52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks #4: She's a Mystery to Me

Well, I was positive that I wouldn't find anyone closer to my birthday (Sept. 9) than my mother (Sept. 12), but I dutifully went through the list anyway.  And guess what?  I found someone a day closer than my mother, Anne Margrete Otten, born September 7, 1777.  That was a surprise.  But guess what?  I know next to nothing about this woman, other than that she was my great-great-great-great aunt.

What do I know?

1.  She was born on September 7, 1777, and lived to November 23, 1858.  That's a good long life -- 81 years.

2.  We can assume she was a strong and healthy woman, to live that long!

3.  Her parents were Peter Otten (1737-1792) and Anna Jachens (1737-1786).  Not so long-lived, either one of them.

4.  She must have been close to her brother, Johann Harm Otten, because he and his wife named their daughter -- Anna Margrete Otten -- after her.

Where did this information come from?  From a treasure trove of info I found in an Ortsfamilienbuch (OFB) for the Lesum area of Bremen, Germany.  I found many, many ancestors of my great-grandmother, Christiane Bellmer.




What else can I figure out?  Peter Otten is listed as 1) a farmer, 2) a laborer (1780) and 3) a day laborer (1781).  Since I assume these are listed in order, he went from a farmer to a laborer (three years after Anne's birth) to a day laborer, suggesting a downward slope of his position in the world.  Did he have a farm and lose it?  Why? Did he drink, gamble, become disabled and therefore not able to run his farm?  Since the OFB offers no information on Peter's father, Dierk Otten, I don't know whether the farm had been in his family.

Anne seems to have married fairly well -- her husband, Johann Friedrich Fastenau, was the owner of a house and a small piece of land, and was a "wood sawyer."  She was mother to 10 children, only five of whom survived into adulthood. 

So, that's the best I can do for my near birthdate-mate.  I'd like to find out more!

Comments

  1. Dana LeedsSaturday, 24 January, 2015

    I've found an Ortsfamilienbuch for one of my German families, too, and the records took me back over 200 years! Incredible!

    And, I like your detective work!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Elise Ann WormuthSaturday, 24 January, 2015

    Thanks, Dana -- I've found the OFBs, when I can get my virtual hands on one, to be a treasure trove. By discovering my great-grandmother's true birthname, it opened me up to 39 new ancestors, all at once! And I truly love the detective work part of it.

    ReplyDelete

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