Towns and Villages in Lippe & Westphalia, Germany Relating to The Erxmeyer Family</head>

Towns and Villages in Lippe & Westphalia, Germany Related To The Erxmeyer Family

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Erxmeyers and Related Families

My husband's paternal great grandmother was Melosine Erxmeyer. She immigrated to Hoboken, New Jersey with her mother and several siblings. Her family originally came from Maspe in Lippe, Germany. They subsequently moved to Bellersen in Westphalia before moving to Walsrode, then Bremerhaven and finally emigrating to the USA.

The church records in Germany show that the name itself evolved over time from Erich to Erichmeyer to Erxmeyer (with a variety of spellings at all stages).

Other related families were: Be[r]ckmeyer, Duvel, E[h]lert, Eykerman, Holtz and Mollenbrock. These families lived in the villages of Maspe, Belle, Istrup and Obershönhagen.

Records for the various villages were kept in Detmold, Blomberg, Horn - Bad Meinberg, Wobbel, Reelkirchen, and Brakel.

District of Lippe

The Principality of Lippe is a historical German State located between the Weser river and the southeast part of the Teutoburger Wald (Teutoburg forest) in North Rhine-Westphalia. It became a principality in 1789 when the counts of Lippe-Detmold were granted the title of "prince". It was one of the smaller states of the German Empire and remained independent during Napoleonic times. The capital of Lippe was the town of Detmold. Towns include Blomberg and Honr-Bad Meinberg.

Church records are held Lippische Landeskirche - Archiv - Leopoldstr. 27 D-32756 Detmold Fax: 05231-976850 eMail: Krika@t-online.de. Microfilm copies are available through LDS for many of the towns in Lippe.

Civil records starting in 1875 are available at Nordrhein-Westfälische Staatsarchiv in Detmold. Nordrhein-Westfälisches Staatsarchiv Detmold, Willi-Hofmann-Str. 2, D-32756 Detmold , eMail: NWStADetmold@t-online.de

See:

German Genealogy: Lippe
Lippe

Maspe, Lippe

The Erxmeyer family lived in Maspe from at least 1743. The records for the village of Maspe are in the church of the nearby village of Reelkickhen.

Major Von Friesenhausen was a sponsor to several Erxmeyer rites in the mid 1700s. The Von Freisenhausen family was in Maspe as early as 1676. They were, I believe, the local gentry.

Historisch-geographische Beschreibung der fürstlichen Lippeschen Lande By Wilhelm Gottlieb Levin von Donop, Peter Florens Weddigen, Herbert Stöwer, page 88 (Google Book)

"2. Maspe, an estate belonging to Mr. Major von Friesenhausen, which is a fief of Paderborn and "landtagsfhig" (historical political authorization). At the end of the 16th century (ca. 1590) the brothers Joachim and Christoph von Friesenhausen divided it in two parts. Joachim called his part "Oberenhof" and his male descendants stopped with Karl Levin in 1760. His sole daughter married Mr. Major von Donop zu Wöbbel, but could keep the property Oberenhof. But in the year 1789 the imperial court adjudged that the property belonged again to the family von Friesenhausen."
Translation courtesy of Jeffrey Erxmeyer January 2009

Jeffrey Erxmeyer says that what is today № 43 Delbrücker Str. Maspe was the home of the Erichsmeier family in 1776.

There was a census taken in 1776 indicating 11 homeowners in Maspe. (See Hausnummern in Maspe ) At Delbrucker str. 43 were Erichsmeier, 43, A Marie 45, 4 To. Lz Christian 74.*

In 1776 two dwellings were owned by Friesenhausen. Other names listed in 1776 were: Von Donopsches, Jurgensmeier, Schafer, Hering, Eikermann, Eickman, Schlingmann. One dwelling may have been empty as no name was listed.

By 1883 there were an additional 18 dwellings.

Lippische Familiennamen - Der Genealogische Abend Naturwissenschaftlicher und Historischer Verein fur das Land Lippe e.V lists the following families in Maspe and Tintrup in 1780: Albert, Beerhencke, Brencker, Brunsieck , Drunert, Eickermann, Eickmeier, Erichsmeier, Freese, Geise, Hering, Jurgensmeier, Kayser, Krop(p), Kuhlen , Laumann, Melchert, Meyer zu Freismissen, Micke(n), Mische, Papemeier, Plancke, Reese (vgl. Rese), Reine(c)ke, Rotemeier, Schafer, Schaper, Schlingmann, Schoning, Schroder, Spiecker, Steinkamp, Stoffel, Struchtrup, Vatthauer, Voigt, Voigtingmeie, and Wiese

Hausinschriften in Maspe #43 not posted.

