Hello,
Excuse my ignorance but....
an ancestor of mine is Arend Friedrich Schuette from Burstel. His father was Johann Hinrich Schuette (Schulhalter).
My question is: What does Schulhalter stand for?
Also, his wife was Anna Catharine geb. Oetken Heurel 1796.
My question is: what does Heurel stand for?
Maybe it's the name of the mother. Man, this gets confusing.
Mary Zarse
USA
Hi Mary,
a "Schulhalter" is a caretaker for the school-building. He is not a teacher.
nic greetings
Joachim Ostendorf
Hallo Mary,
"Heurel" meens a surname ... maybe a dutch name
Joachim Ostendorf
Hallo Joachim,
Thank you for your response. Could you answer this
question? Was the state of Oldenburg influenced by
Holland more that other German states? I noticed pics
of windmills around Ganderkesee and many names appear
to be from Holland.
Mary Zarse
Hallo Mary,
"Heurel" meens a surname ... maybe a dutch name
Joachim Ostendorf
From: Mary Zarse
To: oldenburg-l@genealogy.net
Sent: Thursday, December 21, 2006 12:18 AM
Subject: [OL] German wordsHello,
Excuse my ignorance but....
an ancestor of mine is Arend Friedrich Schuette
from Burstel. His
father was Johann Hinrich Schuette (Schulhalter).My question is: What does Schulhalter stand for?
Also, his wife was Anna Catharine geb. Oetken
Heurel 1796.
My question is: what does Heurel stand for?Maybe it's the name of the mother. Man, this gets
confusing.Mary Zarse
USA
Oldenburg-L mailing list
Oldenburg-L@genealogy.net
Oldenburg-L mailing list
Oldenburg-L@genealogy.net
If I may jump in here - Holland had lots of windmills as did other
parts of northern Germany. When there was a water stream available
they also did the water wheel thing.
You have to remember that Holland as well as Germany are relatively
new political states but the people have lived there for many, many
centuries and have a common heritage. Where Holland (or better, the
Netherlands) are today the people spoke low German and culturally
there wasn't much difference between the people living along the North
Sea coastline. They all shared the same wind. 
Still, windmills were already in use along the coast in the 14th
century. These early mills had to be manually turned toward the wind.
The real development over the centuries over earlier middle Eastern
mills was the continuous technology improvement of the sails. This was
a roughly 500 year development cycle and then came motorized mills.
I've read up a little on early mills because my name may have it's
origin in the job of keeping the mill turned to the wind. As the wind
shifted the wooden rump of the mill had to be turned. Normally this
was a large chuck of a tree and a part of it's root - sort of like an
L which could be turned. The English also called this a tailpole or
tiller beam but an older word goes back the rump of a tree, the Rumpf
in German. The miller and the rumper typically lived in the mill which
had several floors for the various milling functions and living
quarters. We find the name Rump and various versions thereof in areas
where mills existed over time. I have a feeling the name stuck to some
of the people who worked the mill just as Miller/Müller has become
such a popular name.
BTW there is evidence of early windmills in 12th century England. The
mills listed in the earlier doomsday book were probably animal or
water driven mills. It took a bit more technology to get the sails
moving up top. See
http://www.building-history.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Buildings/Mills.htm
for sources in English.
To sum up, while Holland has many picturesque windmills, so does
Germany. In the north many a village has saved one or more of their
old windmills as historical artifacts to remind people of what used to
be. Without a mill no one would have been able to survive. The grain
was ground to flower and the baker then produced te bread which people
ate to live on. There must have been thousands upon thousands of them
all over the place.
Fred
Thank you, Fred. That's most fascinating.
There must also have been windmills farther south, too�in Spain. Wasn't
Don Quixote fighting with windmills at one point?
Marilyn
Of course but we were discussing Holland and Oldenburg. You could walk
from one to the other. It was only a day's walk across some land held
by Hannover to get to the Netherlands.
In any case, windmills started in early on the middle east especially
present day Iran.
The windmills in Spain are different from those we find in northern
Europe. They are solid building made out of stone. I've travelled the
area and could well imagine the road to La Mancha with the mills
sitting high in the hills. It doesn't take much imagination to have
you want to ride against them. 
Cervantes first published that
story in 1605 and it talks about an earlier time. So windmills were
around in Spain early on for sure too.
Fred
Fred
You're right, Fred. Things are soooo close there. I was in touch with a
distant cousin a while back. He had taken a bus load of cousins from
Holland to the Osnabruck area. He said "it's only a couple of hours
away." I was amazed. I always tend to think of Europe as a bigger area
than it is.
Your study of windmills sounds like fun. You should write a book.
My hubby reminds me that the later development of the extra wheel to keep
the bigger blades pointed into the wind is much the same principle as used
on helicopters.
Marilyn
You're right, Fred. Things are soooo close there. I was in touch with a
distant cousin a while back. He had taken a bus load of cousins from
Holland to the Osnabruck area. He said "it's only a couple of hours
away." I was amazed. I always tend to think of Europe as a bigger area
than it is.
Europe itself isn't all that small but think of the countries like our
states and then it falls into place.
Your study of windmills sounds like fun. You should write a book.
I really only wondered about the origin of my name. It's kind of fun
poking around in really early times but nothing is ever sure as there
are few records. On the other hand I should write a book, many books -
but first and foremost is that long promised family chronic.
Frohe Weihnachten to one and all.
Fred
PS my daughter just called from the airport after undergoing
"security". She says it's hair-raising with the plastic baggies and
everything else. My whole family will be together this Christmas for
the first time in many years. I wonder if it's worth the hassle but
it's my Christmas present.
I drop just in the discussion
About windmills some facts:
It's not a Dutch invention
First time mentioned in written history is in Sijistan (partly in Iran ) between 800 and 900 AC, in Great Brittan in 838, in Ireland somewhat later. In Holland in 1240, in Germany around Koln in 1222.
In essence there no difference between windmills from the Mediterran� and the North European windmills, only some technological improvements.
It's supposed that windmills arrived from France and from Rheinland into Holland. Looking to the words used in Holland for part of the windmills there is a connection between the German and Dutch words more then between English of French.
I attached a part of the mill dictionary. See number 3105: body. Specially for Fred.
Paul
I drop just in the discussion
You missed my earlier posts were I pretty much said what you say.
Fred
>
I attached a part of the mill dictionary. See number 3105: body. Specially
for Fred.
Attachments aren't permitted in the mail list and it didn't arrive.
Fred