Photos and the Story of Stellichte

Schwalshof farm in Stellichte, owned by the Fuhrhops since the 1850's. Shown in the photos are the barn and the street leading up to the farm, as well as the inscription over the barn door.

 















 
Sometime after his marriage to Anna Maria Engel Fuhrhop (1842) and the birth of daughter Dorothea in Tietlingen in 1847 and before their immigration to America in 1859, Johann Friedrich Elling, our immigrant ancestor, moved with his wife and family to Stellichte, about ten miles from their previous home in Tietlingen. On the microfilm of Court Records for Stellichte 1830 - 1880, I found numerous references to them and to the Fuhrhop family.

Anna Marie Engel Elling geb. Fuhrhop bought house/farm no. 30 in 1852 and sold it in 1859. Was it purchased or was it an inheritance? In his own right, Johann Friedrich Elling bought house/farm no. 14 in 1852, as well, and sold it in 1853. Was that just a temporary home until Anna came into possession of her place later that same year? It's all speculation. 



















What do we know for sure? The film is poor and I had to ask my researcher in Germany for help in translating, but even I could see quite a number of Fuhrhops show up in Stellichte. In particular, the researcher noted that house/farm no. 2 changed ownership for several generations of Fuhrhops from 1800 - 1857. Otto Fuhrhop, she says, obviously had to compensate several persons in 1857 - perhaps husbands of his sisters - but that one place always remained in the family.

When my friend Hogrefe sent these photos of Stellichte, he told me his mother was a Fuhrhop from Stellichte and these photos above are of her family farm, the Schwalshof farm, owned by the Fuhrhops, he states, since the 1850's. Then I looked at the inscription on the barn and saw that the wife of this Otto Fuhrhop, a name I had seen in the census, was named Anna Maria and we all know how the Germans loved to pass on those names. I really don't know if this farm is related to our immigrant grandmother because I haven't done the necessary research to find out, but wouldn't it be great...





































I also know that Johann Friedrich's son, Heinrich Friedrich, my gg grandfather was the only one of the family's children born in Stellichte in 1852. The previous siblings were born in Tietlingen and the youngest was born in America in 1860.

So if someone is looking for a great research opportunity, please take on the Fuhrhops for me, will you?

Johann Friedrich Elling, Sr. - in Germany

It's been almost twenty years ago now that I hired an excellent researcher in Germany to help me find the Elling family origins. Dr. Sylvia Moehle worked at the archives in Fallingbostel and was so helpful in not only finding the records, but in translating them, too. Obviously, when you look at the actual images that I've posted, it's no secret that it is hard going to make anything out of what often seems illegible, especially in the earliest records.

First, Dr. Moehle took a great deal of time finding the Lutheran parish for the Ellings and it was Dueshorn parish. From those records, we found that our immigrant grandfather, Johann Friedrich Elling (the immigrant) was the only son of Johann Friedrich Elling, Sr. and his wife Anne Ilse (nee Meier/ Meyer.) Five children were born to this couple in Tietlingen:

Johann Friedrich (Jr.) born 1817

Margarethe Dorothee Marie Catharina Engel born 1821

Anna Ilse born 1824

Engel Dorothee born 1828

Dorothee Catharina Engel born 1833

(I have the baptismal records for those children, but will not post because of the quality.)

Johann Friedrich Elling Birth Record

Johann Friedrich Elling Sr.'s baptismal record from the Dushorn parish church book, p. 68. #12, is the image above -

The date of baptism is first - #12 in the year 1792, 4 (April), 6 (day)

Born 4 April 1792 at Tietlingen, godparent - Cord Harms and ???

Parents - Hans Joachim Elling, haeusling (tenant) at Tietlingen and his wife Anne Engel Fedderke from E..?

Beside the entry in parentheses is a cross and the date 11 April 1864. That is a notation by the pastor or clerk marking J.F. Sr's death.

Johann Friedrich Elling Death Record

The second image is the death record of J. F. Elling Sr. - #21. This is from the Dushorn parish book 1853 - 1873.

The date at the top of the page is 1864, the place of death is Tietlingen.

Name, Profession, Age of Deceased - Elling, Johann Freidrich, Altenthelier (pensioner) and widower at Tietlingen, 71 years and 7 days.

Parents - Hauswirth Hans Joachim Elling and his wife Anne Engel Fedderke

Date of Death - 11 April, 8:00 in the evening

Cause of Death - Weakness (of old age)

Day of Burial - 14 April

So after his son and family emigrated to America in 1859, the father lived almost five more years. How hard it must have been to say good-bye to his oldest son.

Any information for J. F. Elling Sr.'s wife, Anna Ilse Meyer Elling could not be found in the Dushorn records. The marriage records for that period were hardly legible, according to the researcher. Since her baptism record was also not in that parish, it is thought that they may have married in her parish, whatever that was.

