Joellenbeck: 1781-1859
Casper Heinrich Landwehr moved his young family from the village of Schildesche to the village of Joellenbeck over two hundred years ago. We can only speculate as to the reason for their move--a move of only about three miles. It could have been for economic reasons. Perhaps steady employment was available to Casper in Joellenbeck. Or perhaps better housing was available in Joellenbeck. Or perhaps relatives moved to Joellenbeck, and Casper moved his family to remain near them.
It was probably not long after their move to Joellenbeck that our fifth-generation Landwehr ancestor was born. When Casper Heinrich and Anna Maria Elisabeth (Bitter) Landwehr walked to church in Joellenbeck on Sunday, February 8, 1784, they carried with them a newborn son, born nine days earlier, on January 30. The minister of the Lutheran Evangelical Church baptized their son Johann Heinrich Landwehr. He would be the grandfather of the Landwehr children who would emigrate to America in 1859.
Johann Heinrich Landwehr was only five years old when changes of enormous consequence began to take place on the European continent. The French Revolution, which began in 1789, introduced a new age of patriotism in Europe. France built huge armies of citizens inspired by patriotism. Germany and its old-fashioned professional armies were not prepared for the new age. In 1792, a series of wars began in which France conquered much of Europe. These Napoleonic Wars would embroil Europe for twenty-two years.
While Prussia gained some territories during the period 1793-95, the events of the next few years did not involve Prussia's borders. Life in the Prussian village of Joellenbeck was probably not impacted during these early years of the Napoleonic Wars.
While Joellenbeck was but one village, a distinction was made between the northern half, known as Oberjoellenbeck, and southern half, known as Niederjoellenbeck. Our earliest information about the residence of our Landwehr family comes in the year 1800, when Casper Landwehr and his wife lost a young son. The burial record for two-year-old Friedrich Wilhelm Landwehr indicates that the family residence was "N.J. b. 5" (Niederjoellenbeck at #5). The #5 was similar to a street address. These addresses were assigned by the residents of the area, and may have represented a home, or a farmstead, or a small area where several families resided. We believe that #5 Niederjoellenbeck represented an area.
Casper Heinrich Landwehr was not destined to live a long life. On September 13, 1803, Casper died at #5 Niederjoellenbeck at forty-eight years of age, leaving a 42-year-old widow. The following year, Casper's widow married Casper's older brother, Jacob Wilhelm Landwehr. Again, their residence was recorded as #5 Niederjoellenbeck. But her second marriage did not last long, as Jacob Wilhelm Landwehr died at #5 Niederjoellenbeck about three years later, on March 30, 1807. Jacob was fifty-eight years old.
Meanwhile, Napoleon was reorganizing the face of Europe. Among other things, he had presented himself as the new "protector" of the lesser German States, and the princes of that small-state system eagerly accepted his patronage. By March of 1798, the left bank of the Rhine had been ceded to France. The 1803 French Act of Mediatization saw the unmaking of the medieval German Reich. Of the Empire's 360 states, which Napoleon now consolidated, less than half were permitted to survive. The ancient Imperial cities were reduced from fifty-one to six, and all ecclesiastical states except one were entirely suppressed.
In 1806, Napoleon formed the Confederation of the Rhine, a new German federation organized from his German client states. Napoleon made himself the "protector" of the Confederation. The formation of the Confederation of the Rhine marked the end of "Regnum Teutonicorum", the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. This conglomerate of Germanic, and sometimes non-Germanic kingdoms had dominated the face, and usually the politics, of Central Europe for nearly 1,000 years.
Since Ravensburg, and the Landwehr home in Joellenbeck, had belonged to Prussia, the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire only indirectly affected the Landwehr family. Throughout the course of Napoleon's war with Europe, the Prussian King Frederick William III had attempted to remain neutral. But by 1806, with the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, he suddenly became aware of Napoleon's threat to Prussia's expansion, and possibly even to its existence. Having signed a secret treaty of mutual protection with Russia and Saxony, Prussia declared war on France. Before either of its allies could make a move to come to its assistance, Napoleon's army had invaded. At Jena, the Prussian forces, now led by aging officers and no longer the great fighting machine of Frederick the Great, fled in disarray. On October 27, French soldiers marched into Berlin with Napoleon at their head.
At last, having become the Emperor of Europe, Napoleon began to show himself for the vulgar conqueror that he was. In Potsdam, he desecrated the tomb of Frederick the Great. In Berlin, he tore off the figure of Victory from the Brandenburg Gate, and had it sent to Paris as conqueror's booty. He encouraged his men to scrawl obscene insults against the beloved and righteous Queen Louise on the walls of her palace, then cheered them on as they drove the Prussian Guards down the Unter den Linden like cattle.
This insult to the pride and nobility of Prussia would not be lightly taken by the outlying Prussian States. The conquest of Prussia had placed Ravensburg, and the Landwehr family, in the hands of Napoleon, and now he united Ravensburg with Brunswick, Hanover, Electoral Hesse and all other Prussian lands west of the Elbe to form the new Kingdom of Westphalia. Napoleon's youngest brother, Jerome, was installed as King. Napoleon urged him to establish Westphalia as a model of enlightened French government, designed to attract the sympathies of neighboring German states.
