Aufderheide Ancestor Documentation: Darcy Boock

Documentation of Aufderheide Ancestry in Germany

Letter from Darcy Boock, 28 August 2007

[Wedding photo portrait of Elise Schapekahm and Fred Aufderheide from Elaine Schapekahm; posted by Darcy Boock]

Hello All, I am continuing my quest to find more information on the Aufderheides in Germany. I have several microfilms on loan from the LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake City and plan to order two others tomorrow evening. I spent quite a bit of time viewing those films last week now that the wedding is over and we are back from delivering wedding gifts to Andrea and Jedd in Atlanta.

This week I start back to school, but I can still squeeze in one more evening of research this week.I found Frederich Wilhelm Aufderheide's father's birth record in the Lienen church records. Eberhard Jacob Johann auf der Heide was born 2 Sep 1808. FHL (LDS Family History Library) microfilm # 526269 entry 99 for 1808 would be the documentation for Eberhard Jacob. Some of you may already have this information, but now I actually saw the church record and not an extraction, which Jim A. already had. His father is listed as Johann Heinrich Johann auf der Heide, his mother Marie Elisabeth Johann auf der Heide, nee Oberdalhoffs. So what I am finding in the old church records is that the surname was originally Johann auf der Heide and sometimes spelled Johann auf der Heyde, but the i and y are interchangeable.

When the families immigrated from Germany the surname was changed to Aufderheide. In doing research on the Internet to try to learn more about Lienen I found a Gerhard Johann auf der Heide who is the head master of the Lienen Elementary School and I have composed a letter that I hope to send out to him this week. Maybe we will learn more about this family and in particular the family name.

I then found the death record of Marie Elisabeth Johann auf der Heide, nee Oberdalhoffs. She died 11 Mar 1837 at the age of 66 years and 6 months. I calculated her birth to be abt. 11 Sep 1771. On her death record it lists that she has three sons, so I started searching for the other two. I found Friedrich Jacob Johann auf der Heide, born 23 Apr 1805, but haven't been able to find the other one yet. I need to order another microfilm. FHL (LDS Family History Library) microfilm #526269, Entry 34 for 1805 would be the documentation for Friedrich Jacob. I also checked for a marriage record for Johann Heinrich Johann ADH and Marie Elisabeth Oberdalhoffs. I could not find it on the microfilms that I have on loan, so the marriage would have taken place before 1799 and I am guessing the other son was born about 1800-1802.

When Eberhard Jacob Johann ADH and Sophie Elisabeth Beineke married on 2 Apr1841 in Lienen, his father was listed as deceased, so I knew to look for his death record before that date. I finally found it! Actually I found the deaths of two Johann Heinrich Johann ADH, but one was listed as living in Kattenvenne and the other in Höste. I know from other records that your ancestor lived in Kattenvenne (in the church records spelled Kattenfenne, but again the v and f are interchangeable), so I now know which one is your ancestor. Johann Heinrich Johann ADH died 19 Jul 1816 at the age of 68 years and 6 months. So Johann Heinrich and his wife died close to the same age, but over 20 years apart. This looks a little fishy to me and I will continue my research. There is no doubt that they were married and that he was 23 years older than her, but could he have been married before? The column that tells how many children survive him is missing on this earlier death record, so unfortunatey that isn't going to help me any. He was 60 when Eberhard Jacob Johann ADH was born! If I can find their marriage record that will tell me if he is a widower and that I should look for an earlier marriage record and the births of other children. We'll see what turns up.....I'm excited to share what I have found so far.

I have also attached a photo of Fred and Elise that I don't think anyone else has. I cleaned the photo up as much as I could with my software. Darcy

[Darcy's Addendum, dated 30 August 2007)

Good Morning Everyone, A couple of additions to my post of last evening. The photograph of Fred ADH and Elise Schapekahm was given to me by Elaine Schapekahm. This original photo is 2½" x 4". She also gave me the original 2½" x 4" photos of Fred and Elise that the large drawings were made from.I forgot to mention that Johann Heinrich Johann auf der Heide died (1816) of consumption (tuberculosis) after one year under a doctor's care. Anyway that is what I would take the meaning to be if it lists cause of death to be con[s]umption with doctor 1 year.

Another find that I made is that Marie ADH, Fred's older sister, was baptized as Catharine Sophie Friederike ADH. I could not find her in the year 1840, but I found her birth to be 2 Nov 1841. The date we had previously was 2 Nov 1840, which would have made her birth illegitimate. She was baptized 9 Nov 1841. The documentation for this birth/baptism is FHL microfilm #465570, Entry 128 for the year 1841. Adolph ADH, Fred's oldest brother, still eludes me, but I will keep searching for him. Darcy