Gehrde introduces itself
Translation of „Gehrde stellt sich vor“, by Philip Graupner.
[ When I was poking around looking at town websites, I found a particularly good webpage for Gehrde...hometown for the Schapekahms/Schapekaves. One gets to it by way www.bersenbrueck.de/samtgemeinde/ and clicking on Gehrde. The Gehrde stellt sich vor (Gehrde introduces itself) was unusually detailed for such a website and I thought that some of you would find it interesting. Since the "translate this page" came up with gibberish, I tranlsated it. Once again, there are lots of old words that aren't to be found in a dictionary or at de.wikipedia.org so I make my best guesses. I think I now have a better idea of what these words mean, although there often is no direct English, or certainly American, equivalent. I am trying to get up to speed on the farming social classes after the lastest Aufderheide insights...or should I say, latest Johann aufr Heide insights. The website includes some photos.
The map is from my Autoatlas. You should be able to enlarge it somewhat by "klicking" on it. p.g.]
The community today consists of six localities, each with its own history.
The village of Gehrde came into being after its church was founded in the first half of the 13th Century. The first house stood around the church yard and along Feldstrasse (Field Street), which the church and the Gehrder castle. The castle, which perhaps existed as early as the 10th Century, was the seat of counts. It was situated on two islands surrounded by water. Later, this court also owned a mill. This structure stood near the present-day Gehrke-Torborg farmstead, which is southwest of the present village center. The first houses, documented from 1359 A.D., lie along the connecting street between the castle and church. On the east side stood eight small farmsteads that, as was the case with the castle and some of the houses on church property, were fiefs of the Bishop of Münster. Before the 30 Yrs. War, the actual village consisted of about 20 houses. It wasn’t until the 17th Century that the area along Langen Strasse (Long Street) was developed.
In the 19th Century, a few more houses were added along Lindenstrasse toward Gross Drehle (Large Drehle) and on the “Blumenhalle” (Flower Hall Rd.?) toward Rüsfort. Only after 1970 was a series of new developments started, so that today the village of Gehrde extends far into what was once the agricultural land of the farming communities of Gehrde and Rüsfort.
The center of the original settlement of Gehrde lay along the road to Schevenriede. There are only a few houses there today with nothing to remind one of the old Gehrde settlement that once stood here with about five farmsteads. This old settlement was mentioned in documents are early as 977 A.D. This was connected to the Schevenriede Settlement, whose impressive half-timbered houses are much younger in age. It sprang up as a “cottager”-settlement in the 15th Century. Similar is the settlement “Königsort” on the road to Groß Drehle. This name has as little to do with a “king” (König) as the group of houses that lie along the street to Bersenbrück, named “Kaiserort,” has to do with an “emperor” (Kaiser). Both names originated from family names here (Konig and Keiser).
On the south, Gehrde is connected to the locality of Groß Drehle. It consists of two groups of houses. To the north is the Drehler “cottager”-settlement “Im Moor” (In the Moor) and to the south is the core of the original village which was also mentioned in 977 A.D. There was a castle in Drehle too. It most likely stood near the old district border, which today is marked by a stone. Perhaps it was the count’s court at which the German Emperor, Otto the Great, signed the “apud treli” proclamation. There was a water mill in Drehle too. The name of the area called “Mühlenstätte” (Place of the Mill) is a reminder of it. South of Groß Drehle, the locality of Klein (Small) Drehle is joined. It was settled from Drehle in the 12th. Century but remained part of its mother parish of Neuenkirchen when the parish of Gehrde was founded. It wasn’t until 1817 that this part of the village was finally incorporated to Gehrde. There was also a water mill in Klein Drehle (named Trimpemole). Groß- and Klein-Drehle belonged first to the Desenberger District and in the judiciary districts, both religious and secular, of Damme. The rest of the parish was part of Ankum well into the 19th Century.