The creation of the new Kingdom of Westphalia, and the installation of a French King as ruler of the German lands where our Landwehr family lived, occured in 1807. In October of the same year, our fifth-generation Landwehr ancestor was married. As a prelude to their wedding, Johann Heinrich Landwehr and his bride-to-be posted marriage banns on September 27, October 4, and October 11. The requirement that a couple announce their engagement publicly on each of the three Sundays before the wedding developed from a Roman Catholic custom. During the time between the first announcement and the wedding, anyone who believed that the couple should not marry was expected to say so.
Apparently no one objected, as Johann Heinrich Landwehr and Anne Catharine Ilsabein Stender were married at Joellenbeck on October 16, 1807 (see :figref refid=oldch2.). Johann Heinrich Landwehr's new bride, the daughter of Wilhelm Heinrich Stender and Anne Margrethe Heidemann, was born in Joellenbeck on September 2, 1784. The bride and groom were both twenty-three years old, and it was the first marriage for both. The five Landwehr children who would emigrate from Joellenbeck to America fifty-two years later would be grandchildren of Johann Heinrich Landwehr and Anne Catharine Ilsabein Stender.
Johann Heinrich and Anne Catharine Ilsabein Landwehr apparently continued to live in the same home, or at least in the same neighborhood, where his father had lived. Their first child, a son they named Johann Heinrich, was born at #5 Niederjoellenbeck on May 5, 1808. Their second child was another son, who they named Friedrich Wilhelm. Friedrich Wilhelm Landwehr was born at #5 Niederjoellenbeck, under French rule, on September 24, 1810. His baptism, six days later at the Lutheran Evangelical Church at Joellenbeck, was witnessed by Gottfried Nierhoff and Casper Heinrich Stendermann. Friedrich Wilhelm Landwehr would father the five Landwehr children who would later emigrate to America.
Meanwhile, events in Westphalia had not gone according to Napoleon's wishes. Napoleon intended that Westphalia be a model of French government which was both enlightened and attractive to its own people, and to other subject German peoples. It was neither. The Napoleonic Code did introduce more egalitarian laws into the German states, and these were gladly accepted by the lower classes, which included our Landwehr family. Still, the dissolute activities of Jerome Bonaparte were looked upon with disdain, and the loss of traditional German leadership, along with the insult to Prussia, made the French rule unpopular in Westphalia. Although many young men from the region were forced to serve in Napoleon's Army, most fought reluctantly, and the six years of King Jerome's rule were constantly disrupted by popular, but bloody uprisings. Thus, in 1814, when Napoleon was finally defeated, it was not difficult to remove the French concepts and institutions from Westphalia and other Prussian territories, and to restore the traditional German form of law and order.
Yet, the French ideals of equality and democracy had gained a foothold and would not again be surrendered. Prussia's drastic fall and near dissolution had been caused by inept leadership and the deterioration of its once mighty army. In the ensuing years, a group of enlightened statesmen would transform that north German state into a new and almost invincible Empire.
The treaty of the Congress of Vienna, signed in 1815, divided Napoleon's conquered lands among the victorious powers. Prussia received the Rhineland, Westphalia, and most of Saxony, greatly increasing its lands in Germany. After eight years of French rule, the members of our Landwehr family were once again subjects of the King of Prussia.
As the Napoleonic Wars drew to a close, and Prussia regained her stature in the European community, Johann Heinrich Landwehr's family continued to grow. During their first twenty-one years of marriage, Johann Heinrich and Anne Catharine Ilsabein Landwehr had eleven children--six sons and five daughters. All eleven children were born at #5 Niederjoellenbeck, and all were baptized at the Lutheran Evangelical Church at Joellenbeck. For a list of the eleven children, see Figure 6.
CHILDREN OF JOHANN HEINRICH LANDWEHR
AND
ANNE CATHARINE ILSABEIN STENDER
1, Johann Heinrich Landwehr
Born May 5, 1808
Married August 21, 1835 to Hanne Marie Kirchhoff
2. Friedrich Wilhelm Landwehr
Born September 24, 1810
Married September 22, 1837 to Anna Maria Ilsabein Bonsen
Died February 18, 1858
3. Gottlieb Heinrich Landwehr
Born July 12, 1812
Married May 5, 1842 to Anna Margaretha Ilsab. Luckner
Married March 19, 1852 to Anna Mar. Ilsab. Krelmann
4. Anne Ilsabein Landwehr
Born July 27, 1814
Married July 29, 1836 to Johann Friedrich Frohbose
5. An. Margrethe Ilsabein Landwehr
Born February 23, 1817
Died February 10, 1821 of "wasting disease" (TB)
6. Hanne Franzisca Landwehr
Born June 6, 1819
Married Wilhelm Schurmann
Died December 5, 1838 of "nerve fever"
7. Johann Friedrich Landwehr
Born April 14, 1821
Married November 6, 1846 to Anna Marie Ilsabein Tiemann
8. Hanne Marie Landwehr
Born March 16, 1823
9. Infant Son Landwehr
Born December 19, 1824
Died December 19, 1824 (stillborn)
10. Casper Heinrich Landwehr
Born February 10, 1826
11. Anne Margrethe Elisabeth Landwehr
Born February 7, 1828
Figure 6. Children of Johann Heinrich Landwehr
During the early 1800's, Germany was in many ways much less advanced than the countries of western Europe. Commerce and manufacturing were limited, and most of the people still made their living by farming. Johann Heinrich Landwehr, as he raised his family in Niederjoellenbeck, usually listed his occupation as "heuerling", or farmhand. On one occasion, at the birth of a daughter in 1821, his occupation was listed as "spinner", suggesting that he also earned income by spinning linen at home in the evening on his own hand-operated spinning wheel.
