Hi Fred
I just did a google search on the soc.genealogy.german newsgroup for
Oldenburg and got an education. And ran into some stuff from you and
saw your location in Beverly, NJ. I lived near to you, in Delran, in
the 1980s while working for CSC in Delran and Moorestown. What I
gathered from the newsgroup ismy Oldenburg ancestors might have
fearedthey might soon be in the middle of a war and the US, having
just been thru one, looked much more hopeful.
I actually now live in Naples, FL but still have the old homestead in Beverly.
May I say that escape from military service is mostly something created by the
descendants to find a reason for the emigration of their family. Mostly people left
because they wanted something better then they had, namely to get land and
freedom. Opportunity for their children also ranked high on the list.
I have a line thru my mother, they usuallyspell it Ahrens but I've
seen other spellings such as Arns and Ahrends, which as well as I can
trace it, goes back to Oldenburg - the one in Germany between Denmark
and Holland. My oldest record for them is from the book Germansto
America by Glazier and Filby. In it I founda manifest showing
themonthe liner America from Bremen arriving in New York in April
1869. The manifest lists the mother, Gertina (aka Gertine) Ahrens,
andfour childrenMary,John, Adv. and Emil. They are shown asfrom
Oldenburg. The father is not with them and we assume he was already in
the US. I have not found them in the 1870 US Census butin the US 1880
census their daughter is gone (she married earlier that year) but the
restare in Sterling, Whiteside, Illinois with ages 54, 47, 18, 15 and
13. The father's Christian name is Arernd H. aka Ahrend.Great-great
grandmother Ahrens left no document we know of giving her maiden name
butsome of my mother's cousinssay they know it sounds like Zoerker,
Zorker or Soker or Tsoker. I have fairly well traced them since 1880.
I have some marriage records for Mary, John and Amos (aka Emil).
John'sIllinois marriage license, dated 12/01/1884, is most interesting
because itgives his place of birth as Jeven Germany.It also gives
hismothers name as Gertina Soker and his age as 23. On Eimel's
marriage return he signs it as Amos B Ahrens. I guess the ships
manifest mixed up the boy's names.
ok, it's a long story but the most imortannt word is Jever, not Jeven. Jever was a
principality, in German it was the Herrschaft Jever. It was an early Frisian
settlement. In 1575 it fell from the principality of East Frisia to Oldenburg via an
inheritance situation. The Oldenburg line died out in 1667 and the place fell to
Anhalt-Zerbst and through it to Russia. It was only 6 sq miles big and in 1818 Czar
Alexander I. gave it back to his relatives who ruled Oldenburg as grand dukes. It
stayed as a part of Oldenburg until the state of Lower Saxony was established after
the wat in 1946.
For a little more background in 1815 17,000 people made up the population of the
Herrschaft Jever with 3407 houses.
I will post this response to the oldenburg-l list which you should join to learn more
and ask questions there. You join by sending the word subscribe to
oldenburg-L-request@genealogy.net
Around 1800 Jever had a number of Kirchspiele or parishes and your ancestors
could come from any one of them. Assume when they said Jever that they meant to
area not the city. Things did not change much from 1800 to the 1860s.
Here is a list of the villages which you need to consider:
Clevens
Heppens
Hohenkirchen
Jever, city
Jever, surrounding with Glockenschlag
Middoge
Minsen
Neuende
Oldorf
Pakens
Sande with Overahm
Sandel
St Jost
Schortens
Sillenstede
Tettens
Waddeswarden
Wangerooge (island)
Wetsrum
Wiarden
Wiefels
Wüppels
Of course there remains the question of what went on before they came
to the US. One of my mother's cousins went to Germany several years
ago anddid not find any records but did find lots of Ahrens in the
county of Oldenburg and a palatial homereferred to as the Ahrens
Castle. He has noevidence that it is connected to our Ahrens. I
understand Ahrens is derived from a German word for Eagle.
I wonder where they looked. The German word for eagle is Adler and Ahrens is not
associated with it. The root for Adler goes back to MHG Edelaar or adel-ar[e].
Your name is a patronimica coming from the given name Arndt which is short for
Arnold. The surmane is very common in northern Germany especially around
Hamburg.
If there is an Ahrends castle, I wouldn't worry about it. Such fiolks normally did not
emigrate.
So, this is an awful long note leading to this -What would youdo if
you were in such a state of ignorance but desiring to improve the
situation?Thank you very much.
RobertCooper
Sign on the list as soon as possible and look for other possible responses to this
note.
Hope that helped a little.
Fred
26 Warren St.
Beverly, NJ 08010
FredRump@earthlink.net
609-386-6846
215-205-2841 (cell)