I have this information regarding the Heckmann family crest.
It
states that the surname Heckman is of two distinct origins. Firstly,
it may be the dwelling place or locality where the original bearer
once lived or held land. In this instance, the name is derived from
the Old High German "hag" meaning "protect, feeling protected, a
gate." By extention therefore, Heckman means "One who dwells near the
village hedge or gate"
I would not worry too much as to the meaning of the name as the origins are often
lost in transliteration and changes of meaning but for what it's worth the -mann
ending is quite common and means nothing but the man; the tall man, the tailor
man, the one living near the woods etc etc. In this case it is the one who is living
near the hedge, ie the edge of the village. Most villages had protective ditches and
hedges at its periphery and he obviously lived near one. This means that there are
many Heckmann families who have nothing to do with each other except for the fact
that they all lived near a hedge. The word for hedge is Hecke.
Now, this particular Heckmann name from Hagstette is quite old and it is one of the
original farmsteads (there's that word -stette) of Visbeck. Visbeck itself happens to
be one of the oldest mother parishes in northern Germany. In the
Schatzungsregister (value or property registration) of 1549 we already find a Johan
Heckman with his wife Grete und a son Gerdth. Back then the description for the
place was 'Buschop Hagestede im Kerspell Visbeck'. Names were still somewhat
fluid back then but the Heckman name survived to this day. Back then there were
three other Heckman families in the Amt Vechta. Elmeloe had Wessel H. with wife
Anna and in the same house Diderick H. with wife Tale and two children Mencke
and Grethe. This was in the Bakum parish. Then there was Grete Heckman listed
under the paupers in the village of Visbeck itself.
The Heckmann farm in Hagstette was called an oldenburger Vollerbe but a münster
Halberbe. The following were münster Ganzerben (the oldest and biggest farms):
Wente, Rieske, Siemer, Thole, Tabeling, Freese, Reinke, Thessen and Hannöver.
Besides Heckmann, Ripke was in identical status.
Per Paggenstert in 1908 Heckmann was 42 Hectares big. Earliest records show
Johann H. in 1545, Gerd H. in 1568, The farm belonged to the rulers of Münster and
had to pay its tithe (10th) to the church in Visbeck. A variety of duties and payments
went with the farm. I won't list them all but the death tax in 1696 was 36 Taler for
J.H., in 1724 23 Thaler, in 1763 30 Thaler for H. H. and his wife Margarethe
Engelmann, in 1793 J. H. H. it was 45 Thaler and in 1831 for J. H. H and wife Anna
Maria Gerdes the amount was not listed. In 1845 there was also a difficulty in
arriving at the proper tax.
It should be obvious that with each inheritance there were children who could not
obtain the farm as such property was nit divisible by law. These offspring would
wind up as farm workers (Gesinde) or, if they were to marry, as Heuerleute on
someone else's farm.
I noticed on the St. Vitus stuff I have, it refers to Heuerleute
in Hagstette. Heuerleute I take means that he works on someone else's farm
Hag is explained in the paragraph above.
Stette, has stumped me. What does it refer to? Is this in reference
to a specific town? Or in this case, the edge of Visbek?
Hagstedte (or Hagstette) is a Bauerschaft (group of farms) in the Amt Vechta and
part of the Kirchspiel (parish) Visbeck. This entailed about 15 old farms (1749)
where Kolons or Zeller were the owners. In 1815 238 people lived there in 40
Feuerstellen (Fireplaces). The 1815 Staatskalender does not give individual counts
of who was who but on a total basis in the parish there were 441 fireplaces of which
312 were occupied by Heuerleute. The percentage should be close for Hagstette
too. Today Hagstette has a population of about 550. The word Hag used to mean a
fenced-in field of some kind. Again this typically would have been surrounded by a
ditch with bushes as a border.
Fred
26 Warren St.
Beverly, NJ 08010
FredRump@earthlink.net
609-386-6846
215-205-2841 (cell)