town near the sea, and operates under the direction of the royal government in Aurich, where the royal etc. chamber is occasionally called upon for advice in economic matters. Its income consists in part of the interest from a fund of 3,400 Reichstaler established at the founding of this institution which is invested at 4 1/2 and 5% and earns annually 148 Reichstaler, and in part of annual contributions by the “Ostfriesische Landschaft” of 200 Reichstaler, furthermore, from the Esen orphanage 50 Reichstaler, and from the head tax 35 Reichstaler, also, from the average surplus of the “Ostfriesischen Intelligenzen” periodical over a 10 year period, amounting annually to about 250 Reichstaler, plus, the annual amount of work done by inmates which may approximately taken as 100 Reichstaler. Total: 783 Reichstaler. 15

Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America

The pictures on this page show an Emden that no longer exists. Emden was heavily bombed during WW II and little of the city seen today existed prior to WW II.

The coat of arms of Emden consists of a black shield separated into three fields. The lowest fields depicts flowing water which represents the Ems River flowing past; the middle field shows a red wall with five towers which stand for the city; the upper field displays a harpy wearing a yellow crown and spreading its wings over the wall, a reference to the princely house to which this city formerly belonged as hereditary property.

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Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America

NEWS FROM OSTFRIESLAND Ostfriesen-Zeitung, 11/6/07 Oberledingerland - Lake Langholt, a small, protected body of water between East and West Rhauderfehn is silting up. To dredge it, the state of Lower Saxony has received funds from Brussels but wants to put them to use only if the Levee Authority of Stickhausen, in charge of drainage, levees, and locks in this area, agrees to act as its contracting authority from hereon in. Stickhausen is agreeable, as it now pays 60,000 euros per year to the state for work to be done here under contract and thinks it can do better. However, it first wants all drainage control structures, among them five Weirs in the “Rote Riede”, a natural waterway which flows right by Lake Langholt, to be brought up to standard or replaced. The canals affected are the Hauptfehnkanal and the Südgeorgsfehnkanal. Anzeiger für Harlingerland, 11/6/07 Friedeburg - From the “Ossiloop” - Ostfriesland’s popular 25 year old spring “mini-Marathon” from Leer to Bensersiel in six stages - to the “Ironman” event on Hawaii is a bold leap, but to Armin Klein, a musician with the “Bundeswehr” (German army) stationed in Wilhelmshaven and father of three, it’s a natural progression. He did the 3.8 km ocean swim, 180 km bicycle race, and a full-length Marathon in a little over 10 hours, well within the 17 hours allowed for the event. This put him in 373rd place among 1,800 participants, among them 100 professionals. A respectable result, indeed. His next “Ironman” entry will be in Roth, near Nürnberg, where there’ll be no lei for him, but where memories of mild breezes and blue ocean swells might make him forget the pain of the strain and draw even greater reserves of strength out of him.

friesland’s more than 50 photovoltaic power generators did not expect good results for the year. However, those turned out better than thought; the 1.35 MW generated exceed last year’s total by more than three percent. The operators are now satisfied that a normal year weatherwise in Ostfriesland makes it possible to operate such equipment economically. Ostfriesen-Zeitung, 1/16/08 Lübbertsfehn - The Nature Preservation Station in Lübbertsfehn is housed in an old farm building where school classes and kindergarten groups come in increasing numbers to learn about the “Fehn” environment. Last year 60 school classes from Aurich and Leer Counties, plus 22 kindergarten groups and 20 school classes who had already participated in similar programs in Ihlow or Westrhauderfehn, attended. This is about all the two young staff ladies, Silke Rothenbusch and Annika Koopmann, who are absolving a Volunteer Ecological Year at this station, can handle. They were asked by local parents to offer a program which might pry their small fry away from computers and TV sets, particularly in the wintertime. So the Station added an afternoon program once a month in which kids can spy on Nature’s secrets through microscopes and other detection devices. Presently 25 “little Lübbos”, as they are called, are enrolled in this program. To keep up with demand, a third volunteer position at the Station is planned. Anzeiger für Harlingerland, 1/16/08 Wittmund - The railroad depot in this county seat, which once served the Esens to Wilhelmshaven section of the German Bundesbahn (Federal Railroad), has stood unoccupied for many years looking more desolate as time went on. It was finally sold to a couple from Bremen for a nominal amount with the understanding that it would restore the building and make it suitable for some commercial purpose. These Bremen folks, the lady was born in Wittmund, are now developing plans which call for completion of this restoration work this year. The upper floor will serve as living or offices space, while the ground floor could be put to gastronomical use. When completed, the old eyesore will be a downtown attraction and a reminder of the time when Wittmund could be reached by railroad.

Jeversches Wochenblatt, 11/6/07 Friesland/Ostfriesland - The storm surge predicted for yesterday failed to develop. The storm tide’s medium height stood at 1.33 meters above ordinary high water elevation, a normal occurrence for this time of year, despite 60 mph gales (#10 on the Beaufort Scale) which will produce 30 ft. waves. More stormy weather is expected. The state office for coastal affairs publishes weather warnings on its homepage www.nlwkn.niedersachsen.de Ostfriesische Nachrichten, 11/6/07 Victorbur - Since 1967 Aurich has been without passenger train service, since 1996 without freight train service. Its passenger shuttle trains used to meet the trains on the main line EmdenNorden/Norddeich at Abelitz, best known by the depot which was built there in 1906. The long distance traveler, however, also had the choice of boarding a through-coach as a direct connection between Aurich and Berlin. The old Aurich-Abelitz right-of-way is still unencumbered, and on it new tracks with new concrete ties are being laid. They will be used for freight traffic only. A resumption of passenger traffic is not planned. Ostfriesische Nachrichten, 1/16/08 Aurich - It’s been a rainy summer, and the operators of Ost17

Ostfriesische Nachrichten, 1/16/08 Aurich - The lighting of Aurich’s downtown area will be modernized in accordance with a plan worked out by the administration and approved by the city council’s urban renewal committee. The aim is to create an unmistakable atmosphere designed to make downtown more attractive and inviting for an evening stroll, to make it easier to find one’s way to cultural events, and to highlight special architectural and historic attractions. Business and property owners affected by this plan will have be approached and their agreement sought. Considered also are variations in lighting intensity as the evening progresses as a way of merging up-to-date economical and technological approaches.

Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America

Ostfriesen-Zeitung, 1/26/08 Emden - According to fishing regulations of Lower Saxony, children under ten years of age may not fish, even when in the company of an adult with a fishing license. When between 10 and 14 yeas of age, they are allowed to fish with supervision. This law has its basis in the prevention of cruelty to animals, particularly where vertebrates are concerned to which fishes belong. Vertebrates may only be killed by someone with proven expertise, i.e., in the case of fishing by someone who has taken a test and obtained a fishing license. This law is now being modified and will allow children as young as eight years of age to fish when accompanied by a licensed adult. Reasons stated for the change are, among others, children growing up in today’s media dominated world will not be traumatized by seeing a fish being killed, and waning interest in fishing among young people, a trend which the “Bezirksfischereiver band” (District Fishery Association) for Ostfriesland is attempting to counter, keeping in mind the future of the association. Ostfriesische Nachrichten, 1/26/08 Aurich - The number and size of retail stores in Ostfriesland is increasing, and competition over preferred locations, downtown vs. near town, is tough, with the near-town location winning, as downtown is even losing its typical owner-operated specialty stores. This trend is apparent is Aurich as well. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Industrie- und Handelskammer) for Ostfriesland and Papenburg announced that last year close to 400,000 sq.ft. of retail floor space were applied for of which a third was actually developed, largely on the fringes of town. In the Chamber’s opinion, this trend can only be reversed with a purposeful program of marketing and invigoration for the downtown business districts.