*Notes:

The census indicates an Erichsmeyer born circa 1733 with a wife, A. Marie born circa 1731 and possible a Christian Erxmeier born circa 1702.
Jurgen Erichmeyer born 1743 married Anne Marie Ilsabe Berckmeyer in 1778. They lived in Maspe.
When Jurgen Erxmeyer was baptized in 1743 no place was listed. He was the son to Johann Heinrich Erxmeyer who also had Amelie Elizabeth of Joh. Heinrich Erichs of Maspe baptized in 1754 and Johann Carl of Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Erichs of Maspe baptized in 1760.
Maria Caroline Sophia of Wilhelm Erichs of Maspe 16 25 March 1763 was baptized in Reelkirchen. Sophia Louise Amalie "Erxmeyern " of Wilhelm "Erx-meyer" of Maspe and Anna Maria geb: Kusters of Belle was baptized in Reelkcichen in 1769. These are the closest baptisms dates to the census date of 1776.

Maspe May 2014, Photo Maggie Land Blanck

Maspe May 2014, Google map

Google map image showing 43 Delbrücker Str. Maspe. The older houses in the village are on the curve between Tintruper Strasse and Gutsweg.

Reelkirchen, Lippe

Reelkirchen was first mentioned in 1146 and the church was originally built around the same time. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Reelkirchen served the surrounding villages including Maspe. Reelkirchen is home to the Wasserburg schloss, a moated "castle" dating to the mid 1700s. See Wasserschloss Reelkirchen. Reelkirchen also has an old Jewish Cemetery.

The Lippische Familiennamen list of 1780 includes the name"Elert" in Reelkichen.

Hausnummern in Reelkirchen 1590/1682 included Herman Eilerts and Henrich Elert at 7 -12 Mittelstrasse 30 and Fri Elert 28, Ilsabein, 28, LZ simon Jobst 61 mit Frau A Marie 62 in 1776 at the same address.

In 1776 there were 25 houses plus the castle, the parish house, the "kuster" house and the school houes.

Photo Maggie Land Blanck, May 2014

The church in Reelkirchen.

Photo Maggie Land Blanck, May 2014

Baptismal font Reelkirchen church

Photo Maggie Land Blanck, May 2014

1,000 year old tree in graveyard at Reelkirchen church.

Monumental Trees

Hausinschriften in Reelkirchen includes one house in Reelkirchen at #12. Reelkirchen Nr. 12 (Reith, ehemals Ehlert) Mittelstraße 30. Ab 1875 Leweke, sp. Trachte, Diekmann.

DER HERR FUHRET SEINE HEILIGEN WUNDERLICH . KANST DU MICH LIEBER GOTT WUNDERLICH FUHREN SO HILFF DURCH DEINE GNADE DAS ICH DIR AUCH WUNDERLICH FOLGE. AUCH MEIN LEBEN WANN ES DIR GEFELT UM DEINENT
WILLEN IN DIE SCHANZE ZU ZUM FREUNDE BEHALTE LIEB DIEWEIL IHR VON HABE ICH DER WELT DEN 10. JULI
SCHLAGEN UND DICH ALLEIN DEN DIE WELT HAT DAS IHRE DER WELT SEIT. DARUM EUCH VON ER WELET ANNO MDCC48.
SIMON JOBST ELERT UND ANNA MARIA ELIESABETH ALBERTS M. F. H. F
1748 Simon Jobst Elert and Anna Marie Alberts.

Genealogische Daten der Erbauer: Simon Jobst Ehlert (Elers), ev., Mittelkötter in Reelkirchen, Nr. 12 [born] 27.07.1718 in Reelkirchen, [baptized] 07.08.1718 in Reelkirchen. [died] 12.07.1795 in Reelkirchen, [buried] 15.07.1795 in Reelkirchen. [married] 09.05.1738 in Reelkirchen mit Anna Maria Elisabet Albers, ev., lebte in Reelkirchen [born] 27.12.1716 (v) in Reelkirchen, - [died] 11.08.1789 in Reelkirchen. Note: Dates are European style day/month/year.

See Ehlert for more information.

Belle (Neiderbelle and Oberbelle), Lippe

Adolph Erxmeyer married Henriette Ehlert of Belle in Wöbbel, Germany in 1812. Other related families who lived in Belle were Duvel and Mollenbrock. The parish church for Belle is in Wöbbel. In 1843 Neuestes und gründlichstes alphabetisches Lexicon der sämmtlichen ... By Johann Friedrich Kratzsch listed "Belle" (s. Nieder = u. Ober Belle) Today no separate place is indicated on the map for Belle. There are designations for Oberbelle and Neiderbelle.

