Hello Everyone:
I posted the following messages last December when I first signed on to this list. I am re-posting now in the hope that someone might be able to provide me with some new ideas. Any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.
I am having trouble determining where my 4-g grandfather was born. His name is Georg Friederich Mauerhoff (also spelled more recently as Maurhoff). I have found his marriage (on 25 FEB 1768 to Dorothea Margaretha Harnack in Hannover) and death (on 18 OCT 1817 in Hannover at age 77 yrs. 10 mos.) records, and baptismal records for his children (all in Hannover). I have checked all churches in and around Hannover which had records for the possible years of his birth and have found nothing. He was an Uhrmacher, as were two of his sons (August Friederich, my 3-g grandfather, and Johann Diedrich Ludwig who moved to Celle). Georg Friederich had a high position in the Reformed Church -- he was a sponsor for Johann Diedrich's first son, and was described as "Varsteher der reform Gemeinde Hannover." Church records I found for the family were from Lutheran churches in Hannover. Unfortunately, the records for the Reformed church cover only a narrow period in the mid-19th century. I thought I could write the church and ask them if they could check their records. Does anyone know how I could do that ? Would they have an e-mail address ? I also thought that maybe there might be an obituary on Georg Friederich's death in the paper at the time. Does anyone know how I would go about finding out if there were papers in Hannover at the time, and if any of them might contain an obituary ?
Additional info: Johann Diedrich was also a church elder in the Reformed church in Celle. In researching the Maurhoff name and spelling variants I discovered the name "Mohrhoff" in the Hannover area. In Georg Friederich's marriage record his name was spelled in this way. I thought that might mean that he was from outside the area, as the Pastor was more familiar with the Mohrhoff name than his. Also in my research I discovered several Maurhoff families in Ostpreussen (Darkhemen church records). The name begins in the 1780s, although could be earlier as the earlier films are barely readable. Does anyone know how I could contact either an archives or the church itself ? This area is now Ozersk, Russia.
Any ideas anyone has on helping me track down Georg Friederich's place of birth would be greatly appreciated. Also, any info on the Maurhoff name would be appreciated as I'm sure they're all related to me, one way or another.
I'm also trying to find out more info on my mother's maternal grandmother, Caroline Dorothea Maria Steinkemeyer. She was born on 23 March 1848. According to her marriage record she was born in Vorberg (Hannover), which I'm told may be a small hamlet in the jurisdiction of the village of Hoyerhagen. Unfortunately there are no records for this village on microfilm. Is anyone familiar with this village, and would know if I can write or e-mail the church there ? A couple of years ago I found the passenger list record for her family when they came to the US. They arrived in the US on 28 JAN 1864 in NY from Bremen. The following info was on the passenger list:
Friedrich Steinkemeyer 41 yrs 8 mos Farmer Hannover
Marie " 29 9
Dorothea " 15 9
Sophia " 0 4
Dorothea would be my great-grandmother. Due to the ages, I believe Marie to be Friedrich's second wife and not Dorothea's mother.
If anyone has any ideas on how I could find out more about the Steinkemeyer name and/or my great-grandmother, please let me know.
Paul N. Woessner
P.S. I will be spending the first week of December at the Family History Library in SLC.