Hi Rich
You are so right to say that the Stuckenborgs are from Bakum , but having said that do NOT forget to look in SPREDA and LANGFOERDEN ,two tiny places only a stone throw from Bakum .
Joergen zum Stuckenborg was Godfather to Henrich Joergen Alers born 14 Feb 1670 . Jurg Henrich Stuckenborg was also Godfather to Johannes Henricus Alers born in 1702 ,son of Johan Alers and Anna Margaretha Deels who married in Spreda ,the Deels girl clearly being born in Bakum though Johan is likely to be of Visbek origin . What has that got to do with my Stuckenborg heritage ,you might ask ?
Like you I was getting absolutely nowhere with LDS Sankt Georg Church records in Vechta ,I repeat absolutely nowhere .
Then I weas extraordinarily fortunate in meeting a local ,(email wise ) Monika Thoelking ,who happened to also be looking for the same Ahlers forefathers as I was. She went to the Church records in Langfoerden ,because her ancestry was from Spreda . If you have ever been in Hungary and stood on the bridge over the Danube ,you will see Buda on one side and the city of Pest on the other .....Spreda and Langfoerden are a bit like that also ..Suffice to say that a multitude of Alers /Ahlers family simply "fell out of the woodwork" by the droves ...
What is more your Joergen and a good number of other Bakum church goers were Godparents NOT ONLY to Bakum Alers family members ,BUT ALSO to Langfoerden Ahlers family members ......which established that the Langfoerden crowd was one and the same as the Bakum family . Now church politics comes into play . Langfoerden church appears at least administratively to be part of St Georg Vechta Church ,but Bakum is NOT .
My other forefathers the Voet family were farmers in Bahlen as early as 1395 and still are farmers there . BUT their paddocks ,which are just about in Dinklage are the boundary of the Lohne parish ....Hence the Voets appear to have been obliged to attend Lohne church even when Dinklage is next door . I believe it is associated to old taxing of land rights enjoyed by some of the Churches ,perhaps as successors to former abbeys . THe 1703 census of Vechta landkreiss puts my forefather Henrich and bride Anna Voet plus his two daughters and son Henrich in Langfoerden as hausmann to the Klaene family and Berndt ,his Bakum cousin in the same place as hausmann to the Herbers family both in Vechta ecclesiastical territory ..... I would never have suspected that by looking just at the LDS Vechta records . Vechta Ancestors according to them I have not...In fact I got them by the dozen !
Mechthilde Judith Stukenborg born 1670-80 ,married Casparus Deels from Bakum on 12 Jan 1700 Casparus Deels was first cousin to both wives of Johan Alers , Anna Margaretha Deels married in Spreda 1699 and Anna Catharina Deels married in Bakum 1702-03 .It must therefore follow that Mechthilde and Joergen Henrich are family for had it not beem for Mechthildes marriage to the Deels boy ,it would be reasonable to assume that Johan Alers and Anna Margaretha Deels would not have asked him to be Godfather . That in those days was very much a family affair .
Now Rich ,I knew absolutely nothing about anything in this email to you until Monika saearched the Langfoerden church records ,supposedly belonging to St Georg and long lost relatives started to fall out of the cupboard ...
I hope this helps and encourages you . Welcome to our clan ...
Henk Aalders Hervey Bay ,Qld, Aus
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