April 1999

The Fehmarn Cousins Newsletter

Issue #4 April 1999

This month I would like to focus on the Fehmarn people in Iowa. When they left their island home they did not leave their sense of family behind. We have on our web site a photo of the 1946 Fehmarn Picnic in Iowa from the Darlene Vergamini Family. We have no names (as yet) to go with the photo, though we are hoping to be able to find them. The Fehmarn Picnic seems to have been and annual event. For we were sent the following article:
Schleswig Leader 9/1/1938
Schleswig, Iowa, USA

Isle of Fehmarn Picnic
Those from this vicinity who attended the Isle of Fehmarn picnic at Cherokee last Sunday were: Mr and Mrs Carl Kluever, Emil Kluever, John Kluever, Mr and Mrs Fred Beech, Mr and Mrs Ed Jepsen, Mr and Mrs Herman Jepsen, Mr and Mrs Fred Beech jr and sons, Mr and Mrs Hans Nihsen, Mr and
Mrs John Lafrentz, Mr and Mrs John Riessen and family,Mr and Mrs Emil Mildenstein and son Loren, Mrs Lizaie Mildenstein, Mr and Mrs Louie Boehm and son Walter, Mr Mrs Paul Claussen and son, Mr and Mrs Dan Langbehn, Mr and Mrs Andrew Claussen and son Leonard, Mr and Mrs Chris Claussen, Mr
and Mrs Gustav Jahn, Mr and Mrs Claus Gottburg and daughter Mabel, Mr and Mrs Jacob Kluever and daughter dorothy, Mr and Mrs Henry Kluever and family, Mr and Mrs Henry Willer, Mr and Mrs Hans Pickel, Mr and Mrs Henry Kohlbaum and daughter Eleanor, Mr and Mrs Hans Knudsen and daughter
Helen, Mr and Mrs Carl Wilken and family, Mr and Mrs Carl Grell, Jacob Burmeister, Mr and Mrs Hans Mildenstein, Detlef Theedt, Mr and Mrs Ferd Fick and son, Mr and Mrs John Schiernbeck, Mr and Mrs Walter Burk and daughters, Mrs Edna Fick and family, Mr and Mrs Matt Wilken and family. Jerry Riessen found this and sent it to us so that we could include it in the newsletter. I was so happy to see it and to know that maybe somewhere there maybe more photos and lists of attending families and individuals.

If you know of any more information on these picnics please contact either John or Tressie.

What is the correct spelling of this family name?

When researching in the church books on Fehmarn you are often faced with the dilemma of the correct spelling of family names. The first thing you will notice is that the spelling of many surnames, you are researching, have various spellings through the passage of time or the changing of record keepers. How do you know which spelling is correct? Many of the surnames on the Island have many variations in spelling. It's very hard to know if a different spelling is just a variation or misspelling by the record keeper or a completely different family.

Here is a list of just a few of the variations you will encounter in the church books.

Some of the more common ones are the addition of (en) at the end of the surname such as Eggers(en), Ivers(en), Harms(en), Jacobs(en), J�rgens(en), Martens(en), and Vaders(en). The en at the end is also sometimes added to the end of female surnames, which is just a form of feminizing the name and, in some cases, can just be excluded from the end of the surname.

Another is the appearing and disappering letter such as the (C) in Kar(c)k, Ser(c)k, Tan(c)k, Wil(c)ken, or Wie(c)k or the D in Schul(d)t or the E in Witt(e) or the H in Do(h)se, F|r(h)bvter, and Ho(h)feldt or the T in Lafren(t)z, Hin(t)z, Schul(t)z, or Schwar(t)z, or the T when followed by a D
in Gerhard(t), Gr|hnwald(t), Weiland(t) or the FF in Hof(f)meister, Kohlof(f), Rahlf(f), or Wulf(f)

Others have changing letters such as the (Y) to (I) in surnames like Be(i/y)er, Dre(i/y)er, Ka(i/y), Me(i/y)er, Se(i/y)er. Or the (C) to (K) in Cordts or Kordts, Creutzfeldt or Kreutzfeldt, Carsten or Karsten.. Or the (V) to (F) in Vick to Fick.

Others charged in time from M�ller to M�ller, S�hn to S�hn, or K�hler to K�hler.

