This
one is the happiest man,
who can put the end into connection with the beginning.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832
Genealogy needs a lot of time. Every
genealogist will be confirmed in
this statement. The investigation of my ancestors already took much
time. In many interesting conversations, with rummaging intensively in
various church registers and archives and, not at least, in many nights
of searching the world wide web I found a considerable number of
ancestors till now.
The oldest known ancestor, a man named Johan Herman Schnepel,
was born in Huellhorst in 1683.
Further "old" Schnepels in the neighborhood of Luebbecke were Vollmeier
Hermen Schnepel (Huchzen Nr.3) and Brinksitzer Herman Schnepel
(Bröderhausen Nr.26) (schwedisches Urbar des Amtes Reineberg, 1646) and
even in 1441, Raterdt Sneppel. Why those men came to the eastern of
westphalia, the meaning
of their names is more likely to the north of germany, is still
unknown. With them a variety of persons from a variety of generations
complete the genealogical table. You can find brewers, teachers,
doctors, merchants, parish priests, day workers, winegrowers, joiners,
carpenters, smiths, cigar rollers, locksmiths and some other craftsmen.
However, most of my ancestors earned their living with farming, one
part as colons on their own farm, the others as so called
“Heuersleute”. Over centuries these “Heuerlinge” moved to the
Oldenburger Land or to Holland looking for seasonal work like making
hay, cutting peat or fishing. Some ancestors from the Schnepel line
went to Holland year by year between the seedtime and the harvest time
to make some additional money with cutting grass (Hollandgaenger).
To which places
the search for ancestors led and which names
appeared you can get from the corresponding lists. For more detailed
information regarding family relations or other genealogical questions,
please fill in the contact
form
.
