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The Küsters of Salzderhelden and Salzhemmendorf

Christine’s mother came from a family of millers and town officers. Maria Eleonora Küster’s burial entry of 1785 says that she was born at Wallensen in 1727, the daughter of August Wilhelm Küster, “formerly consul and advocate at Salzhemmendorf,” and Clara Emerentia Telgmann. That is the clerk’s statement fifty-eight years after her birth, not a baptism. No record of her baptism survives, since the Wallensen registers have no baptisms between 1677 and 1732. A Telgmann family lived in Wallensen parish. Adrian Telgmann, the bailiff (Voigt), baptized children there in 1674 and 1675, and his daughters Anna Maria and Clara stood as sponsors in 1674 and 1677. Trin Marie Telgmann married there in 1743, and a widow Telgmann “of Salzhemmendorf” was a godmother there on 1 November 1735, of the generation to be Clara Emerentia’s mother. Clara Emerentia possibly belonged to the bailiff’s family. A forum post that gives no sources names her elder daughters as Margaretha Lucia Emerentia, born about 1724, and Christina Sophia Florina, born about 1725 to 1727, and gives Christine’s mother as Maria Eleonora Christina. Her parents’ marriage, about 1720 to 1723, has not been found, and probably fell in one of the gaps in the Wallensen marriages.

August Wilhelm Küster was baptized at Salzderhelden, in Grubenhagen, on 23 March 1696, the son of Ludewig Küster and Anna Margaretha Boden. He was living at Salzhemmendorf by 1732 and was its mayor (Bürgermeister) from 1762, as the forum post gives his office; “consul” in his daughter’s burial is the Latin title of that office. “The mayor August Küster” died at Salzhemmendorf on 5 November 1766, aged 70, which is 70 years and 7 months after the Salzderhelden baptism. That the baptism and the burial are of one man is probable. His wife, not named, was buried there on 21 September 1761 aged 60, and was possibly Clara Emerentia. Juliane Küster, buried in 1763 aged 21½, was probably his daughter Justina Juliana, baptized in 1741. Lucia Emerentia Küster, who married Johann Christoph Thoor at Salzhemmendorf on 13 April 1751, was probably his eldest daughter, and Charlotta Dorothea Küster probably married an Albrecht there in 1762.

August Wilhelm’s father was a master miller. At Salzderhelden on 19 October 1686 “Ludewig Küster, [mill] master, and Anna Maria Boden, lawful daughter of Jochim Boden, [mill] master at [O…hausen],” were married. The couple had Anna Catharina baptized on 15 July 1687, Johann Ludolph on 30 January 1689, a child whose name was not written on 2 February 1691, Johann Dieterich on 7 May 1693, August Wilhelm on 23 March 1696 and Maria Eleonora on 2 February 1699. The mother is Anna Maria in 1686, Anna in 1687 to 1693 and Anna Margaretha in 1696 and 1699; she was probably one woman, and the groom of 1686 probably the father of all six. Ludewig Küster was a sponsor as master miller in December 1700, and on 17 November 1709 his daughter Anna Catharina (probably the child of 1687) married as the daughter of “Master Ludewig Küster, miller here.” He was buried at Salzderhelden on 29 March 1711, “aged 61 less 3 months,” so born about 1650, though the age is doubtful. Johann Ludolph was probably the son who was alive at Salzderhelden in 1721, when a daughter of his was buried. August Wilhelm named his own daughter, Christine’s mother, after his sister of 1699. Through him, Christine’s mother was probably the granddaughter of the Salzderhelden master miller Ludewig Küster and the great-granddaughter of the master miller Jochim Boden.

The Küsters were millers along the Leine and in the hills north of it: at Salzderhelden, Hohnstedt, Vogelbeck, Kuventhal, Voldagsen, Delligsen and Scharfoldendorf, and at Salzhemmendorf from 1764. Christine’s mother’s family and the Salzderhelden millers probably shared a place of origin. Two other Küster families touched the Wesemanns: the Salzhemmendorf miller of 1764 to 1775, and the Delligsen millers, the family of Johann Heinrich’s daughter-in-law (see “Georg Ludewig Wesemann and Justine Marie Küster,” below).

