From: fr@compu.com (Fred Rump from home)
Newsgroups: soc.roots
Subject: Geographic and political boundaries in Northern Germany
Keywords: Amt Damme
Date: 8 Oct 92 21:33:09 GMT
Organization: CompuData Inc.

Since I'm going into this with several roots folks I might as well share with 
any others who may have a background here.

Emmigration from North-Western Germany was relatively scattered and of little 
consequence up to around 1830. The area is made up mainly of the Grand Duchy 
of Oldenburg and the city state of Bremen and borders Holland on the West and 
Hannover and Westfalia on the South.

Not to go into a history lesson - but let me say that the land was 
reapportioned to make for larger plots and many people were left out of the 
process. That is there was all this so-called 'public' land which belonged to 
the state and was shared by all but owned by no one in particular. Various 
tenants on existing farm spreads had certain rights of inheritance ranging 
from a small portion of maybe 1/8th to double. I'm not sure how all this 
worked myself and will find out but these percentages were used in splitting 
up the vacant lands. 

This created much turmoil in the land. Also military conscription became a 
real issue and folks wanted no part of it. The people who came to America from 
the area of the old Amt Damme (administrative district of Damme in the duchy 
of Oldenburg) fit this profile exactly. They were practically all serfs tied 
to the land as Heuerleute (hired hands who could use the land of their 
master).

The area of Damme comes into play because so many of them went to Cinncinnati 
and followed one Franz Josef Stallo who founded Stallotown, later renamed 
Minster (for Muenster, Westfalia) in Ohio. He was almost like a recruiter 
developer who went back and forth several times looking for unhappy folks to 
bring to the US.

The old Archbishopric of Muenster goes way back to Roman days. It was ruled by 
Count Bishops for many centuries. In 1803 the lower part of the diocese was 
abrigated to the the Oldenburg Duchy. This was called the Niederstift 
Muenster. It included Damme and the area just North of Osnabrueck which 
Kingdom of Hannover also desired. But the Prussians were playing games and 
pushed for Oldenburg. So the cities and there administrative districts of 
Vechta, Damme, Cloppenburg (my connection), and Friesoyte went to Oldenburg 
and was from then on known as the Oldenburger-Muensterland. Mind you that this 
land was VERY Catholic and that Oldenburg was not. This created sort of an 
anamoly of a Catholic diaspora in Northern Germany. 

Anyway, Oldenburg worked with these Catholics and let them have their way and 
all went well. In 1814 another reorganization joined Damme with Lohne, 
Dinklage, Neuenkirchen and Steinfeld to make the new Amt Steinfeld. I mention 
this because several folks here note Steinfeld as their people's origin. It 
couldf be any place in the whole area, not just the village of Steinfeld.

In 1817 Hannover and Oldenburg swapped some more land as a result Damme and 
Neuenkirchen again became known as the Amt Damme. In 1827 the village of 
Holdorf was removed from this newest administrative district.

Then, thru all this emmigration time things were quiet until 1871 when 
Germany became a country. Then Damme and what remained of Steinfeld was again 
merged into Amt Damme but in 1879 everything was combined into one new Amt 
Vechta. 

It really helps to see all this in black and white as you trace possible 
connectivity between ancestors who came from the same realtive area and met 
here and married. There was nothing like connectivity to the old homeland to 
create new life in this country. 

I have 4 people who married each other in Baltimore but arrived at different 
times and found each other here. Obviously they had ways to meet.

Hope anybody can use this.

Fred    
-- 
W. Fred Rump 	office:	   fred@COMPU.COM     'mans feet have grown/so big 
26 Warren St.   home: fred@icdi10.compu.com  that he/forgets his littleness'
Beverly, NJ. 08010                          		Don Marquis 
609-386-6846    bang:uunet!cdin-1!icdi10!fr