Johann Heinrich Landwehr's mother passed away in 1828. After the death of her first husband, Casper Heinrich Landwehr, in 1803, and her second husband, Jacob Wilhelm Landwehr, in 1807, Anna Maria Elisabeth (Bitter) Landwehr apparently continued to live at Joellenbeck for the remaining twenty-one years of her life. At her death, her occupation was listed as that of "spinner". She died at #1 Niederjoellenbeck on April 4, 1828, at the age of sixty-eight. The cause of her death was listed as "old age weakness". She, like both of her husbands, was buried at Joellenbeck.
In 1837, Johann Heinrich Landwehr's second son, Friedrich Wilhelm Landwehr, was married. Friedrich Wilhelm, still living at #5 Niederjoellenbeck, was married to Anna Maria Ilsabein Bonsen on September 22. Friedrich would be twenty-seven years old two days after their marriage, and Anna was twenty-one years old. It was the first marriage for both the bride and the groom. Typical of the many errors made in recording dates of birth, Friedrich's date of birth is listed in the record of his marriage as October 1, 1809 rather than the correct date of September 24, 1810, and his age was similarly misstated. For further information regarding Anna's family and her background, see :hdref refid=bonsen..
We will digress briefly to make a comment about the name of Friedrich Wilhelm Landwehr's new bride, Anna Maria Ilsabein (Bonsen) Landwehr. When they were baptized, German infants were usually given either two or three given names, in addition to their surname. It was common for the boys to receive two names, and the girls to receive three. Readers will note that the last given name of a majority of the girls born in the Joellenbeck area was "Ilsabein". The name Ilsabein was a variation of Elisabeth, and was unique to the Joellenbeck region. A search of church records only fifteen miles distant from Joellenbeck reveals little or no use of the name Ilsabein. Each area of Germany speaks a slightly different dialect, and the use of the name Ilsabein as a variation of Elisabeth reflected the dialect spoken in that area. After Anna Maria Ilsabein (Bonsen) Landwehr later emigrated to America, she was usually referred to as Elisabeth.
Friedrich Wilhelm and Anna Maria Ilsabein Landwehr would become the parents of the five Landwehr children who would emigrate to America twenty-two years later. Their first child, a son, was born to Friedrich and Anna at #38 Niederjoellenbeck at 10:00 p.m. on March 5, 1839. He was baptized Johann Heinrich Landwehr on March 10 at the Lutheran Evangelical church in Joellenbeck. His godparent was Johann Heinrich Landwehr, a farmer, who was probably the child's uncle (Friedrich Wilhelm's older brother). Johann Heinrich was the name of both the child's uncle, and his fraternal grandfather. After his emigration to America, Johann Heinrich would be best-known as Henry Landwehr.
Their second child, another son, was born to Friedrich and Anna at #56 Niederjoellenbeck at 3:00 p.m. on December 14, 1841. Five days later, he was baptized Johann Philipp Landwehr at the Lutheran Evangelical church in Joellenbeck. His godparent was Johann Philipp Kiel, a farmer. Johann Philipp was apparently named after his godparent, who was undoubtedly a relative of Anna's mother, whose maiden name was Kiel. There is some likelihood that the godparent was Anna's uncle. After his emigration to America, Johann Philipp would be best-known as Philip Landwehr.
Their third child, a daughter, was born to Friedrich and Anna at #5 Niederjoellenbeck at 2:00 a.m. on February 23, 1845. She was baptized Anna Marie Friederike Landwehr on March 2 at the Lutheran Evangelical church in Joellenbeck. Her baptism was witnessed by Mrs. Ann. Marie Meyer of Joellenbeck, and by "Miss Hanne Wilhelmine Bonsel in Kirker". While we don't know the relationship of Mrs. Meyer, we can be confident that "Miss Hanne Wilhelmine Bonsel" was Anna's younger sister, who was married in Joellenbeck later that same year. After her emigration to America, Anna Marie Friederike Landwehr would be best-known as Maria Landwehr.
The children of Friedrich and Anna Landwehr were born in unsettled times. Beginning in 1844, the year before their daughter was born, harvests were poor in Germany, and business activity decreased. Many Germans were hungry and out of work. In March of 1848, news of a revolt in France set off revolts in Germany. In Vienna, rioting by students and workers forced the Austrian ruler to dismiss his prime minister and promise a democratic constitution. Rioting in Berlin led the Prussian king to promise the election of a new assembly that would write a democratic constitution. Similar revolts broke out in almost all the other German capitals. A national parliment was elected and took over the powers of the Bundestag in May of 1848. The German Confederation ended, and the new parliment began to prepare a constitution for a united Germany. By the end of 1848, the economy had improved and many people lost interest in the revolution. In addition, a split had developed between the lower and middle classes, greatly weakening the revolutionary movement. In October of 1848, Austrian troops put down the revolution in Vienna. In December of 1848, the new Prussian assembly was dissolved before it completed a constitution.
