Venne, Germany

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


www.venne.de

Venne – emigration history

Between 1832 and 1900 about 1.500 people from Venne emigrated to the USA. What made them go? Most of them had economical reasons. Farming was the main source of income, but the land could not feed all its people anymore. From the times of the 30-Years-War (1618 to 1648), when Venne had 650 inhabitants, the population had grown to 2.000 in the year 1848.

Only one child could inherit the farm. The sisters and brothers had to marry on other farms or stay unmarried at home unless they wanted to descend to the lowest class of the rural society of the 19th century: to become a cottager, the so called "Heuermann (hireman)". Hiremen rented little farmhouses, cottages, from the biggers farms. The rent had to be payed in money and, even more important, by working for  the farmowner in his farming business.  Children of these hiremen only had one single fate: to become hiremen like their parents. If they did not find a house and land to rent, they were not allowed to marry.

Living standard of the rural society of Venne was extremely low. From an average family with 6 children only 4 reached maturity. A poor harvest in 1846 even caused a famine the next year. Everyone tried to make some additional money: the hiremen jobbed as taylors, wooden shoe makers, carpenters, wagonmakers, smiths or joiners.

Venne belonged to the principality of Osnabrueck, one of for a time more than 300 small states in Germany. In 1815 Osnabrueck was incorporated into the kingdom of Hanover which in 1866 itself was incorporated into Prussia. Many young men tried to avoid beeing drafted to military service.

We don´t know who the very first Venne emigrant to the USA was, but once emigration had started it soon became a mass movement. Good news from the new land caused a chain reaction; more and more came: sisters and brothers, other family members, relatives, friends and neighbours were given the letters written by their predecessors telling about ten times higher income and cheap land to purchase. A dream, never really dared to be dreamed in Germany, looked to be realizable: to become a selfstending farmer on your own property.

The class of the hiremen and their children saw a big chance for their lives. Consequently they produced 90 % of the emigrants. The others were farmers or their children. In nowaday terms in Germany we call these kind of people economical refugees. From the former principality of Osnabrueck it were 90,000; from Venne itself about 1,500 within a period of 70 years (1830 - 1900).

*     Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Cincinnati, Ohio
Taking a saling ship from the port of Bremerhaven people from Venne (and of course others from Northwest Germany) reached Baltimore (or later New York). Some travelled to Pittsburgh and became members of the lutheran congregations „First Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church“ and „St. Matthews“. Most of the immigrants travelled on to Cincinnati where they lived in the German quarter "Over the Rhine" and worshiped in the „North German Lutheran Church“. Many of them stayed here for their whole lives. The others worked here for a few years to save money and then bought land in Indiana.
 

*     Southeast Indiana
A center for the settlement 100 miles west of Cincinnati was the southeastern part of Indiana. Around 1840 German immigrants founded the lutheran congregations in Sauers (Jackson County) and White Creek (Bartholomew County). With the growing of the population of German descent other congregations followed: Borchers, Dudleytown, Vallonia or Wegan.

Others from Venne went to neighbouring Counties: places like Huntersville (
Franklin County), Olean, Dewberry or Farmers Retreat became the new homestead for people from the parish of Venne.

*     Southern Indiana
Close to Evansville (which is Osnabrueck´s sister city) in Southern Indiana there is a place called Holland. The telephone directory looks like been written for the Osnabrueck area. The village of Holland became another center of settlement of people from Venne.

*     Northern Ohio
After having arrived in New York some immigrants took the northern route to the West: they travelled on the Hudson river and the Erie canal to Buffalo and then on the Lake Erie to Northern Ohio. In Woodville, Sandusky County and in its neighbouring village Pemberville, Wood County, several Venne families like the Meyerholz, the Hurrelbrinks and the Ebkes established their new homes.
 

*     St. Louis, Missouri and vicinity
Southwest (in Missouri) and southeast (in Illinois) of St. Louis, where many people had come via the port of New Orleans, we found other traces of emigrants from the Osnabrueck area: A town on the banks of the Missouri, Washington MO, was founded by emigrants from a neighbouring parish of Venne in Germany: Ostercappeln. The Menzes from Schwagstorf moved there. In a little village called Holstein we found Venne names like Hackmann, Steinkamp and Schnieder. Venedy in Illinois was founded by the emigrant families Brockschmidt and Borrenpohl. They named their new home after their old home: Venne in Germany became Venedy in Illinois. Close to this place in Johannesburg and Stone Church other emigrants from Venne settled down: the Jakobs, Winters, Sanders and Hollands.
 

