Maurhoff and Steinkemeyer

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.

Hello Paul,

           The Vorberg you refer to is a very small village west of Hoya and
south of Hoyerhagen. There is a census of names in Hoya:

       Ahnenforschung inspiriert und zeigt neue Qualitäten, die in dir stecken
      There are no Steinkemeyers listed there, but there is a Steinmeyer.
There are people at that website that could probably help you. They may
know if those from Vorburg would have gone to church in Hoya or Hoyerhagen.

       There is another Vorberg just north of Schwanewede - There are LDS
records for that city.
        
        Paul, I probably wrote the same thing to you before- no?
        Did I tell you the following?

       The emigration archives from Hannover list this:

        Steinkemeier, Heinrich Friedrich from Burgwedel (which is northeast
of the city of Hannover). There are some LDS records for Burgwedel. The
spelling of meier and meyer are interchangeable. I have Gügelmeyer
ancestors that interchanged that -meyer to -meier all the time.

      The German telephone book has NO listings for Steinkemeyer. However,
there are listings for Steinkemeier:
Steinkemeier Bernd
              Elfter Str. 2 32479 Hille 05734 27 10
Steinkemeier Friedrich
              Untere Wiesenstr. 39 32120 Hiddenhausen 05221 6 58 02
Steinkemeier Horst
        [1.... Berlin] 030 6 24 93 26
Steinkemeier Klaus
               Burgstr. 14 45289 Essen 0201 57 15 95
Steinkemeier Reinhold Land...
                Elfter Str. 2 32479 Hille 05734 75 02
Steinkemeier Volker
                Luinendecker 21 32139 Spenge 05225 79 02 78
    
       Hill, Hiddenhausen, and Spenge are 3 cities to the east of the city
of Osnabrück. There is more than one Essen and I'm not sure which is the
one on this list. Obviously, Berlin was never in Hannover. You could try
contacting any of those people.

      You certainly have worked hard. This chasing down of dead relatives is
indeed a strange hobby!!

Good luck
Barbara

Dear Paul and Listers,

I wonder if 'hoff' in Maurhoff refers to a farm?

Wonder if there is a tiny little villiage called Mohrhoff?

Barbie-Lew
St. Louis

Hello Paul,

"Paul N. Woessner" <paul.n.woessner@verizon.net> schrieb:

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 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 ?

The website of the Reformed Church in Hannover is: www.reformiert-hannover.de ,
the E-mail address is: hannover@reformiert.de

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.

Also, any info on the Maurhoff name would be appreciated

In the German telephone directory are no MAURHOF, 5 MAURHOFF (all in the south of Germany), 10 MAUERHOF and 60 MAUERHOFF (scattered over whole Germany), 15 MOHRHOF (in Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg) and 75 MOHRHOFF (above all in the Hannover - Minden area).

In the marriage records of the Calenberger Land (area around Hannover) I have found in 1703 a marriage of an Anthon MOHRHOFF in Grossgoltern (about 20 km west of the city of Hannover). His father was a blacksmith in Harenberg (about 5 km west of Hannover). That's the only marriage in the period 1701-1750 with a name like MOHRHOF(F) or MAU(E)RHOF(F). Also in the period from the beginning of church records until 1700 there are several marriages in this area with the name MOHRHOFF and similar, but no with MAU(E)RHOF(F).

Regards

Wilfried (Petersen) , Germany

Paul,

      You might look at this website - there are several Mohrhoffs listed
with the names you mention. You probably know that Jürgen is another name
for George. Maybe you could write the person who posted this family.

Good luck,
Barbara

"Paul N. Woessner" <paul.n.woessner@verizon.net> schrieb:

Hello Paul,

unfortunately in my E-mail yesterday I have forgotten the spellings MORHOF and MORHOFF.
In the german telephone directory are 8 MORHOFF but no MORHOF.

In the marriage records mentioned yesterday there are several marriages with this spellings in the period 1701-1750, but none in the earlier time.

Regards

Wilfried (Petersen)