The Salzhemmendorf miller, Johann Ludewig Küster “from Salz der Helden,” married Anna Christina Wedemeier, probably the widow of the miller Volbrecht, at Salzhemmendorf on 18 October 1764 and took the mill. He had children baptized there in 1767, 1770 and 1772, and he was a godfather at the baptism of Johann Heinrich Wesemann’s eldest son in January 1772. In December 1771 he stood godfather at Hemmendorf as “Johann Ludewig Küster of Salzhemmendorf”. A Ludewig Küster, probably the miller, was a sponsor at Salzhemmendorf in September 1774 at the baptism of a son of the organist Johann Georg Rost, and in February 1775 the register names “the wife of the local miller Ludewig Küster”. He was possibly a kinsman of Christine’s mother, but this has not been shown.

Who he was is not settled. Two Ludewig Küsters of different generations lived at Hohnstedt in the 1740s (probably). The elder married Engel Maria Magerhaus in 1741 and had children baptized there in 1742 to 1748. The younger, Johann Ludewig, son of the miller Christoph Küster, was baptized at Hohnstedt on 24 August 1725 and married Catharina Elisabeth Romeier of Hollenstedt in 1749 as “the miller … born at Vogelbeck”. The Salzhemmendorf miller was one of the two, and that he was the younger is possible. One more Küster mill stood at Scharfoldendorf, beside Delligsen: on 13 May 1783 Heinr. Justus Sander, hereditary miller of Ockensen, married “Hanna Dorothea Juliana Küster, a miller’s daughter from Scharfoldendorf”.

The Küster mills explain how Johann Heinrich came to Salzhemmendorf and to his wife, not where he was born. That they hold the key to his origin is a theory only.