The year following this failed revolution, their fourth child was born to Friedrich and Anna at #45 Oberjoellenbeck at 12 noon on April 20, 1849. He was christened Wilhelm Heinrich Landwehr at the Lutheran Evangelical church in Joellenbeck on April 29. After his emigration to America, Wilhelm Heinrich would be best-known as Fritz Landwehr.
Friedrich Wilhelm Landwehr lost his mother in 1851. Anne Catherine Ilsabein (Stender) Landwehr died at the Landwehr family home at #5 Niederjoellenbeck at 9:00 a.m. on June 10, 1851. She was sixty-six years old, and the cause of her death was listed as "old age weakness".
Johann Heinrich Landwehr, oldest son of Friedrich and Anna Landwehr, was a member of the confirmation class of the Evangelical Lutheran church at Joellenbeck in 1853. Later that year, their fifth and last child, another son, was born to Friedrich and Anna at #45 Oberjoellenbeck at 3:00 a.m. on December 7, 1853. He was christened Friedrich Wilhelm Landwehr at the Lutheran Evangelical church in Joellenbeck on December 11. His baptism was witnessed by Friedrich Wilhelm Meyer of Joellenbeck (who may have been the child's namesake), and Anton Diedrich Spilker, of Oberjoellenbeck. We don't know what relationship, if any, the witnesses were to our Landwehr family. After his emigration to America, Friedrich Wilhelm would be best-known as William Landwehr.
Friedrich Wilhelm Landwehr lost his father in 1854, only three years after his mother's death. Johann Heinrich Landwehr died at the Landwehr family home at #5 Niederjoellenbeck, where he had lived all of his life, at 7:00 a.m. on June 25, 1854. He was seventy years old, and the cause of his death, like that of his wife, was listed as "old age weakness". During the course of his lifetime, Johann Friedrich Landwehr had seen the Holy Roman Empire fall, had lived under French rule, and had seen a new, more powerful Empire rise to take its place--all of this brought about by a Frenchman who regarded himself as the new Charlemagne.
Friedrich Wilhelm Landwehr, father of the five immigrant Landwehr children, died at #85 Oberjoellenbeck at 9:00 p.m. on February 18, 1858, less than four years after his father's death. Friedrich was only forty-seven years old. The cause of death was listed as "a wasting disease" (tuberculosis). He was buried at Joellenbeck three days later. He was survived by his wife, Anna, and his five children: Henry, age eighteen, Philip, age sixteen, Maria, age twelve, Fritz, age eight, and William, age four.
Friedrich and Anna Landwehr had been married for twenty years when Friedrich died in 1858. While we know little about their life during this twenty-year period, we are able to make a few observations. One observation is that Friedrich Wilhelm was the second son of Johann Heinrich Landwehr. There was a system of inheritance widely used in Europe for hundreds of years called promogeniture. Under this system, the oldest child in a family, and often the oldest son, had the sole right to inherit land and other possessions from the parents. Primogeniture first developed under the feudal system. In England and other countries, the oldest child in the royal family became the successor to the throne. The system kept the nobles' large landholdings from being broken up among their children into many small estates. It also preserved the social position and prestige of the noble families. Peasants and other landholders also practiced primogeniture.
We don't know whether Friedrich's parents owned any property. It is significant, though, that Friedrich's grandfather, Casper Heinrich, lived at #5 Niederjoellenbeck the latter part of his life; Friedrich's father, Johann Heinrich, lived at #5 Niederjoellenbeck all of his life; and Friedrich's older brother, Johann Heinrich (the oldest son), also raised his family at #5 Niederjoellenbeck. As the second son, then, Friedrich Wilhelm would not have been eligible to inherit any property from his parents, if there was any. Like most children of the large families which were so common in that time, Friedrich Wilhelm Landwehr would have been required to go out into the world and make a living without current, or future, access to his family's land. To underscore the difference, we need only compare the place of birth of Friedrich Wilhelm and his brothers and sisters to the place of birth of Friedrich's own children. Friedrich Wilhelm and his ten brothers and sisters were all born in the same place, at #5 Niederjoellenbeck. On the other hand, the five children born to Friedrich and Anna were born in scattered locations:
Johann Heinrich was born at #38 Niederjoellenbeck in 1839
Johann Philipp was born at #56 Niederjoellenbeck in 1841
Anna Marie Friederike was born at #5 Niederjoellenbeck in 1845
Wilhelm Heinrich was born at #45 Oberjoellenbeck in 1849
Friedrich Wilhelm was born at #45 Oberjoellenbeck in 1853
The family lived at #45 Oberjoellenbeck in 1856, when Johann Philipp was confirmed, and Friedrich died at #85 Oberjoellenbeck in 1858.
