Hello Lorimer,
I have listed below some of the research you can
do, however as you did not give your ancestor's
religion, I have only checked the Uchte
Evangelisch-Lutherische details, if you need the
Catholic details please contact me again.
You will find a list of parish registers of the
Evangelisch-Lutherische Landeskirche Hannover at
On the opening page you will see "Sprengel (area)
Calenberg-Hoya", scroll down until you see Church
district Stolzenau click on this, another page
will open giving the details for each parish,
these are alphabetically listed for that
district, Uchte parishes are near the bottom of
the page. Baptisms/ Marriages/ Burials
/confirmations from 1736- .... including the
years records are missing. Also people who
received Lord's Supper from 1825-....
Most of Stolzenau parish registers prior to 1853
are on microfiche, I understand these are
available in Hannover at the address below,
however if you are unable to visit yourself it
will be necessary to pay someone to carry out research on your behalf.
Kirchenbuchamt Hannover
Hildesheimer Str. 165/167
30173 Hannover
Germany
A picture of the Church and details of the
Kirchenkreis (Church districts) Stolzenau- Loccum
are at http://www.evlka.de/extern/stolzenau-loccum/kk/kk-karte.htm
other details
http://www.evlka.de/extern/stolzenau-loccum/kk/gemeinden/uchte/uchte-index.htm
You can e-mail Pastor Burkhard Meyer-Nadja at
<mailto:KG.Uchte@evlka.de>KG.Uchte@evlka.de
Ask him if he still has the church books, or if
he knows of any Kneese descendants living in his
parish that may be willing to help you with your
research. Also inquire if the Pastor might be
willing to pass on your request to someone who
can assist you. However most Pastors these days
are too busy to carry out any free research on
your behalf, especially if the church books have
been filmed and are available on public access elsewhere.
For some general and historical information on
Uchte the site below is available in English.
http://www.bbs-nienburg.de/schule/english/tourist/uchte/uchte1.htm
I do understand your position (most family
researchers are retired and with limited
incomes). However keep in mind you are not able
to obtain BDMs here in Australia for free, so do
not expect to obtain them from Germany for free.
Try and share expenses with other family members.
The LDS have filmed the duplicate Evangelische
church book for 1812 (one year only) this
contains baptisms/ marriages/burials on film
1742460 (item 2) this film is can be ordered at
your nearest Mormon Library. You may find events
for other Kneese family members on this film.
Barbara has already mentioned the LDS court
records, if you have an understanding of German
you could look at the films below.
Gerichtsakten, 1816-1858
Uchte (Kr. Stolzenau, Hannover). Amtsgericht (Main Author)
1816-1848 AKTE 23 AMTSBEZIRK UCHTE Volkszählungen
Volkszählungen 1833-1842 AKTE 26 AMT UCHTE
Volkszählungen und Wohngebäude 1845-1858 - FHL INTL Film [ 1797966 Item 2 ]
Censuses 1833-1842 DOCUMENT 26 OFFICE UCHTE
censuses and residential building 1845-1858 - FHL INTL film [1797966 Item 2
AKTE 204: AMT UCHTE MIT SCHARRINGHAUSEN, HAMME,
LOHE, BAHRENBORSTEL, HÖFEN, WOLTRINGHAUSEN,
OHLENSEHLEN, BUCHHOLZ, HOYSINGHAUSEN,
MENNINGHAUSEN, MÖRSEN, KIRCHDORF, BRUNSBERG,
LOGE, KUPPENDORF, WEHEMANN Einwohner und
Wohngebäude 1852-1858 AKTE 214: AMTSBEZIRK
DIEPENAU MIT DIEPENAU, NORDEL, ESSERN, OSTERLOH,
STEINBRINK, BOHNHORST, WARMSEN, GROßENVÖRDE,
BRÜNINGHORSTEDT, SAPPELLOH, DIEPENAU, ESSERN,
LAVELSLOH, - FHL INTL Film [ 1798022 Item 1 ]
You will also find several Kneese entries in the
Niedersachsen Archives do a name search at http://aidaonline.niedersachsen.de/
however you would have to pay the archives to
provide copies of these documents, should you
think any Kneese entries are related to your family.
My German phone book CD only has 49 entries for
Kneese, lucky for you, it is an uncommon surname.
I am sure some of these people would be
descendants or related to your family. I can send
a printout of the Kneese surnames from my CD,
please contact me off line. Otherwise check out
the details for yourself at the following site. www.dastelefonbuch.de
I suggest that you write or phone some of the
people listed and ask if anyone has carried out
any family research. They may be happy to share
their German research with you in exchange for
the Australian documentation. Only then will you
know for sure if there is any connection with the
surname "Kneese" and the town of the same name.
I would also check the "Social Security Death
Index" in America at
http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ and leave a
Post-um message against all of the 18 entries for
the surname Kneese, according to the
Niedersachsen archives several persons of that
name migrated to America. There is a good chance
some of these people are also related to your
ancestors. (leaving a message does not cost anything and you might get lucky)
Also try this map web site, I find it great to
identify the occurrence of uncommon surnames
throughout Germany today, based on the phone
directory. Geogen Deutschland (Onlinedienst) - christoph.stoepel.net
Check both the relative distribution for Knees
and the absolute map for Kneese (48 entries)
click on each colour coded area on the map for
identification of each Kreis (district name).
I hope this helps, good luck,
Elizabeth