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Uncovering
Our Lange Roots
This “Uncovering Our Roots” section for each
family explains how my father (Leonard H. Hellmers, Sr.) and I discovered
the home community of each immigrant ancestor in the Hellmers-Neff
family.
Norman D. Hellmers
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Sophie Lange and the rest of her family in Germany was very
easy. The 1854 record of her marriage to Xaver Betzler at what is today
St. Paul Lutheran Church was specific as to where she was from. |
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It
said: "Sophia Lange, aus Ortshausen, Amt Lutter, Herzogth.
Braunschweig." We couldn't have asked for anything more specific.
Ortshausen was then in the "Amt" (similar to a county) of Lutter am Barenberge in the
Duchy of Braunschweig. Ortshausen, only a tiny village even today,
was easily found.
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In
late 1978 I sent a letter to the Niedersächsisches Staatsarchiv in
Wolfenbüttel. They preserve the churchbooks for the Evangelical
Lutheran Churches of
Ortshausen (for the years 1584-1875) and Malhum (for the years
1692-1875). They suggested I contact a professional researcher, Herr
Herbert Ahlgrimm, who lived in the nearby city of Braunschweig.
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I wrote to Herr Ahlgrimm on 30 December 1978. He responded in a letter
dated 14 January 1979, and included an Ahnentafel (pedigree chart) for
Friedrich Ludwig Lange of Mahlum and one for his wife, Johanne Rosine
Sophie Henriette Heitefuss of Ortshausen. For his time and expenses,
he requested 63 Deutschmarks.
A larger image of this page can be found here.
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As Dad and I prepared
for our September/October 1979 visit to Germany, we included plans for
a brief stop in Mahlum and Ortshausen. We didn't know of any living
relatives, but we did hope to see at least the churches.
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We were able to stop in Ortshausen and saw the
inside of the church, including this old "Taufstein" (literally "baptism stone"),
which was dated "ANNO DOMINI 1577."
Generations of the Heitefuss and related families would have been baptized at this ancient font.
We did not get to see the church in
Mahlum.
Photo by Norman Hellmers, 1979
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On 8
July 2008, during one of our trips to Germany, my wife Pat
and I, along with our son Jeffrey, stopped in Ortshausen and Mahlum to take a few pictures of the outside of the churches.
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