Others have more dramatic changes in the spelling such as Budde to Burr, Cornehl to Cornelius, Ewel to Ebel, Harming to Harling, Liese to Liesche, Tarl to Tardel, Suxsdorf to Suchsdorf, Schnoor to Schnauer, Sievert to Sievers.

While many of the above families are in fact sometime not related at all and completely different families with no relationship to each other. Some are just variations all descending from a common family.

Some Surnames are very similar but are not related to each other such as in Hansen to Hensen, Rahlf to Rohlf, K�hl to K�hl, Kock to Koch, or Petersen to Persohn.

When you are lucky enough to trace your family back to before 1700's the variations are even more dramatic. The challenge of knowing the correct spelling will always be an obstacle when it's a family name you are unfamiliar with. I often use the spelling that is most often used after the 1850's in the records. I have even resorted to looking in present day phone books in the villages for descendants of these families and the current day spellings.

Good luck in your research
John Kostick

The Guide

This is but a small bit of this guide and just a taste of this old document. I loved reading it and making this short synopsis. I hope you find the same enjoyment! Many thanks to Bruce Wood for sending it with a partial translation and E. B�gge-Wood for her help in finishing the translation of this important document. If you have a chance go to http://www.fehmarn-genealogy.com/guide.htm and read the whole document.

A SMALL GUIDE FOR THE ISLAND FEHMARN TO FIND YOUR WAY AROUND THE ISLAND
FEHMARN

By Peter Wiepert, Bisdorf, Fehmarn
Donated by the family of Bruce Wood
(orig. In German published in 1960), Eng. Translation:
Bruce Wood and E. B�gge-Wood,(Fehmarn-born, now Columbus Ohio-USA)

The size of the island Fehmarn is 185 sq. km, with 40 villages and 1 city (or rather small town), called "Burg" [translated it means fortress or stronghold]. The island has 11,910 inhabitants. The distance from north to south is 13 km - from the south-east point in "Staberhuk" to the northwest point in "Westermarkelsdorf" it is 23 km long. From the southern coast to the mainland Holstein it is 1,2 km, from northern Fehmarn to the next Danish Island of "Laaland" it is 19 km. The length of the entire coastline is 77 km. The landscape is mostly flat, like all the marshes, no woodland on Fehmarn. The highest point is near "Staberdorf", an elevation of 27,2 m high, called the "Hinrichsberg" or Henry’s Hill. A creek, about 13 km in length, that begins in west-Fehmarn, on the nature reserve of "Wallnau", it flows into the Baltic Sea. Fehmarn has the least rainfall in the entire province of " Schleswig-Holstein," - yearly only about 600 mm. Climate in the winter-months is often rough and stormy, where-as from July till September it is mostly very beautiful. - In the litho-spheric period, 5,000 - 3,000 BC Fehmarn became an island. In prehistoric days probably attached to the mainland "Sot-Holstein"; (no such proof has been established, as of yet). In the prehistoric time-period, it seems, there were no settlers on the island. 1,000 years ago, they say, there was some Forrest land with ash groves, oak-trees, beech-trees - and also deer and wild pigs.