across the breadth of northern Germany. Its (translated) title is “Mirror Fragments” with the Low German word for mirror repeated three times using different pronunciations used within the “Platt” speaking realm, spelled phonetically here as Speegle -, Speagle-, Spigle-Splitter. (The High German word for mirror is “Spiegel”). In the words of the chair of the Homeland Association for Low German Culture, who introduced this book in Oldenburg, it mirrors the “colorful spectrum of the Low German language with its various dialects by drawing on local backgrounds such as castles, churches, towns, landscapes, etc.” (Note that he calls Platt a language, not a dialect.) Also included are essays which have education, farming, historical events, and regional cultural attributes as their main theme. Rheiderland Zeitung, 1/30/08 Papenburg - Employees of Meyer Werft, Papenburg’s big shipyard, were surprised when a large contingent of border police swarmed over the yard and began to check their IDs. An immediate inquiry at the district customs office in Oldenburg yielded no statement concerning the operation, other than the fact that it had been routine check lying within the province of “Office of Revenue Control Undocumented Labor, Emden.” Ostfriesische Nachrichten, 2/1/08 Aurich - The Lutheran Church Parliament of the (Church) District of Aurich assembled in Timmel to discuss the merger of its subdivisions (Kirchenämter) Aurich, Harlingerland, and Norden. It was resolved that Aurich and Harlingerland would merge in 2009 and be joined by Norden in 2013. Their offices will be concentrated in a new building in Aurich. Also adopted was the finance and staffing plan for 2009 to 2012. The Church District Aurich must reduce its personnel cost by five percent, or 310,000 Euro, which necessitates the cutting of non-pastoral staff positions in congregations and “Diakone” (the Protestant nursing order).

Borkumer Zeitung, 1/26/08 Ostfriesland - 17,600 seals were counted last year on the tidal flats along the German, Danish, and Dutch coast, a year earlier than expected after a virus decimated the herds in 2002. Seals haven’t been hunted for a long time and are enjoying ideal conditions for an undisturbed future in the security of the Tidal Flats National Parks. Ostfriesische Nachrichten, 1/26/08 Moordorf - The local playhouse “Moordörper Spöldeel” (Platt: Moordorf’s Play Platform) has requested a sizable sum of support money from the community Südbrookmerland, as this troupe has not only lost all of its inventory but also its stage in a fire of the old “Gasthof Onkel Harm”, which will not be rebuilt. The troupe wants to use the facilities of a local kitchen studio which will require structural changes costing about 40,000 Euro. Südbrookmerland’s financial guidelines permit a contribution of 6,890 Euro, and discussions center around the possibility of increased aid for the “Spöldeel” through an interest free loan. Neue Ems-Zeitung, 1/26/08 Emsland - The Low German “Schriever Kring” (Writers’ Circle) has sponsored an essay anthology by Low German authors from 18

Anzeiger für Harlingerland, 2/1/08 Neuharlingersiel – The annual winter break in the tourism industry gets its usual interruption during carnival time on the Rhine. To accommodate these “carnival refugees” this town offers a wine seminar, “Boßel” games, and a Monday-beforeLent sauna. Carolinensiel opens its Siel Harbor Museum (“Siel” = levee gate) and several islands make their indoor pools available for the guests - who will disappear after Ash Wednesday. Rheiderland Zeitung, 1/31/08 Weener - A traffic circle, long in the discussion stage, will be built to ease the traffic flow at the interchange between downtown Weener and the federal highway brushing past it. A recommendation for this project was passed by Weener’s Construction and Environmental Committee which had studied computer models incorporating moving traffic units being routed through the planned circle vs. directed by a stop-and-go light. The circle won hands-down. It will cost about 400,000 Euros to build, of which Weener will have to contribute about

Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America

125,000 Euros. The federal government and Leer County will pay a large portion of the balance, and there is an expectation that funds will be made available from the federal village renewal program. The project should be completed by June. Ostfriesen-Zeitung, 2/2/08 Norden - This town received the welcome news that its proposals for urban planning have been approved by Brussels, and that EU moneys should be forthcoming for a development project in Norddeich, where a new beltline highway has made space available for new construction which will result in the shifting of its urban center, and in Norden itself where the closing of the Doornkaat distillery has made a sizable urban tract available for projects designed to strengthen the town’s vitality.

It is hoped that these projects will result in new impulses for the tourist trade. Ostfriesen-Zeitung, 2/4/08 Aurich - The Mixed Choir of Middels was founded in 1960, and its performances have been enduringly popular. Its two weekend appearances in Ogenbargen’s “Alte Post” once again drew a hallfilling audience. The group’s popularity is partly to be found in the variety of its musical offerings. For these performances folk songs were the theme. It often cooperates with the Theater Group of Middles for an evening’s entertainment, and so it was at the “Alte Post” where its songs framed a comedy in three acts spoken in Platt.

GERMAN RECIPES–IT’s time for waffles Almond Waffles with Raspberry Cream (Mandelwaffeln mit Himbeercreme)

Sweetheart Waffles with Strawberries & Cream (Grießwaffeln mit Erdbeeren & Sahne)

Ingredients: 1 package vanilla sugar* 50g fresh raspberries 5 Tbsp. raspberry jam 1-2 Tbsp. raspberry syrup 2 Tbsp. powdered sugar 2/3 lb. (300g) Quark* 3/4 cup ground almonds 4 oz. heavy cream 2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 cup corn starch 2/3 cup flour 4 eggs 1/2 cup sugar 9 Tbsp. unsalted butter Preparation: Melt the butter and mix with the sugar, vanilla sugar and eggs until fluffy. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, corn starch and baking powder. Gradually add the dry ingredients and the cream to the mixture. Fold under the ground almonds. In a preheated waffle iron bake waffles until light brown. For the cream combine the quark, powdered sugar, raspberry syrup and the jam until smooth. Separate each waffle into five hearts. Spread the cream on one of the waffles and place another one on top. Garnish with fresh raspberries.

The ingredient known as "Grieß" in German can be substituted by either semolina (available at well-stocked gourmet stores) or the readily available cream of wheat. Semolina is made from a harder wheat grain and will give this dish a nice grainy texture, whereas cream of wheat will blend into the waffle batter. Serves: 4 Ingredients: 1 lb strawberries 10 Tbsp. unsalted butter, soft 1/2 cup sugar 5 eggs 1 cup semolina 1 tsp. baking powder 1 Tbsp. corn starch 10 oz. (300 ml) heavy cream 1 teaspoon lemon juice 2-3 Tbsp. butter 5 Tbsp. strawberry jam 3 Tbsp. orange juice 1/3 oz. (10ml) cherry Juice 1 Tbsp. powdered sugar zest from 1 lemon Preparation: With an electric mixer blend the soft butter, sugar and lemon zest until smooth. Separate the yolks from the egg whites. Add the yolks to the butter mixture. In a separate bowl, combine semolina, baking powder and corn starch and add them together with the cream gradually to the butter-egg mixture. Whisk the egg whites with the lemon juice until stiff and fold under the mixture. Lightly grease the waffle iron with butter. Bake the waffles at low temperature until light brown. Clean the strawberries and cut them into wedges. In a separate bowl, combine the strawberry jam, orange juice, cherry juice until smooth, then add the strawberry pieces. Shortly before serving, dust the waffles with powdered sugar and serve with strawberries and whipped cream.

