Where On Earth……

Posted on March 12, 2013 by Administrator
This article was first published in “Der Blumenbaum“, the Sacramento German Genealogy Society’s award winning quarterly journal, in July 2012. 
 

Very often we know the place our ancestors came from but are unable to locate it. The church records show the parish but not the exact location. We read about the place in reference books of historical places for that very area, actually we read everything there is to know about this place. We looked at current maps and google earth. Just, that we are unable to find it. It simply ceased to exist.

This is what happened to me when I looked for the Holländerei (the dairyman’s house) in the Lindenberger Silge. According to the church records, the Lindenberger Silge belonged to the parish of Cumlosen, a village in the county of Prignitz, Brandenburg. It seemed to be very small, the entries were few. The only people living there were the holländer, the forester, the administrator and Map_1853a few land workers. I knew so much about this place, I even knew when and how the house was built. But there was no sign of it on any current map. I even bought an old map showing the holländerei. Unfortunately this map had such a small scale that I could only guess where the houses might be situated today. It seemed that today it would have been in the middle of the forest of Gadow. I saw myself running through the forest for years, looking after some stone-fundament. How would I be able to find the exact location?

I did find it. I found it with the help of the Prussian Ur-Messtischblatt.

But what exactly is a Ur-Messtischblatt?

After the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Prussia felt a need to establish a standardized cartography for its territory. The Generalstab (General Staff), being part of the Department of War, was appointed to fulfill this important (military) task. As cartography was part of an officer’s training, the Generalstab seemed to have a ready supply of qualified personnel. Under the command of the Generalmajor Freiherr von Müffling, young officers were assigned to do the mapping work. They used a Messtisch (a small table) with a compass, a water level and a so called Diopterlineal (alidade). The map itself was one sheet, called “Blatt”. And a Blatt on a Messtisch simply became a Messtischblatt, the plural form being Messtischblaetter. And as it was the very first map to be drawn, it was called “Ur-Messtischblatt” (Original Messtischblatt). The following link will give you an idea of how it was done (unfortunately it is in German only): http://www.ingenieurgeograph.de/Aufnehmen/Messtischaufnahme/messtischaufnahme.html .

However, the first Ur-Messtischblaetter never were published, the Generalstab simply wasn’t satisfied with the quality. After improving the officer’s skills and enhancing the technical requirements, the second phase started in 1830 and ended in 1865. This time, the maps, very detailed in a scale of 1:25,000, were considered good enough and finally released for military and governmental purposes only. Through the next years with the Prussian industry expanding and more roads and railroads needing to be built, there was a demand from the industry for detailed maps. Finally, in 1868, the decision was made to make the maps available to the public. After 1876, the third phase started with more and more maps being drawn and no longer called Ur-Messtischblaetter but simply Messtischblaetter or MTB (sometimes even MTBL). With the Ur-Messtischblaetter being colored, they were now drawn and printed in black and white. Originally only numbered, now the name of the town illustrated on the map was added. Today the Messtischblätter are called TK 25 meaning Topographische Karte (topographical map) and the scale (1:25,000).

But now back to the Lindenberger Silge. The Ur-Messtischblatt I needed was number 2936, drawn by Lieutenant von Blumenthal in 1843. AnMTB_1843d there it was: the Lindenberger Holländerei. As I now had the exact location, I asked the retired forester of Gadow for help. And he took me to the place my great-great-grandfather had been born in 1829. It turned out, that he himself had taken the stones to build streets after WWII and then planted Douglas firs. And even though the house was demolished such long time ago, I could still imagine an old half-timbered house standing there.

And it felt a little bit like coming home.

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I’m Still Standing

Posted on September 17, 2012 by Administrator

You might wonder what this piece of furniture might be. It is an old fashioned standing desk. This one now stands in the hall of the State Archive of Westphalia in Münster and probably once was situated in some office.  As a matter of fact, this was a typical working place for a clerk or a secretary. Of course, there were lower desks to sit at as well, but not everyone was allowed to sit down during work…….

In Prussia, and even in other parts of Germany, sitting down at work was considered being a sign of laziness and undisciplined behavior. And that surely didn’t go along too well with the “Prussian virtues”, one of them being industriousness…… So, if you were a clerk, you needed to stand all day, six days a week. However, if you were the head of the department, you were allowed to sit at your desk. Obviously, they were beyond a shadow of a doubt…..

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Is This The End?