Since Friedrich Landwehr and his family moved frequently, we are probably safe in assuming that he owned no property. He generally made his living as a farmhand. However, when his fourth child was born in 1849, it was also noted that Friedrich was a cabinet-maker. His death in 1858 undoubtedly left his widow with little means of support, other than her two oldest sons, who were only eighteen and sixteen years old. It was probably the economic hardship experienced by the family upon Friedrich's death that led to their emigration to America the following year.
It was probably not long after their move to Joellenbeck that our fifth-generation Landwehr ancestor was born. When Casper Heinrich and Anna Maria Elisabeth (Bitter) Landwehr walked to church in Joellenbeck on Sunday, February 8, 1784, they carried with them a newborn son, born nine days earlier, on January 30. The minister of the Lutheran Evangelical Church baptized their son Johann Heinrich Landwehr. He would be the grandfather of the Landwehr children who would emigrate to America in 1859.
Johann Heinrich Landwehr was only five years old when changes of enormous consequence began to take place on the European continent. The French Revolution, which began in 1789, introduced a new age of patriotism in Europe. France built huge armies of citizens inspired by patriotism. Germany and its old-fashioned professional armies were not prepared for the new age. In 1792, a series of wars began in which France conquered much of Europe. These Napoleonic Wars would embroil Europe for twenty-two years.
While Prussia gained some territories during the period 1793-95, the events of the next few years did not involve Prussia's borders. Life in the Prussian village of Joellenbeck was probably not impacted during these early years of the Napoleonic Wars.
While Joellenbeck was but one village, a distinction was made between the northern half, known as Oberjoellenbeck, and southern half, known as Niederjoellenbeck. Our earliest information about the residence of our Landwehr family comes in the year 1800, when Casper Landwehr and his wife lost a young son. The burial record for two-year-old Friedrich Wilhelm Landwehr indicates that the family residence was "N.J. b. 5" (Niederjoellenbeck at #5). The #5 was similar to a street address. These addresses were assigned by the residents of the area, and may have represented a home, or a farmstead, or a small area where several families resided. We believe that #5 Niederjoellenbeck represented an area.
Casper Heinrich Landwehr was not destined to live a long life. On September 13, 1803, Casper died at #5 Niederjoellenbeck at forty-eight years of age, leaving a 42-year-old widow. The following year, Casper's widow married Casper's older brother, Jacob Wilhelm Landwehr. Again, their residence was recorded as #5 Niederjoellenbeck. But her second marriage did not last long, as Jacob Wilhelm Landwehr died at #5 Niederjoellenbeck about three years later, on March 30, 1807. Jacob was fifty-eight years old.
Meanwhile, Napoleon was reorganizing the face of Europe. Among other things, he had presented himself as the new "protector" of the lesser German States, and the princes of that small-state system eagerly accepted his patronage. By March of 1798, the left bank of the Rhine had been ceded to France. The 1803 French Act of Mediatization saw the unmaking of the medieval German Reich. Of the Empire's 360 states, which Napoleon now consolidated, less than half were permitted to survive. The ancient Imperial cities were reduced from fifty-one to six, and all ecclesiastical states except one were entirely suppressed.
In 1806, Napoleon formed the Confederation of the Rhine, a new German federation organized from his German client states. Napoleon made himself the "protector" of the Confederation. The formation of the Confederation of the Rhine marked the end of "Regnum Teutonicorum", the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. This conglomerate of Germanic, and sometimes non-Germanic kingdoms had dominated the face, and usually the politics, of Central Europe for nearly 1,000 years.
Since Ravensburg, and the Landwehr home in Joellenbeck, had belonged to Prussia, the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire only indirectly affected the Landwehr family. Throughout the course of Napoleon's war with Europe, the Prussian King Frederick William III had attempted to remain neutral. But by 1806, with the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, he suddenly became aware of Napoleon's threat to Prussia's expansion, and possibly even to its existence. Having signed a secret treaty of mutual protection with Russia and Saxony, Prussia declared war on France. Before either of its allies could make a move to come to its assistance, Napoleon's army had invaded. At Jena, the Prussian forces, now led by aging officers and no longer the great fighting machine of Frederick the Great, fled in disarray. On October 27, French soldiers marched into Berlin with Napoleon at their head.
At last, having become the Emperor of Europe, Napoleon began to show himself for the vulgar conqueror that he was. In Potsdam, he desecrated the tomb of Frederick the Great. In Berlin, he tore off the figure of Victory from the Brandenburg Gate, and had it sent to Paris as conqueror's booty. He encouraged his men to scrawl obscene insults against the beloved and righteous Queen Louise on the walls of her palace, then cheered them on as they drove the Prussian Guards down the Unter den Linden like cattle.
This insult to the pride and nobility of Prussia would not be lightly taken by the outlying Prussian States. The conquest of Prussia had placed Ravensburg, and the Landwehr family, in the hands of Napoleon, and now he united Ravensburg with Brunswick, Hanover, Electoral Hesse and all other Prussian lands west of the Elbe to form the new Kingdom of Westphalia. Napoleon's youngest brother, Jerome, was installed as King. Napoleon urged him to establish Westphalia as a model of enlightened French government, designed to attract the sympathies of neighboring German states.
