by MARTIN HOLZ
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s a little surprise for you I have summarized the last eighty years before the emigration of the Vörding and
Janning ancestors in the year 1851. It's my intention to tell you about the owners of the first house Vörding, the
professions of its inhabitants and about a document which I found by chance in the possession of an acquaintance.
On 23rd May 1770 Albert Klostermann, born in Osterwick in 1724,
and his wife Gertrud Hummers bought the little house Dorf No. 60 behind our old village church for
150 Reichstaler from the Erbdroste Vischering of Darfeld. As an independent cobbler with his own agricultural
products he was the breadwinner of his family. Married with three children, his son Albert, born in 1755, inherited
the parental home. The latter married Anna Maria Grimmels from Groß Reken, 23 km from Osterwick, on
19th June 1779. They had four children. Albert was a shoemaker like his father with an own business and produced
his own agricultural goods. One of the sons, born in 1784, became a cobbler, like his father and grandfather; this third
Albert later inherited the parental home. His brother Joan Henrich, born in 1780, worked in the parental workshop,
too. He must have cared very much for his parents, Albert Klostermann and his wife Anna Maria Grimmels,
who in a contract attested by a notary on 6th February 1807 assured him of the right of dwelling in their house for
life; this happened a day before their son Albert married.
Albert, the heir, married, on 7th February 1807, Maria Janning,
who was born in Wettringen, Dorfbauerschaft No. 46a, 27 km from Osterwick, on 18th September 1776.
Their four children all died at a tender age. For this reason the couple agreed in a testamentary contract of
10th February 1832 that their twelve-year-old niece Maria Anna Janning,
born in Wettringen in the same small half-timbered house as her aunt should take over the house in Osterwick, Dorf No. 60.
We may suppose that Heinrich Vörding, born in 1818, worked as a
journeyman with the Klostermanns and fell in love with Maria Anna Janning.
After the death of the 58-year-old Albert Klostermann on 1st October 1842 Heinrich Vörding, her financé, became
co-owner of the house Dorf No. 60 by a contract of 15th December 1842, half a year before their marriage.
Maria Klostermann reserved the right of dwelling there for life. At the age of 25 cobbler Heinrich Vörding
married 23-year-old Maria Anna Janning on 19th May 1843.
They had eight children of whom three were born in Osterwick, five in America. The bachelor brother of the late
father-in-law Joan Heinrich Klostermann helped Heinrich Vörding
in the workshop and in the fields. After the mother-in-law had died on 8th February 1848 at the age of 72, her
contract was finished. Now Joan Heinrich Klostermann's contract was the only obstacle for emigration.
After two years of preparing emigration the course was eventually set in May 1851. The estate was sold to six different
buyers at a price of 710 Taler. The house was sold for 221 Taler on the 22nd May 1851. On the same day
the problem of Joan Heinrich Vörding's right of living here permanently was at last solved. Joan Heinrich
was over 70 years than. The document, discovered some time ago, read:
The following persons have appeared at the notary's:Neighbour Heinrich Mersmann agreed to accomodate Heinrich Klostermann until the end of his life, caring for his daily needs in good and bad days. In return Heinrich Mersmann received an eight-year-old Frisian cow, a complete bed that had been Heinrich Klostermann's possession on house Dorf No. 60, and a pig from Heinrich Vörding's pigsty, also a permanent seat at the west side of the church. Heinrich Vörding transferred the rights of his rented fields to Heinrich Mersmann. Moreover he paid him 85 Taler. Heinrich Klostermann was then adopted by the Mersmann family, Dorf No. 63, on 1st June 1851. Eventually the way to America was smoothed for Heinrich Vörding's
family of four. The emigration date must be between 22nd May and 1st June 1851. Certainly the 931 Taler
from the sellings of the property, deducted possible debts, were an effective aid for a good start in America. A ship's
passage at that time cost 17 Taler.
Heinrich Klostermann was in the care of the Mersmann family for only
three and a half years. He died on 21st November 1854 at the age of 74. He was the last member of the Klostermann
family in Osterwick.
I hope there will be more remarkable coincidences to find further document
about our ancestors. Our gift to you all is our permanent attempt to find all the roots of the Janning family in
Wettringen and my promise that I will always be on the alert as the archivist of Rosendahl to find and analyse any
further information concerning our clan history.
Affectionately yours,
Martin Holz
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