Helle, on the northern edge of community, also belonged to the Desenberger District. This locality, similar to Klein Drehle, was formed in the 12th Century. It was separated from the rest of the parish by a swampy low area. Some of its farmsteads were the property of the Bersenbrück Monastery, which made the easternmost Hof Twelbeck into a tax-free farm (Uthof) subject to special stipulations. Helle was so often cut off from the outside world by floods that it had to have its own cemetery. It also had its own school. This was also the case for Groß Drehle. Traffic connections were often so poor that one could only cross the Hase River and its tributaries at danger to one’s life.
The locality of Rüsfort got its name from one such ford through the Hase River. The ford was west of Hof Weglage (Road-Place-Farm), hence the name. It was perhaps by way of this road that scattered bands of Vikings came to plunder Rüsfort in 886 A.D. The old settlement lay northeast near the “Roten Haus” (Red House). In the late middle-ages, the settlement spread toward the east. The Schultenhof was founded and finally the “Ort”. The word “Ort” has nothing to do with the present meaning of the word. It meant something like “in the furthest corner”. In Rüsfort there were also some Markkottensiedlungen (district “cottager” settlements); the “Neustadt” and the “Fif-Hüsken-Ort”. These settlements too, did not exist until the 15th and 16th Centuries. Finally, there were also two manor houses in Rüsfort. The oldest, from the 13th century, is a dwelling tower on the Schöneberg(Klages) farmstead. The younger is the Merlage Manor, which was founded by a Swedish governor (Vogt) in 1641, but has no unusual architecture. Rüsfort and Gehrde have been “Siamese twins” from the beginning. There never was any visual indication of a boundary between the two. Earlier, even the northern part of the church yard including the present-day community offices belonged to Rüsfort. A memorial across from this remodeled half-timbered barn commemorates the more than one thousand year history, from which the citizens of Gehrde could still tell many stories.
Until 1950, the farm communities were more important than the little village of Gehrde, which naturally was governed separately. The settlements of Groß Drehle, Gehrde and Rüsfort go back to 977, although they were then just dependent outposts of the main estate on Langer Strasse. Not until 1200 A.D. did independent farmsteads arise. Through partition, the number of farmsteads grew and more and more land was cultivated. This expansion caused the settlements of Klein Drehle and finally Helle.
When the Gehrde church was built in 1221-4 A.D., there were around 40 farmsteads (without Klein Drehle, which did not become part of the parish or community of Gehrde until 1816.) That was the minimum number necessary to found a congregation. In the next three centuries, the number of farmsteads quadrupled. Later, there was hardly any further partitioning or new settlement. The growing population, if they didn’t already work as servants or maids, had to become tenants of small side- or back-houses or even earthen huts. Many of these laborers found income and bread in Holland making hay or cutting peat. Others went to sea, especially in the 18th Century. Many went on whaling ships, but many also got to East Asia and South America on Dutch merchant ships. To Gerhard Twelbeck, the transcriber of the Gehrde Church records in 1936 it seemed, on reading the death records, that Gehrde must lie on the coast because so many seamen were mentioned.
After 1830, the emigration to North America commenced. About a third of the population of Gehrde left. First the lower classes left; servants, maids and common-laborers. Then the children from the larger farms left and finally, the larger farmsteads were sold by its owners (examples are Kerrmann, Möddelmann, Kerhoff and Merlage) in order to immigrate to the USA.
During the 2nd half of the 19th century, a “Friends of Gehrde Club” was founded in New York. When the ambitious Gehrder mayor, G.R.Twelbeck, bought the first grain binder to be used in Germany from McCormick in Chicago, it was not problem to get the money to Chicago. There was regular travel to the USA to visit relatives and family. In contrast today, many Americans come to Gehrde to seek traces of their ancestors.
In the 20th Century, emigration to America lessened and many moved east (for example into the Province of Posen). After 1945, several hundred displaced persons from the bombed cities came to Gehrde. Many of them stayed, although the first years were not easy. They joined numerous clubs, which today still greatly influence village life.
Translation by p.g.
14 March 2007
Translation of „Gehrde stellt sich vor“, by Philip Graupner.
