Hello Nancy,
no problem with English for me. Thank you very much for having made the
contact.
Yes, I am interested in all of the Wilkings from the area.
Let me explain this: I married into this family (in Germany since 1976 you
may now choose which surname of either wife or husband you want to take for
the new family), my wife has not many relatives from the Wilking side, but
two cousins migrated in the 1970s to the USA and Argentina. We are now
invited to a marriage in Austin,TX in September and want to provide the
young couple with some family history from the old ages.
All we have got is a bad copy from a handwritten letter one Franz Wilking
from Hannover wrote to a dutch member of the Wilkings (Carl Wilking) about
1980.
It is rather exhaustive, yet still lets open many questions. I try to fill
these gaps. As I am in my office now, I can't send you the list I've
prepared, it is on my home PC, I'll send it asap. This list goes back to
about 1622, when Ber(e)nd Wilking was born.
There must have been at least two families Wilking in the
Wildeshausen/Vechta area, with no relation according to Franz Wilking. I
would like to try to paint a fuuler picture of the family tree, but I am
lacking the whereabouts of many descendants during the 17th, 18th and mainly
the 19th century. We have the complete lineage back to Bernd in 1622 but
without being able to look to other branches (For the 17th c look to my
replies to Otto Felschen).
Therefore I am very glad for your kind offer to look some people up for me.
First I would like to consult my papers, then I'll be able to pose some
specific questions.
But your short remarks together with a mail I received yesterday help me to
clear up part of the mess in the 19th century: Taking up a widow's name
evidently was fairly normal when you took over the farm, too (Can some
historians join this debate with scientific evidence??). It happened twice
with the Wilking name in consecutive generations. First were the case you
mentioned, then the eldest son of Johanna Maria Gertrud, née Langeland ,
Arnold Anton Wilking, marries Franziska Antonette Sophia Zurborg. They have
6 children and after A.A. death, she married Johan(n) Scheele who takes the
name Wilking and they had four more children, their descendants still worked
the Farm in Telbrake in the 1980s.
So, except Anna Maria Katharina (whom I did not have on my list), JMG
Wilking had a son: Arnold Anton (13. August 1815 - 8. Dec. 1858) and,
possibly, another daughter: Maria Anna Dominika, * 23. Dec. 1813 who married
in 1838 Johann Heinr. Windhaus.
I must close for now, thanks again.
Rainer