WARDENBURG Families - An Overview

This overview is an attempt to show which Wardenburgs left Germany and went to other countries.

Various men named Wardenburg appear in municipal records of Oldenburg, Germany, as far back as 1480. Johann WARDENBURG born in 1619 probably in Oldenburg, Germany, is the earliest Wardenburg for whom I have a birth year. There seems to be reliable evidence as to the names of Johann's children so I have started with him and gathered information about his descendants. It is possible that the family took its name from the town of Wardenburg which is a short distance south of the city of Oldenburg.

Many of Johann's descendants were government officials, clergymen, merchants and army officers. They lived in various parts of the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, and in Schleswig-Holstein. They went to Denmark; to Ösel Island, Livonia, Russian Empire (now Saaremaa, Estonia); to The Netherlands and to the United States.

Johann (1619) had a brother, Anton Günther, about whom I have very little information.

Johann's (1619) son, Heinrich, was born in 1662 at Varel, Germany (to the north of the city of Oldenburg).

Heinrich's (1662) son, Bernard Diedrich, was born in 1703 in Oldenburg.

Bernard Diedrich's (1703) sons were:

• Anton Wilhelm, born in 1734. His son, Anton Wilhelm, was a merchant in Amsterdam.
• Johann Heinrich Nicolaus, born in 1737. See below.
• Adam Levin, born 1741. Among his sons were:
  • Diedrich Ernst, born 1768. Two of his sons, Adam and Wilhelm, emigrated to the U.S.
  • Wilhelm Gustav Friedrich, born in 1781, was the famous Major General
• Johann Diederich, born 1743. See below.
• Friedrich Christian, born in 1750. His son, Johann Friedrich Christian, (b. 1776) was an officer in The Netherlands Navy.

Johann Heinrich Nicolaus (Bernard Diedrich, Heinrich, Johann)
was born in 1737 in Oldenburg and died in 1814 in Husum (now in Denmark). His sons Diedrich August and Friedrich Detlef Christian Gustav were raised to the Danish nobility in 1833.

• Diedrich August (Johann Heinrich Nicolaus, Bernard Diedrich, Heinrich, Johann), was born in 1776. His grandson, Frederic August Carl, emigrated to the U.S.
• Friedrich Detlef Christian Gustav (Johann Heinrich Nicolaus, Bernard Diedrich, Heinrich, Johann) was born in 1783 in Schleswig and died in1867 in Husum. His sons:
  • Heinrich Leopold Friedrich, born in 1809 in Husum; returned to Germany and died in in1869 in Oldenburg. His son, Carl Gustav Ernst Leberecht Wenzel, also returned to Oldenburg and was acknowledged on the Saxon nobles' register in 1903.
  • Ernst Christian Ludwig, was born in 1811 in Husum and died in 1886 in Arensburg, Øsel Island (now Kuressaare, Saaremaa, Estonia). Members of this family stayed on Øsel Island until World War II when they were resettled in Germany.

Johann Diederich, (Bernard Diedrich, Heinrich, Johann)
was born in 1743 in Oldenburg and died in 1808 in Oldenburg. He spent most of his adult life in Amsterdam. His son, Bernard Diederik Gijsbertwas born in 1786 in Amsterdam and died in1858 in Steenwijk, The Netherlands. He was given the title of baron (Freiherr) in 1809 by Maximimilian I, King of Bavaria. Most of Bernard Diederik Gijsbert's children remained in The Netherlands. One son, Bernard Jan, immigrated to the U. S.

The Neuenhuntorf Wardenburgs were farmers. The word used is "Erbhofbauer" which my dictionary translates as "hereditary peasant proprietor". Some of these Wardenburgs moved to Bäke and Tweelbäke. Neuenhuntorf (and Bäke and Tweelbäke) is a short distance to the east of Oldenburg. I cannot connect these Wardenburgs to Johann (born 1619). Some of these Wardenburgs immigrated to the U. S.

Please contact me Barbara Wardenburg ,

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Barbara Wardenburg - [email protected]
revised 3 August 2003
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