Herman Hinrich Tietje, Immigrant

To continue the story of the Tietje immigrants, from Kerstin:

Herman Hinrich Johann Tietje,
"Henry"
Born: March 7, 1835 in Neddenaverbergen (earlier name for Verdenermoor), son of Margarethe Tidge. (Source: Register of Births, Kirchwalsede, Nr. 335141

Employment: Farmer in Neddenaverbergen
In 1858, he is listed in a very old list of inhabitants and residents as a 'soldier.'
Residence: He lived together with his mother and his aunt Marie in Verdenermoor.  The place of the farm included a house and a barn.
Farm (Hof) Nr. 84 in Neddenaverbergen.  The same place was called later, since 1860, Verdenermoor, Nr. 15

Marriage: He married in the church of Wittlohe, St. Jacobi, May 20, 1859, near Verden. (Sources: Document Nr. 1859/04.  The marriage document is available in the archive of Verden.  Church Books of Wittlohe Marriages 1853-1875)

Immigration: To the U.S. in 1888.  (Some sources say 1884.)
Sale Before Immigration:  "In 1874, Hermann Hinrich Tietje has taken off all loads from his farm.  In 1881 he sold the farm and immigrated with his family in 1884 to America.  A man named Christian Kruse, who lived in Verdenermoor Nr. 1 (Krusenshof) bought this farm and paid 750 Marks for it because the farms lay close to each other. "
(Source:Wittlohe records)
Henry's farm was pulled down in 1890 and from that time, the place all belonged to Verdenermoor Nr. 1.

Henry had no brothers or sisters.
His Father: Johann Hinrich Kohler, born about 1805, came from Leeste near Kirchweyhe.  He was registered to be a soldier.  Henry's name is often put together with the name Kohler in brackets.  But Henry kept the name Tietje from his mother.  I could find no more information about Henry's father.

His Mother: Margaretha Tietjen, born December 16, 1802 in Verdenermoor. (Source: Wittlohe records, "Born in house Nr. 84, close to Verdenermoor.")
In the church book of Kirchlinteln, baptisms in 1802, Lutheran:
"Johann Tietje, new farmer in Verdenermoor, and his wife Margretha, nee Bockelman, had born a daughter on 16th, called Margretha."  Witnesses for the baptism were Anna Engel Bockelmann, Sophia Bockelmann from Linteloh, and Catharina Margretha Tietje, Verdenermoor.
Margarethe had seven brothers and sisters:

1. Johann Hinrich Dietrich Tiedge, born 1790, Verdenermoor
2. Anne Marie Catherine Engel Tiedge, born 1791
3. Johann Christian Georg Tiedge, born 1794
4. Jurgen Hinrich Tiedge, born 1795, farmer
5. Johann (Dietrich) Tietje, born 1796.  He was a joiner and a farmer.  He took over Hof Nr. 64 in 1852.  In the records is this note: 'The man was found dead in his workshop without injury.  He was buried on September 20, 1865 in Neddenavebergen.'
6. Catharina Sophia Tietje, born 1800 Verdenermoor, died 1860 in Wittlohe
7. Trine Lieschen Marie Sophie Tiedge, born 1805 in Verdenermoo

The Wittlohe records state that "Margarethe und Johann Hinrich Kohler lived together and there is a marriage-contract.  Margarethe's father is Johann Tietje, born about 1760, a new farmer, also called Tiedje."

Kerstin writes that Henry grew up with his mother, Margrethe and his aunt Marie Tietje (See #2 sibling above-Anne Marie Catherine Engel)
An article in Verdener Anzeigenblatt, September 29, 1942, written by Heinrich Ludemann, tells this story of Aunt Marie Tietje:
"The Countrywoman and the Captain
This is the story of Marie Tietje, who was the owner of the farm, Nr. 84. This farm was next to the today's farm, Bokeloh (Krusenhof), Verdenermoor Nr. 1 and seemed to be something of the kind of a poorhouse for a time. 
It happened in the time of the last king of Hannover, George V. A countrywoman from Verdenermoor had built a new barn without the agreement of the other farmers.  So they protested against it, and the captain of the civil office, Mr. Oehlrich, came on horseback from Verden to Neddenaverbergen and they all walked together to the barn.  They had decided that the barn must be pulled down.
At that moment, Marie Tietje appeared and gave a sealed message to the captain, saying, "Dor stick man de Nas' mal rin!" (This is Plattdutsch meaning, "There you have it and put it in your nose!")
It was a message from Hannover in which King George had given his personal permission that Marie could keep the barn. 
 Loathingly, the captain said to her, "Woman, how did the devil guide you to the king?"
Marie answered, "It wasn't the devil; it was God."
The other farmers and the captain had to go home unsuccessfully.  Later the captain learned that the countrywoman had asked the King for an audience, and that she arrived in Hannover wearing wooden shoes."