Hazelnut Waffles with Blackberry Cream (Haselnusswaffeln mit Brombeercreme) Ingredients: 9 tablespoons unsalted butter 1/2 cup sugar 1 package vanilla sugar* 4 eggs 2/3 cup flour 1/2 cup corn starch 2 teaspoons baking powder 4 oz. heavy cream 3/4 cup (100g) finely ground hazelnuts 2/3 lb. cream cheese 8 Tbsp. blackberry jam 2 Tbsp. Powdered sugar 1/3 lb. Blackberries Powdered sugar for dusting Preparation: With an electric mixer, beat the melted butter with the sugar, vanilla sugar and eggs until fluffy. In a separate bowl, combine flour, corn starch and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients and the cream gradually to the butter-egg-sugar mixture. Fold in the ground hazelnuts. Prepare waffles in preheated waffle maker. Combine the cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and blackberry jam until smooth. Serve the waffles with the cream and fresh blackberries. Dust with confectioners' sugar. Serves: 4

* Note: You may substitute 1) ricotta cheese for Quark or contact Erika who has it in stock; 2) vanilla extract for vanilla sugar (or check the internet for other substitutes). Recipes courtesy of Erika Neidert, German Specialty Imports (952) 226-2563 [email protected] http://www.germanspecialtyimport.com 19

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“Kleinsander vs. Broer Milffs” Submitted by Zandra Milfs Ogata REMELS

Last year I went to Aurich with Lin Strong and three others to do genealogy research. On Monday morning we began our research at the Staatsarchiv in Aurich and attempted to understand the complicated system for retrieval of information. Not having a fluent knowledge of German was certainly a hindrance; we all could read a little but were never-the-less overwhelmed by the enormity of trying to find a needle in the proverbial haystack. Expecting nothing, I opened one of the bound indexes and casually scanned for some familiar words. The name “Broer Milffs” popped out at me and I was excited to see the name of my great-greatgreat-great-grandfather. I ordered the file, not knowing what I would get. When I opened the folder I was stunned to see the actual court papers from a trial. Lin was sitting beside me and can attest to the tears I shed upon actually touching these artifacts from the past. Although the calligraphy was beautiful, reading it was impossible so I ordered and paid for photo copies of the file to be sent to me, certain that I could find someone to translate them and tell me what crime this fourth great grandfather was accused of. When the CD arrived, I printed out the 79 pages and proceeded to ask for help. My attorney friend could read some of the Latin but gave up without finding much information. My son-in-law, who is proficient in German, could read some words but said it would take someone schooled in Germany to read it. I then turned to Wiard Hinrichs of Ostfriesland who is also a member of the OGSA Discussion group. Wiard had helped me with research ideas prior to the trip and I knew him to be a scholar and informed researcher. It was Wiard who made this trial come to life for me. Broer Milffs was discovered on private land, carrying a gun, and was approached by a “princely hunter”, Johann Brunken. On Sunday, June 12, 1720 Broer was shot in his legs from 80 to 90 steps in the encounter and was brought to trial, accused of poaching. "Violence in hunting and poaching was frequent. At a fox-hunt in Schoo (SW of Esens) 11 Nov 1729, the hunter Harm Janssen Brunken injured two peasants from Barkholt and Westerbur. He was said to be drunken and sued afterwards (Herquet p. 226). Hinrich Lampe, peasant in Sandhorst, was denounced for poaching. His house was ransacked thoroughly on 15 Dec 1718 by the princely master of huntsmen, Franz Heinrich von Frydag and his two hunters, Warner Richtering and Christian Rose. Lampe abnegated, was tortured on 27 Jan 1719 with thumbscrews and put on the stretching bank (yet not stretched), was flagged on the marketplace in Aurich 11 Feb 1719 and banished from the country. He did confess to only one case, but was convicted of poaching at least three times (Herquet p. 236-238). Broer Milfs was shot Sunday 9 June 1720, three weeks after Pentecost. The next year 30 May 1721, two days before Pentecost, hunter Warner Richtering controlled the fields near Ostersander and noticed a man, whom he approached by horse. Richtering received a shot of 30 to 40 pellets from the suspect, who had retreated behind a bush and fired from 12 steps distance. He died 9 June 1721 in Ostersander. The perpetrator (said to be a poacher from Schirum) was not recognized (Herquet p. 207). These cases 20

LEER

may explain why both sides appealed for justice. During the reign of Georg Albrecht (1708-1734) princely hunts in Hesel and Remels normally took place in September. They are recorded (with lists of the game shot down) for 1714, 1716, 1717, 1719, 1722, 1723 and 1729 (Herquet p. 210-211). On the Milfs incident in 1720, Brunken's statement from 11 June 1720 may reveal more details, but that data has not as yet been translated. Broer was found guilty and ordered to pay. He appealed the guilty decision every year: in 1721, 1722, 1723, and 1724. In 1725, the Hofgericht (a district court for privileged persons such as nobility and clergy, major offences, and appeals from local courts) accepted the appeal and decided to throw out the lawsuit and acquit the defendant. The prosecutor appealed, so the law faculty of (then Prussian) Duisberg University was asked for a ruling. It confirmed the previous decision to acquit the defendant, but allowed the prosecutor not to refund the defendant’s expenses. So, after much expense and five years, Broer Milffs was acquitted of the crime. In 1736, Broer inherited his father’s considerable estate (Kopfschatzungsregister 1719) of a Vollen Heur und Zwey.

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In his later years Broer Milffs was a respected landowner and represented Amt Uplengen parishes in the annual conventions of the East Frisian estates in the years 1745, 1747-51, 1763-1767, 1769-1772. He was also an Armenvorsteher in the Remels (Uplengen) church. (Almoner, official church community position responsible for providing relief to the poor, position of great responsibility and honor in a community) Broer owned House No. #l (picture p.20), by the church, in Remels, which was in turn passed on to his heirs. His farmland was inherited by his eldest son, my third great-grandfather. This property might eventually have been my grandfather’s if he had chosen to remain in Ostfriesland rather than emigrate to America. Armenvorsteher: the Armenvorsther administered the money set aside for the poor people in a church district. They collected the interest for the loaned money (Armengelder) and they gave out loans and they were responsible for the wise spending of the funds. In the 16th and in the 17th century, two Kirchenvorsteher (church wardens) were also the Armenvorsteher. In the middle of the 17th century different people did this job. There were always two Armenvorsteher for each church—one for the bookkeeping and the other was an assistant. Larger cities always had two or more pastors; but in a smaller village there was usually one pastor along with one Kirchenvorsteher and one Armenvorsteher. These were positions of great responsibility and honor in a church. SOURCE: *E.and H.Heyken, Wittmund und seine Bürger von 1540-1800

KRISTALLNACHT REMEMBERED Norden - For 20 years a memorial site in this city has reminded the present generation that its place was once occupied by a synagogue. Here Hitler’s night of persecution (Kristallnacht = Night of Broken Glass) of November 9/10 in 1938 is annually commemorated. This 2007 observance was special, as Jews from foreign countries with ties to Norden participated. They came for the German premiere of the film documentary “Kleiner (Little) Rudy” by Michelle Stein Teer, granddaughter of Rudy Wolff, a Jewish citizen of Norden, who fled before the Nazis as a fifteen-year-old and now lives as an 87-year-old in Israel. Infirmity of advanced age prevents him from coming, but his daughters and another granddaughter will be on hand. Coming also from the Netherlands was the granddaughter of an Auschwitz survivor from Norden. The movie was created in 2005 when Wolff came to Norden to participate in the “Week of Coming Together” and the dedication of a memorial on the Jewish cemetery. The film shows Wolff as he leads his granddaughter on a guided tour through the town with emphasis on the sites of his boyhood. It includes visits with old school friends, and a speech to a local high school class during a memorial service at the cemetery. SOURCE: Ostfriesen-Zeitung, 11/6/07 / R. Wiemann

Germany after 1871

The Holtgaste Church Bells Ring As of November 6, 2007, Ostfriesland’s two oldest church bells in the tower of Holtgaste are ringing once again over farms and meadow land of this Lutheran village in the midst of mostly Reformed Rheiderland. They were cast around 1300 and 1379, weigh about a ton each, and were manually rung until 1960 in which year they were hooked up to electric motors. At that time they also received new clappers, made, as it turned out, of metal which was much too hard and caused excessive wear on the struck surface areas. These worn places have been carefully brazed and ground by the bell foundry which also attached new steel suspension fittings. New as well are the electric motors, now timed so that the bells will always peel in sequence, important as they produce nearly identical vibrations and could conceivable do damage to both if struck simultaneously in the confined space of the free standing bell tower. The congregation Holtgaste/Soltborg is looking forward to a successful conclusion of their fund drive to raise the 33,000 Euro which this project will cost. SOURCE: Rheiderland Zeitung, 11/6/07 / Wiemann 21

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A TRIP TO CLARA CITY Submitted by Marilyn Stulken—As remembered by my Mom (Lenora) and my Aunt Thelma (now 96 and going strong). First, some backgound: My Grandma, Tomke Maria Reiners, married Albert Julius Katzberg in February 1911. They settled on a farm west of Juniata, Nebraska. Grandma's cousin, Harm Wallrich Reiners, came from Minnesota for the wedding and met Grandpa's sister, Minna Olga Katzberg. "Uncle Harm and Aunt Minnie" were married the next year in Nebraska. After farming for a few years in Nebraska, they moved back to Uncle Harm's home—to a farm near Clara City, Minnesota. They were members of Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Clara City, where Uncle Harm's father, Wallrich Frerichs Reiners, had been active from earliest times. In 1925, Grandma and Grandpa, and five kids ages four to thirteen, took off in their 1917 Model T Ford to visit Uncle Harm and Aunt Minnie at Clara City. Aunt Thelma remembers what a time Grandma had trying to pack for seven people, and describes a luggage rack, which folded like an accordion and was fastened permanently onto the running board on the driver's side of the car. She thinks they might have covered the luggage with some oilcloth to keep it clean and dry.

