Hints and Help!
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From Richard Scheimann
regarding the Windheim, Kreis Minden-Lübbecke, RB Detmold
"When people moved from one village to another
within the Kirchspiel or Parish, they tended often to use different surnames.
They might decide to use the surname of the wife's family, especially if
they "married the farm." They might also use the Staette name of their new
residence. "Staette" like the English word "stead" means place or home place.
My ancestral home place in Windheim was "Bocks Staette" even though no member
of the Bock family had lived there for generations. When house numbers began
to be used Bocks Staette was given the number #25. A bride groom might tell
the pastor that he was from Bocks Staette or he might say that his address
was #25. After World War Two new house numbers were assigned. There were
equivalency lists for each village. But the old numbers are best because
they were used longer. Emigrants to this country gave the old house addresses
when they told people where they were from. When parents brought a new baby
to be baptized they used whatever surname seemed most advantageous. If the
father was from another village he might use the Staette name of the house
from which he came. He might give his father's surname or he might use his
wife's surname if that seemed to lend more prestige. A given person might
appear in several different village lists because he or she played a different
role in each. That is why one must do ALL the families of a village.
These people were tricky! In addition, so many cousins had identical given
names because they were trying to honor a respected baptismal sponsor. Or
because a new name was becoming popular. Then too, women would often lie
about their ages when they got married. Men and women often exaggerated their
ages as they grew older. The recording pastor did not always spot this.
This part of the Weser River Valley was incorporated into Stadt
Petershagen in 1973.
(This was apparently true in a lot of the area - my ancestors in
Dollendorf often took the "House name" as surname for some records, but not
always all!)
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Gr. is shortened and means "Grosse-". In Westfalia it has
been usual in cases of sooner dividing of one farm place into a great (big)
part and a smaller one. Last one has been named "Kleine-". In both cases
the name was a double name, usaly written with a connecting stroke. You know,
most westfalian personal names are original farm place names. Up to 1816
those names had been given to all people, male or female, who lived in this
place. Then, after 1816 the names became hereditary family names. In my lists
sometimes there are double names. The first one is the living place name
after marriage, the second one is the born place name. Even men changed names.
Hans-Peter Wessel
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Just want to pass on a tip that I knew about before, but
dismissed because I didn't think it would apply to my family. Boy! was I
wrong. My surname is GILLEN and originated in the Eifel area of the
Rhineland/Pfalz. It has been Gillen since around the year 1800. I found that
prior to that our name was spelled GIELEN. Today both these surnames are
still found in the Eifel where my ancestors came from. I found that
my 3rd great-grandfather was married in 1767 in the town of Bleialf in the
Eifel. At that point I was stone-walled because on that marriage record it
did not give the names of his parents. I pretty much resigned myself to the
fact that I would not be able to trace my family back further. Well,
here is the hook, his father was NOT Gielen. His mother was a Gielen. In
many cases when a man married and moved into his wife's or her parents "house"
all the offspring of that couple were given the surname of the wife-NOT the
husband. In this example, the people then called the husband Kuetsch (his
surname) vulgo Gielen because he lived in the "house" of Gielen.
Vulgo means the people named him. Anyway, this is something to look out for
when looking for your ancestors. I don't know how widespread that practce
was in Europe.
Gene Gillen
