The Peter Meÿer (Meier)[1] family immigrated to Missouri from Wenkeloh, Germany in 1869. The current chapter describes the village of Wenkeloh and identifies the Meÿer family house ownerships.

Wenkeloh Location

Wenkeloh is a small village in the district of Rotenburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany approximately 45 km (~30 miles) east of Bremen, and 70 km (~45 miles) southwest of Hamburg.

Wenkeloh(A) is a part of the Scheeßel Parish and is about 5 Km (~3 miles) from Scheeßel(B) as the crow flies or about 8 minutes travel by modern day automobile.

The map also identifies several of the small villages like Wenkeloh that are a part of the Scheeßel Parish (See Chapter: St. Lucas Church – Scheeßel). A satellite view of Wenkeloh’s location relative to Scheeßel is shown by the yellow box in the following Google map.

As can be seen, Wenkeloh is a small rural village surrounded by farms.

Wenkeloh Maps

A close up satellite view of Wenkeloh as it appears now (2015) is shown below.

Wenkeloh is a small village of seven houses. As may noted by comparing the following map from 1852/58 to the above Wenkeloh Google Map (2015), it appears that little has changed[2].

Wenkeloh House Ownership

The location of each of the seven houses are indicated by the (number) on the the above map. A listing of the houses in Wenkeloh and the former owners are given below:

photographs of Several Wenkeloh houses

The house that was pictured with the Wenkeloh Höfelist was House No. 1 Baden circa 1910.

Meÿer Family House Ownership

House No. 1 – Baden

Peter Meÿer’s grandfather, Joachim Meÿer, became the first Meÿer owner of House No. 1, known as Baden, in 1773 when he married Maria Holsten (daughter of Johann Holsten) on 14 Jan 1773. Joachim was from House No. 2 – Dittmers (Dimmershof) and as the above house list notes, this marriage was the joining by marriage (Einheirat) of houses 1 and 2. Joachim and Maria’s marriage record lists a Hans Meÿer as Joachim’s father – probably Hans Meÿer I of House No. 2.

Peter’s father, Johann Meÿer (1788-1830), became the owner in 1803 when he married Margretha Tambke on 9 Oct 1803.

It appears that the property was subdivided (Teilung des Hofes) in 1848 with Johann Peter Meÿer becoming the owner of House No. 3 [2].

House No. 2 – Dittmers

The first Meÿer owner of House No. 2, known as Dittmers, began in 1725 with Hans Meÿer I (1698-1773) from Helvesiek married Maria Magdalena Meÿer on 1 Nov 1725.

Hans Meÿer II (1726-1795) became the owner in 1755 when he married Anna Catharina “Trine” Heitmann on 6 Nov 1755.

Hans Meÿer III (1759-1812) became the owner in 1789 when he married Engel Gerken on 20 Oct 1789.

Hans Meÿer IV (1790-1830) became the owner in 1809 when he married Maria Grobrügg on 21 Nov 1809.

House No. 3 – Meÿer

Johann Peter Meÿer(1777-1830) was the first owner in 1848 when the house was split from House No. 1

As noted in the above record, Peter Meÿer(1814-1894) followed his father Johann Peter Meÿer as the owner of House No. 3, who in turn was followed by Christoph Fehling[5].

Notes

1. The Peter Meÿer family changed the spelling of their surname name from Meÿer to Meier after they arrived in America.
2. Fred Eggers provided the included maps and house listings with comments via several emails in February 2017.
3. The  Wenkeloh  house listings and 1852/58 map are from the Chronik Kirchspiel Scheeßel by Hinrich Meyer (1955) – a copy of which is at the Lutheran Heritage Center & Museum in Altenburg, Missouri.
4. Shared by Hartmut Mensendiek, 22 Jun 2020.
5. According to the Wenkeloh Höfeliste(House List) above, Christoph Fehling took possession of House No. 3 in 1869 which is when Peter Meÿer and family immigrated to Missouri, USA ( See Chapter: Peter Meÿer Family Arrived in New Orleans). Apparently, the author of the Wenkeloh Höfeliste(House List) missed including Peter Meÿer as an owner of House No. 3.
6. Shared by Hartmut Mensendiek, 2 Sep 2020.