Calenberg

hannover-l
1

Hi Al!

"al toennies" <altoennies@bellsouth.net> schrieb:
  If I understand

you correctly, they lived in Lauenstein which was a district of Calenberg.

Yes, Marienhagen, Deinsen and Levedagsen are communities in the Amt (district, county) Lauenstein.

I know there is a town of Lauenstein northwest of Marienhagen with a famous
castle. Is it safe to assume that this was the local power center and what
gave the name to the district?

Yes, you are right. Lauenstein is also a town (community) and was the power center of the Amt and gave the name to the district. But the castle is no longer existing. It was dilapidated and disappeared long time ago.

I have tried to do some research into the subject over here but there is no
material on local German history (at least that I can find). The only thing
I have read is that it was very complicated because of the many duchies,
kingdoms and city states loosely linked together through inter-marriage.

So it is. Even for a German it is very difficult to follow all these changes. Try this site:
http://www.geschichte.uni-hannover.de/projekte/amerika/index.html
There you will find something in English about the history.

Have a good time.

Wilfried (in "Old" Germany)

2

Thanks Wilfried! The University of Hannover site is really informative - exactly what I wanted.

You probably already know this but a German TV station sponsored a re-enanactment of an immigrant voyage to the U.S. from Germany aboard a period vessel (with sails) manned entirely by a volunteer crew and passengers. The contemporary voyage, sailing and living conditions for the crew and passengers are supposed to be as close to the historical experience of our ancestors as possible. A TV camera crew was aboard to photograph everything. The ship should have landed by now. There will be a program in the spring on German television. There is an effort underway to get the program produced for American TV. That should be pretty interesting.

Al

3

To me this sounds fascinating. If anyone hears, please give details of
where one can watch this if it becomes available. Thank you.