Grandpa did all the driving. Most of the time, Grandma was in front with Uncle Wilbur, the youngest, and the four others were in back. Occasionally, there was some shifting of people from back to front. Aunt Thelma remembers that Grandpa and Grandma had a map, and they never got lost, although there were a couple of stops at filling stations to check on directions. I asked if they had any flat tires along the way. They did have one. Except, perhaps, for the roads leading up to Uncle Harm and Aunt Minnie's place, the roads they used were graveled. For the first part of the trip, they used the DLD—Denver-LincolnDetroit—highway (later US 6). Aunt Thelma tells me that when they got to Lincoln, highway traffic was blocked because there was a circus in town. Grandma was upset, because it was already nearly noon, but Grandpa, who loved circuses, said to her, "Just calm down and enjoy the parade." They drove to a parking lot and walked over to watch the show. Mom remembers that they made it from Juniata to Omaha/ Council Bluffs, the first day—a distance of about 170 miles. True to the stories one hears about Model T's, the machine couldn't make it up the hill at Council Bluffs. All but the driver got out and he tried again, this time with success. They stayed overnight at a cheap hotel in Council Bluffs. It was near the railroad track and noisy! Nobody got much sleep that night. And Aunt Thelma for sure didn't get any sleep because she had seen a sign telling what to do in case of fire. She stayed awake all night just in case there was a fire.

PICTURE: Model T Running Board Rack The car was open. There were curtains that snapped in place if the weather got bad. These were stored under the back seat when not in use. Mom remembers that people got "pretty dusty" riding in that open car. On the way up to Uncle Harm and Aunt Minnie's, it rained, and the passengers got wet because the snap-in curtains were not water-tight. The windshield wiper, which was only on the driver's side, was manually operated. There was a handle at the top of the windshield, inside the car, which was connected directly to the shaft of the wiper.

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After driving all day the second day, they arrived at Uncle Harm and Aunt Minnie's, where they stayed. Mom recalls that they "ate all the time— breakfast, lunch, dinner, lunch, supper, lunch..." It was also the first time Mom had gooseberries. Aunt Thelma, too, remembers that "all we did was eat—lots of freshbaked rolls…and lots of fruit trees." Uncle Harm had a threshing rig. The wheat had been harvested and he was going from place to place, threshing the grain. All the places he went to were homes of relatives, and wherever he went everybody gathered for meals. Aunt Thelma said to me, "It was a fun time." And apparently it was! It's a trip I've heard about all my life.

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Finding your “lost women” Submitted by Jill Morelli If you are like me you have a large number of women in your database that fall into two categories : • those that have no surname because the first time they are identified is as married women into the family and • females who “disappear” when they marry because you do not know the spouse’s name. Under certain conditions I have found ways to solve the mysterious surname issue using on-line databases that are making these problems more solvable. I am so pleased with finding this “tool” that I want to share it just in case you haven’t discovered it yet. For people who lived in Iowa in 1925 and fall into one of the categories above, one of the most important databases is the 1925 Iowa census. This “off year” census included, in addition to the normal enumeration data, the names of parents of all enumerated. Included in the listing will be the name of the enumerated individual’s father, his age (if still living) and birth location and the mother’s birth name, her age (if still living) and location of birth. Included is the location of marriage of the parents. To use this database, I started with women who had no known surname because they had married into the family. I ran a report of all 1.) women, 2.) who had a residence at some time in Iowa, 3.) and had no surname. This yielded 187 women. Using the Iowa census, I found the birth names for over half. The other half had moved from the state prior to 1925, gotten married after 1925, or had some other reason for not being enumerated.

and entering the surname in the father’s surname field, I could get all the children of that family ….including surnames of the wives who married brothers and surnames of the husbands of the sisters. If I was missing one or two of the siblings I would try different spellings or even fill in different fields to see if I could get a “hit”. Once you log in the home page of ancestry, enter your ancestor’s name and fill in the country as USA and the state as Iowa. Included also are the other off year elections so you might want to confine your search to the 1925 census, a field about ½ down the list of available search fields. Be aware that the parent information is on the second page so once you get the actual image of the enumeration, use the tool bar to turn the page! Ancestry is available either by subscription or through your local public library. Web address: http://www.ancestry.com/search/ Default.aspx Another on-line data base that is helpful is the Minnesota Birth and Death index maintained by the MN Department of Health. While more limited in scope you can find the birth name of the mother of the child if you can find the birth record or the death record of the individual. Once I find the woman’s surname, I run a search for that surname and see if there are any other children to the couple. Web address: http://people.mnhs.org/bci/

Then I realized that I could use this tool also to find the married name of women when I did not know who they married. Once again I ran a report of 1.) women 2.) from Iowa 3.) who were listed in the 1920 census but did not have a 1930 census. I will run this report again for those with 1910 census but no 1920 or 1930 census. I probably found about 50% of the spouses of the women of interest.

Another database that is a bit more restricted is the South Dakota birth index. This index is for those births’ that are over 100 years old. This basically covers a time frame from the late 1800s to 1907. Since this was a time when a lot of our ancestors moved to South Dakota I have filled in many blanks using this database. It, too, includes the birth name of the mother of the child.

But what about the women who died before 1925? I found I could find the birth names of women who had died well before the 1925 census if I could find a child that, as an adult, was enumerated.

The California death on-line index is another that helps find “lost women”. The CDI uses the Social Security index for its data source, but posts more information than the SSDI does, and includes the birth names of the deceased.

In the end I was regularly finding birth names and married names for my “lost” Iowa women who were born as early as 1830! This database is available through ancestry.com. It should be noted that the transcription of the surnames is very irregular and you have to work the search fields to get to the individual of interest. I found that by taking a family 23

Web address: http://apps.sd.gov/applications/ PH14Over100BirthRec/index.asp

Web address: http://vitals.rootsweb.com/ca/death/

rch.cgicj=1&o_xid=0000584978&o_lid=0000584978 These latter three databases are free, provided by their respective governmental agencies or through rootsweb.com. Happy hunting!

Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America

TECHNOLOGY 101 Submitted by Ray Kleinow This page of the OGSA newsletter is intended for tips and tricks, new info, and anything else we think will help you use your computer more efficiently to do your Ostfriesland research. Is this information you can use and would like to see in this column? Remember, this is YOUR newsletter column! What do you want it to be? Send your comments to Ray Kleinow at [email protected] Laptop vs Desktop? Want your computer with you on visits, research trips, etc? Thinking of buying a new computer to replace your desktop? Perhaps you should at least consider a laptop. The prices have really dropped in the last few years and the power (speed and capacity), are very competitive with desktops. Weigh the pros and cons for your needs. You may be better off with a laptop. The weight, size and price are now at a level that most people can handle and you are taking your full capabilities with you when you travel, visit research sites, etc. This means your e-mailer, genealogy programs, databases, and notes are all there with you. Wireless Connections on the Road? How to keep up with your emails, connect to the internet, etc? One of the advantages of a laptop is that wireless connections are available in most areas. Most newer laptops have wireless modems built in, so just find a “Hotspot” in a coffee shop, etc. and check with them on how to connect. Usually it is very inexpensive or free. Then you can keep up with your emails, add/correct your research work, etc., the same as if you were home. Or, perhaps you have a data connection available with your cell phone? Many services will add this for a month at a time, so you can turn it on when you leave home and then shut off when you return. (Usually they will require a full month). You must check with your cell phone provider for details. Portable Applications Don’t want to buy a new computer, or carry a laptop, but do want your genealogy program and databases along? And you can use a computer where you are going? Perhaps this method is the answer. There are ways to install your genealogy program and your databases on a flash drive. Then all you carry is the flash drive. When you arrive at your destination and are given access to a computer, you merely plug the flash drive into the USB port, and start up the genealogy program from the flash drive. It does not require installing the program on that computer. It also does not leave anything on the host computer. You can run the program as if it was installed on that computer, updating, showing, printing (using their printer), whatever. When finished, shut down the program, unplug the flash drive and you will be off that computer. Nothing is changed on their computer. See http:// www.everythingusb.com/software.html for more details. Faster Bootups? Are you tired of waiting for your computer to boot up? Wish it could do this in a few seconds, not minutes? Perhaps you might look at replacing your present mechanical hard drive with a Solid State Hard Drive. No moving parts, (all electronic, not mechanical), high data transfer rates, low power consumption, and no noise! Yes, they are “spendy” to start