[ When I was poking around looking at town websites, I found a particularly good webpage for Gehrde...hometown for the Schapekahms/Schapekaves. One gets to it by way www.bersenbrueck.de/samtgemeinde/ and clicking on Gehrde. The Gehrde stellt sich vor (Gehrde introduces itself) was unusually detailed for such a website and I thought that some of you would find it interesting. Since the "translate this page" came up with gibberish, I tranlsated it. Once again, there are lots of old words that aren't to be found in a dictionary or at de.wikipedia.org so I make my best guesses. I think I now have a better idea of what these words mean, although there often is no direct English, or certainly American, equivalent. I am trying to get up to speed on the farming social classes after the lastest Aufderheide insights...or should I say, latest Johann aufr Heide insights. The website includes some photos.
The map is from my Autoatlas. You should be able to enlarge it somewhat by "klicking" on it. p.g.]
The community today consists of six localities, each with its own history.
The village of Gehrde came into being after its church was founded in the first half of the 13th Century. The first house stood around the church yard and along Feldstrasse (Field Street), which the church and the Gehrder castle. The castle, which perhaps existed as early as the 10th Century, was the seat of counts. It was situated on two islands surrounded by water. Later, this court also owned a mill. This structure stood near the present-day Gehrke-Torborg farmstead, which is southwest of the present village center. The first houses, documented from 1359 A.D., lie along the connecting street between the castle and church. On the east side stood eight small farmsteads that, as was the case with the castle and some of the houses on church property, were fiefs of the Bishop of Münster. Before the 30 Yrs. War, the actual village consisted of about 20 houses. It wasn’t until the 17th Century that the area along Langen Strasse (Long Street) was developed.
In the 19th Century, a few more houses were added along Lindenstrasse toward Gross Drehle (Large Drehle) and on the “Blumenhalle” (Flower Hall Rd.?) toward Rüsfort. Only after 1970 was a series of new developments started, so that today the village of Gehrde extends far into what was once the agricultural land of the farming communities of Gehrde and Rüsfort.
The center of the original settlement of Gehrde lay along the road to Schevenriede. There are only a few houses there today with nothing to remind one of the old Gehrde settlement that once stood here with about five farmsteads. This old settlement was mentioned in documents are early as 977 A.D. This was connected to the Schevenriede Settlement, whose impressive half-timbered houses are much younger in age. It sprang up as a “cottager”-settlement in the 15th Century. Similar is the settlement “Königsort” on the road to Groß Drehle. This name has as little to do with a “king” (König) as the group of houses that lie along the street to Bersenbrück, named “Kaiserort,” has to do with an “emperor” (Kaiser). Both names originated from family names here (Konig and Keiser).
On the south, Gehrde is connected to the locality of Groß Drehle. It consists of two groups of houses. To the north is the Drehler “cottager”-settlement “Im Moor” (In the Moor) and to the south is the core of the original village which was also mentioned in 977 A.D. There was a castle in Drehle too. It most likely stood near the old district border, which today is marked by a stone. Perhaps it was the count’s court at which the German Emperor, Otto the Great, signed the “apud treli” proclamation. There was a water mill in Drehle too. The name of the area called “Mühlenstätte” (Place of the Mill) is a reminder of it. South of Groß Drehle, the locality of Klein (Small) Drehle is joined. It was settled from Drehle in the 12th. Century but remained part of its mother parish of Neuenkirchen when the parish of Gehrde was founded. It wasn’t until 1817 that this part of the village was finally incorporated to Gehrde. There was also a water mill in Klein Drehle (named Trimpemole). Groß- and Klein-Drehle belonged first to the Desenberger District and in the judiciary districts, both religious and secular, of Damme. The rest of the parish was part of Ankum well into the 19th Century.
Helle, on the northern edge of community, also belonged to the Desenberger District. This locality, similar to Klein Drehle, was formed in the 12th Century. It was separated from the rest of the parish by a swampy low area. Some of its farmsteads were the property of the Bersenbrück Monastery, which made the easternmost Hof Twelbeck into a tax-free farm (Uthof) subject to special stipulations. Helle was so often cut off from the outside world by floods that it had to have its own cemetery. It also had its own school. This was also the case for Groß Drehle. Traffic connections were often so poor that one could only cross the Hase River and its tributaries at danger to one’s life.
