The origin of the Tiekenheinrichs was in East-Westphalia, more precisely, in the peasantry Bessingen. Following the boundary-contract from 1541/42 the peasantry Bessingen belonged to the county Ravensberg and consisted (1556) of 13 farms. The sovereigns of Ravensberg recorded all the existing farms of their county during the years 1550 to 1556. This first land register collection of Ravensberg still exists and is called the Urbar from 1556. It provides information about the number of farms at that time, their sizes and their owners. It contains the entry
Henrich zu Bessingkhusen, halbspenniger
130 years later a new land register collection took place. After the Thirty Years' War the area was granted to the elector of Brandenburg by the Westphalian Peace in Munster 1648. In the land register of 1685 the peasantries Niederbecksen, Bessingen and Reelsen were combined into the peasantry Niederbecksen with a total of 77 farms. Each farm was given a registration number, basicly assigned according to the size of the farm. Thereby the largest farms received the lowest numbers. These registration numbers became later house numbers and were valid in Niederbecksen until 1926. The farm mentioned above got the number 8, the entry was now:
Henrich zu Beßinghausen, Halbspaenner, 103 Scheffel
A "Halbspaenner" or "halbspenniger" had to serve his squire with half a harnessed team (two horses, a harnessed team consisted of four horses). "103 Scheffel" was the contribution, which had to be delivered. A "Scheffel" contained approx. 20 Kilos of grain.
The next entry into the Contributionlist took place in 1717:
Henrich ietzo Anthon zu Beßingen, koenigl. eigenbeh. Halbspaenner, 105 Scheffel
"ietzo" means "now" or "really", in another place (see below) we find the name Anthon Henrich zu Bessingen. "Eigenbehörige (eigenbeh.)" were bonded farmers, who lived in personal dependency and who had to deliver duty to their squire. However, they had a secured right of succession on their real property, which was yield to them for usage against a moderate contribution.
In 1830 the farm enclosed 84 Morgen (= 21 hectars) and in 1863 the farm consisted of 5 buildings.
In 1867 the house and the farm as well as the largest part of the fields were sold. The possession was divided and sold to approx. 15 new owners.
In 1926 the farm became part of the city of Bad Oeynhausen. In the years 1969/70 the farm buildings were torn down. They stood at the end of the northeastern Tilsiter Street (a dead end).
You have to assume that at that time most people were illiterate. A general compulsory school attendance exists in Germany only since 1919. Before usually only monks and ministers could read and write, later also civil servants. After the Thirty Years' War baptisms, weddings and funerals were logged in church books. Thereby the minister noted the names in such a way like he understood them (please note that a regionally colored low German was spoken). There was no uniform way of writing those names. Therefore it is recognizable until today that the church books were handled different carefully by the different ministers. Even consistent first names cannot be assumed in the registers of baptizing, marriage and deaths during the research. Registry offices exist anyway only since 1874.
In the naming of the children it was usual that the oldest son got the same first name as the father, further sons the first names of the grandfather or a godfather. The daughters were named accordingly. This makes not only the ancestor research today difficult, but led already at that time to confusion. In order to characterize the person concerned clearly, the name was often extended by a supplementary description. The place of residence or the occupation were often used as such a supplement. Fortunately these supplements were often included in the church books and became finally a part of the name. The names "Henrich zu Bessingen" or "Henrich zu Bessinghausen" respectively were probably also of such an origin ("zu" means "from").
Margretha Elisabeth Henrich zu Bessingen was a daughter of the Anthon Henrich zu Bessingen mentioned above. Later on for further characterisation the supplement "Tochter vom diecken Henrich" was given, which means "daughter of the corpulent Henrich". Thus the name was born, which should develop later - via different ways of writing - to today's name "Tiekenheinrich". That this name was passed by a woman was not unusual for that time at all. Normally it was the name of the farm which was preserved. Since the farm was inherited with priority to the oldest son, the impression may arise, that the men gave the common surname. But this was, as we will still see, not always the case.
Unfortunately I have so far found now no document about the birth or baptism of Margretha Elisabeth Henrich zu Bessingen although I can fix the time period very well (around November 1751). However, in the marriage register of the Evangelical church in Rehme an entry of 14.08.1772 exists with the married couple:
Johan Ernst Hoberg, gegenwaertig Colon zu Bessingen, weil. Johan Wilhelm Schaefer, gen. Hoberg Sohn
Margretha Elisabeth Henrich zu Bessingen, Anthon Henrich daselbst Tochter
The first line means "Johan Ernst Hoberg, currently farmer in Bessingen, son of the deceased Johan Wilhelm Schaefer, called Hoberg". Since the father had married a widow Hoberg and moved to her farm, he had to accept also the name Hoberg (sometimes also written as Hauberg) (see also above).
The second line means "Margretha Elisabeth Henrich zu Bessingen, daughter of Anthon Henrich himself".
The married couple is also registered as first owners of the house No. 8 into the land register of the peasantry Niederbecksen (volume 1, sheet 62). Together they had 10 children, of which only six (2 sons and 4 daughters) reached the adulthood.
The births of the children are logged in the baptismal register of the Evangelical church in Rehme. The surname changed in this time from "Hauberg, called Henrich zu Bessingen" (1773) via different stages to "Dieckenhenrich" (1781).