with, but if you have two hard drives in your laptop, (many do, or you can order them configured as such), exchange the one where Windows is installed, and leave the other as is. Then use the old hard drive in an external case as an extra drive. Such cases are about $50 for good quality ones, (I like Adaptec’s), and you now have more room, faster boot ups and faster operations. Go to www.google.com and type in “solid state drive” (without the quotes), for more information.

LINKS TO

DEEP

ROOTS

Submitted by Ray Kleinow Watch for the smaller sites! We see many new smaller sites with smaller databases (but with a smaller fee as well) showing up on web searches. Especially small genealogy societies that have the data of its area and the people to help you with questions. It gets quite expensive to have your own Ancestry.com subscription. Always remember, the valuable site is the one that has the data you need. It may not be in a huge database. So, “Google it” and check them out. (Remember that the MGS Library has a subscription to Ancestry.com and others.) Your subscription to OGSA gives you free access at the MGS Library. Searching for Ostfriesen Roots in Cook County, IL? Cook County, Illinois Birth, Marriage & Death Records are being digitized and should be online beginning in January 2008. They will be available on a searchable website. It is part of a yearlong effort to digitize the county’s 24 million vital records, dating from 1871, after the Chicago fire destroyed previous records. Scanning and indexing are complete and they are uploading about a million records per week. Birth certificates at least 75 years old, marriage certificates more than 50 years old and death certificates, more than 20 years old will be available for a fee and downloadable at home. Certified copies will not be available online. Nor will social security numbers. When complete, they will announce the website address. New York Times' Archives Available Free of Charge The New York Times is making its archives from 1851 to 1922 and from 1987 to the present available on the web at no charge. The material from 1851 to 1922 is not copyrighted and was available for modest fees and articles published from 1851 to 1922 can be read free. Go to http://www.nytimes.com and give it a try. toppassengerlists.com Here is a new site that might be of help to OGSA researchers. It is also interesting because of various interactions you can have with the site. http://www.toppassengerlists.com Great Lakes Passenger Lists Did some of your line come through the Great Lakes and then Michigan? Check out this site of passenger lists. Great Lakes Passenger Lists

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Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America

Ostfriesland from the Seven Years’ War to the Batavian Republic SOURCE: Onno Klopp, “Geschichte Ostfrieslands”, Vol. 3 Excerpted and translated by Rudy Wiemann. After the Peace Treaty of Hubertusburg, Saxony, in 1763, King Frederick II’s first concern was healing the deep wounds which the war had inflicted on his land. This began with the introduction of a solid currency as a precondition to the revival of commercial activity, which for Ostfriesland largely meant seafaring enterprise. Despite good intentions, the mercantilist views prevailing in that era made him determined to keep Prussian money in Prussia. His method of ruling by decree rather than through a cabinet of experts, including merchants, didn’t help matters either. Every branch of commerce which resulted in a net outflow of money from Prussia was forbidden. Plans were made for an overseas trading company of the kind the British and the Dutch were operating; however, Prussia had no colonies, and countries that did would not permit foreign vessels to trade in their backyard. This made such trade possible only with China, and connections were established with that country, but those were soon discontinued. The biggest blow to trade was delivered by London with the passing of the British Navigation Act which mandated that no ship was allowed to deliver freight to a British port unless it was built in Britain, belonged to a British company, was captained by a British national, and was manned by a crew at least a quarter British. Exempt were ships which transported goods from the country under whose flag they were sailing. After a victory by the great Dutch admiral de Ruiter over a British fleet, the Dutch received a concession whereby their ships could haul merchandize of their own country as well as from Germany to Britain. This Act entailed great hardship for Ostfriesland which had about a thousand ships under sail, much more than needed to facilitate its own commerce. Emden suffered additional damage to its commercial activity when it received royal permission to exact a customs duty on incoming freight destined for areas to Ostfriesland’s south, notably Westphalia. Those areas quickly rechanneled their imports through Dutch harbors. Emden also started up a herring fishery which the Dutch tried to suppress by lowering the price of their catch sold in Germany, which the king countered by prohibiting their import. The American Revolutionary War (1775-83) garnered much sympathy in Europe for the rising republic. France sided openly with her in 1778, and Dutch merchants and financiers supplied her with 25

money and materiel. The full extent of this Dutch aid became apKing Frederick II parent when the British forced one of its convoys into Plymouth Harbor. The British, with their now greatly superior fleet, reacted by falling upon Dutch merchantmen and overseas possessions. For Ostfriesland, though, its neighbor’s misfortune held certain advantages, as many Dutch ship owners applied for citizenship there, which could be obtained for six Talers. This brought about a British inquiry into the curious fact that 80 ships under the flag of Emden were moored in the Thames River. Berlin wanted to avoid trouble and urged the shippers to insist that the captains as well as 2/3 of the crews were Prussian citizens. Given such circumstances, ships under Emden’s flag sailed for a while to the Dutch East Indies. King Frederick further strove to fill his treasury by pushing the creation of “Polders” or “Groden”, as land gained from the North Sea was his to sell. He introduced the potato as a crop to lessen the dependence on grain and fostered the populating of peat bogs with willing settlers. No canals were dug into the bogs, however, and the settlers received no aid but were taxed instead, so their communities often turned into the proverbial pockets of poverty, hopelessness, and crime. The Dutch had pioneered the “Fehn” canal system for the systematic mining and transporting of peat and as a precondition for successful bog settlements. They were able to sell their peat in Ostfriesland for less than local operators could. Seasonal work opportunities existed in Ostfriesland and attracted manpower from far away. Annually 285 young men from the Earldom of Lippe came to work in Ostfriesland’s 43 brick yards, making ten million bricks and roof tiles, and they went home with about 60 Talers in their pockets. At harvest time rural workers from Oldenburg and Münster came to Ostfriesland’s fertile coastal areas to fill the farmers’ barns. The beginning of Prussian rule had come as a blessing. Local feuding stopped, Emden ceased to be a state within a state, and taxation was placed under royal supervision. But the siphoning of money to Berlin became noticeable, and then there was the salt situation. In the 16th century coarse Portuguese salt was imported and refined in Emden’s Nesserland. Later Ostfriesland bought its

Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America

salt from Lüneburg’s salt mines. In 1766, King Frederick ordered that salt be bought from his royal mines near Minden, fixing the price as well as the amount to be taken, the latter being greater than needed. The “Landschaft” sold the overage and added the profit to its account balance. The king also initiated a tobacco monopoly and discouraged the drinking of coffee which was decried as unhealthy. Only those who could afford to buy 20 pounds of coffee were allowed to do so and roast it themselves. There were numerous complaints, but the king remained adamant, as 700,000 Prussian Talers were leaving his land for coffee alone while armed bands were smuggling it across the border. People resigned themselves to the situation and roasted rye and wheat to which they would added a few coffee beans. Tea did not come under the same scrutiny, as it was consumed only in Prussian Ostfriesland in appreciable amounts. Berlin seems to have been lacking a sense for the benefits these libations have upon a country’s culture and manners, as their consumption entails a decrease in the use of alcoholic beverages. According to the treaty of 1744, Ostfriesland became a province of Prussia but was to be kept free of Prussian troops. Only Emden had a small garrison, a lot of its soldiers having been shanghaied. Desertions were announced by four canon shots from the city’s walls and the ringing of storm bells across the land. 168 messengers hurried on horseback from town to town telling people to be on their guard and what would befall them if they offered aid to the fugitive in any way. A captured deserter could be made to run the gauntlet which he was not likely to survive. Public affairs in Ostfriesland during Prussian times were the responsibility of the “Regierung” (government) and the “Kriegsund Domänenkammer” (lit. Chamber of War and Public Land Holdings - the land holdings largely consisting of peat bogs and monastery property taken over during the Reformation). The name of the former does not really indicate its function; it included the high court, as administration and law were not strictly separated, and could, with the presence of the president of either predominant Protestant denomination, sit as a consistory. The “Kriegs- und Domänenkammer” grew out of the Cirksena “Ober-Rentei” (primary fiscal office) whose functions were broadened to where its duties included most public administra-

tive affairs. Prussian Ostfriesland remained organized in eight “Ämter”, Harlingerland in two. Chief administrators there were “Amtmann” and “Drost”. King Frederick turned the office of “Drost” into a pension system for his generals and colonels. His famous Hussar general, von Ziethen, was “Drost” of “Amt” Berum. The “Amtmann” ran the administration and law enforcement, could sit as a judge, and function as the “Amt” chief fiscal officer. King Frederick was fairly indifferent toward the churches but insisted on mutual toleration, the first European monarch to do so. His famous dictum, “In my state everyone may achieve salvation in his or her own way,” is still remembered. The number of Lutherans in Ostfriesland was on the rise whereas that of the Reformed was declining, which arguably could be blamed on the fact that Lutheran students of the ministry went to the University of Halle, whereas Reformed students could no longer go to Dutch universities but studied at a seminary in Lingen which had a theological faculty of one or two professors and offered little in academic life or tradition. Prussian students who had studied outside of Prussia were ineligible for state service. Despite all this arbitrariness, some of which was typical for the times, King Frederick did exercise great influence on education in Germany, as in him it had a prince who not only was a great war hero (he had trounced the French) but possessed true intellectual weight. His numerous writings and musical compositions bear the stamp of an intellect which was imbued with a much greater humanitarian spirit than his government exhibited. With his passing in 1786, East Friesians welcomed the lessening of governmental intrusion in their affairs under his nephew and successor, Frederick William II, notably manifested by the recession of the royal tobacco and coffee monopoly. In 1789 the French Revolution began, which called the whole nation to arms and threw back the invading troops of reactionary European monarchs. By 1795, the defenders had turned into conquering heroes and marched into Belgium and the Netherlands. The latter had its own influential revolutionary Patriot party, had defeated an invading British landing force and was welcoming the de facto disseminators of the ideals of the American Revolution with open arms. Soon the Batavian Republic was called out, and Emden saw the first Dutch Orangists and French émigrés arrive to be followed by British troops. Eleven regiments of dragoons and six infantry regiments took quarters in and around Emden joined by sizable contingents of fighting French émigrés and Dutch cavalry plus soldiers who had become detached from their units. Churches were converted into hospitals where typhoid took many lives. Continued on Page 27 26

Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America

The Prawn Fisherman of the Dollart SOURCE: “Ostfriesland”, 1868, by Hermann Meier, translated by Rudy Wiemann

the fisherman himself in the wintertime.

The prawn occurs in great quantities on the tidal flats along the North Sea coast of Germany where it is caught from May to October. Its very good tasting meat makes it a popular item for dinner and, even more so, for supper of the people living in this region. Rarely passes a day on which a prawn selling woman fails to push her cart from house to house in village and town to offer the sea’s bounty freshly boiled in brine. The biggest prawns are caught shortly before the start of the ebb tide with which they retreat again, the smallest while the tides are on the move. In the Dollart Bay they were more abundant in the past, their decrease being blamed on the gradual buildup of sediment.

When he has caught enough and morning announces itself, he hastens back to sell, or boil, his catch quickly. Before doing so, however, other creatures, like anchovies, smelt, grunt, flounder, etc., must be removed, and the larger prawns separated from the smaller ones with a sieve. The prawn fisherman’s trade is not a lucrative one, as for a quart of prawns, which he must catch and often boil and take to town himself, he only gets a Groschen at the most. In order to makes ends meet, he catches the flounder concurrently with the prawn.

The prawn caught during the flood tide is preferred to the one caught at ebb tide as it is stronger and takes on a red coloration during boiling, even though the latter is heavier and is caught in greater quantities. The difference may lie in time elapsing between catching and boiling. At the high tide the fisherman can get to his station and back to the boiling pot quicker, which is important as the prawn lives only for a short while outside of its element. If it is boiled when already dead it is less firm, as while it is dying a light, colorless liquid oozes from it, leaving it less plump. The fisherman likes the cool northern wind in the summertime as it grants his catch longer life. In the spring and fall he looks for the warming south wind, as the prawn appears in greater quantity when moderate temperatures prevail. The prawn is caught at night as well as during the day, the former being a better time, as it then won’t die so quickly, turning out redder and firmer during boiling. The best prawns are caught in late summer. To get real red prawns one must not be sparing with the salt during boiling and must take care that the water remains in roiling motion. To catch the prawn in the Dollart the fisherman goes out mostly in the evening. At his station he places his wing nets, which have a large rear compartment, and waits for his prey. From time to time he opens this compartment and dumps the catch into a basket. The nets are made by

Continued from Page 26 The times of Conflans were brought back to people’s minds until British ships arrived with back pay for their troops which were then able to pay for provisions and services. The British troops had cleared Rheiderland just ahead of the pursuing French who did not cross the Ems. In March the refugees moved to the Weser River where transport to Britain awaited them. Additional transports arrived in Emden to take on the sick, and the rest of the British troops marched to Bremen for repatriation. In April of 1795 the Peace Treaty of Basel, Switzerland, was signed, and the stage was set for Napoleon’s appearance.

EDITOR NOTE: The Dollart is a bay partly in the Netherlands and Germany on the west side of the estuary of the Ems River in 1277. Most of it dries in low tide and is a bird haven. The Dollart was likely created between 1219 and 1413 by the rising waterlevel and flooding. The land was protected by dikes, but in the battle between the schieringers and vetkopers some dikes were attacked. Some historians think that those dikes collapsed in 1413 and overflowed into the Rheiderland. In 1520, the water overflowed the land again and the Dollart had its largest surface. Nowdays it's a paradise for all kinds of birds and other animals that live around water. The foundation of protecting and examining the landscape of Groningen, Het Groninger EMDEN Landschap, organizes excursions to the DolEMS RIVER lart around three times a year. (WikeDOLLART pedia)

OSB UPDATE Recent OSB include Gandersum, Borßum, Neermoor (three volumes). More information on OSB to be published in the next year will be available in the July issue and on our website. Many OSB are in stock, please contact us for available OSB. Publication of the Ortssippenbuch for Suurhusen and Marienwehr are planned for this summer. Also planned is the Hypothekenbuch Leer 1572-1900 If you are interested in any of these publications, please let us know as soon as possible and we will contact you when they arrive. • Check our website often www.ogsa.us 27

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WRITING YOUR OWN FAMILY HISTORY Copyright 2008 © Lin Cornelius Strong