A valuable outcome of these records was that we have two sources giving yet another generation back of the Elling Family - Hans Joachim and Anne Engel (Fedderke) Elling. More on them next time.

Anna Marie Engel Fuhrhop Elling, Immigrant

After her husband, Johann Friedrich died in 1871, Anna Marie Engel (called Mary or Marie) continued to live with her son, Fritz, and his youngest sister, Anna. By the 1880 census, Anna was gone from the home and Fred Elling, 26, farmer, was named as Head of the Household with Mary, age 67, his mother, keeping house there. Another person was living with them - Henry Elling, age 16, laborer, born Ohio, parents born in Prussia. No relationship was stated, so I really don't know who this is.

The communion records, 1885 - 1891, of St. Paul Lutheran, Napoleon Twp. show Fritz and Marie Elling and Marie Elling taking communion there, not always on the same dates, but usually twice a year. (Fritz had married in 1884 another Marie.)

Sometime between 1880 and Mary, the immigrant's death in 1893, a case went to court to declare lunacy for Mary. The records are sealed in probate court so I couldn't look at them, but it is my speculation that Fritz was having his mother declared senile and himself named as trustee for her.

The image above shows the Death Register from the records of St. Paul Lutheran, Napoleon Twp.

The Deceased: Elling, Anna Marie Engel, the legitimate wife of Fried. Elling

Day of Death: March 24, 1893

Buried: March 28, 1893

Cause of Death: Weakness of Old Age

Age: 79y 5m 24d

"Estate": 4 children, 17 grandchildren and her Bible verse, Romans 6:23

Pastor Louis Dammann

She actually had five children, but at her death, the record states four...another support for the idea that son Henry died early at the age of 16. I believe the other children were all alive at the time of their mother's death.

More on Our Immigrant Ancestor ...

 

Poor Johann Friedrich Elling really didn't get to enjoy the joys of America too long. I mentioned earlier that he was in the 1860 census and at that time he was a day laborer, owned no real estate and had personal goods worth $100.

By the 1870 census, several of the daughters had left the home to marry or work as domestics, leaving just our ancestor - son Fritz, aged 17 - and his little sister, Annie, aged 10, at home with their father, now aged 55, and mother, aged 57. Now Johann Friedrich had real estate valued at $3000 and the worth of his personal goods had climbed to $400. (This census was very difficult to find as the census taker wrote the last name as "Alling.")

Unfortunately, J. Friedrich would only live approximately one more year. I could find no will and I have not yet searched land records to determine ownership and land location. I need to find if the same farm of the 1870 census was passed down to son Fritz...the one we saw in the plat map in an earlier post. My guess is that it is the same. Fritz would have been only 18 or so when he had to take over the farming and serve as head of the household.

Johann Friedrich Elling died on July 17, 1871, of consumption (tuberculosis.) The probate death records list his death in 1871; however a close look at the tombstone shows 1870. In this case, a probate records trumps the tombstone inscription. His tombstone still stands in the cemetery at St. Paul Lutheran Church, Napoleon Township at the corner of Roads 17 and Q1. It is located in Lot D2, the sixth row back from Road 17 and near the creek. It is very difficult to read, but the name is fairly clear, along with the age at death. The verse at the bottom of the stone, which is probably a Bible verse, was impossible for me to decipher.

Wife Mary is buried in the 1st row, but there is no marker for her...maybe that is something the family can correct sometime. It appears that in the early days, folks were buried in the order in which they died so that family groups are not together. Fortunately, the church has kept good cemetery plot records.

I hope you all can take a few moments sometime to visit this grave site to think about the trials of our ancestor and the risks he took in bringing his family to America.

Johann Friedrich Elling, German Birth and Baptism

Ev. Luth. Kirchenbuch - Dushorn Parish, Hanover

To find our family further back in Germany, I hired an excellent researcher, Dr. Sylvia Moehle, who worked at the Fallingbostel Archives.  Even if had had found the records myself, I know I would have had little or no success in translating them with any accuracy.  If you enlarge the above record, you'll understand.

This birth/baptismal record is from the Ev. Lutheran Kirchenbuch of Tietlingen Dushorn Parish, Hanover,  The year is 1817.  The month is July.  On July 14, 1817, Johann Friedrich Elling (our immigrant) was born and he was then baptized on July 18.  Parents: Johann Friedrich Elling of Tietlingen and his legal wife, Anne Ilse (born) Meier.  Godparent: Hans Joachim Elling.

From this record, we now know another generation back - there was a Johann Friedrich Sr.  Later we will look to see if Hans Joachim, godfather, is actually the grandfather of the new baby as this was the grandfather's name.

Because of the high infant mortality rate, babies were baptized soon after birth.  Sometimes the mother was not able to attend the baptismal ceremony.