The name "Fehmarn" may have arrived from the "Umbrian or Fomorian tribes", in the Slavic called ‘vamorje’, meaning ‘in the water’ - around the year 750 Germanic people lived here, after that, Slavic tribes (Bodrizer) conquered it. These tribes were fishermen and pirates - after that time, Christianity was introduced from the North, the bishopric rule of "Odense" from the Danish Island of "Fuehnen". Villages in the past were mostly built in a long-row form, as running in a north-to-south direction, with 3 to 4 entrance gates, which could be closed at night. The traditional Fehmarn-house was usually in the style of the "Lower Saxony architecture", but with different forms in each hamlet. In the back of the home you still find the large "Saal" or hallway, also called the "Doens", for all-family activity and harvesting. In the front of the old farmhouses you saw the family symbol, "Husbrannt, Low German" a wooden oval gable. The city of Burg has 4,575 residents. The name derived from an old fortress built by the Wenden [also Sorbian] tribes, since the year 1300 already called a city. Originally it was a long village called in German ‘Reihendorf’ with a market place in the center. The St. Nilolai-Church, built in 1243 and later in 1513 the bell tower was added, (this can be toured only with permission of the pastor). In the tower you have a beautiful view over the city and the island, all the way to Holstein in the southern direction and to "Laaland, Denmark" in the northern direction. In Burgstaaken are the large grain silos of the company "Hiss", "K�lln" and "Raifeisen", the tall building owned by " K�lln" is often nick-named the "K�llner Dom", with the larger wheat-flower mill. - That harbor is 200 m long, 25 to 60 m wide, it was built between 1867 - 70. In the evenings you see a very interesting harbor idyll, with many different fishing boats landing here, unloading their catch, which are already packed in cases, to be delivered to the big city’s markets Albertsdorf, lies 6 km west of Burg, toward the southwest coast, with the extension of "Gold" toward the beach, here the Baltic Sea is very shallow. Along the beach area a camp for tents permitted by the authority
of Fehmarn. Close by is the last Stone-hedge grave "H�hnengrab" and is called the ‘Alversteen’ named after "Albert" and so is the hamlet called "Albertsdorf". There you’ll find the "Rickert’s estate, ‘Rickert-Haus’ built in old Fehmarn-style. Blieschendorf, 3 km west of Burg, rail- and Post-bus connection. With farms it used to have two sections, on the way to Burg, the "left-over part" of a Jewish cemetery with a memorial stone. In the bay toward the village "Orth", a ruined ‘giant Stone-hedge grave’ was found, called "stot Havmann". There is a windmill, ‘Segelwindm�hle’ built in 1787 north of the village, it is the last of that kind in Europe - it has been renovated by the government of the country ‘Landesregierung’, now under management and owned by the island "museum society" ‘Museumverein’, after completion it is free for visitors to view it. Petersdorf. This is the center of the western church district with their own church, 1721 citizens; it is located 11 km west of the city of Burg - rail- and post-bus connection. With a large village center, called the cheese pot "K�sfatt" in Low German. There are 2 memorials or statues, one for the soldiers, who died and the cross for the lost east "Kreuz des Ostens"! Puttgarden, a larger farm village on the north coast of the island, 7 km north of the city of Burg - Postbus connection. A newly blossoming village, now this is the last railroad station on the island and the end of a highway on the German "Autobahn" of the "Vogelfluglinie". North of the village the new ferryboat harbor for the ferryboats going to Laaland, Denmark. It offers a spectacular view from the dike, over the Fehmarn Belt to the far away, 19 km D�nisch neighbor-island "Laaland". Many ships of all nations are passing by. On the left, where one can see the foaming, seething of waves, and the dangerous sand riff near Puttgarden, in years gone by, this place was called "the grave of our sail boats". On the banks you find the nature reserve called the "Gruener Brink", here you even find heath growing. Here was also the landing harbor for the ferry-boat connection to Laaland, which was used by the pilgrims coming
from the North lands, crossing Laaland, Fehmarn, L�beck and then toward Rom - or when they returned from there. Westermarkelsdorf, in the north west corner of the island, the people here called this "de Ewigkeit", Low German for eternity, 7 km north of Petersdorf with a light house built in 1882 at the "Hakenorth". Another beautiful view over the Fehmarn Bay, on a clear day one can see all the way to the Danish island: "Langeland". It has a charming village setting - not quite as modern as some places here on Fehmarn".

Island-Nostalgia
By E. B�gge-Wood

When I think of my island-home
In far-off, distant places,
I miss the folks, my very own,
Recall familiar faces.

Somehow it all comes back to me,
The Baltic island shore –
Where I would walk around the beach
And hear the ocean roar.

Watching boats in wind and cold –
The waves they sang to me;
And told me of the men so bold
Beneath the angry sea.

On Fehmarn-isle where I was born, -
And should I come no-more, -
In dreams and memories forlorn,
I knock on mother’s door.

Then, just as if in olden days,
We’re walking o’er the dike,
Picking flowers in childish ways
And playing groom and bride.

And in the lovely month of May
Cold winter had gone by,
We burned the fields and singing gay
And watched the fire fly.

The fisher would go out to fish
The tasty Baltic cod,
Preparing many a creative dish
While we were thanking God.

Soon it got warmer, day by day,
In June we would go swimming,
Lying in the whitest sand =
We heard the sea-gulls screaming.

I’m far away from that dear Isle
America is my new home;
I found another land and style
I need no-more to roam!

So am I now, so do I stand,
Suspended, within dreaming.
Taken root in this new land,
There’s no return for me.