The creation of the new Kingdom of Westphalia, and the installation of a French King as ruler of the German lands where our Landwehr family lived, occured in 1807. In October of the same year, our fifth-generation Landwehr ancestor was married. As a prelude to their wedding, Johann Heinrich Landwehr and his bride-to-be posted marriage banns on September 27, October 4, and October 11. The requirement that a couple announce their engagement publicly on each of the three Sundays before the wedding developed from a Roman Catholic custom. During the time between the first announcement and the wedding, anyone who believed that the couple should not marry was expected to say so.
Apparently no one objected, as Johann Heinrich Landwehr and Anne Catharine Ilsabein Stender were married at Joellenbeck on October 16, 1807 (see :figref refid=oldch2.). Johann Heinrich Landwehr's new bride, the daughter of Wilhelm Heinrich Stender and Anne Margrethe Heidemann, was born in Joellenbeck on September 2, 1784. The bride and groom were both twenty-three years old, and it was the first marriage for both. The five Landwehr children who would emigrate from Joellenbeck to America fifty-two years later would be grandchildren of Johann Heinrich Landwehr and Anne Catharine Ilsabein Stender.
Johann Heinrich and Anne Catharine Ilsabein Landwehr apparently continued to live in the same home, or at least in the same neighborhood, where his father had lived. Their first child, a son they named Johann Heinrich, was born at #5 Niederjoellenbeck on May 5, 1808. Their second child was another son, who they named Friedrich Wilhelm. Friedrich Wilhelm Landwehr was born at #5 Niederjoellenbeck, under French rule, on September 24, 1810. His baptism, six days later at the Lutheran Evangelical Church at Joellenbeck, was witnessed by Gottfried Nierhoff and Casper Heinrich Stendermann. Friedrich Wilhelm Landwehr would father the five Landwehr children who would later emigrate to America.
Meanwhile, events in Westphalia had not gone according to Napoleon's wishes. Napoleon intended that Westphalia be a model of French government which was both enlightened and attractive to its own people, and to other subject German peoples. It was neither. The Napoleonic Code did introduce more egalitarian laws into the German states, and these were gladly accepted by the lower classes, which included our Landwehr family. Still, the dissolute activities of Jerome Bonaparte were looked upon with disdain, and the loss of traditional German leadership, along with the insult to Prussia, made the French rule unpopular in Westphalia. Although many young men from the region were forced to serve in Napoleon's Army, most fought reluctantly, and the six years of King Jerome's rule were constantly disrupted by popular, but bloody uprisings. Thus, in 1814, when Napoleon was finally defeated, it was not difficult to remove the French concepts and institutions from Westphalia and other Prussian territories, and to restore the traditional German form of law and order.
Yet, the French ideals of equality and democracy had gained a foothold and would not again be surrendered. Prussia's drastic fall and near dissolution had been caused by inept leadership and the deterioration of its once mighty army. In the ensuing years, a group of enlightened statesmen would transform that north German state into a new and almost invincible Empire.
The treaty of the Congress of Vienna, signed in 1815, divided Napoleon's conquered lands among the victorious powers. Prussia received the Rhineland, Westphalia, and most of Saxony, greatly increasing its lands in Germany. After eight years of French rule, the members of our Landwehr family were once again subjects of the King of Prussia.
As the Napoleonic Wars drew to a close, and Prussia regained her stature in the European community, Johann Heinrich Landwehr's family continued to grow. During their first twenty-one years of marriage, Johann Heinrich and Anne Catharine Ilsabein Landwehr had eleven children--six sons and five daughters. All eleven children were born at #5 Niederjoellenbeck, and all were baptized at the Lutheran Evangelical Church at Joellenbeck. For a list of the eleven children, see Figure 6.
CHILDREN OF JOHANN HEINRICH LANDWEHR
AND
ANNE CATHARINE ILSABEIN STENDER
1, Johann Heinrich Landwehr
Born May 5, 1808
Married August 21, 1835 to Hanne Marie Kirchhoff
2. Friedrich Wilhelm Landwehr
Born September 24, 1810
Married September 22, 1837 to Anna Maria Ilsabein Bonsen
Died February 18, 1858
3. Gottlieb Heinrich Landwehr
Born July 12, 1812
Married May 5, 1842 to Anna Margaretha Ilsab. Luckner
Married March 19, 1852 to Anna Mar. Ilsab. Krelmann
4. Anne Ilsabein Landwehr
Born July 27, 1814
Married July 29, 1836 to Johann Friedrich Frohbose
5. An. Margrethe Ilsabein Landwehr
Born February 23, 1817
Died February 10, 1821 of "wasting disease" (TB)
6. Hanne Franzisca Landwehr
Born June 6, 1819
Married Wilhelm Schurmann
Died December 5, 1838 of "nerve fever"
7. Johann Friedrich Landwehr
Born April 14, 1821
Married November 6, 1846 to Anna Marie Ilsabein Tiemann
8. Hanne Marie Landwehr
Born March 16, 1823
9. Infant Son Landwehr
Born December 19, 1824
Died December 19, 1824 (stillborn)
10. Casper Heinrich Landwehr
Born February 10, 1826
11. Anne Margrethe Elisabeth Landwehr
Born February 7, 1828
Figure 6. Children of Johann Heinrich Landwehr
During the early 1800's, Germany was in many ways much less advanced than the countries of western Europe. Commerce and manufacturing were limited, and most of the people still made their living by farming. Johann Heinrich Landwehr, as he raised his family in Niederjoellenbeck, usually listed his occupation as "heuerling", or farmhand. On one occasion, at the birth of a daughter in 1821, his occupation was listed as "spinner", suggesting that he also earned income by spinning linen at home in the evening on his own hand-operated spinning wheel.
