The Great Hollenberg Saga

It took nearly another 100 years, after Napoleon had shaken Europe, that all those different mixtures of obligations against Church and Crown could be revoked by making a one time payment in hard money (Rtlr. = Reichstaler) to the authorities. Only now was the famer totally free to deal with his possessions at will.

The amount involved for this “Freikauf” (= payment for release) could easily go into several thousand Rtlr. which many farms had difficulties to manage. The sum of this ”payment for release” added up to a factor of 20 to 30 times of all taxes, services and some soft-historical rulings, like getting marriage permission from the landlord.

Thus and in total, it was a chance – even a costly one – for the family farms in our region to free themsenves of those obligations of serfdom which had been levied upon them throughout the feudalistic period in the Middle Ages.

Some details of the two Hollenbergs in the locality of Hambüren, taken from the same register in 1770 A.D. are presented below:

Now the two names had been firmly established:

---- Niederste Hollenberg

---- Oberste Hollenberg

The size and other particulars oft the two Hollenberg estates are around 1770 A.D. as follows:

---- Stephan or Oberste Hollenberg --- (around 1770 A.D.)

Size oft he farm: 265 Scheffel, 34 Ruten, 1,5 Fuß.

Livestock: 8 cows.

Payments to the „Tithe“ owner: (= King of Prussia): 98 Rtlr., 9 Ggr., 11 Pfg.

Plus: 1 “ Leibzucht” = small house or hut where a farmer was allowed to spent his retirement.

Plus: 2 “Heuerhaus” = small house or hut with a minor lot of land which was rented to families of Farm laborers.

In 1862 A.D. Jörgen Heinrich Oberste Hollenberg was Colonus.

In 1907 A.D. Wilhelm Oberste Hollenberg was Colonus with 4 “Heuerhäuser” belonging to the farm.

---- Luike or Neerste Hollenberg (Niederste Hollenberg) --- (as of 1770 A.D.)

Size of farm: 249 Scheffel, 36 Ruten, 7 Fuß.

Livestock: 9 cows, 5 young bovine cattle.

Payments to “Tithe” owner: (King of Prussia): 106 Rtl., 21 Ggr.,

Plus: 1 “Leibzucht” = (see above!)

Plus: 3 “Heuerhäuser” = (see above!)

In 1862 A.D. Gerhard Wilhelm Niederste Hollenberg was Colonus.

In 1907 A.D. Colon Niederste Hollenberg had 1 “Heuerhaus” and 2 Leipzucht-owners: Nr. 10b, miner

Friedrich Teepe, and Nr. 10c, miner Hermann Mittelberg.

(Explanation: 1 Scheffel varies from country to country between 12ar and 42 ar; resulting in an approx. average for the above farms to about 250 acres each).

Some Details of the Family Tree

(at the home base in Germany)

It should be noted, that a Luecke to Halenberg is mentioned in 1537; and around 1603 another link shows up.

The family table, although still incomplete, is reasonably solid from the period of the late 1600.

Old church papers give proof of the marriage between Lucas Halenberg and Elske Meyer zu Düte, and indicate that their wedding took place on November 28, 1674 at the Protestant Church (Lutheran-Reformist) in the parish of Westerkappeln. (fig.:#17 below)

Lucas died on March 6th in 1726, and his wife Elske followed him on October 5th, in 1730.

Lucas’ son Henrich, born in October 1675, also referred to as Hallenberg de Junge, married

Anna-Agnesa Schomeier on November 4, 1696. (See his birth certificate, fig.:#18 below)

Their Son Jörgen-Henrich also referred to as Hallenbergs de Junge Child, born in July of 1720, married Maria-Gertrud Meier. (See his birth certificate, fig.:#19 below)

Then followed Johann-Heinrich Niederste Hollenberg, born on December 1st 1751, and married to Catherina-Elisabeth Witte zu Metten.

Their son, also Johann-Heinrich, was born on November 15th 1796, and he married Elisabeth Schomeier on October 9th, 1817.

The chronological family tree of the

Niederste Hollenberg and Oberste Hollenberg strings

Reviewing the Church documents and the Registers of the Parish of Cappeln, I am now able to give a rather complete chronology on most data (Birth and death records etc.) for both families.

The first personal data in the Church records begin to appear around 1600 AD, however, showing then only death data of the particular male line which was staying-on as Colonus on the farm. No further details about age, birth- or marriage dates or parents. People were, up to that point, given some form of descriptive I. D., like e. g. for:

Niederste Hollenberg, Hermann († ??, ??, 1692) was called “Herman Alter (Older) Halenberg”

and his first child was called “Lucas Lüdeke Halenberg”,

his second child was called “Herman Halenbergs kind” (daughter).

Oberste Hollenberg, Johann († 10.09.1675) was called “Old Johann tom Holenberg“,

and his wife called: “Old Johann tom Holenbergs wife”(dt.:’fraw’).

Our historian, Mrs. Brigitte Jahnke, has taken it upon her to gather those informative data and to create an overall “Hollenberg-Family-Tree” into a systematic library from those early days on throughout the following centuries. This family-tree of the Hollenbergs includes on one hand not only the direct lines coming from the two family strings of the original “Holenberg” estate mentioned in the books of 1146 AD, but it also presents those many branches who left the parental place over time. The latter part links the branches with marriages, name-changes etc., spreading, initially into surrounding or familiar territories, then, later-on, emigrating to different parts around the world – noticeably with heavy emphasis to North-America.

Other areas of interest outside Germany were e.g.: Holland (trade, handy-craftmen, linen-clothing),

Skandinavia (trade etc.), Eastern Europe (land-offerings by misc. governments, tax advantages etc.).

And, yet, many questions remain unresolved for those who left the family base.

The data available so far showed only few cases where both family strings joined their blood lines directly. One of them was when:

• Oberste Hollenberg, Johan Henrich (*13.11.1775) married on: 17.01.1798

• Niederste Hollenberg, Anna Catharina (*18.03.1772)

Both lived in the Hollenberg “Bake-House”. They had three children:

(1) --- Cath. Elsabein (*03.02.1800) married Hermann Heinrich Teepe.

(2) --- Cath. Agnesa (*17.09.1802) married Jörgen Heinrich Knüppe.

(3) --- Johann Gerhard Heinrich Hollenberg (*21.10.1806), died in Indiana (†17.02.1846)

Both parties immigrated to America on: 04.09.1832 with each of their sons:

--- Friedrich Rudolph Teepe --- and --- Friedrich Wilhelm Knüppe ---

(see Special Section: “The Other Hollenbergs”, Details I)

The line of Friedrich Rudolph Teepe continues in America into the lines of Tapy and Hoffmann.

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