Posted on July 27, 2012 by Administrator

It is one of the last days of World War II, April 1945. The Russian Army is moving forward and everybody knows that the war is lost. But the Nazi leaders in Berlin give order not to surrender and never ever leave a German village, town or city to the enemy. Those who do not follow these orders are executed. In order to support their ground troops, the Russian army sends bombers to attack even the smallest villages, throw bombs and set the villages on fire. Many, many lives are lost, on both sides, amongst soldiers and civilians. But also families lose their homes and personal belongings, children their tools and far too often a place that for centuries has been the place to meet, the place to worship and the place that gave hope in dark times – their Church.

This is the Church Ruin of Flieth in the Uckermark in Brandenburg. The village of Flieth was first mentioned in 1269. Some sources say that there already was in church then, some say a church was first built around 1500. Before the Thirty Years’ War it was a prosperous village with 24 farms and 2(!) pubs. In the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648)  the village was destroyed and deserted. It took many years for Flieth to recover,  it was not until 1713 that the church was restored, the tower, 36 m (121 feet) high, was finished in 1714, the three bells had been casted in Berlin in 1712. The alter from 1601 had survived the Thirty Years’ War.

Then, in 1945, after it’s bombing, only the walls and parts of the tower remained. Still, one more thing did survive, maybe as a sign of hope: one of the three church bells. It now hangs on a wooden bell tower on the graveyard, that still is in use.

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Time To Say Goodbye

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Administrator

This had been a horrible day for Concordia Teichmann. Her son Emil had made the decision to leave his home in Delitz am Berge and emigrate to America. Today had been his last day at home, her husband Friedrich had just left to take him to the train station in Halle, from where he would take the train to Bremen and then the boat “Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse” to New York, where he was supposed to arrive on March 28, 1912. And it wasn’t only HIS last day at home, it was HER last day with her little boy, the last time for her to see him, to talk to him and to hug and kiss him, the last time ever. Ever. The entire family had been here to say their goodbyes, but it seemed as if Emil already was on his way. Didn’t he feel sad about leaving? What was he looking for over there? Was there something that attracted him or did he simply want to get away from home? Her little baby was already 23 years old, tall, strong and handsome, ready to leave his home and do something with his life. But couldn’t he have done that in Germany, somewhere closer to home?

Home, that was her farm in Delitz, it had been in her family for many generations. Her ancestors had worked day and night to buy themselves out of serfdom and fought hard to be able to hold this farm. Her father, Johann Friedrich Kahle, had been a good and well respected man, a member of the parish council and the accountant at the local Lutheran Church.  And after her three brothers died as infants, she was the only surviving child and heiress to a large and profitable farm. Her husband Friedrich Samuel Teichmann, who she had married in May 20, 1872, had been a farm administrator in Holleben and took over the farm after her father’s death in 1878.  God had blessed her and her husband with 14 wonderful children, 7 boys and 7 girls, born between 1873 and 1889. It had been tough, 14 children in 16 years, not to forget that she also worked on the farm. But her mother, Concordia Kahle, who also lived on the farm, had always helped her and in the end it did work out somehow. Only their eighth child, little Friedrich Otto Franz, had died, only 7 months old.  All the other children had grown up to be honest and hard working young men and women. Most of her children were married by now and she already had 19 grandchildren, most of them living close by. Unfortunately not all of them. Three grandchildren, Fritz, Frieda and Eda Teichmann, lived far away, in Roxbury, Delaware County, New York, America. Her son Albin and his wife Lilli owned a dairy farm in the catskills and an inn called Ironwood Post. Frieda and Eda even were born in New York City, she had never seen them. So, Emil was not the first son she lost to America. Albin, a cook, and his wife Lilli had left for New York City in 1906 and took their son Fritz with them. They had moved from Delitz a long time ago to live in Cologne, so they hadn’t met too often. Still, Cologne wasn’t as far as America! Albin sent letters home, telling them how great things were and had suggested for Emil to come. He would surely find work there, they were looking for good workers from Germany…. It had been easy to convince Emil and finally the day of his departure had come…..

But maybe it was the right thing for him to do. Her son Kurt was supposed to take over the farm, the other children had received their inheritance in cash. But what would Emil do in Germany? Work for his brother? That might not be the right thing to do. He did not seem to be ambitious, but there was something driving him away from home… Was he sick and tired of his family? Of not being treated seriously, he, who was child number 13? Concordia didn’t know, there was something she simply didn’t understand. How could you not love this land, this fertile soil that fed them so well? Leave your family and the community you were a part of, where you were related to nearly everyone. She did not know. All she knew that she had lost one more son to this strange country called America…..

