|
Today will be a very busy day for John and myself. We got up by 6 a.m. and I got dressed while John fixed breakfast. We cleaned up and were ready by 8 a.m. as were looking forward to this day. Our good friends Peter and Margit Seyer were coming by about 8:30 this morning to drive with us to the Archives. When we heard the doorbell ring downstairs, we assumed it was Peter, but soon found Mr. Detlef on our doorstep. He had been talking to others in his family about visiting with John yesterday, and came back with the information of his children and grandchildren. His daughter sent a note requesting family information on her husband. John was delighted to receive this information. At this point, Mr. Detlef gave me another cookbook written by his wife as a gift again. I've been looking thru the first cookbook, he gave me yesterday, and the recipes seem to be of the local German foods. I can recognize some of the words, so I get the idea of what some of the recipes are for. I will have to learn how to read the Low German and try some of these recipes at my home in Hollywood, Florida, USA. You can purchase this Cookbook at the FEHMARN GIFT SHOP on this website. Promptly at 8:30 a.m., Peter and Margit drove up. They said hello to their friend, Mr. Detlef, as he was leaving. I showed Margit my new cookbook and we talked about my sudden great desire to learn to read the Low German! We decided to drive everyone in our car to Neustadt, as we have a small station wagon with much cargo space for all our bags. It takes about 45 minutes to drive to the Archives and find a parking spot. Parking is difficult, but we found a small spot on a sidewalk about 5 blocks from the Church. When we got to the Archives, upstairs in the building opposite the Church, there were only 2 people working in the main room. John greeted Mrs. Muller, who oversees the Archives and with the help of Margit Seyer (who translated for him) explained what books he wanted to look at. He paid the fee of 10 Euros for each of us to work and gave an additional donation to the Church to help them continue this work. Also, at this time we met another researcher, who works at the church on a weekly basis.... Mr. Schmotz. We have met him in past years and he has always been very supportive and helpful of the research that John does. He appreciates the work that John does and understands the importance of this research, as he too is deeply involved with preserving these church records. Usually, there are other regulars that we have met in past years, but today appears to be a very quiet day for working.
Immediately, we went to work in another, larger room with large open windows and a big table for spreading out the books. John picked out 2 books with the Burg births from 1878 to 1930. The book with the more recent dates was not in the Archives last year, and John was surprised to see it. We began working and soon an elderly man in a US Civil War T-shirt came in. He introduced himself as Gerd Hagenah, the friend of Mr. Johannes Detlef. Gerd explained that he was a Historian on Schleswig Holstein Immigration and was the author of the book that John acquired yesterday. John and Gerd discussed at great lengths the reasons that many Fehmarners left the Island in the 1850's. I continued to do research for John, as the men continued to discuss the economic reasons for this mass migration to Scott and Clinton Counties in Iowa, USA. I found it quite interesting to listen to Gerd talk about the reasons for this migration to America. After about an hour, Gerd departed, as John needed to get on with his research. Peter was busily working on his own family's genealogy, stopping from time to time to discuss some question with John. We ate at the tables we were working on, as no one wants to quit and leave for even a short time.
Shortly after eating our sandwiches, Mrs. Erna Lübcker came into the room looking for John. We had met her 2 years ago at these archives. She requested help in locating a line of her family who had gone to America long ago. Last year, he worked on this for her with the help of a fellow researcher, Dennis Harmsen, in Iowa. Dennis located this branch of her family and sent the information to John. John then sent it on to Mrs. Lübcker. She was so grateful to have received this family information that she had to come today to express her thanks to John. She had not written a thank you to John (as she speaks no English, and without a translator, they cannot converse with each other) and she said "it weighed heavily on her conscience that she had not properly thanked John". Margit helped us to speak with her and John was very pleased that she had received the information and was very happy to have helped her.
Finally, after working for about 3 hours, I took a break and went shopping with my friend, Margit Seyer. We walked over to the Stadtcafe Bakery to purchase some pastries and little zücker (sugar) figures to take home for my Grandchildren and my friend's children. They are so adorable and fun to bring home, that I cannot resist purchasing them, as I have done in the past years that we have come.
Margit and I walked in and out of several shops, making small purchases as we went....... Until Peter found us and told us that John was finished and wanted to leave. So.... We walked back to the Archives and said thank-you to Mrs. Muller. She was so kind to us today, and we very much enjoy working in the church records at this archive.
John and I, along with our friends, Peter & Margit walked the 5 blocks back to our car and loaded our bags into the cargo area. With a little help from Peter, John maneuvered the car out of our very tight parking spot. Finally, we were on our way back to Fehmarn. Lots of research was accomplished today and John declared the day a huge success. We drove back to our room so John could enter more information into his database on the computer and I could work on this journal. I continue to write morning and night to keep current with my notes so I don't forget any details. We run from place to place all day, so it is easy to mix up the details if I don't take notes during the day. My memory has an occasional “senior moment”, but I try my best to remember all the details of each day. Peter & Margit kindly invited us to be their guests for dinner, so we rested for a short time before going off to dinner with them. Peter had chosen a favorite restaurant of theirs in Lemkenhafen, but we found it closed when we got there. So he drove us to the Restaurant Petersen in Landkirchen, located across the street from the Church and cemetery. We sat inside this charming restaurant decorated in blue and white with pretty tablecloths, flowers, lace curtains and old, historical photos of the Island on the walls.
We enjoyed the wonderful meal with our friends, Peter & Margit. The Fehmarn database that John enters all his research into and today's work at the Archives were discussed at great length over an excellent meal. Peter diligently works on his family history and it is this mutual interest that originally brought these two men together. Peter's wife, Margit, comes along to translate, as there is the language difference, but at times, they can communicate without the help of Margit. I thoroughly enjoy Margit's company and am so glad to see her each year when Peter & John get together to discuss the genealogy. During our many conversations, she points out little things about the island that we have overlooked or not noticed. Margit is always telling me her English is not so good, but she does much better than we do with the German. She has a dictionary and is always looking for the right word. She teaches me the German word and I teach her the English word. All day long, we are learning little things from each other. During our rides to and from the restaurant, we learned that there is a small airplane on the Island that will take you for a 30-minute ride over the Island for 50 Euros. If the weather is good on Friday, we decided to try it at 3 pm, when they open. We also talked of some new places we had seen on the island, such as the Wallnau Bird Reserve. We told her of our quest to see the Flügge Lighthouse, with no luck. We only got as far as a gated road that blocked our way to the lighthouse. She told us you must walk for 15 minutes to it, and it was now open to the public for the first time. We decided we would try to do this in the morning. Oh, the things we would miss if Margit had not told us!!!! After a short ride back to our room, we said our good-byes to our dear friends and went up to our room. After a quick trip to the Internet Cafe for our nightly contact with the family back home, we then called it a night.
Tomorrow - Sightseeing on the Island of Fehmarn
|
