Thole family
Hi Mr Thole .
Are you ready for real old times?
My forefather Alerdt lived from 770-799AD He farmed 85 ha at the
Hogenboegen (Community ? ) farm 1.2 km from Visbek his neighbours were
Meijer, JanLuers, 31ha , Tole to Boghen 42 ha ,Dirich Arendes forefather of
the Borchers family and Hinrich to Bogen . That was the then entire
Varnhuesen community . Dr Clemens Pagenstert quotes this farming community
in AD1000 in his 1908 book about farming families of the region . Since this
group was there in 1000 and in 1200 and in 1395 ,there is no reason to
disbelief that they were NOT around in the 770 to 800 era ,when Charlemagne
(with his sword) brought Boniface ,a Beneduictine monk who proved that
Jesus of Nazareth ,who lives "in the sky" was mightier than the Oak tree
worshipped by our forefathers ,chopped it down , and hence they became the
first christians of W Europe save for France and land below . The
neighbouring Friesians took rather a dim view of Boniface 's action and they
hacked him to death , proving that Religion is and was always a touchy
subject ,even then !!!
Thole family members actually recorded as taxpayers to the Catholic abbey
on Land records are Tole to Boghen 1501 Dirich Tole in 1545 and Johann Tolen
in 1568 ,though Prof Pagenstert asserts that these farms were then family
possessions and Thole ,Meijer and Alerdt being "Zinnspflichtige"" meaning
that they had an "inheritable right "to pay tax to the abbott ". If your
family history runs paralel to mine ,it took Thole and Alerdt 1100 years to
repay the church for Land and obtain title to property which was
indisputably theirs before the new monks convinced the farmers that they
needed no land to pass on since live on earth was temporal and preparatory
to heavenly life ..and that their l;and ought to go to the new God's
representatives , who they had only just met . It took them all that time
apparently to come to the conclusion that they "" had been had ."
Like you , my landless dispossessed family members because of rank of birth
remained largely in the Visbek ,Spreda,Langfoerden and Bakum areas with
those venturing "as far afield "as Lohne ,south of Vechta as real
adventurers .They had some 1000 years to achieve this . They were clearly
closely knit for I count a number of Meijers,Thole's JanLuers,Toenjes and
Borchers spouses among Alerdts descendants ,the Alers or Ahlers or Aleress
of Bakum,Spreda,Langfoerden ,Varnhorn ,Visbek ,Erlte, Hogenboegen and later
Vechta .
Kind regards
Henk Aalders descendant of Henrich Ahlers, 1655-1722 (father of Henrich
the Hollandgaenger).
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