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Uncovering
Our Landwehr 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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Heinrich Landwehr's roots in Germany proved somewhat elusive—but this shouldn't have been the case. Here's the story.
As my father and I prepared for our planned visit to Germany in the fall of 1979, we
tried to find all of the places in which the different branches of our
family arose. When
we started to investigate the Landwehr family, we used
information gathered by Uncle Jake Bauer, which indicated that Heinrich
"Henry" Landwehr was from the city of Quakenbrück. A letter to the
church, however, said that he was not born there.
They suggested that there were Landwehrs associated with a church just
to the south in Badbergen.
We wrote to Badbergen and received a response from Frau Magdalene Schröder, the daughter
of a former pastor of the church. She sent us a letter dated 9 March 1979 listing the
birth dates from the baptism records of numerous Landwehr children.
None of these seemed to match what we knew of our Landwehrs. Another
letter, dated 29 June 1979, included the baptism records of two
Landwehr children. These did appear to match.
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In addition to contacting the church in Quakenbrück, I placed an advertisement in the German
genealogical publication, "Familienkundlichen Nachrichten" (Issue No.
19) seeking the assistance of a paid researcher regarding the Landwehr
family.
In
response, I heard from Walter Pohlsander in Salt Lake City, perhaps the
leading researcher of families in the Artland region. He had access to church and other records and he offered to
prepare family group records at $5.00 each. I wrote
back and accepted his offer.
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The
opening record prepared by Walter Pohlsander listed the family of Johann
Hermann Landwehr and Marie Adelheid Hildebrandt. In total, Walter
prepared 24 such sheets for us.
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With
information on the
Landwehr family from Magdalene Schröder and Walter Pohlsander, we
were ready for our trip to Germany. On Friday, 5 October 1979, we
visited with Magdalene in her home in Badbergen. We hoped that while in
Germany, we might have the chance to meet living relatives. Frau
Schröder suggested that we visit Herr Werner Korfhage in
Quakenbrück, knowing that there was a relationship between the
Landwehr and Korfhage families. She called the Korfhages and arranged
for us to visit them that day. When we got to their home, we were
welcomed by Werner, his wife Traute, and their three children: Birgit,
Gunther, and Rudiger. The Korfhages were wonderfully hospitable. We
showed them what we knew about our Landwehr family, but we could find
no connections.
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As an afterthought, Werner brought out some old family photographs. As
I thumbed through them, I was startled to find this photograph. It was
an exact match of a photograph we had received from Aunt Della Bauer
and which we had brought with us on our trip. With the goosebumps
rising on my arms, I showed the Korfhages what I had found—two photographs that were exactly the same, theirs and ours.
Family of Gerhard and Katharine Korfhage Landwehr
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Obviously they were as surprised as we were. We
did not know the family in the photo and neither did Werner, so he
telephoned an aunt and asked her to come over. She knew that it was
the family of Gerhard Landwehr, who married Katharine Korfhage. They
had five children. Werner's aunt suggested calling a daughter of one of
the boys in the picture, Margarete "Grete" Landwehr, and her husband,
Karl Brodtmann.
Birgit, Werner, Werner's aunt, and Norman looking at old photos
Photo by Leonard H. Hellmers, Sr.
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The group at the
Korfhage home soon included the Korfhages, Dad and I, Werner's aunt,
and Grete and Karl Brodtmann. As we compared notes with Grete, we
discovered the connection. The father in the photograph was Gerhard
Landwehr, Grete's grandfather. He was a younger brother of Dad's
great-grandfather, Heinrich "Henry" Landwehr, thus making Grete and Dad
second cousins, once removed. Once this family connection was made,
there followed a round of events: dinner that evening, a Saturday visit
to the church and church office in Badbergen, a visit to the open-air
museum in nearby Cloppenburg, and a visit to the home of Grete's sister,
Frieda Schmitz. None of this would have occurred were it not for the
coincidence of the matching photographs.
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On
Saturday, October 6, 1979, we visited the church at Badbergen. Cousin
Grete Landwehr Brodtmann is standing behind the ancient "Taufstein"
(baptismal font), at which generations of Landwehr ancestors were
baptized.
Margrete "Grete" Landwehr Brodtmann, October 1979
Photo by Norman Hellmers
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After we returned home, we continued to stay in touch with our cousins in Quakenbrück,
exchanging letters and Christmas cards for many years. Grete and Karl
Brodtmann are now deceased and today (2009), Werner and Traute Korfhage operate a small
inn in Quakenbrück.
The discovery of the connection between these families would not have happened
without the kindness of Magdalene Schröder, the Korfhage family,
and Karl and Grete Brodtmann. Also, most of the information we have on the
Landwehr ancestors is thanks to Walter Pohlsander.
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Now,
why should we have known about the
Landwehrs being from the church in Badbergen?
After reviewing more carefully some items given to us by Uncle Jake
and Aunt Della Bauer, we rediscovered a small school book that belonged
to Catharina Landwehr. She had brought it with her from Germany. In it
was her confirmation
certificate, perhaps the only identification she had when she sailed
across the Atlantic Ocean to New Orleans. The certificate gave her full
name, birth and baptism dates, confirmation date, and, clearly written
on the bottom, the town in which her church was located, Badbergen.
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Return
to Landwehr Family History Opening Page
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