The farmer Johan Ernst Diecken Henrich, Bessingen No. 8 died on New Year's Day 1798 at the age of 50 years of burning fever.
Anne Marie Grete Elisabeth Hoberg, called Tieckenhenrich, widow, NB, Bessingen No. 8 died on 23.02.1810 at the age of 58 years and was buried five days later. ("NB" is the abbreviation for Niederbecksen).
Her son Christian Henrich Dieckenhenrich inherited the farm.
Christian Henrich Dieckenhenrich was born on October 27th, 1775 as the second of 10 children. He married the three years younger Anna Maria Elisabeth Tügel from Königshagen (Lohe) on August 14th, 1799. After the death of his older brother Johan in the year 1805 he became heir of the farm Bessingen No. 8. He and his wife had 12 children, 7 of them were still minors when both parents died in January 1826 within 10 days of each other.
(This chapter will appear here shortly)
In the years 1810 to 1850 the economic situation of the residents of the lower Werre valley became continuously worse. Basically three reasons can be given for this:
The history of emigrants of our family started in Melbergen, which today belongs to Gohfeld (Löhne), where Hermann Heinrich Broer managed the farm Melbergen Nr. 10. Three of his children are of interest for this history:
Engel Broer, born on March 9th, 1843
Hermann Broer, born on November 1st, 1845
Heinrich Broer, born on March 31st, 1847
Ludwig Broer, born on August 22nd, 1863
On February 2nd, 1867 Engel Broer married Carl Tiekenheinrich (born May 5th, 1842) from Niederbecksen, a grandson of Christian Dieckenhenrich. Together they managed the farm Niederbecksen No. 4 (also known as Bessingen No. 4 and next to No. 8). From their children I would like to mention:
Ludwig Tiekenheinrich, born on April 22th, 1869 and
Friederike Tiekenheinrich, born on March 13th, 1885.
Hermann Broer applied for emigration in 1865, but he didn't leave his country until four years later. He reached New York on September 23rd, 1869 and went from there to Michigan. Another four years later he married an emigrant (Marie, later Mary) from Mecklenburg. 12 years later Heinrich Broer and Ludwig Broer followed their brother to Michigan. Their ship reached New York on March 4th, 1881. Louisa Buschmeyer accompanied them on their trip. Heinrich Broer and Luisa Buschmeyer married during their stay in New York, before continuing on to Michigan. One or two years later the brothers' paths were separated. While Hermann Broer moved to Cleveland, Ohio in 1882 or 1883, Ludwig Broer went to Hubbard, Iowa. In approximately 1891 Ludwig married his wife Emelia (also Amelia), whose parents also came from Germany. They bought a farm in Hubbard which they managed together. Heinrich (who now called himself Henry) and Louisa moved to Nebraska, but returned to Iowa some years later. Hermann and Marie Broer had 8 children, Heinrich and Louisa Broer had 6 children and Ludwig and Emelia Broer also had six.
In 1900 the fifteen year old Friederike Tiekenheinrich followed her uncle Hermann Broer to Cleveland, Ohio. In the same year the twelve year old Wilhelm Broer moved to his uncle Ludwig Broer's farm near Hubbard. In 1911 Friederike Tiekenheinrich visited her home country again, on the passenger list her occupation is given as children nurse. Unfortunately I have no further information about Friederike Tiekenheinrich. Maybe she married and thereby changed her name.
Ludwig Tiekenheinrich and his wife Louise Schormann stayed in Niederbecksen. Together they had six children. The youngest four of them emigrated to America as well:
Martha Tiekenheinrich was 23 years old when she emigrated to her uncle Ludwig in Hubbard, Iowa in 1924.
Carl Tiekenheinrich was 18 years old when he followed his sister in 1925.
A visit to their home country by Ludwig Broer, his wife Emilie and his nephew Wilhelm (together with his wife Martha) in Autumn 1925 would prove to be of crucial importance for the last emigrations:
Frieda Tiekenheinrich (23 years old) and Wilhelm Tiekenheinrich (17 years old) travelled together to Hubbard in February 1926.
Ludwig Broer payed for all these four emigrations.
Ludwig Tiekenheinrich died on October 24th, 1938 while he was visiting his children in Iowa. He wanted to be buried in Germany next to his wife, but the family could not afford the repatriation of the remains.
I would like to thank Mr. Bernd Tiekenheinrich for his link to the German House of Emigrants in Bremerhaven. He found some Tiekenheinrichs in the passenger lists from 1920 onwards and so formed the basis for the chapter about our emigrants.
My very special thank belongs to Mrs. Becky Freeman for her strong support and internet research in those databases which are normally not accessible from outside the United States. She followed up the path of the immigrants by studying the passenger lists in New York and many census records.
Huneke, Andreas / Quaschny, Rico: "Rehme, 1250 Jahre Orts- und Heimatgeschichte eines Minden-Ravensberger Dorfes" (Rehme, 1250 years of local history of a village in Minden-Ravensberg)
Church books of the Evangelical-Lutheran church municipality Rehme
Church books of the Evangelical church municipality Eidinghausen
Beiträge zur Heimatkunde der Städte Löhne und Bad Oeynhausen
Sonderheft 4: "LET'S GO TO AMERICA! The Path of Emigrants from Eastern Westphalia to the USA"
Die Maus - Family History and genealogical society of Bremen