The list for 1780 includes Döwel and Möllenbroock in Belle. They do not list Ehlert.

House numbers for Belle in 1700 include #7 (0ld) #22 (new) Mohlenbrock - Halbspänner [half width?] - 43 houses listed. Duvel not listed.

Hausinschriften in Belle No. 11 contains the name Friedricke Mollenbrochs and the dates 1833 and 1834.

Births, marriages and deaths were records in Wöbbel parish church. Belle is in the district of Blomberg.

The Jederman cafe-restaurant in Detmold is housed in an old Belle building that was transported and rebuilt as part of the Lippisches Landesmuseum. See Jederman im Spieker. The Spieker is a half timbered house that was built in 1780/81 for Johan Wilhelm Lakemeir and Friderika Henrietta Gelhaus on their farm in Belle. Johan Wilhelm Lakemeyer was born in 1727 in Belle and baptized in Wobbel. He married Friederike Henrietta Gelhsue in 1778. He was 51 and she was 35. The building is much transformed.

See Duvel, Ehlert, Mollenbrock

Wöbbel, Lippe

The records for Oberbelle and Niederbelle (Belle) were registered in the parish of Wöbbel.

The Evangelical Church in Wöbbel is under the jurisdiction of Blomberg.

The church, first mentioned in 1231, is dedicated to John the Baptist. The lower part of the tower dates from the 12th century. There are arched windows in the tower which date to the Romanesque period (medieval 6th to 10th centuries). The nave had fallen into disrepair by the 17th century and so was reconstructed in 1699. A door on the side of the church contains the date MDCXCIX (1699).

The "castle" was built in 1690 by the Lippe court official Lewin Moritz von Donop. In 1843 the Baron von Donop of Wobbel, Westphilia had at least two sons. One was Edward Pelham Brenten von Donop.

The parish records for Wobbel in the late 1600 and early 1700s indicate three "villages": Belle, Billerbeck, and Wobbel. Based on the number of baptisms counted in 1734 and the number of confirmations listed for several years, Belle was the largest of the three villages.

The tower Wöbbel church, 2014 (Photo Maggie Land Blanck)

The castle Wöbbel, 2014 (Photo Maggie Land Blanck)

A Story and History of my Ancestors of Wöbbel, Lippe, Germany by Fred Richter - according to this web site the Duvel families were at #37, #46, and #58. The page also includes a specific section on Wöbbel.

The Lippische Familiennamen list of 1780 includes the name Düwel.

The house number list in 1830 included three listings for Duvel.

Hausinschriften in Wöbbel

See Duvel, Ehlert, Mollenbrock

Istrup, Lippe

Anne Marie Holtzn was born in Istrup circa 1788. She married Christopher Ehlert.

Lippische Familiennamen lists "Höltcken" in Istrup.

Istrup is a village in the city of Blomberg. The church records for Istrup may be in Blomberg.

Istrup was first documented in 1361. The oldest signs of human settlement include a stone ax from the Neolithic period around 4,000 BC. The village contains some beautiful old half timbered houses. The house number list includes 49 houses in 1776. There was no Holtz on the 1618/1882 list or on the 1776 list.

Einl. Jobst Höltke 59, A. Marg. 41 was listed at 18 Fruher Dorfstrasse 2 in 1776. Is this the same name?

Postcard collection Maggie Land Blanck

Istrup Uber Bad Driburg, date unknown. General view of the area .

Hausinschriften in Istrup

Blomberg, Lippe

Blomberg was founded circa 1231. A chapel was erected in 1460-1462. By 1468 in was a famous place of pilgrimage.

The Blomberg Rathouse [town hall], which was erected in 1586/87, has richly embellished gable and eaves.

Blomberg, Artist: Elias von Lennep, 1663/66, copper engraving, Castle Museum Detmold, collection Lippischen castle, towns and notables

Blomberg circa 1919 - Postcard collection of Maggie Land Blanck, 2104

Old Blomberg - Postcard collection of Maggie Land Blanck, 2104

Rathaus Blomberg circa 1906 Handbuch der bürgerlichen kunstaltertümer in Deutschland ... mit ..., Volume 1 By Heinrich Bergner

Rathaus Blomberg - Postcard collection of Maggie Land Blanck, 2104

Rathaus Blomberg - Photo Maggie Land Blanck, 2104

Blomberg Town square - Market Place - Postcard collection of Maggie Land Blanck, 2104

Blomberg Burg - Postcard collection of Maggie Land Blanck, 2104

Blomberg Burghof - Postcard collection of Maggie Land Blanck, 2104

Castle

Blomberg Kuhstrasse - Postcard collection of Maggie Land Blanck, 2104

Blomberg Am Stadtoc - Postcard collection of Maggie Land Blanck, 2104

Blomberg Am Statoc - Postcard collection of Maggie Land Blanck, 2104

The tower dates to the 15th century.