References

  • Halle Kirchenbuch “Taufen Beerdigungen 1766–1799” (churchRegister 390648, 286 images), Kirchenkreis Bodenwerder, Archion online viewer; with the register’s own surname index at Bild 205. Transcriptions:); Bilder 101–102 (the baptisms of September 1785 – March 1786); Bild 104, no. 15 (1786); Bild 113, no. 27 (1788); Bild 117, no. 14 (15 March 1789); Bild 144, no. 12 (25 April 1793); Bild 156 (30 November 1794); Bild 174, no. 8 (12 March 1797); Bild 182, no. 16 (1798); Bild 196, no. 34 (25 September 1799); Bild 250, nos. 7 and 10 (the burials of 1783). Also: Bild 4, 12, 22, 35, 45, 55, 70, 81, 93 and 116 (the baptisms of the children of Johann Christoph Brand and Anne Catharina Voges, 1766–1789); Bild 75, no. 18 (1779), Bild 89, no. 25 (20 May 1782) and Bild 100, no. 20 (1785), the Sporleder baptisms; Bild 176 (10 July 1797); Bild 207, 215, 226, 238, 270 and 271 (the Brand burials of 1766, 1768, 1773, 1777 and 1792, with 1792 no. 37); Bild 222–223 (the Sagebiel and Marahrens burials of 1771–1772); Bild 232, no. 9 (the burial of Franz Heinr. Brand, 1775); the Sagebiel burials of 1768–1771 and baptisms of 1773–1774.
  • Archion, Wallensen (Kirchenkreis Elze-Coppenbrügge): Kirchenbuchabschrift Taufen 1666–1808 (200237; Bilder 31–53, 1732–1742), Kirchenbuchabschrift Konfirmationen, Trauungen, Beerdigungen 1732–1808 (200243) and Namensregister (200252), typed copies. With Ludwig Schwabe (comp.), Verzeichnis der Getrauten und Proclamierten in der Kirchengemeinde Wallensen 1716–1808 (digitized by Friedrich Vennekohl, 2013; hege-elze.de), a third-party transcription. Also Wallensen Kirchenbuchabschrift Beerdigungen 1809–1875 (churchRegister 200249), a typed copy: Bild 59, p. 285, 1842 nos. 43 and 44 (Johann Heinrich Wecke and Caroline Wecke née Brandes of Thüste).
  • Heimat- und Geschichtsverein Elze (hege-elze.de): “Kirchenbuch Wallensen Getaufte 1666–1785,” transcribed by Ludwig Schwabe and digitized by Friedrich Vennekohl (the gap 1677–1732; the Telgmann entries of 1674–1677 and 1735). A third-party transcription; the marriage list is at [78].
  • Archion Forum (Niedersachsen, Bremen), thread 1436, “Auskunft Trauregister Calenberger Land 1701-50,” posts of 13–17 October 2020 (the poster Kokp18 and the replies): the birth, office and death of August Wilhelm Küster and the dates of his wife and daughters. A third party’s statement; no sources given.
  • The Küster millers’ registers and files: Archion, Salzderhelden Kirchenbuch 1674–1727 (382747; Bild 115, the baptism of 23 March 1696 of August Wilhelm, son of Ludewig Küster); Hohnstedt Kirchenbuch 1637–1749 (382882); Einbeck-Alexandri Trauungen 1730–1829 (382586; Bilder 32–34, the marriages of 1740 to May 1742; Bild 90, the 1775 Küster marriage at Delligsen); and NLA HA, Hann. 74 Einbeck Nr. 813 (the lease of the Salzderhelden lordship mill, 1723–1740). Also Salzderhelden 382747: Bild 9 (the marriage of 19 October 1686), Bild 23 (the marriages of 1709), Bilder 95–124 (the baptisms of 1687–1700) and Bilder 172–173 and 189 (the burials of 1711 and 1721); and Hohnstedt 382882: Bild 130 (the baptism of 24 August 1725), Bilder 163–178 (the baptisms of 1742–1749), Bild 217 (the marriages of 1741) and Bilder 284 and 293 (the burials of 1735 and 1747). Also Einbeck-Alexandri Taufen 1730–1774 (382582; Bilder 8–116, the Kuventhal Küster baptisms of 1731–1747, with Bild 103, no. 14, the baptism of Johann Ludewig, 24 May 1747; Bild 80, 1742 no. 60, the two Küster sponsors); and Einbeck-Alexandri Trauungen 1730–1829 (382586): Bild 14 (the marriages of 1728 and 1729), Bilder 24, 25 and 30 (1734, 1735, 1739), Bild 67 (1762, no. 19), Bild 87 (1774) and Bild 90 (1775, no. 6).
  • Salzhemmendorf Kirchenbuch 1750–1803 (churchRegister 200156), Landeskirchliches Archiv der Evangelisch-lutherischen Landeskirche Hannovers, Kirchenkreis Elze-Coppenbrügge, Archion online viewer. Bild 94, pp. 558–559, the “Copulirte” lists of 1764–1770, with 1770 no. 5, the marriage of Johann Heinrich Wesemann “aus Grubenhagen” and Clara Christina Campen (18 November 1770); Bild 47, p. 466, 1767 no. 26, the mill hand Heinrich Weseman[n] as godfather; the baptisms of 1750 to September 1772 (Bilder 3–56), with the 1772 baptism of Johann Conrad Ludewig Wesemann and its godfather Ludewig Küster “aus Salz der Helden.” Also Bild 4, p. 380, 1750 no. 7 (the baptism of Clara Christina Maria, daughter of Johann Wilhelm von Campe and Maria Eleonora Küster); Bild 56 and Bilder 59–60 (the Küster entries of 1772–1775); Bild 90, p. 551 (the marriage of 13 April 1751); Bilder 93–95, pp. 558–560 (the marriage lists of 1764 to 1772, with the notes that no one was married in 1771 or 1772); Bilder 121, 124 and 127 (the Küster burials of 1761, 1763 and 1766); and Bild 133 (the burials of 1772, nos. 23 and 24). Also Bild 55 (1772 no. 1); Bilder 57–60 (the baptisms of 27 December 1772 – 4 May 1775, read entry by entry); Bilder 98–102 (the marriages of 1786–1802, with Bild 101, p. 572, the Alwes and Westermann marriage of 29 August 1798); Bild 169, p. 727 (burials of 1802, no. 14); and Bilder 211, 214, 215 and 216 (the baptisms of 1800–1802).
