oldenburg-l - Nachricht 2000-11 00081

[W. Fred Rump <fredrump(a)...]

On 25 Nov 2000, at 20:59, Frank Bruns wrote:

> Sirs --
> 
>    I gather from your discussion, you don't necessarily agree on the
> definition of the location. Please remember that I am new to the
> geography and terminology of boundaries and areas of control of
> Germany. If I can, I will ask again. I think both of you agree that
> Oythe would be today in the general area of  Visbek and Vachta. Is the
> name in use today? Does it relate to a town or city or does it relate
> to a region or area of historical control? 
>
> Another response placed Oythe as a historical part of Vachta. However,
> I don't know if they were referring to the town of Vachta or the
> district of Amt Vachta.

Frank, I was wrong. I shouldn't just speak off the top of my head. 
Oythe can be confused with another place which today is called 
Altenoythe but they are different places. Let me explain.

Today Oythe is just a neighborhood in the city of Vechta. It was first 
mentioned as a settlement in 947 as Oete. It developed as a 
Bauerschaft (group of farms) over the centuries and was 
incorporated into Vechta in 1933 in a national socialist 
reorganization of local villages and cities into larger administrative 
areas. It's church is St Marien which was built out of huge stones 
around 1270. These still serve as it's foundation. There are also 
even older parts from an earlier church from the 11th century. As 
you can see the place is quite old.  

The line of the nobel line of v. Elmendorf/v. Merfeldt is buried in the 
Oythe church. They lived on their nearby estate of Füchtel for over 
600 years. The estate owned many smaller farms and if your 
ancestors are from this Oythe they may well have been serfs of this 
family. 
> 
>    If I were to visit the area today, where would I center my search? 
>    
> Since my ancestor listed his birthplace as "Amt Vachta"
> and his last place of residence as Visbek, I assumed I would start in
> Visbek. Does the fact that he listed his "country of origin" as Oythe
> change this or provide additional support?

You'll simply have to investigate the church records of Visbeck and 
Oythe to find out who came from where. 

But back to the other Oythe which today's Friesoythe. It is just at the 
southern end of the Saterland as I mentioned in a previous post. In 
1308 this was already called the Oppidum Oytha. Over time this 
developed into the old Oythe (Altenoythe) and Friesoythe (the Oythe 
of the Frisians). I don't expect this to be what you are looking for so I 
won't go into more deatils about it. The parish church in this old 
Oythe is also very old having also been build out of fieldstones back 
in 11th century. 

The earlier Oythe is in the Amt Vechta and I would concentrate on it.

Fred

  

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