Johann Friedrich Elling Immigrates to the U.S. - 1859

What a thrill it was to find the ship's manifest that held the names of my immigrant gg-grandfather, Johann Friedrich Elling and his family! The seaport of Bremen in northern Germany was the busiest of all for emigration from Germany. The ships' lists that originated in Bremen, Germany were destroyed during World War II, but fortunately, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Service also created lists when the immigrants arrived in the U.S.

 

Our immigrant Elling ancestors arrived on the Bremen ship, Elise & Mathilde, captained by Geo. Nordenholz, docking in New York City on June 18, 1859. If you enlarge the page above and look just past the halfway point, you will see:

Fred. Elling, age 39, male, farmer, Germany to U.S.

Maria Elling, age 41

" Elling, age 14

Hein. Elling, age 7

Dorothe Elling, age 6

Fred. Elling, age 4 (my g-grandfather)

A later child, Anna, was born after they arrived in the U.S. Seeing the space of 7 years between Maria and Heinrich's births might indicate that a child or two might have been born and died during that time. Because the family probably spoke no English, maybe the officials had to guess at ages; at least, they are in conflict with later census records (not always reliable either) and death records available.

Most sources say that a trip from Bremen to New York City at this time would have taken about 30-50 days, depending on weather conditions. For the poorer immigrants, like the Ellings who traveled in steerage, the conditions were probably primitive and uncomfortable. Sometimes German cargo ships were temporarily adapted to carry passengers on the trip to America, and then they were reverted back to cargo ships on the trip back to Germany. 

To do this, a deck would be built between the upper deck and the hold, called the zwischendeck or as we call it, steerage. Berths for sleeping here were made of narrow planks that could easily be removed for the return trip home to open up more cargo space. Few latrines were available and ventilation was poor. Passengers were to provide their own bedding, food, dishes and utensils. Water rations were supplied. Typically a traveler might pack sugar, flour, groats, salt, potatoes, bacon, bread, dried fruits, cracklings, sauerkraut, beans, honey and hardtack. Along with food, any other family treasures that would fit into their wooden boxes or trunks would be brought. Of course, farmers might also bring along seed to plant on their new American farms.

I copied the whole manifest of the Elise and Matilde for this voyage and every person was a German. Many occupations were noted, such as locksmith, miller, carpenter, merchant, painter, apothecary, weaver, mechanic, baker, shoemaker, barber, but the majority were farmers. Land was cheap in America, especially as one traveled to Ohio and further west. More than 300 immigrants were on the ship.

Our ancestors would have been processed in New York City at Castle Garden, the immigration station in those times. Castle Garden had only been "in business" since 1855 - before that, there were very few regulations for handling immigrants. The Elise and Matilde would have first anchored at a quarantine station below New York City where an officer would check for diseases and deaths during the voyage, as well as the cleanliness of the ship. Then, if passed, the ship would be allowed to travel up towards the Castle Garden depot where customs inspectors would board the ship to examine the baggage and then barges would ferry the immigrants to the Castle Garden wharf. It is likely that their baggage would be removed to a warehouse to be claimed later and the immigrants themselves would have entered the building to be given medical examinations and to register their names and other information asked. Help might be given as to how to get to their destination. After all, the Ellings still had a long trip ahead of them to get to Henry County, Ohio.

Back Another Generation - Heinrich Friedrich Elling

 
  

The father of Albert Elling, my great grandfather, Heinrich Friedrich Elling (known as Fred), was born in the village of Stellichte, Germany on October 24, 1852.  I am proud of the two documents above that verify this birth and baptism.  .

The birth record - Tauf-Urkunde - states that this record is in the Lutheran Church of Stellichte 1852 church book, page 41, number XV. Family Name - Elling,
Given Name - Heinrich Friedrich, born 24 October 1852 in Stellichte.
Parents - Friedrich Elling, kothne or cottager and his wife Anna Marie Engel born Fuhrhop.
Baptised 28 Nov 1852 in the church in Stellichte
Godparents - Heinrich Friedrich Engelke and Johann Heinrich Rohr (?)
At the bottom of the record is the church seal and repository for the record (Walsrode) and the date it was released to me.

The top image is a copy of the actual baptismal record as it appeared in the church book. Quite a challenge for most of us to read.

Heinrich Friedrich's father, (Johann) Friedrich, my great-great grandfather, was described as a kothner in Stellichte in the above birth record. This was a term for his occupation/social standing. What did it mean to be a kothne/ koetner in the 1850's in northern Germany? Most agree that this means the man had a little house with a stable for one or two cows, pigs, or sheep and perhaps some chickens. Koetners did not have horses, but instead used the cows for farming their small fields. The owner of those fields would have been a nobleman and the koetner was a renter of the field, usually paying 10% (den Zehnten) of his profits as rent. This rent would be paid in grain, brought to a special storehouse. The koetner was also obligated to work for the nobleman in other ways - constructing buildings or roads or cutting wood. It was a humble life. One source called the koetners "free slaves." When our ancestors heard about America, it mus have been very enticing to emigrate to a place where they could own land quite cheaply.