Introduction
New information gathered at the recent Berger Cousins' Reunion (April 2014) shed great light on our Oetjen ancestors who lived and died in Germany. Previously, my only two documents identifying the parents of my known Great Grandfather Johann Jürgen Oetjen were handwritten family trees that provided only the briefest information as to who these ancestors were. The "paper trail" to the latest version of the Oetjen Family Tree is described in the paragraphs and documents presented below. Note that any of the following images appearing below can be saved by right-clicking on the image and selecting "Save Image As" to save it on their computer in the folder of their choice.
The links below allow one to jump to the identified collection of records that are presented in this analysis. Or one can simply scroll through the entire set of records that follow.
My Original Records
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This record (below) was prepared by my Aunt Gertrude Berger. Here Aunt Gert identifies Juergen as the father of Johann Jürgen Oetjen; his wife's name is not known (NN standing for No Name), but whose first husband is NFN (No First Name) Bellmann. She then gives a family tree for the family of this first marriage. Some members of this family immigrated to the United States. Note that Anna Weseloh Hollander, called "Aunt Anna" within the family, lived in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. She also states that Heinrich (Henry) Weseloh was a Pastor in Cleveland, Ohio for over 40 years. These relatives have been incorporated into my Family Tree Maker database.
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Based on these records, I originally showed Jürgen Oetjen as the father of Johann Jürgen Oetjen, but the name of Johann's mother was not known. I had no record of earlier Oetjen ancestors. I used the names of Johann Jürgen Oetjen'siblings as provided in these records in my original Family Tree Maker database. Using these records, I was able to carry the Oetjen genealogy forward to my generation, the Great Grandchildren of Johann Jürgen Oetjen, and later generations.
Daniel Oetjen Records
Daniel Oetjen, who grew up in a village near Riepe, Hannover, Germany and does extensive genealogical research into his Oetjen ancestry, contacted me by e-mail in April 2013 after finding my Personal Home Page on the Internet. Daniel's Oetjen ancestors came from Ostervesede, and he has traced his Oetjen ancestors back to 1553. He was kind enough to do some research of our Oetjen ancestors based on the names that were identified on my Oetjen Ancestors page at that time, which showed that Jürgen Oetjen is the father of our known Great Grandfather Johann Jürgen Oetjen. Using the names of the siblings of Johann Jürgen Oetjen that I had posted, he provided me with Oetjen genealogical information he obtained from the German source Die MAUS. As described above, my original records identified Jürgen Oetjen as the earliest known ancestor and the father of Johann Jürgen Oetjen. The Die MAUS source (presented below) identifies this person as Harm Oetjen. Some discrepancies exist, including the most troubling discrepency that our known Oetjen ancestor, Johann (John) Jürgen Oetjen, is not included in this genealogy. However, many of his siblings, and their spouses, are included that makes it very unlikely this genealogy is in error. Also, there are some slightly different spellings of some of these names. Therefore, at this point, I felt I could accept these records as accurately representing my Oetjen family genealogy. Note also that the parents of Harm Oetjen, Peter Wilhelm and Gesche Miesner Oetjen, are identified, pushing my Oetjen ancestry one generation further back. My special thanks to Daniel Oetjen for contacting me and doing the research that clarified and expanded my Oetjen genealogy.
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Daniel Oetjen also provided me with the Die MAUS information (see below) for Johann Hinrich Tietjen. In my original records, Katharine Oetjen was said to be married to a certain Mr. Tiejen. This genealogy confirms what was described originally. It is interesting to note that Johann Hinrich Tietjen died and was buried in Cleveland, Ohio in 1882. Note also that his wife Catharina died ten years earlier in Wistedt, Germany.
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Daniel Oetjen is from the same general region in Germany as our Oetjen ancestors. He provided me with a link to the map of this region: Riepe, Hannover, Germany. Below are maps of the local region of Riepe and then the general region of Riepe within Germany. The pointer locates Riepe. On the upper map. the parish of Scheeßel is seen to the southwest. Helvesiek, mentioned often in the Oetjen family records, lies directly west of Riepe. The town of Hermannsburg, where Great Grandfather Johann Jürgen Oetjen went to seminary school, is seen in the lower right corner of this map. As a side comment, the town of Neuenkirchen is seen to the south and slightly east of Riepe. My parents, Paula and Elmer Hilgendorf, had Mildred and Al Neuenkirch as close friends when we lived in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Quite likely Al's ancestors came from this town. On the lower, general region map, the port cities of Hamburg and Bremerhaven on the North Sea are seen. The peninsula extending northward in the middle of the map leads to Denmark. Has anyone been to this general region?
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Zurstadt Records
At our recent Berger Cousins' Reunion (April 2014), Cousin Paula Zurstadt Hoegemeyer brought along a folder containing Oetjen memorabilia collected and prepared by her mother Margaret Berger Zurstadt (Aunt Marge). When I saw these two documents presented below, I was literally floored. This confirmed the information of possible Oetjen ancestry provided by Daniel Oetjen, as described above. Thank you, Paula, for collecting this information and bringing it to our reunion.
The handwritten family tree below, prepared by Margaret Berger Zurstadt (Aunt Marge), shows the same ancestry as that provided by Daniel Oetjen (described above) and also adds the earlier generation, Tietje Oetjen, father of Peter Wilhelm Oetjen. I estimate that Tietje Oetjen was born about 1730.
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The family tree below was also in the possession of Aunt Marge. This is shown as two figures, with sufficient overlap that the two pages can be pieced to together. Here, seven children of Harm and Maria Riefesell Oetjen are listed. It is important to notice that after the name "Maria Riebesell" appears the phrase "verwitwete Bellman," meaning "widow of Bellman." This is astonishing. This shows that the wife of the father of Johann Jürgen Oetjen can now be identified as Maria Riebesell, and that she is indeed the widow of that certain Mr. Bellmann who had been identified earlier in my original family records. I wish I knew how this family tree was obtained. Did someone commission a German genealogical research company to investigate this ancestry?
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Comparison of Databases
Johann Jürgen Oetjen was described as being one of 11 or 12 children , implying that all these names were not known in my original records. The above records do have a number of these children in common. This section compares the genealogical information from the above sources, highlighting similarities and differences where they occur.
The table below compares the names of the children of Harm (or Juergen) and Maria Riefesell Oetjen in my original family records and then from the Die MAUS records. Also shown are the birth and death dates nad the names of spouses where known..
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The following table compares the names of these siblings from all three sources. It is reassuring that there is so much commonality between the three independent sources, including dates of birth in many cases.
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Conclusions