The district of Blomberg includes the villages of Istrup, Maspe and Reelkirchen (and others).

The prefecturate of Blomberg, in which is contained the citadel of Blomberg, seventeen peasantships, and the church of Cappel, Reilkircben, Wobbel and Kirchdonop.
(A New System of Geography: Part of Germany, viz. Bohemia, Moravia, Lusatia ... By Anton Friedrich Büsching, Patrick Murdoch, 1762)

Among other records "Citizen Recordings 1593-1835"
Stadtarchiv Blomberg
Marktplatz 1,
32825 Blomberg
Germany
Phone: +49 5235 2516
Fax: +49 5235 504610
d.zoremba @ blomberg-lippe.de

Archive for records for the municipalities of Istrup, Maspe, Reelkirchen and others.

Oberschönhagen

Anne Marie Ilsabein Berkmeyer daughter of N. N. (no name) Berkmeyer of Oberschönhagen born circa 1758 married J Jurgen Erxmeyer in Reelkirken in 1788.

Berckemeyer and Berkemeyer are listed as Oberschönhagen names at Lippische Familiennamen

(Map from Google)

Modern Map Showing Oberschönhagen in relationship to Maspe and Reelkirken

Photo Maggie Land Blanck, May 2014

Oberschönhagen is about seven kilometers east of the city of Detmold. The farm in this image is all we found in an area marked Oberschönhagen on our trip in May 2014. We must have missed the main event as the following web page shows several building with "house writings" in Oberschönhagen

Hausinschriften in Oberschönhagen

Lippische Familiennamen in Orten O listes the following families in Oberschönhagen (mit Fissenknick u. Hulsen); Amt: Detmold; Kirchspiele: Detmold, Cappel u. Meinberg

Arnd(t), Benkelberg; Bend(mann); Berckemeyer; Berghan(e); Berkemeyer; Bornemeyer; Bracht; Brockmann; Budde; Bünte, Dickewieth, Focke; Fritzemeyer, Gerves; Görder, Hagemeyer; Hunckemeyer, Kämper; Kottmann, Linnemann, Möllen; Möller; Montag; Müsse(n); Müßenbernd, Nolte, Oberschmidt, Reine(c)ke; Rosenbernd, Schmidt; Schöttler Tiemann, Viethmeyer; Vogt, Wehre(n); Wien(e)cke(n)

Hausinschriften in Oberschönhagen

Berckmeyer

Detmold

I believe that the records for the village of Oberschönhagen were registered in Detmold.

Detmold Lutheran Parish Church, (Photo Maggie Land Blanck, 2014)

Detmold was first mentioned in 783 when a battle between Charlemagne's troops and Saxon warriors took place nearby. The town was fortified in 1265 at the time when market rights were granted. In 1305 its population was reported at 305.

In 1550 Detmold became the residence of the Count of Lippe. The count was elevated to price in 1789. A major fire in 1574 destroyed many houses.

Postcard collection Maggie Land Blanck - July 2016

Detmold - Hermannsdenkmal

An overview of the village of Detmold with the statute of Herman the German on the top of the hill in the background. The parish church is the steeple on the right.

Postcard collection Maggie Land Blanck - July 2016

Adolfstrasse, Detmold

Adolfstrasse runs along the old city wall with houses built into the wall itself in the mid 1600s.
Historical Detmold

The town huddled around the castle and both were surrounded by walls, parapets and a moat. 1. The Castle 2. Church and market

A plaque over the main door of the church says "1564". We passed by several times during our stay in May 2014 but the church was never open. The local guide book says the building is:

"The only large building from the Middle Ages which has been preserved in its original state. The three-aisled late Gothic hall church of Westphalian design form the 14th/15th century, with a rectangular eastern quire and stately southern tower added to the front in the 16th century, was given a high Renaissance spire in 1592."

The town hall dates from 1828.

The castle has a mediavel tower and a Renaissance facade.

One of the oldest remaining half timber house in Detmold dates to 1547. Others date to 1634 and 1645.

The Principality of Lippe continued from 1468 to the end of WWI in 1918.

