Location Name Help Please
Attach is the death and burial record of Caspar HENKE, my paternal 3rd-great grandfather. He lived, married, worked, and died in Haselünne, Osnabrück. However, I could not find his birth/baptismal record in St Vincent Catholic Church. His death record shows where his parents lived so that may be his birth place, but I cannot figure out the location's name. I did a search in Meyers Ort using a wildcard, but it didn't help -- too many possibilities. Can someone read the place name where his parents live? Thank you. Barbara
Mejor Respuesta
-
Hello Barbara,
Not easy... I believe the words after the actual place name are "nahe bei Höxter im Braun=schwei=gischen" = near Höxter in the Duchy of Brunswick.
The written place name seem to start with a "P" and end with "-ten". When I look at the map for Höxter and its surroundings in Meyers Gazetteer I find Boffzen, about 3 miles south of Höxter. This name matches only poorly with the letters, but in spoken language the sound is not too different. Maybe the scribe didn't know the place and wrote down what he meant to hear?
Boffzen is about 125 miles SE of Haselünne.
1
Respuestas
-
@BHN We are so glad you have joined our German community - It is a great place to get help and to help others! We have a lot of talented, experienced participants here.
Be sure to review the links at the top of our community page for some great resources. We look forward to hearing from you. We are so glad you are part of this great community!
Thanks for being patient as we sometimes must wait for a response to come from a volunteer with the needed skill set. It is always good if you include the identification number of the person in question in Family Search Family Tree so we can see the bigger picture.
We look forward to your comments and questions.
Enjoy today! Cindy Jarvis
0 -
Vielen Dank, Ulrich. I appreciate the help.
Since getting your message I’ve been trying to find Caspar HENKE in the area around Höxter.
St Johannes Baptist in Godelheim is the closest Catholic Church to Boffzen so I browsed through the baptismal records in the surrounding years of his estimated birth date based on his age at his death. No luck. Also did the same for marriage records of his parents during the ten years prior to his birth. Again, no luck. According to Myers Ort Höxter has one Catholic Church, but records are not on Matricula Online.
FHL has the Kirchenbuch, 1666-1874 for St Nikolaus in Höxter, no luck with the index and the digital images are only viewable at a FHC or the Library, so a visit there is out of the question for now.
Any suggestions as to where I should look next?
mit freundlichen Grüßen,
Barbara
1 -
Hello Barbara,
IF Boffzen is the place to go for (and I am not yet fully sure it is) one has to keep in mind that it lies on the east side of the river Weser while Höxter is on the west. In this region, the river was (and partly is) a border line. Politically Boffzen belonged to the Grand Duchy of Brunswick (Braunschweig), wheras the area west of the river (including Höxter) was Prussian Westphalia. Also regarding the Catholic Church the Weser is the border between the dioceses of Hildesheim (east) and Paderborn (west).
Therefore I would assume that the catholic parish responsible for Boffzen would be located on the east side of the Weser river. In Meyers Gazetteer the closest Catholic parish on the east side is Lüchtringen, about 3 miles N. However, while located on the east side Lüchtrigen belonged to Westphalia (in Meyers map you can see the border as a brown line). The next place on the east with a Catholic parish is Holzminden, 6 miles N. Registers for St. Joseph in Holzminden are available in Matricula first from 1860 onward.
Generally speaking, the people in the grand Duchy of Brunswick were mainly protestant whereas on the west side of the Weser the catholic religion is predominant.
1 -
Thanks again, Ulrich. I understand the location is iffy, but sometimes one just has to grasp at straws.
Telling me about the diocese borders was a big help and I found Boffzen on the OFB of Holzminden. So that answers that question and although there are HENKEs listed, none that match mine.
I can’t figure out Friderich’s occupation, but Caspar was a day laborer, so could the name of the location be a farm near Höxter and not a village?
1 -
One more piece of possible evidence: the family name Henke has a local cluster in the surrounding of Boffzen, see clip below. It is from the "name distribution map 1890" (Namensverbreitungskarte) https://nvk.genealogy.net/map/1890:henke. While this is no proof that Caspar was born there, together with the remark "near Höxter im Braunschweigischen" it strongly supports that this is the place named as (former) residence of his parents. Do I understand correctly that Caspar was born around 1752 (1827-75 years)?
1 -
You asked: Do I understand correctly that Caspar was born around 1752 (1827-75 years)?
Yes, I am using circa 1752 as his birth year until I find his birth document, since he was 75 when he died in Haselünne on 21 May 1827. Of course, when I search church records I go +/- 10 years. Neither of his marriage records show his age.
1