Hello!
I have been searching for years for my great-great grandfather, Johann Heinrich Bohne. The only concrete information is that he an only child and was born in 1811 in Hannover, Germany. After looking at his death certificate many times, I see that they state he comes from Gesmold, Germany.
Does anyone know if Gesmold is in Hannover and if there are Bohnes living in that area? I wish I had more to offer in the line of information, but the only other piece of information is that he was a tailor.
I would appreciate any help in my search.
Thank you!
Virginia Knipper
Hallo Virginia !
Gesmold ist a village near Melle in Ostfriesland.
I find two Bohnes in Melle:
Fritz Bohnes
49328 Melle, Telgheide 20
Telephon: 5427 - 409
and
Wilfried Bohnes
49328 Melle, Telgheide 20
Telephon: 5427 - 582
I hope you wll be succesful.
Many greetings from Hamburg
Rolf
Hallo Virginia:
My g-grand was from Gesmold! I see you have been given the location by Rolf
& Falk - although I must disagree with Falk - Gesmold is only about 15 miles
ESE of Osnabr�ck and a fraction of that west of Melle. It is currently a
town/village of about 3,000 and my 3rd 1/2 cousin advises me that it is and
has been a predominantly Roman Catholic town.
I assume the name Bohnes is a fairly common one but find it interesting that
my grand-aunts married men with names that can be found in this small town.
My grandfather's oldest sister was born in 1857 and married a Bohn (no e) in
St. Louis. The Bohns were also involved in various businesses with the
Stoltman(n) family of St. Louis. I am assuming that these marriages were to
men within families that my g-grand was familiar with in Hannover and
especially Gesmold and it's immediate surrounds.
There is a book my cousin sent to me entitled Gesmold but it is obviously
written in German and I don't "lesen" (read it) but looked at some of the
indexes without finding the name. Of course, that in no way means that
Bohnes didn't live there.
St. Petrus church in Gesmold holds many secrets. I understand that many, if
not all, of the family records, are not available in the Osnabr�ck (what we
would call archdiocese) records. St Petrus has family histories going back
to 1668 indexed in the basement of the church. You may want to hire someone
to search.
By the way, where & when did Johann Heinrich emigrate and what was his
trade?
Gary Stoltman
Mercerville, NJ (originally St. Louis)