King George V of Hannover

Marie inherited the farm about 1869.  She was married twice.  She lived together with her sister, Margarethe and her nephew, Hermann Hinrich Johann Tietje.
In the Index of All Names of People from Neddenaverbergen/ Verdenermoor, Kerstin found a notice that an ancestor of the buyer of Henry's farm in 1887, who was also called Christian Kruse, had bought the farm next to Henry's farm, Verdenermoor Nr. 1, many years before in 1816 because of bankruptcy.  The former owner was a man named Johann Tiegen.  So maybe it could have been Henry's grandfather who first owned what is now Krusenhof.  His wife died in 1811 and they left 8 children, some very young.  It is a possibility to be explored.
Today the old farm house is still preserved and is a very beautiful holiday farm with some new houses for guests.  It is next to the house where Marie and Margarethe lived and where Henry and later his children were born.

Henry's mother, Margarethe Tietje, died on November 12, 1876 in Neddenaverbergen, Nr. 84 and was buried there on the 16th.  In the Wittlohe records, we can read, "...she died because of weakness of old age on 12 November 1876.  By request of the son and acceptance of the minister Ohnesorg of Wittlohe, the body was buried at Neddenaverbergen."

(This post originally appeared on my other blog in 2011. I am deleting the blog, A Face to the Sun.)

Mary Schwiebert Tietje and her family

Kerstin writes ...
Hermann Hinrich Johann Tietje, aka Henry, married Catharina Maria, aka Mary,Schwiebert (Zwiebert).  According to Kerstin's research, Mary was born on October 20, 1840 in Kirchwalsede, next to Rotenburg. 
Her father was Hinrich Schwiebert, born February 5, 1819 in Kirchwalsede and her mother was Cathariana Adelheit Haase, born 1817 in Verdenermoor.

Mary had three sisters:

1. Catherina Sophia Schwiebert (1814 - 1910 Ohio)  This aunt lived in Napoleon after immigrating to the U.S. in 1866 and marrying the same year, Johann Heinrich Vajen (1840-1919). 
2. Anna Margaretha Schwiebert (1843 - 1848)
3. Catharina Margaretha Schwiebert (1846 - 1848)

May of the Schwiebert family line may be found in the local heritage books of Kirchwalsede, mentioned in an earlier post.  The family tree can be traced up until Hans Schwiebert (1622-1713), Westerwalsede, and his wife, Beke Hase (1639 - 1723).

Henry and Mary Tietje probably had eight children, as they reported in the census.  The records are a little confusing on this.  Their children, with their called name underlined, were:

1. Johann Hermann Diedrich Tietje, born Dec. 27, 1859 in Verdenermoor.  He lived in Visselhoevede and was the stationmaster. 
2. Christian Heinrich Diedrich Tietje, born June 22, 1862 in Verdenermoor, died September 22, 1937 in Bendingbostel.  He was the stationmaster in Bendingbostel.
3. Hermann Heinrich, born December 4, 1864 in Verdenermoor, died November 3, 1936 in Richfield Twp., Henry County, Ohio.
4. Catharina Sophie Maria Tietje, born October 29, 1867 in Verdenermoor, died September 3, 1939.
5. Friedrich Heinrich Tietje, born June 26, 1870 in Verdenermoor, died October 29, 1922 in Richfield Twp, Henry County, Ohio.
6. Hinrich August Tietje, born July 22, 1873 in Verdenermoor, died August 3, 1955.
7. Wilhelm Tietje, born December 26, 1877 in Verdenermoor, died May 29, 1923.
8. Marie Tietje, born May 12, 1880 in Verdenermoor, died February 4, 1964 in Richfield Twp., Henry County, Ohio.

In the Civil Registrar's office of Wittlohe, there are two more children, which are registered to be children of Henry and Mary.
9. William Tietje, born June 27, 1876 in Neddenaverbergen and 10. Catharina Marie Tietje, born May 27, 1879 in Neddenaverbergen.

Kerstin noted, "In my opinion, these children do not exist and it is a mistake of the Civil Registrar's office...or they might be children of other parents or the dates interchanged.  In the census, when asked how many children she had borne, Mary answered 8, and when asked how many were living, the answer again was 8."

(This post originally appeared in 2011.)

Confirmation of George Friedrich Spoering

This lovely, old Confirmation certificate was given to me for safekeeping, and I treasure it, not only for its family history connection, but also for its beauty.  George Friedrich Spoering was the youngest brother of my grandmother, Ida.  Born in 1899, he was confirmed in St. John Lutheran Church by Rev. Boomgarden in 1913.  
In the photo of the Spoering family below,he is the young boy in the front row, standing with his arm on his mother's shoulder.