Johann Heinrich Landwehr's mother passed away in 1828. After the death of her first husband, Casper Heinrich Landwehr, in 1803, and her second husband, Jacob Wilhelm Landwehr, in 1807, Anna Maria Elisabeth (Bitter) Landwehr apparently continued to live at Joellenbeck for the remaining twenty-one years of her life. At her death, her occupation was listed as that of "spinner". She died at #1 Niederjoellenbeck on April 4, 1828, at the age of sixty-eight. The cause of her death was listed as "old age weakness". She, like both of her husbands, was buried at Joellenbeck.
In 1837, Johann Heinrich Landwehr's second son, Friedrich Wilhelm Landwehr, was married. Friedrich Wilhelm, still living at #5 Niederjoellenbeck, was married to Anna Maria Ilsabein Bonsen on September 22. Friedrich would be twenty-seven years old two days after their marriage, and Anna was twenty-one years old. It was the first marriage for both the bride and the groom. Typical of the many errors made in recording dates of birth, Friedrich's date of birth is listed in the record of his marriage as October 1, 1809 rather than the correct date of September 24, 1810, and his age was similarly misstated. For further information regarding Anna's family and her background, see :hdref refid=bonsen..
We will digress briefly to make a comment about the name of Friedrich Wilhelm Landwehr's new bride, Anna Maria Ilsabein (Bonsen) Landwehr. When they were baptized, German infants were usually given either two or three given names, in addition to their surname. It was common for the boys to receive two names, and the girls to receive three. Readers will note that the last given name of a majority of the girls born in the Joellenbeck area was "Ilsabein". The name Ilsabein was a variation of Elisabeth, and was unique to the Joellenbeck region. A search of church records only fifteen miles distant from Joellenbeck reveals little or no use of the name Ilsabein. Each area of Germany speaks a slightly different dialect, and the use of the name Ilsabein as a variation of Elisabeth reflected the dialect spoken in that area. After Anna Maria Ilsabein (Bonsen) Landwehr later emigrated to America, she was usually referred to as Elisabeth.
Friedrich Wilhelm and Anna Maria Ilsabein Landwehr would become the parents of the five Landwehr children who would emigrate to America twenty-two years later. Their first child, a son, was born to Friedrich and Anna at #38 Niederjoellenbeck at 10:00 p.m. on March 5, 1839. He was baptized Johann Heinrich Landwehr on March 10 at the Lutheran Evangelical church in Joellenbeck. His godparent was Johann Heinrich Landwehr, a farmer, who was probably the child's uncle (Friedrich Wilhelm's older brother). Johann Heinrich was the name of both the child's uncle, and his fraternal grandfather. After his emigration to America, Johann Heinrich would be best-known as Henry Landwehr.
Their second child, another son, was born to Friedrich and Anna at #56 Niederjoellenbeck at 3:00 p.m. on December 14, 1841. Five days later, he was baptized Johann Philipp Landwehr at the Lutheran Evangelical church in Joellenbeck. His godparent was Johann Philipp Kiel, a farmer. Johann Philipp was apparently named after his godparent, who was undoubtedly a relative of Anna's mother, whose maiden name was Kiel. There is some likelihood that the godparent was Anna's uncle. After his emigration to America, Johann Philipp would be best-known as Philip Landwehr.
Their third child, a daughter, was born to Friedrich and Anna at #5 Niederjoellenbeck at 2:00 a.m. on February 23, 1845. She was baptized Anna Marie Friederike Landwehr on March 2 at the Lutheran Evangelical church in Joellenbeck. Her baptism was witnessed by Mrs. Ann. Marie Meyer of Joellenbeck, and by "Miss Hanne Wilhelmine Bonsel in Kirker". While we don't know the relationship of Mrs. Meyer, we can be confident that "Miss Hanne Wilhelmine Bonsel" was Anna's younger sister, who was married in Joellenbeck later that same year. After her emigration to America, Anna Marie Friederike Landwehr would be best-known as Maria Landwehr.
The children of Friedrich and Anna Landwehr were born in unsettled times. Beginning in 1844, the year before their daughter was born, harvests were poor in Germany, and business activity decreased. Many Germans were hungry and out of work. In March of 1848, news of a revolt in France set off revolts in Germany. In Vienna, rioting by students and workers forced the Austrian ruler to dismiss his prime minister and promise a democratic constitution. Rioting in Berlin led the Prussian king to promise the election of a new assembly that would write a democratic constitution. Similar revolts broke out in almost all the other German capitals. A national parliment was elected and took over the powers of the Bundestag in May of 1848. The German Confederation ended, and the new parliment began to prepare a constitution for a united Germany. By the end of 1848, the economy had improved and many people lost interest in the revolution. In addition, a split had developed between the lower and middle classes, greatly weakening the revolutionary movement. In October of 1848, Austrian troops put down the revolution in Vienna. In December of 1848, the new Prussian assembly was dissolved before it completed a constitution.