The locality of Rüsfort got its name from one such ford through the Hase River. The ford was west of Hof Weglage (Road-Place-Farm), hence the name. It was perhaps by way of this road that scattered bands of Vikings came to plunder Rüsfort in 886 A.D. The old settlement lay northeast near the “Roten Haus” (Red House). In the late middle-ages, the settlement spread toward the east. The Schultenhof was founded and finally the “Ort”. The word “Ort” has nothing to do with the present meaning of the word. It meant something like “in the furthest corner”. In Rüsfort there were also some Markkottensiedlungen (district “cottager” settlements); the “Neustadt” and the “Fif-Hüsken-Ort”. These settlements too, did not exist until the 15th and 16th Centuries. Finally, there were also two manor houses in Rüsfort. The oldest, from the 13th century, is a dwelling tower on the Schöneberg(Klages) farmstead. The younger is the Merlage Manor, which was founded by a Swedish governor (Vogt) in 1641, but has no unusual architecture. Rüsfort and Gehrde have been “Siamese twins” from the beginning. There never was any visual indication of a boundary between the two. Earlier, even the northern part of the church yard including the present-day community offices belonged to Rüsfort. A memorial across from this remodeled half-timbered barn commemorates the more than one thousand year history, from which the citizens of Gehrde could still tell many stories.
Until 1950, the farm communities were more important than the little village of Gehrde, which naturally was governed separately. The settlements of Groß Drehle, Gehrde and Rüsfort go back to 977, although they were then just dependent outposts of the main estate on Langer Strasse. Not until 1200 A.D. did independent farmsteads arise. Through partition, the number of farmsteads grew and more and more land was cultivated. This expansion caused the settlements of Klein Drehle and finally Helle.
When the Gehrde church was built in 1221-4 A.D., there were around 40 farmsteads (without Klein Drehle, which did not become part of the parish or community of Gehrde until 1816.) That was the minimum number necessary to found a congregation. In the next three centuries, the number of farmsteads quadrupled. Later, there was hardly any further partitioning or new settlement. The growing population, if they didn’t already work as servants or maids, had to become tenants of small side- or back-houses or even earthen huts. Many of these laborers found income and bread in Holland making hay or cutting peat. Others went to sea, especially in the 18th Century. Many went on whaling ships, but many also got to East Asia and South America on Dutch merchant ships. To Gerhard Twelbeck, the transcriber of the Gehrde Church records in 1936 it seemed, on reading the death records, that Gehrde must lie on the coast because so many seamen were mentioned.
After 1830, the emigration to North America commenced. About a third of the population of Gehrde left. First the lower classes left; servants, maids and common-laborers. Then the children from the larger farms left and finally, the larger farmsteads were sold by its owners (examples are Kerrmann, Möddelmann, Kerhoff and Merlage) in order to immigrate to the USA.
During the 2nd half of the 19th century, a “Friends of Gehrde Club” was founded in New York. When the ambitious Gehrder mayor, G.R.Twelbeck, bought the first grain binder to be used in Germany from McCormick in Chicago, it was not problem to get the money to Chicago. There was regular travel to the USA to visit relatives and family. In contrast today, many Americans come to Gehrde to seek traces of their ancestors.
In the 20th Century, emigration to America lessened and many moved east (for example into the Province of Posen). After 1945, several hundred displaced persons from the bombed cities came to Gehrde. Many of them stayed, although the first years were not easy. They joined numerous clubs, which today still greatly influence village life.
Translation by p.g.
14 March 2007
7 comments:
Note from Herb S. to Philip, et. al, 14 March 2007.
