Dortmund, Germany

Hi Ralf,
Thanks for your reply to my enquiry. I do understand that the present
city of Dortmund was not in what was known many years ago as the Kingdom of
Hannover. However, you did not answer why on the funeral announcement the
place given is -- Dortmund, Hannover. Also the envelope I mentioned was a
letter sent from Dortmund to America in 1925. At that time here the postmark
would show where the letter was mailed from, I assume the same was true in
Germany in 1925. Again thanks. Bill L.

In a message dated 9/20/2009 8:10:27 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
r.s@pobox.com writes:

Now Bill!

I do not want to jump in as the bad guy. But please forget
all the correspondence to your subject in the last two
days or so. And please forget about the Kingdom of Hannover.

DORTMUND = a city in Westphalia vs. HANNOVER a city in
the former Kingdom of HANNOVER (which itself is located in LOWER
SAXONY today).
(To clear this up a little: Dortmund today has about 600.000
population / Hannover has around 480.000 population).
Point! On that! Let's go on and discover more:

A stamp on a letter indicates _of course_ (at least in the
old days) the senders place). Maybe DORTMUND? Maybe HANNOVER?

All said already: it is a letter which was sent either from Dortmund
to Hannover, or from Hannover to Dortmund.

None of these towns have ever being taken over by the other, nor
have they ever been in a conflict which would have caused this.

However, you may keep in mind: just outside of the borders to the East
of Dortmund City, Lower Saxony (which was in main parts a part of the
former Kingdom of Hannover) begins at approx. 50 miles (to the east).

This is just to set the dimensions right.

I can not dig farther into this matter at the moment, but keep the above
mentioned stuff in mind.

DORTMUND = DORTMUND
HANNOVER = HANNOVER

Gold luck,
and regards,
Ralf Stamporek

--- Original Nachricht ---
von WBL435@aol.com
am 21.09.2009 01:27

Hi Hans,
Thank you for your reply. What I have is an envelope where the Post

Mark

clearly shows "Dortmund". This indicates that at least in 1925 there

was a

Post Office with that name. I also have a funeral announcement dated

1925

that gives the name "Dartmund, Hannover". My mother's people came from
Germany in the mid 1850's. Their documents show they were from the

"Kingdom

of Hannover". The letter I refer to above was to her father. Their

name

was Wendt. The family who wrote the letter referred to above was

"Mädel".

A woman wrote the letter and referred to my mother's father as "Uncle".
  
This indicates to me that she was a sister of my mother's father.

Would it

be possible that a small village (Dortmund) could have been absorbed

into

the city of Hannover sometime after 1925 and no longer exists? If that
would be the case how would I go about looking for records on it? I

thank you

Hello Bill,
     
     There are 59 people today with the name of Dortmund. See this:

     Geogen Deutschland (Onlinedienst) - christoph.stoepel.net

   You can move your curser around and you will see that there are a number
of people with the name of Dortmund. They are mostly around Hildesheim and
also the area around the city of Hannover. I'm going to work on that.

   Don't give up. You may make it yet!

Barbara

Hi Ralf,

Dear Bill,

Were your Wendt ancestors associated with Marshall County, West Virginia?

NOTE* I believe Marshall County West Virginia was concidered Virginia circa 1852.

West Virginia became a state in 1863.

I was fooling around with castlegarden, familysearch, rootsweb, heritage quest & NARA Germans to America Archives.

There was an August WENDT, age 21 <1831> destination VIRGINIA, who arrived 29 June 1852, on passenger ship "POST."

The NARA Germans to America archives indicate that August Wendt's last residence was PETZE. This could be a possible match to your Wendt line.

On the ship Post are the following persons called WENDT, all from PETZE.
  WENDT AUGUST age 14 GERMANY VIRGINIA 15047
  WENDT AUGUST age 21 GERMANY VIRGINIA 15047 *****
  WENDT AUGUSTE age 16 GERMANY VIRGINIA 15047
  WENDT CHRISTOPH age 53 GERMANY VIRGINIA 15047
  WENDT DOROTA. age 57 GERMANY VIRGINIA 15047
  WENDT MARIA age 21 GERMANY VIRGINIA 15047

This link indicates that PETZE is currently located in Lower Saxony, Germany.
http://www.fallingrain.com/world/GM/6/Petze.html

Per Family search 1880 Census index:
Enumerated at Liberty, Marshall, West Virginia.
August Wendt, 48 <1832> farmer, born HAN.
Louisa - wife, 35 < born BRUNS.

Children born WV.
Earnest
August
Elizabeth
John
Henry
Caroline
Amelia
Geoge