The year following this failed revolution, their fourth child was born to Friedrich and Anna at #45 Oberjoellenbeck at 12 noon on April 20, 1849. He was christened Wilhelm Heinrich Landwehr at the Lutheran Evangelical church in Joellenbeck on April 29. After his emigration to America, Wilhelm Heinrich would be best-known as Fritz Landwehr.
Friedrich Wilhelm Landwehr lost his mother in 1851. Anne Catherine Ilsabein (Stender) Landwehr died at the Landwehr family home at #5 Niederjoellenbeck at 9:00 a.m. on June 10, 1851. She was sixty-six years old, and the cause of her death was listed as "old age weakness".
Johann Heinrich Landwehr, oldest son of Friedrich and Anna Landwehr, was a member of the confirmation class of the Evangelical Lutheran church at Joellenbeck in 1853. Later that year, their fifth and last child, another son, was born to Friedrich and Anna at #45 Oberjoellenbeck at 3:00 a.m. on December 7, 1853. He was christened Friedrich Wilhelm Landwehr at the Lutheran Evangelical church in Joellenbeck on December 11. His baptism was witnessed by Friedrich Wilhelm Meyer of Joellenbeck (who may have been the child's namesake), and Anton Diedrich Spilker, of Oberjoellenbeck. We don't know what relationship, if any, the witnesses were to our Landwehr family. After his emigration to America, Friedrich Wilhelm would be best-known as William Landwehr.
Friedrich Wilhelm Landwehr lost his father in 1854, only three years after his mother's death. Johann Heinrich Landwehr died at the Landwehr family home at #5 Niederjoellenbeck, where he had lived all of his life, at 7:00 a.m. on June 25, 1854. He was seventy years old, and the cause of his death, like that of his wife, was listed as "old age weakness". During the course of his lifetime, Johann Friedrich Landwehr had seen the Holy Roman Empire fall, had lived under French rule, and had seen a new, more powerful Empire rise to take its place--all of this brought about by a Frenchman who regarded himself as the new Charlemagne.
Friedrich Wilhelm Landwehr, father of the five immigrant Landwehr children, died at #85 Oberjoellenbeck at 9:00 p.m. on February 18, 1858, less than four years after his father's death. Friedrich was only forty-seven years old. The cause of death was listed as "a wasting disease" (tuberculosis). He was buried at Joellenbeck three days later. He was survived by his wife, Anna, and his five children: Henry, age eighteen, Philip, age sixteen, Maria, age twelve, Fritz, age eight, and William, age four.
Friedrich and Anna Landwehr had been married for twenty years when Friedrich died in 1858. While we know little about their life during this twenty-year period, we are able to make a few observations. One observation is that Friedrich Wilhelm was the second son of Johann Heinrich Landwehr. There was a system of inheritance widely used in Europe for hundreds of years called promogeniture. Under this system, the oldest child in a family, and often the oldest son, had the sole right to inherit land and other possessions from the parents. Primogeniture first developed under the feudal system. In England and other countries, the oldest child in the royal family became the successor to the throne. The system kept the nobles' large landholdings from being broken up among their children into many small estates. It also preserved the social position and prestige of the noble families. Peasants and other landholders also practiced primogeniture.
We don't know whether Friedrich's parents owned any property. It is significant, though, that Friedrich's grandfather, Casper Heinrich, lived at #5 Niederjoellenbeck the latter part of his life; Friedrich's father, Johann Heinrich, lived at #5 Niederjoellenbeck all of his life; and Friedrich's older brother, Johann Heinrich (the oldest son), also raised his family at #5 Niederjoellenbeck. As the second son, then, Friedrich Wilhelm would not have been eligible to inherit any property from his parents, if there was any. Like most children of the large families which were so common in that time, Friedrich Wilhelm Landwehr would have been required to go out into the world and make a living without current, or future, access to his family's land. To underscore the difference, we need only compare the place of birth of Friedrich Wilhelm and his brothers and sisters to the place of birth of Friedrich's own children. Friedrich Wilhelm and his ten brothers and sisters were all born in the same place, at #5 Niederjoellenbeck. On the other hand, the five children born to Friedrich and Anna were born in scattered locations:
Johann Heinrich was born at #38 Niederjoellenbeck in 1839
Johann Philipp was born at #56 Niederjoellenbeck in 1841
Anna Marie Friederike was born at #5 Niederjoellenbeck in 1845
Wilhelm Heinrich was born at #45 Oberjoellenbeck in 1849
Friedrich Wilhelm was born at #45 Oberjoellenbeck in 1853
The family lived at #45 Oberjoellenbeck in 1856, when Johann Philipp was confirmed, and Friedrich died at #85 Oberjoellenbeck in 1858.
Since Friedrich Landwehr and his family moved frequently, we are probably safe in assuming that he owned no property. He generally made his living as a farmhand. However, when his fourth child was born in 1849, it was also noted that Friedrich was a cabinet-maker. His death in 1858 undoubtedly left his widow with little means of support, other than her two oldest sons, who were only eighteen and sixteen years old. It was probably the economic hardship experienced by the family upon Friedrich's death that led to their emigration to America the following year.
