Back on the ancestral trail, this time of our north German ancestors. In the morning we went through Kirchheide to Talle. Our ancestors are from Kirchheide, but the only church for that and another three villages is Talle. So our ancestors would have attended services there.
We are now in the Lippe district of Westphalia. Three-great grandfather Friedrich “Fritz” Stock left this area in May of 1848. We've been reading about the 1848 German uprising and wonder how this included Fritz. I'll leave out his complicated history in America. He and his wife and four children returned to Kirchheide in 1861 when his father became ill. Eight years and two more children later the family returned to America.
We know the names of Fritz's parents – Konrad Barend Stock and Anna Sophie Louise Rehmjohann
– but nothing else. We suspect the family had been in the area for a few generations.
This morning we attended the church service in Talle. Brother wanted to do this both because of the family connection and because parts of the building are a thousand years old. (Surprised by that? Some cathedrals are older.) Brother had attended here before and had met Annette, the woman who works as custodian (I think that's her job). Brother had traded emails with Annette. She would meet with us tomorrow.
The pastor greeted us before the service. The service was, of course, in German. We sang along in the hymns and songs and otherwise sat there. To our surprise during the announcement time the pastor introduced us and had a small gift for us – a hand-drawn image of the church with a nail that was removed in the renovation three years ago (so the church doesn't look its age). That part he said in English.
After the service and after the other parishioners left the pastor talked to us for close to a half hour. This is a paraphrase of some of what he said:
All the gravestones in a cemetery look and are new because a person only rents the plot (which I mentioned) for 30 years (which we learned). If the family has moved away and doesn't pay for another 30 years then the grave is removed and the space is given to someone else. The church members don't want to pay for the upkeep of graves of people whose families won't take care of it themselves.
The current town cemetery is not at the church. Which is one reason why there are a lot of old gravestones around this church. When the renovation was done three years ago many of these old stones were stacked up in the back of the yard. Others around the property perimeter are now hidden by vines and shrubs. Eventually, these old stones will be set upright again.
On one side of the entry way is a memorial to those who died in the “glorious war” of 1870 (Franco-Prussian War). The pastor says war is never “glorious.” They debated whether to paint over that one word. They decided instead to hang a big metal plaque on the wall opposite of the memorial. This has the word “Peace” in a variety of languages. The sign is there on the floor. It will be placed on the wall in September.
That war memorial includes a Friedrich Stock, but this one was born in 1849. I don't know if he might be related.
I think the hanging of the peace sign is related to a joint service this congregation will do with a Polish congregation. I think the joint service will be done over Skype.
This area was spared devastation during WWII. The big cities around it – Minden and Bielefeld – were bombed, but the Talle region remained untouched. However, they did experience coping with refugees. Because of that they have a heart for the refugees from the Middle East whose presence is otherwise stirring up nationalist sentiments.
Once the pastor said goodbye we, of course, had to investigate these old stones. Much to our delight one of them at the top of the stacks was a stone for Johann Stock born in 1685. This is about four generations before the line we know about. So we don't know if he's an ancestor.
From Talle we drove to Minden. This is a city, not a tiny village, and we have ancestors from here. Christian Seele (the name means “soul”) was born in Minden in 1817 and was married in 1841. Their son Heinrich was born in 1844 and was baptized in Todtenhausen. This is a district just north of Minden (now essentially a suburb), so we're not sure when a record says “Minden” whether they mean Todtenhausen. Christian, wife, and two sons came to America in 1845.
We first had lunch. Then we toured the St. Marien Church. That's the church name on Heinrich's baptism record, but there is no current church by that name in Todtenhausen today. We didn't stay long inside (it looked like a family was gathering for a baptism), though we did see the Seele name on a war memorial.
On to a walk into the downtown area, then over to the Minden Cathedral, which is Catholic. It was founded in the 800s with the current building from the 1300s. It's in pretty good shape having been bombed in WWII.
Minden has a curious water feature – a bridge to carry a canal over the Weser River. I don't know why the canal and river are not at the same level. Perhaps the canal, which goes east-west, comes from foothills on one side of the river into foothills on the other? I'd have to get an online map (and do so on a faster computer) to see where the canal comes and goes.
We drove around Todtenhausen and Brother took us to a church with the Seele name on war memorials. We have no idea if this one is where ancestors attended.
On to Christian's wife – she was Charlotte Saxowski. Yes, a Polish name, though she wasn't born in Poland. She was born in the village of Lahde, a few kilometers north of Todtenhausen, in 1812. Charlotte's father, Anton Deiedrich Saxowski was born in Lahde. All we know of her mother, Johanna Friederike Schumacher, is the name.
When arriving in Lahde from the west one passes a gas station with the Saxowski brand. It is (or was) owned by Wilhelm Saxowski. We don't know if he's related. Niece was bold enough to ask the attendant whether she personally knew anyone with the Saxowski name. She didn't.
We wandered around the church and took pictures of the nearby windmill.
This was halfway through the trip, so time for laundry. I had asked the hotel desk clerk what facilities were in town. She said the hotel could do the laundry, but agreed that for a week's worth it would be expensive. As for the town, she couldn't find anything. The closest would be in Bielefeld, a 23 minute drive away. Since I had to wash everything I changed into my bathing suit and pajama top with a sweater over that. I let one pair of socks stay dirty. Brother also brought a load with a few contributions from Niece.
We found the laundromat with little difficulty and loaded a couple machines. And now we were getting hungry. We didn't pause for supper because restaurant meals could take so long. Brother pulled out his phone and saw the only nearby food was a couple Greek restaurants. With hopes of a couple gyros he headed out. Alas, one was closed because it was Sunday and the other closed because the owner was on summer holiday.
Fortunately, Brother had brought along a couple bananas. We ate them.
We got back to Bad Salzuflen at about 10:00. Niece, who had stayed behind, said supper sounded like a good idea. I decided I was too sleepy to venture out and relied on peanut butter. Brother later reported that he and Niece didn't find anything in the hotel or nearby that was open at 10:00 on a Sunday evening. They had a couple more bananas and a small can of Pringles before bed.
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