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Friedrich Hensiek's Ancestors
back to Johann Adam Heinrich
(a.k.a.Heinrich Adam) Buschdiecker

Friedrich, 77 years old, from Melle Germany, is a descendant of Heinrich Adam (Johann Adam Heinrich in our records) Buschdiecker, son of Johann Ernst Heinrich Buschdiecker and Anna Marie Dierker.  In four hand-lettered charts, Friedrich displays beautifully a record of his ancestry.

 See larger images of those charts by clicking the thumbnail images below.

TRANSLATION   **(see footnote regarding the German word Erbkotter, which would have taken too many words to describe at each appearance in the text)

PAGE ONE

My Great-Grandparents
mother's side

Johann Heinrich Bussdieker             Clara Ilsabein Halbrügge

* 5th February 1835 in Sehlingdorf         *13th December 1830 in Buer
oo 21st August 1857 in Buer
+ 15th May 1885 in Sehlingdorf             + 20th July 1902 in Sehlingdorf

My great-grandfather Johann Heinrich Bussdieker was born on 5th February 1835 in Sehlingdorf as son of the erbkotter Heinrich Adam Bussdieker, b. on 27/12/1792 in Sehlingdorf and his wife, Marie Elisabeth Droop, b. on 19/1/1793 in Hustädte (my great-great-grandparents). He grew up with four other siblings. In the Family Book (Register) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church Assembly of Buer from 1855/56 I found the following entry about the family of my great-great-grandparents. In the very year of the entry my great-great-grandfather died (Date of death: 4/7/1855 in Sehlingdorf). The oldest brother of my great-grandfather, named Hermann Heinrich Bussdieker, emigrated to America.

PAGE TWO

My great-grandmother Clara Ilsabein Bussdieker, nee Halbrügge, b. on 13th December 1830 in Buer was the daughter of the farm owner Ernst Heinrich Halbrügge, born Welpinghaus, b. on 4/11/1804 in Markendorf and his wife Florentine Marie Halbrügge, b. on 8/5/1810 in Buer (my great-great-grandparents). My great-great-grandparents married on 5/8/1829 in Buer. From the marriage of my great-great-grandparents came forth 10 children. My great-grandmother was born as the second child of my great-great-grandparents and grew up with her nine siblings here in Buer on the Halbrügge of Torf farm. Out of the Family Book of the Evangelical Lutheran Church Assembly came forth the names of the siblings and in part the birthdates.

PAGE THREE

Johann Heinrich Bussdieker and Clara Ilsabein, nee Halbrügge, married on 21st August 1857 in Buer. Out of the marriage came forth five children. My grandmother Catherine Elise Bussdieker was the fourth child of that marriage. My great-grandparents managed the "Im Bussdiek" Erbkotterei situated in Sehlingdorf and lived exclusively from the farming.

My great-grandfather died on the 15th May 1885 in Sehlingdorf at the age of 50 years. My great-grandmother followed her husband after 17 years of widowhood on the 20th July 1902. She also died in Sehlingdorf.

** Erbkotter can be translated loosely as "farm owner", but the word has shades of meaning that are important to its interpretation. The German word Erbe means "inheritance". A number of words meaning "farm owner" are compound words that include Erb-. In earlier times it was not ownership that was inherited, but rather the right to continue to live on and work the farms with the consent of the landowner. The landowner was a person of wealth who owned large holdings of land. More recently the owners of the farms were allowed to purchase their land, rather than continuing at the pleasure of an absentee landlord.

The terms Vollerbe (full heirs), Halberbe (half heirs), Erbkotter (cottage heir) and Markkotter denote owners of farmsteads that range from very large and in the center of a village (Vollerbe) to smaller ones on the outskirts of town (Erbkotter and Markkotter). Another term that can be found in many family histories from this area is Heurling ("hireling") or farm laborer working for wages.

The term "Mark" in this case refers to common-use meadows and woods that were divided and with shares going to farmers on the adjacent properties.

Key parts of this discussion are from Wolfgang Dreuse, whose history of Buer and the surrounding area may be seen at www.buer-us.de.