The village of Istrup is in the jurisdiction of Detmmold.

Horn - Bad Meinburg

The civil records for the village of Belle are in Stadt Horn-Bad Meinberg.

Horn-Bad Meinberg
Stadarchiv Horn Bad Meinberg
Tathausplatz 4
32805 Horn Bad Meinberg
website www.archives.nrw.de

District of Höxter, North Rhine-Westphalia

North Rhine-Westphalia technically includes the former principality of Lippe and the former Prussian province of Westfalen.

Bokendorf

In 1965 Bokendorf celebrated its 1,000 year anniversary.

Adolph Erxmeyer moved his family from Belle to Bellerson where he worked at Bokerhof, an estate belonging to the von Haxthausen family. Adolph's son Friedrich Wilhelm Carl Conrad was born in Belle in 1823. Adolph's son Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Jacob was born in Bellerson in 1826.

In 1828 the family was back in Belle. Adolph was listed as a tenant farmer. And then back to Bellersen as an estate manager in 1831 and 1834. The Erxmeyers stayed in Bellerson until at least the birth of Anne Marie Elizabeth in 1834.

The family subsequently moved to Hilperdingen near Walsrode where by 1845 Adolph was a Hofmeister when his son, Heinrich, married. In 1854 and in 1860 he was listed as Adolph Erxmeyer of Vorbruck.

Bökerhof:

Set amid "rolling farmland and gentle forests"* Bökerhof (located near the small village of Bökendorf near Brakel) was one of the rural estates belonging to the aristocratic von Haxthausen family. The von Haxthausens had been an important family in the area since the fourteenth century.

"Bökerhof was spacious and graced. The lovely estate and the von Haxthausen name had an illustrious history in the region around Brakel that dated back to the fourteenth century, when the family ancestors received a fiefdom of several estates from the prince-bishop of Paderborn. In earlier eras, the von Haxthausen patriarchs had administered all church and legal affairs in the region, and by the middle of the eighteenth and early into the nineteenth centuries, the house at Bökerhof became the destination of the family's Romantic literati."*

* Clever Maids: The Secret History of the Grimm Fairy Tales by Valerie Paradiz

In 1811 Wilhelm Grimm (of the Grimm fairy tale brothers) visited his friend Werner von Haxtausen at Bökerdof. Volume one of the fairy tales had already been complied. The Grimm brothers were searching for more stories for a second volume. The von Haxthausen sisters obliged them by gathering stories including "The Bremen Town Muscians".

Bökerhof was

... an important meeting place for 19th century German Romantics, attracting some of the major figures of German literature. Members of the Bökendorf Circle included Baron August (1792-1866), and his brother Werner von Haxthausen (1780-1842), Anna (1800-77), Ludowine (1794-1872) and Sophie von Haxthausen (1787-1862), the baron's nieces, Jenny (1795-1859) and Annette von Droste-Hülshoff (1797-1848) from the region of Munster as well as Jacob, Wilhelm, and Ludwig Emil Grimm, Paul Wigand, Clemens Bretano, Achim von Arnim and Hoffmann von Fallersleben.
German Fairy Tale Landscape the Storied World of the Brothers Grimm by Thomas L Johnson and E. Michael Iba

The Change in Adminstration of Bokerhof in 1825:

1825 trat August von Haxthausen die Verwaltung dann an seinen Bruder Werner ab, der in Köln aus seinem Amt als preußischer Regierungsrat ausgeschieden war. Grund war das Kölner Ereignis, die Affäre um den Kölner Erzbischof Clemens August Droste-Vischering. Es handelte sich um den Streit zwischen dem Königreich Preußen und der katholischen Kirche wegen der Mischehenfrage im beginnenden Kulturkampf. Als der Erzbischof auf der Festung Minden inhaftiert worden war, stellte sich Werner von Haxthausen zusammen mit Josef Görres in dieser Angelegenheit auf die Seite der katholischen Kirche und hinter den Erzbischof.
Translation courtesy Jeffery Erxmeyer, January 2009
[In the year 1825 the administration of the Bökerhof was no longer under August von Haxthausen, his brother Werner took over. Werner had resigned his post in Cologne at the Prussian Goverment. The reason was a political event, which is called: Kölner Ereignis (Events at Cologne). There was a conflict between the Kingdom of Prussia and the Catholic Church about the question of religious denomination of children of mixed matrimony The Archbishop of Cologne Clemens August Droste-Vischering fought against the government and was put into prison in Minden. Werner von Haxthausen was with the archbishop and lost his job in the government.]

(The web site I got this quote from is no longer up as of August 2013.)