You’re ready to write your family history and have no idea how to start. What do you include? Do you add adopted children? Do you include every spouse no matter how vicious or amicable the divorce? You will be glad to hear there is no hard and fast rule to those questions. Only you or your family can decide what you put in or omit from your family history. No book is worth a rift in family relations; however, you will never please everyone! It was more important to me to share all the family data and stories that I had collected over the years. I kept thinking that one day I could be run over by a bus and all those stories would be lost! Some suggestions: 1) A marriage and divorce can be omitted if there were no children. Even if there are children, use your judgment – if there is great animosity, don’t include the person. Put it only in your copy. 2) Adopted and foster children can be numbered with other family members and you can put (adopted) in parenthesis if that is preferred. Ask the parents what they prefer. 3) My grandmother would have been horrified to learn that her grandparents had to get married, but as I did not write about this story until she died, she was not upset by it. It was an interesting story that was worth more than a paragraph in the Bunde, Ostfriesland church records and it gave information about that town in that time period. 4) So should you write about your great-grandfather’s first family that he abandoned in Germany – probably! Should you write about a scandal about your parents or grandparents who are still living? Only you and your family can make that decision. 5) Every family has black sheep, they add some spice to a book. Was there a horse thief, someone who spent time in jail or even a penitentiary or insane asylum? Hey, it happened! One friend’s g.g.grandmother was institutionalized by her husband because he didn’t want to be divorced and didn’t want her around! She lived out her life in an asylum—sane. Most women had no rights! 6) One lady called and told me she would not be continuing with her book as she had found a scandal! Her great-great grandmother was a gypsy. I told her that would only make her book more interesting, not less! Why wouldn’t you include data like that? 7) What should you include? Stories about how they lived their everyday lives – what was important to them. Hand out a questionnaire for family members to use as a guideline. If you can get some of your family to write about how they celebrated holidays, how they got in trouble, what fun things they did, games they played, the common and everyday things that they did that made up the fabric of their lives. How did their mother wash clothes, butcher chickens, plant her garden or deal with adversity? That’s what your children and grandchildren will enjoy reading. Dates and places are fine – but it is the stories that are the heart of any book. And make sure there are plenty of pictures in your book! 8) My uncle wrote about how he lost his arm in a corn picker—a story he’d never even told his brothers or sisters! Give them the 28

option of tape recording their stories, writing them or telling them to you. Tell them spelling and grammar is not as important as any story. This uncle is now deceased, but his stories live on! 9) Include as many pictures and illustrations as you can as they add interest to a book. Other things you can include: Naturalization papers, emigration papers, church documents, birth, marriage and death certificates, census data. Do you have pictures of the village where your great-grandmother was born? Add a map to that page along with the pictures, and you will capture someone’s attention long enough for them to read on. 10) There is no one right way to write a family history. What you have to do is start. I also prefer to capitalize the surname to eliminate any doubt as to what is the surname. This is also optional. So, how do you go about numbering all the descendents of your great-grandparents or great, great, great, great grandparents. What do you do? You can of course, use a simple outline format such as the following: I. Wubbe Dirks AMMERMANN (birth, marriage & death dates and places) Spouse: Trientje Freerks PETERSEN (B,M,D data) (Daughter of Freerk Geerds PETERSEN and Grietje Jodocus HEDDINGA) Children: A. Dirk Wubben AMMERMANN Spouse: Helena JANSSEN B: Freerk Wubben AMMERMANN Spouses: 1) Jantje HAKEN, 2) Geertje FOKKEN, 3) Mattie EMMEN C. Meemke Wubben AMMERMANN Spouse: Jan KUIPER D. Geerd Wubben AMMERMANN Spouse: Janna FOKKEN E. Jantje Wubben AMMERMANN Spouse: Hinderk Nannen FOKKEN 1. William FOKKEN Spouse: Elizabeth Tebben 2. Antje FOKKEN 3. Nanne FOKKEN 4. Trientje FOKKEN 5. Jantje FOKKEN Spouse: Heinrich PETERS CHILDREN: a. Josie Peters b. Alice Peters c. Marjorie Peters This is a simple version and you should add all the birth, marriage and death information for each person listed. The problem you run into is how do you keep adding generations—what numbers or letters do you give them? You will note that only those who are born into the line are numbered. None of the spouses have a number as they are not a direct descendant.

Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America

An additional method is to list the families by generations. Generation 1—Wubbe Dirks AMMERMANN Trientje Freerks PETERSEN Plus their birth, marriage and death dates and places). This works well if there is a not a lot of children in each family, but gets very confusing if you have eight or more children per family per generation—it’s called a nightmare. Another method which may seem at first to be a bit more complicated, is one that I have used in four family history books that I wrote. Birth, marriage and death data is, of course, included for each person. Again, only direct descendents are numbered, spouses are listed in my books along with their birth, marriage and death data along with the names of their parents in parenthesis. You can also list adopted or foster children, but whether they are numbered is your decision to make. You can list as many spouses as you wish in this method. Children would be listed under their mother’s entry. 1. Wubbe Dirks AMMERMANN Spouse: Trientje Dirks PETERSEN 1.1. Dirk Wubben AMMERMANN (Dirk is the 1st child of the 1st child) 1.2. Freerk Wubben AMMERMANN (Freerk is the 2nd child of the 1st child) Spouse 1: Jantje HAKEN Spouse 2: Geertje Nannen FOKKEN (daughter of Nanne Geerds FOKKEN & Jantje KUIPER) Spouse 3: Mattie Emmen 1.3. Meemke Wubben AMMERMANN 1.4. Geerd Wubben AMMERMANN 1.5. Jantje Wubben AMMERMANN Spouse: Hinderk Nannen FOKKEN 1.5.1. William FOKKEN (William is the 1st child of the 5th child of the 1st child) 1.5.2. Antje FOKKEN (Antje is the 2nd child of the 5th child of the 1st child) 1.5.3. Nanne FOKKEN 1.5.4. Trientje FOKKEN 1.5.5. Jantje FOKKEN Spouse: Heinrich PETERS 1.5.5.1. Josie PETERS (Josie is the 1st child of the 5th child of the 5th child of the 1st child) 1.5.5.2. Alice PETERS 1.5.5.3. Marjorie PETERS While on the first reading this may seem more complicated, if you use it consistently through hundreds of names, it is not difficult to understand. It was also used as a cross reference at the rear of the book to include names, addresses, occupations, telephone numbers and email addresses of current family members. Interestingly enough, family members are adding new family members to their book more than ten years later by still using the same numbering system. Always remember that how you write the book is not as important as getting it written—one page at a time! Future generations will bless you for your efforts in preserving their family’s history.

ANCESTRAL NUMBERING SYSTEMS Research in publications can be confusing if you have no clue as to what the numbers all mean. Numbering systems are used in all types of genealogical searches and books to distinquish between generations. Books such as the Deutsches Geschlechterbücher, Die Groeneveld’s and publications such as Quellen und Forschungen and Ostfriesische Ahnenlisten, as well as American publications use the following system which is similar to any ancestral chart. The numbers on a typical ancestral chart are similar to the following: |4. Father’s father |2. Your father—–| | |5. Father’s mother 1. Your name—– | | | |6. Mother’s father |3. Your mother—| |7. Mother’s mother Note the numbers! The numbers double with each generation. The child’s number doubled equals his father: 1 + 1 = 2; for the mother’s number always add one: 1 + 1 = 2 + 1 = 3. First Generation 1. Child Second Generation 2. Father of child (1 + 1 = 2) 3. Mother of child (1 + 1 = 2 + 1) Third Generation 4. Father of # 2 (grandfather of #1) 5. Mother of #2 (grandfather of #1) 6. Father of #3 (grandfather of #1) 7. Mother of #3 (grandmother of #1) Fourth Generation 8. Father of # 4 9. Mother of #4 10. Father of #5 11. Mother of #5 12. Father of # 6 13. Mother of #6 14. Father of #7 15. Mother of #7 Note that ancestors double with each generation. The numbers are also frequently used in reverse: 1 = Patriarch/Matriarch 2 = Son/Daughter (s) 3 = Grandson/Granddaughter(s) 4 = Great Grandson/Great Granddaughter(s) Charts similar to these do not take into consideration all the children of a couple, but usualy the direct lineage of a specific child. A chart may also include spouses without numbering them. Copy this chart into your research notebook and use it for future reference. Numbers can go into the hundreds, thousands and millions, make sure you have a calcuator! 29

Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America

MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION Welcome to OGSA! Would you like a membership list? We can now email it to you as an attachment! Do you know someone who might like a sample copy of our newsletter—it’s on our website! This is one way we find new members! Contact us! New Members: Mary Flesner Beard, 6768 Pine Arbor Boulevard, Cottage Grove, MN 55016 651-207-5792 [email protected] Researching: Buss (Ludwigsdorf), Flesner, Heinrich Gerd Steve Corning, 5396 Virginia Court, Gurnee, IL 60031 847360-0718 [email protected] Researching: Kressen, Piehl, Schultz, Schutz (Oldenburg) Hans-Friedrich Coordes, Neuestrasse 35, 26826 Weener Germany [email protected] Kathleen & Larry Gray, 6608 Falstaff Road, Woodbury, NN 55125 651-493-4593 Researching: Betels (Rechsupweg), Bockelmann (Oldersum) Cecil Mennen, 23738 Highway 92, Columbus Junction, IA 52738 319-728-3028 Donna Mennen, 5378 183rd Street West, Farmington, MN 55024 651-463-1275 [email protected] Correction: Keith Ricklefs, 1427 Douglas St., #2, Sioux City IA 51105 712-255-5353 [email protected] Researching: Ricklefs (Eckwarden), Rode (Wiefelstede), Hassmann (Sphole) Changes of Address: Judy Gallogly, PO Box 238, Hampton, IA 50441 [email protected] Barbara Henning, 55 Meade Drive, Coralville, IA 52241 319-887-7040 [email protected] David W. Look, 237 Jefferson Street, Winchester, VA 22601 540-662-5866 Arlys “Lee” Straayer, PO Box 6808, Champaign, IL 61826 [email protected] New Email Address Judi Poppen [email protected] Dennis & Marge Pfeil [email protected]

SOCIAL STATUS TERMS While there has been much written explaining the differences in the social status during the years, what is needed is a handy clip and save (or make a copy) column that you can put in your research notebook. NOTE: These are NOT occupations. This will give you a quick guide and you can look it up in more detail at a later time. Please note that this list is not comprehensive! A Colonist or Kolonist was a person who, with his family, settled on new moor (peat) land opened to cultivation. They were induced by promises of a small tract of land of their own. This was back-breaking labor and the reason so many of these settlers emigrated to the USA. The Hausleute often were called Erbgesessener, which means that this person has inherited his property by a regular law of succession. (Erbgesessener = sitting on his heritage). In contrary to the Erbgesessener, we also know the term on Eingesessener (translated as ‘has been sitting in’) which describes a "lucky man" who succeeded in marrying a Hausmann`s daughter or widow. Landgebräucher comes up in the 2nd half of the 18th century after the land reform. It describes a person "using land" and was mainly used in the Fehn villages where political rights tied to the possession of a Herd/Platz (small dwelling w/ fireplace) were unusual. In the Fehn villages, Landgebräucher is often used in connection with the profession of a Schiffer or sailor (Bargee). Herd, or hearth, is a term of almost universal meaning. It can also mean fireplace - Heim und Herd = home and hearth. The Herdbesitzer (besitz=own) possessed of a "Vollherde" had special civil and parochial privileges. They were the few who had a vote in church and community affairs and whose votes chose the village pastors and village schoolmasters. They also assessed and collected taxes. In addition to his rights, the Herdbesitzer also had the duty to see to the maintenance of roads and canals and had to make provision for the poor of the Gemeinde (community). In some of the smaller communities or Gemeinde, there may have been only a dozen of so possessors of a Vollherd. Some smaller landholders owned a Halbherd and in a few cases, as where ownership had been fragmented over the generations through inheritance, there would be Drittelherdes. Ownership of a Herd or a fraction was always passed by inheritance. A full Herd or Platz got a full share a halb Herd, a half share and so on.

Welcome to Spring

To be continued; in the next issue the terms of Warfsmann and Warfsleute will be described.

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Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America

NEW!

UPCOMING ISSUES WILL INCLUDE: • Using the Quellen &

This is the CD ROM you’ve all been waiting for! 17,665 Ostfriesen emigrant names are in this database. Much of the data found in this CD was collected for over 40 years by Kurt von Loh from Borßum, Ostfrielsand. Gene Janssen spent more than one year transcribing the data into this database. OGSA members have also contributed thousands of names. The database is Excel format—you will need that program to use it. Instructions are in a Word pdf file. $26 includes postage. • Order your copy today: OGSA, 1670 South Robert Street, #333, West St. Paul, MN 55118 ♦

We need to clean off our books shelves! This sale is only good during the month of April and you know how the Ostfriesen like a good Spring Cleaning!

Do you have historical data on a village with strong Ostfriesen roots? ♦ We are searching for data for an on-going column. Or send us the information and we will write it for you!

SPRING BOOK SALE •

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Forshungen Uplengen & Remels • Officials & Their Responsibilities • The Lost Villages of the Dollart • A Trip from Dunum • Money: Gulden, Taler, Ort, Schaf and Witten • Map Reading • A Prince’s Earldom • An 1863 Auction • Finding Obituaries • Adoption Records • Climbing Brick Walls • Strackholt • Wiesmoor’s Blumenhalle

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Butjadingen—Historical information on Ostfriesland and the area to the east of Varel. Dikes & diking, storm floods and more! Translated by Gene Janssen, this is a must for your book shelf! $16 (includes postage). Churches of Ostfriesland—while it does not cover all churches, it does cover the oldest churches. This book is a must with information you can include in your family history. Only $12 (includes postage). Ostfriesen Windmills—colored pictures of all the windmills found in Ostfriesland, along with a colored map showing their locations! This is a wonderful book to share with your family! $12 (includes postage). Rich Polder Farmers and Poor Moorfolk—if you have not read this book, you need to. You will then understand the differences between the classes and why your ancestors came to America for a better life. Share it with your family. Only $12 (includes postage).

In Emden, the Emder Segelverein (Sailing Club) observed its centennial year with a festive ball in Emden’s “Gaststätte Lindenhof” confident that its future will match its past in exciting events. Its team spirit is great, its membership is holding steady at about 300, and its work with the many enthusiastic youngsters in its ranks holds great promise. Its official birthday will be celebrated in October. The Club not only offers water sports, as jogging, gymnastics, and “Boßel games” also play an important role in maintaining the physical fitness required for this demanding sport. A Paddle-and-Pedal-Station has been set up on its “Nordtorstraße” property which will liven up the scene once the biking and canoeing crowd will have checked it out. Ostfriesen-Zeitung, 2/4/08

http://territorial.de/index.htm Check this out. Here you will find listings of German villages, their region, district, etc. from 1945. This is a really valuable source! Make sure you check it out.

Don’t wait, send your order in today! Send your order to OGSA, 1670 South Robert Street, #333, West St. Paul, MN 55118

Oldenburg Genealogical Society http://www.genealogienetz.de/vereine/OGF/index_e.html 31

2008—UPCOMING EVENTS

RESEARCH DAY Saturday, May 3, 2008 10 am-4pm Minnesota Genealogical Society (see right column) Tour of facility Research help available Ancestry.com Heritage Quest Contest 2008 Where & What Is This? It is the first of three pictures to ID this year.

Contact Lin@ogsa. us

PLEASE NOTE: New Mail Address: OGSA 1670 South Robert Street, #333, West St. Paul, MN 55118

Nov. 1, 2008

News Editor Address : Lin Strong ([email protected]) 168 N. Lake St., Forest Lake, MN 55025 651-269-3580 New Library Address: MN Genealogical Society 1185 Concord St. No., South St. Paul, MN OGSA Phone No. (651) 451-6472 MGS Hours: Tuesday 6:30—9:30 p.m. Wednesday 10 a.m.—4 p.m. Thursday 10 a.m.—4 p.m. 6:30—9:30 p.m. Saturday 10 a.m.—4 p.m.

Our Annual Tea Party Don’t miss this fun event! Great Do you need help accessing your newsletOstfriesen • ter on our website? You can view this Tea & online whether you get a paper copy or not! Desserts Please contact [email protected] or mnmax424@

www.ogsa.us

msn.com and we’ll walk you through it. • Or we can also send you a copy by pdf file if that does not work. The pictures are in color, you can print it out or just save a copy on your computer for later use.

ADDRESS CHANGE? Contact us at [email protected] OSTFRIESEN GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 1670 South Robert Street, #333 West St. Paul, MN 55118

Address Service Requested

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