  • Salzhemmendorf Namensregister 1657–1852 (churchRegister 200177), Kirchenkreis Elze-Coppenbrügge, Archion online viewer: the K and von Campen rows, marriages (Bild 127), burials (Bilder 130–131) and baptisms. Index rows only. Also the R rows: Bild 185–189 and 190–191 (baptisms), 191–192 (marriages) and 192–193 (a second handwritten run): no Rickmann, Riekmann or Rittmeier row before 1801.
  • Burchard and Mundhenke, Die Kopfsteuerbeschreibung der Fürstentümer Calenberg-Göttingen und Grubenhagen von 1689, 13 parts (Hannover and Hildesheim, 1940–1972): Teil 7 (the Ämter Brunstein, Westerhof and Harste with the town of Northeim; p. 10, the Hohnstedt mill and the Amtmann Weesemann, 1686; p. 19, Hinrich Weeseman, Kleinkötner and carpenter of Langenholtensen; Kurt Weseman, cavalryman, at Echte); Teil 11 (the Fürstentum Grubenhagen; p. 85, Hans Waßmann, Erbmüller at Schwiegershausen; p. 152, Herr N. Wesemann at Ebergötzen; the household of the Kommissarius N. Weesemann of Einbeck); Teil 12, contents (p. V), and the edition’s plan on archiv-vegelahn.de. With de.wikipedia, “Amt Westerhof” and “Burg Westerhof,” for the Amt’s Hildesheim period to 1523 and its later place in Calenberg-Göttingen. Also Teil 5 (Amt Lauenstein; p. 38, Jost von Campen, brewer, at Salzhemmendorf) and Teil 7, p. 12 (Franz Küster, Kleinkötner and miller at Vogelbeck).
  • Archion, the parish registers read for a Wesemann or Wasmann baptism of 1732–1742 in and around the principality of Grubenhagen (Landeskirchliches Archiv der Evangelisch-lutherischen Landeskirche Hannovers; each register with its years and result in Methods and Records). Grubenhagen: Einbeck-Alexandri Taufen 1730–1774 (382582), Einbeck-Jacobi (382597), Einbeck-Marien Kirchenbuch 1730–1742 (382607), Einbeck garrison (382594), Katlenburg Taufen Trauungen 1714–1761 (382904), Odagsen (382731), Hullersen Kirchenbuch 1690–1790 (382652), Herzberg (358772), Osterode-Jakobi Kirchenbuch 1689–1732 (359238) and 1733–1753 (359239), Osterode-Marien (359260), Lerbach Namensregister 1728–1852 (359162), Elbingerode Namensregister Taufen 1663–1852 (411160), Lauterberg Namensregister Taufen 1710–1852 (411189), Nienstedt Kirchenbuch 1689–1750 (359168) and Namensregister Taufen 1597–1875 (359176), Negenborn Kirchenbuch 1660–1788 (382722); and the Harz villages of the Ämter Herzberg and Scharzfeld, Lonau Kirchenbuch 1721–1811 (358794), Barbis Kirchenbuch 1730–1821 (358731), Bartolfelde Taufen 1689–1827 (358733), Pöhlde Taufen 1701–1749 (358810), Hattorf Taufen 1664–1753 (358758), Scharzfeld Taufen 1706–1736 (358841) and Kirchenbuch 1737–1749 (358845), Osterhagen Taufen 1689–1840 (358806), Steina Taufen 1689–1831 (358856), Sieber Kirchenbuch 1687–1747 (358849), Sachsa Namensregister 1709–1739 (358838), and Wulften (359317) with its Namensregister 1591–1852 (359325). The border districts: Düderode Kirchenbuch 1731–1743 (359100), Dorste Namensregister Taufen 1627–1842 (359097), Stöckheim Namensregister Taufen 1727–1826 (382781), Eboldshausen (359112), Marke (382930, 382931), Edesheim (382814), Hammenstedt (382860), Elvershausen (382824), Hardegsen Kirchenbuch 1682–1786 (359384), Hohnstedt Kirchenbuch 1637–1749 (382882) and Lutterhausen (382926). And Kirch Grubenhagen, Mecklenburg (290777), baptisms October 1735 – February 1741.
  • Archion, Hemmendorf (Kirchenkreis Elze-Coppenbrügge, Landeskirchliches Archiv der Evangelisch-lutherischen Landeskirche Hannovers): Kirchenbuch 1642–1735 (199808; Bild 84, the baptism of 1721), Kirchenbuch 1736–1751 (199811; Bild 7, the baptism of 28 June 1739; marriages, confirmations), Kirchenbuch 1750–1826 (199814; marriages 1750–1774) and Namensregister 1650–1793 (199835). With A. Heise, Kirchenbuch der Stadt Hemmendorf, 1642–1906 (Niedersächsischer Landesverein für Familienkunde, 2000; kreibaum.de), a third-party abstract. Also, in Heise: 33/589, 6/25, 16/15, 17/65, 4/164 and 33/482 (Antoinette Wesemann, her daughter Dorothe Caroline Charlotte Heinemeyer and the Dahle family, 1846–1886).
  • Hohnstedt Kirchenbuch 1749–1849 (churchRegister 382883), Kirchenkreis Northeim, Archion online viewer: Bild 4 (the marriages of 1749), Bilder 5–8 (the marriages of 1751 to March 1764) and Bilder 179–185 (the burials of 1749 to April 1764).