The estate contained about 3 acres of garden.

Bökendorf, 1820 - Watercolor by Annette von Droste (In the public Domain)

Annette von Droste was a granddaughter of the Haxthausen family. She visited in 1813, 1820, and 1838.

Haus Bökerhof
Adeliges Haus nach Süden

Lithographie von P. Herle um 1837 - 1840 (Landesmuesum für Kunst und Kutlurgeschichte Münster)

The images above is from the time period that Adolph Erxmeyer worked at Börkerhof.

Postcard collection of Maggie Land Blanck, 2014

Bodingdörp (sic) aus Dreizehnlinden

Photo Maggie Land Blanck, May 2014

Bökerhof 2014

(In the public domain - Staatsbibliotek zu Berlin)

1838 von Seelhorst

This wonderful little map shows the relationship between the village of Bellersen and the estate at Bockendorf. The darker green areas show the village and the estate. The lighter green areas follow a stream that runs between the two places. The tan area between is a hill. There is a path from the village to the estate. It is 4 kilometers by the road from Bellersen to Bokenhof.

Notes from Jeffery Erxmeyer about the events in Cologne

Events at Cologne occurred in 1837, so I am surprised that Werner took over the administration 1825.

From 1815 (Wiener Kongress) most parts of middle and north Germany belonged to Prussia. This included Bökerhof

If one is parent was Catholic and the other Protestant the children were to be raised Catholic

My Note, MLB: "In 1837 the archbishop of Cologne, Clemens August von Droste-Vischering, was arrested and imprisoned for two years after a dispute over the legal status of marriages between Protestants and Roman Catholics." Wikipedia

Bellersen

Bellersen is a village in the "stadt" of Brakel, in the "Kreis" of Höxter, in the region of Ostwestfalen-Lippe.

Bellerson was first mentioned in 1015. It was one of the oldest churches in the diocese of Paderborn.

It had an inn that was a stop on an early medieval stage route.

The name of the village develops over time: Baldereshusun (1015 ), Balderinchuson ( 11 century), Belderinchuson ( 1155 ), Beldersen or Belderssen (13 to 15 century), Bellessen and Bell Bergersen (from the 16th century) .

In the 12th century there was the monastery of Corvey in Bellersen.

The Thirty Years War (1618-1648) affected Bellersen. Many of the locals left and decades later many farms were still deserted.

A new church was built in 1746.

In 1794 a fire destroyed about 65 houses in the village.

In 1845 local farmers were absolved of their obligation to pay taxes to the Barons of Haxthausen. In 1848 erlischt das Hütungsrecht der Bellerser in den von Haxthausen'schen Forsten.

Bellersen was described in the novella Judenbruche by Annette von Droste, published in 1842. See Judenbuche The Jews' Beech, Die Judenbuche, A portrait of morals in hilly Westphalia

The church dates to 1746 but the parish was one of the oldest in the diocese of Paderborn.

A plaque on the church commemorates:

Kath. Pfarrkirche St. Meinolfus
Erwähnung einer Kirche Bellersen bereits 1015. Pfarreigenschaft für 1231 belegt. Bau der jetziger Kirche 1746 bis 1749 in schtichtem Barock
Aus dem Vorgängerbau sind erhalten
- Renaissance - Taufstein
- Epitaphien von 1583 und 1587
- Turgewände zur Sakristei von 1603
- Altaraufsatz bon Heinrich Gröninger von 1610
Kirche bis 1872 Grablege der Freilherrn von Haxthausen. darunter died Groß-und Urgroßeltern der großen Dichterin Annette von Droste-Hülshoff und des bedeutenden Agrahistoikers und Rußland-Forschungsreisender August von Haxthausen (+1866)
Auf dem Friedhof um die Kirche wurde 1806 Hermann Georg Winkelhan beerdigt. dessen Lebensgeschinschte Annette von Droste-Hüshoff sur ihrer Meisternovelle "Die Judenbuche" anregte.
The church is dedicated to St. Meinolfus. There was a church in Bellerson by 1015. Parish property in 1231. The current church was constructed between 1746 and 1749 in the Baroque style. Remaining from the previous church are the Renaissance font, eptitaphs from 1583 and 1587. The arch (?) in the sacristy from 1603. Altarpiece of Heinrich Groninger from 1610.
Until 1872 it was the grave of the (freiherrn ??) von Hazthausen including the grand and great grandparents of the famous poetess Annette von Droste-Hulshoff and the significant agro-historian and Russian explorer Augustus von Haxthausen (died 1866)
In the graveyard of the church Hermann Georg Winkelhan was buried whose life story inspired the Judenbuche of Annette von Droste.