This peom can also be viewed and read in High and Low German at http://www.fehmarn-genealogy.com/poems.htm

How to find those interesting genealogical sites on Internet
The following is reprinted and was published in AntiqueWeek By Ruby Coleman

29 March 1999

Many times I am asked where I find genealogical sites on Internet. Information on genealogical sites and URLs can be located in a variety of places. A popular way to find them is through search engines and also by checking link areas such as Cyndi’s List of Genealogical Sites on Internet.

Researchers can subscribe to and read e-zines (genealogical newsletters sent by e-mail) on Internet to learn about new projects, obscure web pages and popular sites of interest to genealogists. Publications, such as Heritage Quest and Family Chronicle, contain articles about Internet and feature web pages. In addition, information on genealogical Internet sites is often shared by colleagues and friends.

In February, I received the Eastern Nebraska Genealogical Society newsletter. This contained information about their January meeting. The program was presented by a member who has Fehmarn Island ancestry. She had discovered an Internet site pertaining to genealogy of the island.

Not everybody is interested in the Fehmarn Island. However, those researching German ancestry in the Schleswig-Holstein region and particularly with German ancestors who came to Iowa and Nebraska, should look at The Fehmarn Genealogy Site. The web page is maintained by John Kostick of Miami, FL and can be accessed at: http://www.fehmarn-genealogy.com/. It is a very large site with links to maps, photographs of the island, an extensive index of islanders, newsletters, history of the island, a list of microfilms, and query/surname section.

Fehmarn Island (pronounced Fay-men Island) is a part of Schleswig-Holstein, yet separate from it by geographically being located in the West Baltic Sea. It is a small island between the Fehmarn Belt and the Fehmarn Sund.

Looking at the island from maps on the web page or a German atlas, it is amazing that so many different surnames can be found on the island. And even more amazing is the fact there are so many United States researchers are trying to trace their island ancestry.

The island was under Danish rule until 1864-1866. The people of the island were very skilled. They spoke low and high German, as well as Danish. There were four churches on Fehmarn Island for the town of Burg and villages of Bannesdorf, Petersdorf and Landkirchen.

Other villages without a church, used these village or town churches. To make research easier, Kostick has a listing on his site of which towns were covered by the town of Burg and each of the three villages.

The parish records have been microfilmed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). They are available on loan through Family History Centers or at the main library in Salt Lake City. The records pertain to the church functions of baptism (Taufen), marriage (Heiraten) and death (Tote).

Examples of these records can be found on The Fehmarn Genealogy Site. There is also a listing of microfilms linked to the site. John Kostick also assists with lineage questions and problems.

In the late 1800s individuals and families of Fehmarn Island started leaving for the United States. Many found homes in Iowa, perhaps lured there by promotional literature or individuals. Islanders also settled in Nebraska and South Dakota. Some from Iowa eventually migrated west to these states.

Personally, I have seen German church records in Iowa for this time period showing Schleswig-Holstein as a place of birth. This in part is true, but upon further research, it has been determined the subject was from the Fehmarn Island. Another helpful area on Kostick’s site is the Links. Some of these are in German, but yet understandable once you browse through them. From one of the links a virtual round trip can be made of the island or a check of the island’s current weather.

Another interesting area shows an aerial view of Fehmarn Island. Viewing the island, researchers will wonder how so many people (ancestors) were on such a tiny island.

To assist with research, Kostick has supplied links to German Form Letters, translations, an on-line German-English dictionary, illness translations and samples of German script.

Because of the connection, be sure to check out the Schleswig-Holstein GenealogyGenWeb Page at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~deuscn/index.htm. Another interesting page to visit is German Genealogy Cross-Index at: http://feeths.org/indexger.html.

The German Genealogy Cross-Index provides links to more obscure German genealogical groups and societies, plus those that interest many such as Palatine groups. There are also links to maps of the German Empire, both east and west, in 1882.

Through the efforts of John Kostick and others, researching Fehmarn Island ancestry is much easier. Because I took time to read a one-sheet newsletter, my research of the islanders is not stalemated in Iowa. Even if you don’t have island ancestry, check out a site well done.

Ruby Coleman

Newsletter submissions
by E-mail: kc7bal@juno.com
or mail to:
Tressie Hughes
PO Box 770
Puyallup WA 98371

The FEHMARN COUSINS Newsletter
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Editor - Tressie Hughes, 9312 147th Street E., Puyallup, WA. 98375