Hallo friend Phil .... great map you located. One time I found a Gehrde site and this may be the same since I remember the remark of a third of the community left for USA. Yes, this is homeland to the Schapekaves who also were involved with the Kaiser families. Of special interest is a very small community at the lower left of the map ... "Kalkreise(r)? In the book written by Tony Clunn, he details how Herman wiped out the Roman Legions at Kalkreise where a historical museum has now sprung up. He contends that it was at Kalkreise where the final epic battle took place and not at Detmold where the German statue to the German warrior is located.
If this is the vicinity, then it is quite possible that Schapekave/Schapekahms and even the Aufdreheides were in Herman's tribe that slaughtered the Romans from all sides.
At the time the German tribes from all over came to unit under Herman in that epic piece of history. It is re-enacted I understand every two years.
I currently provided some historical information to Clunn's daughter in London for a school essay and when I get some other things done, I will collect a chip or two and ask Clunn to make an observation that it might be possible that warriors from the Bresenbruck and Gehrde areas could have been at Kalkriese. I need to get more information to you but you should get the book which I will detail for you later.
It's part authentication and part story-telling and pretty decent reading. He was in New Ulm last summer so I got the book when he was here and got it autographed. That day I didn't have enough information to question him but I will moved on that in the future, especially if you can locate Gehrde and the Aufderheide clans into the possibility that these relatives were among the warriors.
I particularly found the slaughter uncomfortable but I suppose that's the way it was in that time.
Great job and keep 'em flying. I need to quit researching baseball histories for individuals and get back to genealogy. For kicks, you might want to go to another unfinished Schaper project which is www.minnesotabaseballgreats.com. On the opening menu go to Halls of Fame, scroll down to New Ulm Hall of Fame and then you will see the first names are Aufderheides. Click on those to get a little history of Jack (Jim's father) and Robert (Jim's uncle). They are both in the New Ulm Baseball Hall of Fame. I have batting statistics for both completed for their careers and soon will move them to the site.
My cousin Craig told me about this website and that it involved our family genealogy. I tried to print it out but the pictures and other material don't print out. Please help me on this matter, thank you. Ellen K. Hillemann/Compton -- ellen_k@comcast.net
I see a section in your translation that mentions a transcription of church records done in 1936 by Gerhard Twelbeck. I know you just translated the text of the site (which I will visit after I write this comment), but do you have any idea how I might find those transcribed records you mention? I've spent some time looking for church records from Gehrde at the LDS and in other locations, but I'm having some bad luck with a few of the years that I need. Coincidentally, the family that I'm researching is the Twelbeck family (my dad's mother was a Twelbeck). Thanks for any help you can offer!
Jim, I just came across your blog and would be very interested to talk to you. I have an immigrant ancestor who came from Rüsfort and settled in the St. Louis area. In her ancestry is included Margarethe auf der Hyde who was married to Berend Lübbe. Their daughter was Anna Lübbe who was born about 1654 in Kalkriese/Engter and married Peter Gößker in Bramsche in 1677.
Also in my ancestry is Anna Margaretha Schapkaven who married Berend Hussman in Bersenbruck in 1730.
I'm very interested in the history and families of the Bramsche and Gehrde area.
Joel
Glad to find your translation... I'd stumbled upon the Friends of Gehrde mentioned in an obituary for my G-G-Uncle, Christian Heienrich Cramer, born in Gehrde in 1823. His brother, my ancestor, was William Heinrich Christian Cramer, born about 1832 in Gehrde.
They were both grocers, ran a grocery called "Cramer Bros Grocery" down on 3rd Ave in NYC.
Their parents were Christian Cramer and Eliza Keyser, I only know that Christian was a baker in Gehrde.
Would very much be interested in any information available.
Thank you publishing this very interesting information. My grandmother’s parents were Twelbeck and Torborg, both from Gehrde. Would love to visit someday!
My Ancestory is from the Artland region, specifically Klein Drehle.
They obtained the surname Von Drehle and emigrated to St.Louis in the USA in and around 1850, maybe earlier.
It seems like a lot of tenant farmers left the region around that time. Intrigued by the surname Von Drehle as it implies nobility though. Hope to visit in the near future.
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