 

Concordia died on March 9, 1922, 72 years old. Before she died she had lost another son, Kurt,  in WWI. The land remained in their family until East Germany’s forced collectivization in 1952. Parts of the family fled to West Germany and now a wall and not only an ocean separated the families.  Meanwhile all the family members had died and their descendants had moved from Delitz and today the name Teichmann is forgotten.

 

Emil never returned to Delitz, he remained in Roxbury for the rest of his life, working as a gardener and florist at the 3856memil395786Sheppard Estate. In 1920 he married Pearl Fredenberg, a daughter of a local farmer of German descent, in 1925 their only child was born. Emil did not speak German with his daughter. He died on March 14, 1967 and was buried in Roxbury, close to his brother Albin.

 

Albin and Lilli continued to speak German with their children, their son Fritz even studied aviation in Dessau, not far from Delitz and visited the family as often as he could. Also two of Albin’s great-grandchildren studied in Germany. The families always stayed in touch, exchanging letters, visiting and today, communicating through facebook.

Albin died in 1955 and was buried on the Roxbury cemetery, with a view on a mountain named after him, Teichman Mountain, where he spent most of his life.

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497 Pages

Posted on June 1, 2012 by Administrator

In 1988 the Archive School of Marburg published a remarkable book. It is the list of many, many, many emigrants who left Hesse-Kassel between 1830 and 1840.  497 pages filled with names of people who left their home to seek a fortune in another part of Germany, Europe, North- and South America,  Australia and even Japan. 497 pages filled with names and stories, every story needing to be told. Nearly every single family in Hesse-Kassel has lost a family member through emigration. Sometimes, the families stayed in touch, the emigrants writing letters, letting the rest of the family know that they were doing well and that they should follow because life was so much better in their new home country. Sometimes, the emigrants left their home and were never heard of again.

Most of the emigrants left voluntarily, getting away from poverty, hunger, exploitation and hopelessness, selling the little they had to buy the passage and have a little extra money for the time after their arrival. Some were sent away, the municipalities paying their passage, getting rid of the poor, saving a lot of money they would otherwise have to invest in welfare and the poorhouse. And sometimes parents even sent away their young children. Did they survive on their own?

497 pages, lists, names, numbers….lives.

 

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A King’s Promise

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Administrator

My name is Johann Friedrich Abraham and I am the pastor of Netzbruch. It is the year 1790, and I am 69 years of age. There has been peace for 27 years. I feel that the end of my life is near. But I am not afraid to meet our Saviour.

My wife, Theodora, told you a lot about our life here in the Netzebruch before, when she talked about the day our King Frederick came for dinner.  Theodora died soon after and she was sadly missed by me and our beloved children. I couldn’t stay without a wife for too long, I needed someone to take care of the household and the children. But I also needed a wife to help me in the parish. I married Henriette Liften in 1777 and she has always been a good wife to me.

The day our King Frederick came was a good day. He was happy to see how things had developed and in a good mood. And I can assure you, that that didn’t happen too often. And then, after dinner, when smoking our pipes, I told him what I wanted more than anything in the world and he just nodded his head. I don’t think he understood exactly why this was of such in importance to me and Theodora, as he was such a loner…..

And indeed, he kept his promise. Before he died four years ago in 1786, he saw to it, that things came to be the way he had promised. What I had wished for? I wanted my three sons to become pastors in nearby parishes.

I had sent all three of them to a good Latin School in Stettin. Then they attended the Viadrina, the University of Frankfurt on the Oder to study theology. That was where my second born son, Karl Siegfried, met his wife. She was the daughter of the master baker Berliner in Frankfurt. From 1786 on he was the pastor of the parish in Guscht and I only hear good things about him. My third born son, Gottlob Eusebius, came to be the pastor in the parish of Hohenkarzig which is very close to Netzbruch. And my youngest son Nathanial Benjamin will take over after me.

But even better, my three daughters married and live close by as well. One married the forester Koch in Neu-Belitz, the other one the dairy farmer Sprenger and the third one, Gertrude Friederike, married the miller Schönrock from Lubiath.