St. Meinolfus, born about 802, was the fonder of a monastery in the diocese of Paderborn.

Postcard collection of Maggie Land Blanck, 2014

Gasthof Anton Wickel

Postcard collection of Maggie Land Blanck, 2014

Bellersen

See August von Haxthauesn

Brakel

As of 1970 Brakel encompasses the villages of Bellersen and Bokendorf.

Brakel was first mentioned by Benedictine monks in 836 in connection with the transfer of the bones of St. Vitus from St. Denis, France to Corvey in Höxter. Located at the intersection of two commercial roads, by the 14th century Brakel was an important trading town with its own market rights. Commerce was carried on with communities as far aways as the Baltic Sea - coins from Brakel from the 15th century have been found in Baltic Sea towns.

Brakel was under French rule during Napoleon.

A plaque on the church at Brakel says

Kath. Pfarrkirche
St. Michael
1161 Dreischiffige Romanische Basilika [Three-nave Romanesque basilica]
1338 Gotisches Ostchor [Gothic east choir]
1683 Orgelturen Des Barockmalers [organ doors of Baroque painter Rudolphi]
Rudolphi

There is a Rathaus in Brakel.

Postcard collection of Maggie Land Blanck, 2014

Overview of the town of Brakel.

Postcard collection of Maggie Land Blanck, 2014

Marketplace and Rathaus, Brakel. The church steeple can be seen behing the Rathaus.

Hausinschriften [House Inscription]

Lippe is a part of German that is rich in the tradition of house inscriptions.

The custom of carving and painting inscriptions on the doorways and gables of half timber buildings is ancient. Originally the practice was probably used to ward off evil spirits and protect the building from malicious adversaries.

House inscriptions included: protection concerns, declarations of faith in God, blessings, eulogies, common wisdoms, mottos, proverbs of virtue and vice, historical inscriptions (including notations of wars, floods, fires, famines & epidemics), mysteries, and chronograms.

German building inscription were already very common in the 14th century.

Frequently the building were dated as documentation of the construction or alteration of the structure.

The name of the builders were often included as well as the name of the charpenter responsible for the construction.

Some buildings inscriptions included the reason for the construction or a significant event which occurred at the time of construction.

Other buildings were decorated with secular or religious sayings. Religious sayings often asked God's blessings on the house and those who dwelled in it.

Additional decorations included: flowers, stars, trees, vines, animals, hearts and religious symbols (like the cross) etc.

Abbreviations were also included with reference to religious and other subjects - IHS (for Jesus), MR (for Maria) M (for master).

Numbers were frequently written in Roman numerals or a combination of Roman and Arabic (0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) numerals. Roman numerals: I = 1, V = 5, X = 10, L = 50, C = 100, D = 500, M = 1,000)

Chronograms were also employed.

"A chronogram is a sentence or inscription in which specific letters, interpreted as numerals, stand for a particular date when rearranged. The word, meaning "time writing", derives from the Greek words chronos ("time") and gramma ("letter"). In the pure chronogram each word contains a numeral, the natural chronogram shows all numerals in the correct numerical order, e.g. AMORE MATVRITAS = MMVI = 2006.
Wikipedia
Chronogram offers this example (among others) on a building erected in 1625:
SVORGE IEHO VA V E ATQ DI SPERGE I N T IMIC OS V OS
(Arise, O Jehovah, and scatter your enemies. - A slightly modified version of Psalm 68.2)
When the numerals are added together it gives the date of the building. V + I + V + V + D + I + I + I + M + I + C + V = 1625

Alliteration, or the repetition of sounds at the beginning of closely connected words, was another common practice.

Inscriptions decorated all types of buildings: religious, public, and private houses, including barns, stables, bakehouses, etc.

The inscriptions were mainly employed on the gable. They were carved and then painted. They were written in German in Latin letters - instead of German Gothic letters. This was probably an outgrowth of the fact that in earlier times the inscriptions were written in Latin in Latin letters.

The heyday of the building inscriptions was in the 16th century.

Woodworking in general has a strong tradition in Germany.

The general construction of barns and houses was post and beam timber frame with brick or plaster inserts.

Ornamentation depended, in part, on the relative wealth of the inhabitants.