In those days, large, colorful certificates were presented for baptisms, confirmations and weddings held in the church.  This particular certificate says that it was made in Germany and since German services were always held in the Lutheran churches in Henry County back then, the entire certificate is in German.

"In Memory of the Day of Confirmation"
Now Denkspruch...the best translation I could find was maxim or saying or perhaps, verse.
*UPDATE: Thanks to my friend, Kerstin (our Tietje researcher) for her help in the translations on the certificate:
denken = to think
denk = I would say, that is the form of imperativ singular: Think about!(denk, denke, also bedenke)
Spruch = proverb/ saying

A "Denkspruch" is a short sentence, which wants to express/ verbalize a true rule or experience of life.
It wants to make the reader think about or think over something.
 I did not investigate the verses given...maybe some kind German speaker will help on that. 
**UPDATE:
Verse 1:The prophet Jesaja  predicted the crucifixion of Jesus about 700 years before it really happened by the words:
“Christus is wounded because of our misdeeds and he is broken up because of our sins. He bears the punishment, (or: The punishment lies on his shoulder), so that we have peace and we are healed because of his wounds.”

Verse 2: (Song, Author: Benjamin Schmolck (1672 - 1737))
This is the first verse of an old churchsong from Benjamin Schmolck (1672-1737. He was a German theologian; hymn writer and author of devotional literature.
Soul, go to Golgatha,
sit down under Jesus’ cross
and think over, what impulse bids you there, to do penance.
Do you want to be insensible?
Oh, so you are more than stone.

Verse 3, bottom left: „Be faithful up to death, so I will give you the crown of life.”
In former times, this was a very popular Confirmation verse. It is written in the last book of the Bible in a letter from Johannes to his own parish, who suffered because of acute persecution. The existence of the parish was threatened and the members were afraid about their own life. So Johannes said the words, to encourage his people to be faithful up to death, to keep up in believing in God,even if they will lose their life. Then they will get the „crown“, actual you find instead of „crown“ the word „Kranz = wreath“. Maybe you can compare it with a winner, who gets a Victor’s crown. And the price is eternal life. 

George was born on the 14th of August 1899 and was confirmed on the 16th of March 1913 in the Evangelical Lutheran, St. John's Lutheran Church in Deshler, Ohio, by Rev. Boomgarden, Pastor.

The bottom of the certificate holds the impressed seal of the church, St. Johannes.
 Notice the rich coloring of the paper and the images presented, all having symbolism, I'm sure.  At the top are the angelic children around the communion cup, and at the altar is the pastor with the confirmands kneeling and receiving their blessing with adult witnesses of the church watching.  The Last Supper is portrayed at the bottom and in the right, bottom corner is the Dove ascending from the baptismal font.  Even the flowers likely carry symbolism - the grapevine ("I am the vine..."), the wheat (bread of life, separate wheat from chaff...), the poppies (death) and are those forget-me-nots? 

Tell me what else you see in these photos.

The Spoering Immigration, 1882

Guest Author - The Spoering Immigration

Henry and Mary Sporing Arrive to the U.S. in 1882

written in January 2012 by Jason Snow, a great-great grandson of Henry and Mary Sporing

Henry and Mary Sporing, along with their daughters Mary (age 4) and Sophia (age 3), arrived in New York aboard the Main on 6 March 1882. Their place of origin was recorded as Prussia, and their destination was Defiance, Ohio. Henry's and Mary's ages, 36 and 26, are consistent with other records we have for these ancestors. What isn't consistent is the year of their immigration.

Henry declared his intent to become a citizen in 1884 and applied in 1886. In those records, he indicated his arrival in the U.S. as 8 March 1881, not 6 March 1882. Assuming the naturalization process at that time required 5 years of citizenship, the discrepancy would have enabled Henry to accelerate the process.

Their entry to the United States would have been processed at Castle Garden, the predecessor to Ellis Island before it opened in 1892. Castle Garden is now Castle Clinton National Monument, which is where the ferry to Ellis Island departs from lower Manhattan.

The Main was operated by the North German Lloyd shipping line. It was built by Caird & Co., Greenock, Scotland, measuring 365' x 40' and weighing 2,893 tons. The single-screw and compound engines were capable of 14 knots. There is no photo available, but the ship had two masts and one funnel. The Main first sailed in 1868, and its final voyage under the North German Lloyd company was in 1890. The same company ran a new ship also under the name of Main.

Source for the clipping is: New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957, Year: 1882; Arrival: New York, United States; Microfilm serial: M237; Microfilm roll: M237_447; Line: 44; List number: 253. Image and transcription obtained via Ancestry.com. Imaged cropped to show only Sporing family.

