My ancestors come from Bramel (Schiffdorf). The church record goes
back to 1698. Are there any reliable (ancestor) records for this area
before 1698? Land records?
My ancestors come from Bramel (Schiffdorf). The church record goes
back to 1698. Are there any reliable (ancestor) records for this area
before 1698? Land records?
Tom,
If Bramel (Schiffdorf) is similar to the parishes 15-20 miles (24-32 km) to
the east (Lamstedt, Oerel, Oldendorf, Selsingen), there are two types of
earlier records, militia muster records and tax records. These records are
not very thorough. For example, the militia records would never mention
women. This may be true for the tax records too. The records were also not
taken at regular intervals. At best, they might help extend a male branch
of your family tree back one or two generations.
I myself have never seen either type of record. I have only heard of them
through distant cousins in Germany. In some cases, they might give a last
name only. For example, a tax record from 1525 states that there was a Buck
farm in the village of Dornsode in the parish of Lamstedt and another Buck
farm in the village of Hude in the parish of Oldendorf. No first names,
just the last names. This was important to me because it means than my
father's Buck line in Dornsode and my mother's Buck line in Hude, both of
who I can trace back to the early 1600's, were living in those villages in
1525. My parent's Buck lines could only connect earlier in time. (Dornsode
and Hude are only 8 miles/12.8 km apart, so it is very possible that they
could connect.)
The muster and tax records I know about are part of the collect in the
Niedersachsen branch archives in Stade. The records for Bramel and
Schiffdorf may be located there too.
Fred Buck
Cincinnati, Ohio