My sons and daughters, sons and daughters in law and my wonderful grandchildren come by to visit as often as possible. This is when laughter fills the house. In the evenings we sit by the fireplace and tell stories. I am such a lucky and rich man. And all of this because the King kept his promise…

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Mrs. Abraham or The King Is Coming For Dinner

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Administrator

My name is Theodora Sophie Abraham nee Glaß. I live in Netzbruch, a small village in the county of Friedeberg in the Neumark district in Prussia. I am a proud mother of six, three boys and three girls. And I’m even prouder to be the wife of Johann Friedrich Abraham, the local pastor. I am so blessed with this man! Now, you might think that he’s just some unimportant pastor in some unimportant village nobody has ever heard of before or will ever hear of in the future. But you know what? Today, our dear King Frederick II, called the Great, is coming for dinner. And maybe he will even stay the night. And it’s certainly not the first time he comes for a visit! I’m sure you know, that ever since our King decided to colonize this area (it is called “Netzebruch”) after the Seven-Year-War, he comes by every once in a while to take a look if everything is the way he wants it to be.  And every time he comes to the Netzebruch, he stays at our home and then my husband rids with him in his carriage and he fills him in on what our King needs to know. And the King wants to know a lot! My husband knows all there is to know about the Netzebruch. That’s my husband, just you know it!

As a matter of fact, the King and my husband get along quite well, they do talk a lot and it seems to be such a pleasure for the King. You know, my husband is not the “head-in-the-cloud” kind of person, he is very down to earth. And he has such a broad general education, he seems to know everything, not only theology. He knows a lot about agriculture, economy and history as well. That is why they can talk about nearly anything. When they found prehistoric urns nearby, my husband sent one to the King and the King was so delighted that he sent us a tea set in return. That was very nice of him, don’t you think? Of course this is what we will use we will have tea tonight, wonder if he will remember that is was he who sent it to us. However, I guess he likes coffee better, but we cannot afford to buy coffee and I have heard that he doesn’t like normal people like us to have coffee. By the way, we will have roast mutton tonight with carrots and potatoes. The Kings wants us to plant potatoes and eat them, he says it’s good for us. Potatoes? This strange outlandish food….. Personally, I am not so fond of potatoes, but if our King tells us to do it we follow, of course. After all, we are Prussians and used to doing what we are told…..

Where was I? Yes, my husband. He was born in Küstrin in 1721, and studied theology at the University of Halle in 1739. At that time it was a reformed university and it was as modern as a university could get in those days. And did you know, that he even was a teacher at the famous school at the Frankesche Stiftungen in Halle? Yes, he taught at the German and Latin School from April 1740 to Mai 1742. He came to Netzbruch in 1750 and this is where we still live.

We went through a lot here, life hasn’t been easy for any of us. In 1756 the King occupied Silesia and of course the Austrian Empress Maria Theresia was not amused. After all, she was his godmother and always had taken his side when he was in need, especially when his father had his dear friend Katte executed and he was forced to watch. She even sent a letter to his father to help her godchild. But obviously Frederick had forgotten all about that. All of a sudden half of Europe was at war. What followed were 7 years of war, death, hunger and nothing but worries…… In July 1758 the Russians came and occupied this area. They burnt down houses and barns, we were even forced to leave our food to them and so we had to go hungry.  Oh, so many people were killed or died of hunger or typhus. My husband was working day and night, holding funerals and conveying comfort to the mourning. In the town of Driesen both pastors ran off, leaving their parish! My husband never would have thought about doing something like that! And when they finally returned, the people did not want to have them back. They really were angry. And right they were! So my husband was called and he managed to pour oil on troubled water, so they were allowed to come back after all. And there I was, in all that mess, pregnant with my hungry children crawling on the kitchen floor…..

But finally the war came to an end, but the land was devastated and depopulated. That was when Frederik started to move on with his  plans to drain the wetlands of the rivers Netze and Warthe. Many new colonists came from Poland, from Silesia, Mecklenburg, Swabia, Palatine and even from the Netherlands! They got a lot of things done and now we are safe from the flash floods and there is more food on the table. Life has been good to us the last years and we are so happy.

And now the King will be coming tonight! This time it will be something very special. Frederick told my husband that he may make a wish. He has done a lot of thinking and I am so very happy with his choice. So, tonight, he will tell the King what he wants most in life. I just hope the King will make our dream come true. Oh yes, I am very excited to see the King tonight….

- To be continued -

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