*      Sources of research
Visiting the cemeteries of the lutheran churches established by Venne emigrants, many of their tombstones could be found and identified. In 1874 Venne´s Pastor David Ludwig Stueve had made a list with the names of more than 600 families and single persons who had emigrated to the USA. This list became the basis of our research. The churchbooks in Venne, family trees of families living in Venne made by Pastor Adolf Mielke about 1915, letters of emigrants, the permissions to emigrate and the list of passports, kept in the state archive of Osnabrueck, and the letters of descendants of emigrants sent to the church in Venne, they all have become other important sources for our emigrant research in Germany. Also precious are the microfilms and CDs of many lutheran church books, censuses and passenger lists of emigrant ships.

Using these sources, we were able to extend Pastor Stueve´s list to 1,500 entries now. But we are still finding others. In order to share our hobby and information with the people of Venne descent we are interested in learning to know more descendants of emigrants from Venne.
 

*     Venne - families
The families from Venne mentioned below have members who emigrated to the USA. If you are looking for ancestors by a surname mentioned, you can send an inquiry to Doris and Udo Thörner. Please share information with us like complete names of the persons you would like to have looked up in the records of Venne  if known: (1) birthdate (2) when died (3) age when died (4) place of death  other useful information like name of spouse, parents, or children of the person.

Please accept we will not answer inaccurate inquiries without detailed information about the person you are looking for (like: "my greatgrandfather Fred Meyer came from
Hanover in the 1800´s. I would like to know more about him.")

 

Abke

Ahlbrand

Andrees

Beckmann

Bergmann

Bettenbrock

Bohnenkamp

Borrenpohl

Böschemeyer

Borggräfe

Bosse

Böttcher

Brinkmann

Brockschmidt

Bruning

Buhr / Buer

Büker

Büning

Bünte

Burlage

Castrup

Minning

Dierker

Dinkelmann

Donnerschlag

Donnerschlag

Dunker

Düsterberg

Ebke

Eggemann

Ellermann

Evers

Fangmeier

Fißering

Frische

Gering

Grautmann

Grave

Harmeyer

Hachmann

Hackmann

Hagemann

Havekotte

Hehemann

Hinnenkamp

Hockmann

Hollewedde

Holland

Hollenbecke

Holtkamp

Hurrelbrink

Peter

Peterschlingmann

Pleggenkuhle

Plümer

Pösse

Probst

Pruß

Rasche

Riesmeyer

Rittmann

Rölker

Rotert

Rottmann

Rückin

Rüter

Ruwe

Imsieke

Imbusch

Jakob im Busch

Jösting

Juch

Kalmey

Kettler

Klausing

Kleekamp

Knollhoff

Knostmann

Koch

Köster

Krone

Landwehr

Lange

Laumerich

Linnenschmidt

Lüssenheide

Metworst

Meyer zu Broxten

Meyer zu Darpvenne

Meyer zu Venne

Meyer zum Vorwalde

Meyerholz

Miefert

Möhlenkamp

Möhlmeyer

Mönk, Mönnich

Nagel

Niederschmidt

Niehaus

Nölker

Niemann

Nordmann

Ostendorf

Otte

Sander

Siebert

Siegmann

Sieksmeier

Siepmann

Sielschott

Sievering

Sollmann

Spielmeyer

Surenkamp

Schepmann

Schevemann

Schlarmeyer

Schleibaum

Schlingmann

Schmalge

Schmalgengerd

Schmersal

Schnieder

Schomaker

Schröder

Schütte

Schwarze

Schwegmann

Stagge

Steinkamp

Stockhowe

Strobecke

Strunk

Stuckwisch

Stüve

Tepe

Terkhorn

Thörner

Thelmann

Tiemann

Tiemeyer

To Broke

Tölkhaus

Topie

Tormöhlen

Trentmann

Uhlenborg

Ulland

Vallowe

Vennemann

Vette

Vinke

Vissbecke

von der Becke

Vornholt

Wamhof

Wahlbecke

Waldkötter

Waldmann

Wessel

Wiedöwer

Wilke

Winter

Wissmann

Wortmann

Wrampelmeier

zu Broxten

 

email: mailto:Udo.Thoerner@t-online.de