**Jason's great-grandmother was Lydia Spoering Loudon and his grandmother, Ruth Loudon.  Lydia's photo may be seen at this previous post.  Lydia may also be seen with baby Ruth on her lap in this reunion photo from about 1928.

Thank you, Jason!

Posted by Dianne at 10:55 PM No comments:

The Proving by Beverly Lewis - A Book Review

The Proving

by Beverly Lewis

A Lesson in Forgiveness

When Mandy Dienner left her Amish roots in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, she wasn’t sure when or if she would ever go back.  But her mother’s unexpected death and the surprise inheritance of her mother’s bread and breakfast inn, called her home and challenged her to run the inn for a year before it would really be legally hers.   

A long ago tiff with her twin sister, Arie Mae, over a man whom Arie eventually married seemed too much to overcome, along with the Mandy’s lack of skills needed to run a B & B.  Could she really keep the success of the most popular inn in Lancaster County going?  How could she fit into the Amish environment which she had abandoned five years before?  Would she be accepted?

Mandy’s year at the Butterfly Meadows Amish Inn brought her life into focus, as she learned what forgiveness and grace could bring to her.  New friends, family, and church came together to show her what was really important. 

This is a typical Beverly Lewis story, full of love and faith inside the Amish culture.

I only wanted Mandy's mother's recipes to be included at the end of the book!

This book was provided to me by Bethany House Publishers for my honest review.

Book Review - The Two of Us

The Two of Us

by Victoria Bylin

Finding a Lasting Love

This was my first read for any Victoria Bylin book, and I really enjoyed the way she could emphasize her theme of the "two of us" throughout the novel. 

 Lucy and Mia were very close as sisters, as Mia had raised Lucy after the death of their mother.  They eventually found themselves living in the same town, Echo Falls.  Lucy’s plot line revolved around her marriage to Sam, a military man.  Lucy, young and pregnant, struggled to accept Sam’s obligations to his job, and her own trust in God’s plans for her.   

Mia, a nurse practitioner, felt she had a calling from God to work on a Medical Mission team.  Having been jilted by several former boyfriends, Mia found it difficult to trust fully in her developing love for Jake.  Jake understood her goal to work at a mission clinic because he, too, had a goal to develop a camp, Camp Connie, for boys who have lost a parent in the line of duty. But what about the love they had for each other? The conflicts between all of their dreams meant decisions had to be made.

The stories of Jake and Mia and Lucy and Sam were emotional, romantic, and interesting to me.  But I think Bylin truly excelled in her description of Jake’s parents, Claire and Frank, as they struggled to cope with Claire’s Alzheimer’s disease.  The frustration of Claire’s repetitious conversations and forgetfulness in their daily lives was so realistic, and illustrated the agonizing path of the courageous caregivers who must watch her so diligently and patiently.  The lasting love between Claire and Frank was very special.

I felt that some parts of the story were a bit too coincidental, but nevertheless, the book definitely held my attention.  It was a quick read because I became so involved in the characters’ lives that I just had to find out their destinies!

This book was given to me by Bethany House/Baker Publishing Company for my honest review.  This review reflected my own honest opinions.

A Book Review - Dark Deception by Nancy Mehl

Dark Deception

(Defenders of Justice, Book 2)

by 

Nancy Mehl 

Dark Deception, which followed Fatal Frost in the Defenders of Justice series, was very suspenseful with likeable main characters that one wants to succeed and be happy.  The novel revolves around Katie O'Brien (aka Emily Lockwood, her Witness Protection moniker), who witnessed her twin sister, Kelly, murdered.  Kate escaped injury, felt the guilt of that, and eventually testified and made an identification of the suspect, Gerard, who was arrested, tried and sentenced for the murder as the B.E.K (Blue Eyed Killer.)

However, a new development caused the release of Gerard from prison.  Will he find Katie is her new "safe" place, in Shelter Cove?  Will he come for revenge?

Tony Luca, a U. S. Marshal,l has guarded Kate through much of her ordeal, and their relationship and feelings have grown for one another.  Tony must struggle to stay on a professional basis with Kate, and she questions her trust in him at times.  Both Christians, they discussed the issues of trust and faith in God.

The unraveling of the B.E.K. murders was a complicated one, with many surprises, along the way.  Was the killer just one man?  Was every man the person he seemed to be?  This was just the way I like a murder/suspense story to be - posing questions and then slowly revealing answers.  The desire to keep reading will be strong as everything is sorted out

I highly recommend Dark Deception as a fun read that will keep one interested to  the very end.

A copy of this book was provided to me by Bethany House Publishers for my honest review.