oldenburg-l - Nachricht 2006-09 00028

[Paul Rowold <prowold(a)euronet.nl>]

Off course they did.
Here my family history.

My family history started around 1600 or earlier in a place called Nadorst 
nearbij Bremen in north Germany. Nadorst was a small farmer settlement 
started from a little place called Etzhorn. Nadorst is a subburb of 
Oldenburg now.



In 1648 Talke Rowold and Johan Heinrich Wallies married in the 
Lubertuskirche (Lubertus church) in Nadorst. This church still exist, not in 
the  form then off course. Nadorst must be a small settlement  with 
inhabitants that were called "Huerleuten" (poor tenant farmers).



There no official record of a farm which relates to Talke Rowold or Johan 
Wallies. But later there are records of farms owned by family Wallies or 
Rowold. The name was first mentioned in the archives of Oldenburg. I quote a 
article about the Rowold-family in the "Oldenburgische Hauskalender" of 
1946.

The church book of Rasteder states first in 1632 about Rowolds in 
Hanshaufen-Loh and the church  books from Oldenburg mentioned in 1657 the 
domicile of Rowold's in Donnersschwee, Ohmstede and Etshorn. It is probably 
the family in Etzhorn that are the roots of my dutch Rowold family. In 
another archive (Oldenburger Landesarchiv) we find the name Rowold, 
somethimes written as Rowolt, Rohwoldt, Rodewolt or Rowolhlt  for the first 
time as a witness in a purchase deed in 1393. More important is what a man 
named Schloiser had written in his "Staatsbeschreibung" also in the 
Statearchives of Oldenburg: "Rowold(,s) lived near Seggern in Amte Upen (the 
town Upen), where Johan and Arend Rodewolt, Knapen (=nobility) already were 
living. Their shield were three green clover-leafs with a stem  on a red 
field with a helmet. The helmet is covered with festoons in red, white and 
green".



Hundred years later (in 1596) there is a Johan Rohwolt in the list of the 
nobility of Oldenburg. Together with  nobility from Reesen, Fykensolt and 
other places he was quarrelling with the Earl Anton of Oldenburg. Even the 
Emperor was involved in the quarrel and he chooses the side of Earl Anton. 
According to the cronics of Hamelman these  noblemen were slain by Earl 
Anton of Oldenburg in a fight near Tungeln some years later. The Rowold's 
together with the other nobleman from Oldenburg had lost all their 
possessions and their nobility  in this fight with the mighty Earl Anton.

We find Rowold's back as totally pauperized small farmers (kleine Köter) in 
the parish registers of  the villages Rastede and Oldenburg in the middel of 
16th century.



> From 1700 on we find the Rowold as small farmers (Köter, Brinksitzer) in the 
high sandy grounds between Oldenburg and Varel on what is called the 
'Ammerische Geest' in small still existing villages of Donnerschwee, 
Ohmstede, Ipwege, Nadorst, Esashorn, Sankhausen, Beckhausen und Jaderberg. 
Some people became woodworkers besides their poor agriculture living. We 
find a lot of woodworkers (Zimmerleute) and carpenters (Höltje) under the 
Rowold's and in some families the job as a carpenter goes from father to son 
for ages.



The name Rowold or Rodewald  literally means "Waldroder" or  'wood exploiter'.
Other ethmologen derive the name  Rowold from the old german name 'Grodowald' 
in old saxon 'he that wants glory'. It's likely that Rowehls in Stedingen 
are related with Rowold's and the blood-relationship between  the Rowohlt's 
from Bremen and the Rowold's from Oldenburg  is not proven but likely. In 
the last two hundred years the Rowold's has spread their wings but are still 
concentrated in the Oldenburger region but you will find them also around 
Bremen, Hamburg and in the Harz region.



We have the small notice in the parish book of the Lambertini church were 
Talke Rowold and Johann Heinrich Wallies married. They got seven children, 
six boys of which one died in his infancy and one daugther. All children 
have the family name of their mother Rowold and not of their father. Rowold 
was the name of the farm (Hoffname) and this name lasted long. It was common 
pratice in the Kingdom of Hanover until 1866 and later around 1900 and from 
1930 on that families use the farmname. Even now families use the farm name 
as family name even they have officially another family name during the last 
hunderd years.



There is no evidence that a farm named Rowold really existed, but in Nadorst 
the famliy names Wallies and Rowold are common are small farm owners. The 
existence as farmers from Nadorst didn't last long. Probably was the farm to 
small to feed the whole family and the system of heir was such that the 
oldest son would inherit the whole farm. The brothers Gerhard, Hermann and 
Oltman became 'huerleute'. That ment they where hired by their brother or by 
other farmers. There were some options: to work for other farmers in the 
surrounding or join the trek to Holland (Hollandgangerei) as farmerhand or 
an other occupation.



Why and when Gerhard, Hermann and Oltman decided to go to Holland as 
bricklayers we will never know, but on the 21th of april in the year 1780 
the 26 year old Gerhard  married Hendrika van Galen in Amsterdam. Their 
first son was born in 1782. Gerhard was the oldest but not the most 
important member of the family. His  younger brother Hermann was bricklayer 
foreman according to his death certificate. The youngest brother Oltman and 
Gerhard were mentioned as bricklayers only. On the death certificate of 
Gerhard (who changed his name to the dutch Gerrit) both brothers stated 
Nadorst  near Oldenburg as birth-place. Sometimes it's confusing because in 
the death certificate of Oltman the neighbours stated as birth-place 'from 
Wallies' which is a reference to his fathers family.



The whereabouts of the family are a little vague, but we have a copy of 
Hermann his Oldenburger birth-certificate made up in 1813. Hermann were 54 
then and lived presumably more then 30 years in Amsterdam. Why the 
birth-certifcate was made we don't know, but it was the same year that 
Gerhard died. The only thing we do know that there was still contact in 1813 
with the family back in Oldenburg.



We know the marriage dates of his brothers (Gerhard in 1780 and Oltman in 
1794) and the place: Amsterdam. When Johanna Hendricka, Gerhard second 
daughter was baptised Johan Henrich, Gerhard's oldest brother was godfather 
and Margeretha, Gehard's only sister was godmother. They were probably 
attending the baptise in person.



What happened to the rest of the family in Oldenburg we'll never know. 
Unfortunately the death registers of Oldenburg were destroyed in a fire.



Will be continued

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <mstulken(a)wi.net>
To: "Werner Honkomp" <werner(a)honkomp.de>; "Oldenburg-L" 
<oldenburg-l(a)genealogy.net>
Sent: Monday, September 11, 2006 11:41 PM
Subject: Re: [OL] Hollandgaenger


> Fascinating!  Thank you.
>
> Did people ever go to Holland and stay there?  A couple of distant
> step-cousins, originally from the Wittlage area, moved to Holland.
>
> Marilyn
>
> > Check this URL and then chapter 5.
> >
> > http://www.honkomp.de/damme-auswanderung/chapter0.htm
> >
> > Werner Honkomp
>
> Oldenburg-L mailing list
> Oldenburg-L(a)genealogy.net
> http://list.genealogy.net/mailman/listinfo/oldenburg-l