Finishing the Tietje History

                            Kerstin writes about the

ancestors of

Hermann Hinrich Johann Tietje (Henry)
back into the 17th century:

"Henry's grandparents, Johann Tietje und Margarethe Bokelmann from Verdenermoor.

The grandfather was Johann Tietje, born June 7, 1758 in Neddenaverbergen and died after 1811 in Verdenermoor.  His name was sometimes written Tiedge.  He was Lutheran and his address was Hof. Nr. 5 in Verdenermoor, and in other sources, Hof Nr. 84.  He was a Neubauer, a new farmer.

Johann's father, Henry's great-grandfather, was Jurgen Hinrich Tietje, born April 8, 1714 in Neddenaverbergen and died December 16, 1784 in Neddenaverbergen.  He married Anne Marie Winkelmann in Verden St. Andreas on November 25, 1744.  Anne Marie was born August 29, 1719 in Neddenaverbergen and died January 1, 1773 in Neddenaverbergen.  The great-grandparents lived on Hof (farm) Nr. 13 in Neddenaverbergen and he worked as a Halbmeier.

Johann, Henry's grandfather, had six sisters and brothers:
1. Dierk Tietgen, born 1745 in Neddenaverbergen and died 1820 in Neddenaverbergen.  He inherited Hof. Nr. 13 and lived there with his family.  He married Anna Margaretha Tietgen (1753-1810).
2. Trina Alheit Tietje, born 1747 in Neddenaverbergen.
3. Anna Engel Tietje, born 1750 in Neddenaverbergen.
4. Peter Tietje, born 1752 in Neddenaverbergen.
5. Jurgen Hinrich Tietje, born 1753 in Neddenaverbergen.
6. Christoph Tietje, born 1761 in Neddenaverbergen and died before 1819 in Verdenermoor.  One of his sons, Diedrich (1799-1844), lived in Bendingbostel later.

Henry's grandmother, wife to Johann, Margarethe Bokelmann (sometimes Bockelmann) was born August 10, 1765 in Neddenaverbergen and died February 20, 1811 in Verdenermoor at the age of 43.  They married November 22, 1787 at St. Andreas in Verden.  Margarethe's parents were Johann Hinrich Bokelmann, born about 1732 in Neddenaverbergen and Engel Meinke, born about 1735 in Westerwalsede.  They had eight children.

There was one job of Henry's ancestors that followed down the Tietje family line - the Meier.  Henry's grandfather, great-grandfather, and gg grandfather were Halbmeiers (Half Meier) and his ggg grandfather was a Viertelmeier (Viertel = quarter)*.

This is the photo of a very old painting in oil colors, where you can see on the left side the old timber-framed farmhouse from our Tietje family. When the father of Mrs. Bokeloh, the today’s owner of Krusenhof, Verdenermoor 1, had been in war captivity in France 1944, he had an old photo from the farm and asked a painter, a Mr. Brandt, to paint it. In the painting you see the old farm with its very modest buildings of former times, because they settled in poor moor land. Henry’s house on the left was pulled down in 1890, after immigration. So the photo must have been very old, before 1890. Mrs. Bokeloh owns the old contract of sale.

A Meierhof (sometimes also written Meyerhof was a whole farm and the Meier was the administrator of the estate.  A Meierhof had a number of dependent peasants who were obliged to pay taxes.  The hof could also include forests, gardens,mills, fish ponds, etc.  Today, especially in Northern Germay, many of these buildings are still known as Meierhof.  There usually was an allocation of duties, so the Halbmeier was responsible for half of the farm duties and the Viertelmeier only for a quarter part.

The farm, Verdenermoor Nr. 13 from Henry's grandfather, Jurgen Hinrich Tietje, a Halbmeier, for example, was inherited by his oldest son, Dierk (1745-1820), and he was a Halbmeier again. Later his son took over the farm and was also a Halbmeier.  A farm was usually inherited by the oldest son.  The other brothers and sisters had to find homes and other employment when they were grown.  From what I have found out, all the brothers became farmers. 
Johann Tietje had to find another place to live.  Henry could not read or write, according to the U.S. census, and he inherited a very poor farm.

The family line of the Tietjes of Verdenermoor back in the past...
1. Hermann Hinrich Johann (Henry) Tietje and Katharina Maria Schwiebert (Immigrants to America)

2. Henry's Parents - Johann Tietje (1758-1811), Neubauer, and Margarethe Bokelmann (1765-1811)

3. Henry's Grandparents - Jurgen Hinrich Tietje (1714-1784), Halbmeier Hof Nr. 13, and Anna Marie Winkelmann (1719 - 1773)
4. Henry's Great Grandparents - Dierk Tietje (1685-1732), Halbmeier, Hof Nr. 13, and Adelheit Storch

5. Henry's Great-Great Grandparents - Jurgen Tietje (Tietgen) (1656-1718), Halbmeier, born in Nordkampen next to Walsrode and died in Neddenaverbergen Hof Nr. 13 and Anna Hesterman (1653 - 1713)
Jurgen took farm Nr. 13 over because of marriage.  Anna Hesterman had inherited the farm Nr. 13 in Neddenaverbergen in 1680.  You find in the Lower Saxony State Archive of Stade: "Jurgen Tiedgen disputes with the heirs of the "Obersten Schacht" (perhaps a govt. agency) in Verden because of payments for the purchase of wine."

6. Henry's Great-Great-Great Grandparents - Lambert Titken, born about 1620 in Nordkampen/Walsrode, buried in Kirchboitzen.  He was Lutheran and lived in Nordkampen Hof Nr. 10.  He was a Viertelmeier and married in about 1648.  There is also a daughter, Anna Elisabeth Titken, who married about 1650, Rippe Kruse (1630 - 1700) from Bessern bei Verden.

Some history on the origin of the Tietje line in Walsrode:
The first ancestor who settled in Neddenaverbergen was Jurgen Tietje (Titken) from Nordkampen/ Walsrode, who married Anna Hesterman who inherited Hof. Nr. 13 in Neddenaverbergen. That family line Tietje has its origin in Nordkampen in Walsrode before the first ancestor moved to Verdenermoor.  There are two more Tietje lines in Neddenaverbergen who seem to have the same origin in Walsrode.

Nordkampen/Walsrode is a small village in the district of Heidekreis in Lower Saxony, Germany, near Verdenermoor/Neddenaverbergen.  The first recorded mention of the town is dated 986. In 1383, the dukes of Brunswick and Luneburg granted Walsrode a town charter.  In 1626, there was extensive destruction in the town by the troops of Count Tilly during the Thirty Years War.  In 1757, the town was totally destroyed by a catastrophic fire. Unfortunately, that is probably the reason it is now impossible to find more sources for family history there.  In 1811, during the Napoleonic era, Walsrode became a border town between France and the Kingdom of Westphalia.  In 1866, Prussia annexed Walsrode and in 1890 the railroad reached there.

I am aware that this work is not really finished.  Maybe there will be other facts which will be added or corrected later.  Hopefully, there will be more photos or other documents to add later."

(This post originally appeared on my former blog, A Face to the Sun, on January 1, 2012.)