1865 Description of a Lippe Farmhouse Interior

The Sacristan's Household, a story in Saint Pauls Magazine, Volume 2 edited by Anthony Trollope discribes the interior of a Lippe farm in 1865:

The whole centre of the building is a large and lofty barn, piled high with hay and straw and store of grain. It is, too, a storehouse for farm implements, and so huge are its proportions, that a harvest waggon laden with sheaves, and drawn by three or four sturdy horses, can pass easily through the doorway, and stand beneath its ample shelter. From the barn, which entirely occupies the central length and breadth of the building, is the only possible ingress to the dwelling-house. On the right hand and on the left are doors and windows giving access to the living and sleeping rooms of the family. Nearly all tho light and air which reaches these apartments gains admission through the wide-open double doors of the barn. Nearly all the light and air; but in the special dwelling which I am endeavoring to describe there was a range of small lattice casements under the caves, into which the last low rays of the setting sun managed to penetrate. The majority of these barn-dwellings have absolutely no exterior windows whatsoever. And the existence of Farmer Lehmann's casements was by many persons considered to be rather a disadvantage than an advantage.

Farmers, Peasants and Others in Lippe-Detmold

In 1828 Lippe-Detmold had 6 market towns, 44 churches, and 12,218 houses.

Lippe is generally hilly with large expanses of beautiful and rich forests filled with oak, beech, pine and birch trees. In the south west the Teutoburg Wald separates the basins of the Rhine and Wesser rivers.

The climate is considered mild and agreeable. The valleys contain good amounts of arable land which was the home to numerous small, but prosperous, peasant farmers. Despite the use of ancient farming techniques and machinery the Lippe peasant farmer as a class was relatively well to do.

In fact, the land belonged to the nobility and was leased to tenant farmers. The tenant farmer was strongly adverse to the division of farms and many farms stayed in the hands of one family for many generations. Families tended to be relatively small and not all the children married. Much farm work was done by laborers.

Farms were clustered together in hamlets. The building generally were half timber with brick filling. The eaves of the roof came down low on the sides of the houses and the gable front generally faced the street. The vast high gable was frequently decorated. Roofs had once been of thatch but by 1865 were often of red tile. A large doorway in the middle of the face of the building could accommodate a team of houses pulling a wagon. The doorway led into the hugh space of a large and lofty barn. The barn housed hay storage, animal stalls, and storage for farm equipment. The center of the barn floor was used for threshing. The families quarters were at one end of the building furthest from the street.

Some farms consisted of several buildings - which could include separate (or additional barns), sheds of various types, bakehouses. Bakehouse were generally separate from the main building due to the danger of fire.

The Lippe farmer kept: horned cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, bees, fowl (geese, chickens, & ducks). In addition to the animals raised for meat, milk butter and cheese, hunting for rabbit, venison, boar, and other game was popular. The area is still dotted with hunting blinds. Fresh water fish (such as trout and pike) was caught in ponds and streams.

Excellent horses were bred in Lippe

Dogs were kept for hunting.

The Lippe farmer raised: Indian corn*, hops, wheat, hay, rye, oats, barley, rapeseed, poppies, potatoes, beetroot (for sugar), tobacco, peas, kidney beans, flax, hemp**, lint (cotton) fruit, and garden vegetables.

Fruit trees. Apples, walnuts, cherry, & plum. Fruit was dried for consumption in the winter months. Cider (or apple wine) was made from apples. Brandy was made from plums.
Rapeseed: A member of the mustard family was (and is) raised for animal fodder.
Tobacco. Pipe smoking
Meat: Pork either fresh or cured was/is the most popular meat.
Garden vegetables: Carrots, onion, cabbage, turnips, rutabagas, asparagus.
Condiments: Mustard, horseradish
Bread: Multigrain and dark.

During the winter women occupied themselves with knitting, flax spinning and linen weaving.

There was a general increase in the population of both farmers and landless laborers between 1784 and 1848.

In 1834 Lippe had a military of 700 soldiers.

Deposits of clay provided material for earthenware pottery and pipes.

The area is dotted with mineral springs some of which became "watering holes" (spas or mineral baths), such as Bad Driburg, which was founded in 1782, and Bad Meinberg, which was mentioned in a travel book in 1838 for its alkaline an sulfurous waters.

*Indian corn was what we in the US call simply corn. It was mainly used to feed swine and geese. .

**Hemp is a common name for Cannabis AKA Marijuana. Hemp is used for a variety of products. It can be woven into a linen like fabric. It is used to make cord. It is used for animal bedding and mulch. Oil is extracted from the seeds. Hemp and flax were grown in Westphalia for export from at least 1809. According to "Rural and Domestic Life in Germany" published in 1842 hemp was "spun by the women in winter, for sheeting, shirting, and the blue stuff for the jackets and trousers of the men, and various garments for children."