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Heeslingen Church

 
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roger.pape
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Joined: 17 Mar 2009
Posts: 414
Location: Liverpool, NY

PostPosted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 11:43 am    Post subject: Heeslingen Church Reply with quote

I was able to obtain an excellent video of the Meinstedt/Heeslingen area in Hanover, Germany that was filmed and produced by Angela Bredehoeft Flauss. With her permission, the segment showing the church in Heeslingen was uploaded to YouTube. (Use the following link to view it: Heeslingen Church.) The church was built about 944 A.D. and has been used by the communities in that area to the present day.

My grandfather Jacob Pape was born in the neighboring village of Meinstedt. His family attended the Heeslingen church at least back into the early 1600s, more than three centuries. The ancestors of other families in the Concordia area (like Bredehoeft, Mueller, Schlesselman, and probably others) worshipped in that same church.

There are some very interesting shots of the interior of the church. Note, in particular, the plaque with the Lord’s Prayer in Plattdeutsch.

You might also be interested in a posting about that area on the following German website: http://www.zeven.de/default.cfm?mid=28559. Because it is in German, I have also posted a rough translation of that article. Translation.
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roger.pape
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Joined: 17 Mar 2009
Posts: 414
Location: Liverpool, NY

PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 8:42 pm    Post subject: Relatives in Germany Reply with quote

Tracing one’s ancestors can sometimes be frustrating and at other times one can get lucky through a series of coincidences. As noted above, my grandfather Jacob Pape was born in the Heeslingen area of Germany, being baptized and confirmed in the Heeslingen church. Records of that church are available on microfilm from the early 1600s to the middle of the 1800s. Several genealogists had previously researched those records and published family tree information extracted from them. My son was able to obtain a trace of the Pape family history from these postings, starting with my great-grandfather Claus Pape born in 1827 back to Gerd Pape born about 1652. (Gerd is my 6th great-grandfather.) Unfortunately, the available records did not include information about Claus’s death or any information about my grandfather’s generation.

After seeing the Angela Bredehoeft Flaus video of the Heeslingen church, I decided to contact the church to see if more recent records were available and whether anyone there had done more research with them. The church secretary forwarded my e-mail to Frank Bleck, a genealogist living in Heeslingen. Herr Bleck provided me with a significantly extended trace of my ancestors, as well as more information about the Claus Pape family, including baptismal records of Grandfather Jacob and his nine brothers and sisters. In addition, he found a lot of other interesting information. For example, if you viewed the Heeslingen church video, you may have noticed the name of Gerd Meyer, pastor of the church starting in 1642, carved on the end of one of the pews. It turns out that Pastor Meyer was my 8th great-grandfather.

Grandfather’s youngest brother was Peter Pape. Based on some old letters and a photo, we knew that he had served in the German army. When my brother visited Heeslingen a few years ago, he found a memorial to the World War I casualties from the various villages in that area. Listed under the village of Meinstedt was the name of Peter Pape. So we assumed that he had been killed in WWI. I was able to locate a Peter Pape listed in the records of two different German military cemeteries in France, although no birthplace was given for either of them. To my surprise, Herr Bleck’s research indicated that Grandpa’s brother Peter had moved to the neighboring village of Wangersen when he got married. He subsequently became mayor of Wangersen and didn’t die until 1932. That shot down our theory!

I sent Herr Bleck a copy of Angela’s video and several old letters that Grandpa’s brothers had sent back in the 1890s. Herr Bleck became interested and located a Klaus Pape family in Meinstedt whom he felt may be related to me. He visited them and showed them the letters and video. While viewing the clip of Meinstedt on another portion of the video, their daughter Christina noted that the Pape home showed up at the 4:00 minute mark of that clip. Later, the grandmother who is living with them went through some old pictures and dug out a photo with “Higginsville, Mo.” printed on it. Christina scanned the photo and e-mailed a copy to me to see if I could identify the people in it. It turns out that it is the same photo that I had posted earlier on this message board. (See the John Mueller posting in the 'Other families' forum.) One of the gentlemen in the photo was Grandfather Jacob Pape. That confirmed (at least in my mind) that the Klaus Pape family currently living in Meinstedt are my relatives. (Klaus is my second cousin, possibly once removed.) Grandpa had sent the photo to the family back in Germany in the 1890s and the family had held on to this photo for over 100 years.
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roger.pape
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Location: Liverpool, NY

PostPosted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 6:07 pm    Post subject: Heeslingen Church Brochure Reply with quote

When my brother visited the Heeslingen area several years ago, he obtained a brochure describing the St. Vitus Church (in German). I have also included a translation of its contents into English.

The booklet includes some interesting history about the area and the church. What I found particularly intriguing was a description of the symbolism behind the statues of the apostles in the backdrop of the altar.
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roger.pape
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Joined: 17 Mar 2009
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Location: Liverpool, NY

PostPosted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 6:11 pm    Post subject: Pastor Gerd Meyer Reply with quote

If you have viewed the video clip of the Heeslingen Church, you probably noticed the name “H. Gerdt Meyer” engraved on the end of one of the pews. Gerd Meyer was pastor of the church starting in 1642. According to a brochure published by the church, he is credited with being the pastor that established the St. Vitus Church as a Lutheran congregation. (To those from the Concordia, MO area, his reputation is somewhat akin to that of Rev. Biltz at St. Paul’s.)

People in Heeslingen are proud to have Pastor Meyer as one of their ancestors. Based on some genealogical research, it turns out that he was my 8th great-grandfather.
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