Hi,
I see you are interested in your ancestry from Lamstedt and Bülkau (or, if you don't want to use umlauts, Buelkau). It is not necessary to hire someone in Germany to do all of your research. If you have access to a LDS (Mormon) Family History Center, you can do much of it yourself using microfilms of the church record for Lamstedt and Bülkau and the genealogy records of the Lamstedter Bördemuseum, the local history museum in Lamstedt.
I looked up your Schröder/Schroeder family in the Lamstedt church and Bördemuseum records and determined that the parents of
Hermann Schröder,
Christoph Schröder and
Catharine Wölpern, had moved to Lamstedt from other places. The Bördemuseum records did not give a marriage date for
Christoph and
Catharine but did list the births (and some deaths) of seven children in this family: 1)
Matthias, * 6 Jun 1834; 2)
Nikolaus, * 2 Jan 1836, + 9 Jan 1836, 3)
Wilhelm, * 21 Jan 1837, 4)
Nikolaus, * 28 May 1839, 5) Anna, * 26 Dec 1842, + 2 Jan 1843, 6)
Tewes, * 19 Jan 1844 and 7)
Harm (
Hermann) * 6 Feb 1848. I then looked up each of these records in the Lamstedt Kirchenbuch (church book). The baptismal record for
Matthias (actually his full name was Matthees Hinrich) stated that the mother, Catharina Wülbern (not Wülpern), was from the nearby village of Bülkau and that one of the godparents was Ratje Hinrich Schröder from the village of
Neuhaus about 15 or so miles north of Lamstedt.
While I am on the subject of Baptismal records, let me give you a transcription of the baptismal record for
Hermann Schröder:
1848 Geborne und Getaufte eheliche
15. Februar
den 6ten Christopher Schröder, Bäcker in Lamstedt, und
Catharine, geborne Wülbern, einen Sohn, geborne den
26sten Januar, Abends 6 Uhr, genannt
Hermann
Gevattern: Gerd Hinrich Sticht, Christopher Kröger,
Anna Elisabeth Rothermel, alle aus Lamstedt.
This record states that
Hermann (not
Harm as indicated in the Bördemuseum records), was born on 26 Jan 1848 and was baptized on 6 Feb 1848. So the Bördemuseum records were wrong on two counts.
Even though the I then checked the Lamstedt marriage records back to 1830 but did not find any marriage for
Christoph and
Catharine.
The Bördemuseum records did list a death date and an approximate birthdate for Christopher Schröder. He was born in about 1805 and died on 4 Jan 1875. No birth or death dates were given for
Catharine Wülpern/Wülbern. The Bördemuseum record also indicated that Hermann's older brother,
Wilhelm, married a woman by the name of Maria
Meyer, the daughter of Johann
Meyer from the village of Wanna, on 28 Mar 1867. Wilhelm and Maria had one daughter who was born in Lamstedt, Anna, who was born on 17 July 1867.
I was not able to verify any of these later Lamstedt records because the microfilmed church records end in the year 1852.
I next went to the Bülkau church records and immediately was successful. The following is the marriage record for Christopher Schröder and
Catharine Wölber (not Wülpern or Wülbern):
Copulirte 1834
den 3ten April der Junggeselle Christopher Schröder, des
Tewes Schröder, Gastwirth zu
Neuhaus ehel. Sohn, mit
der Jungfrau Catharina Wölber, des
Matthias Wölber,
Tischermeister in N.E. ehel. Tochter. Im
Hause copulirt.
This record states that Christopher's father was
Tewes Schröder, an innkeeper from
Neuhaus and that Catharina's father was
Matthias Wölber, a master joiner from the Nordende part of Bülkau. The couple were married at home (obviously the home of
Matthias Wölber).
Unfortunately, I was not able to look for the baptismal record of your other ancestor from Bülkau, Marie Wölber/Woelber, because the microfilmed Bülkau church records also end in 1852.
I was able to find the following baptismal record for Catharina Wölber:
1809 Getaufte eheliche
den 7ten April
Mathias Wölber,
Tischler in N.E. und
Rebeck geb. Ahlf eine Tochter den 5ten ejusd. geboren, genannt
Catharina
Gevatter: Hinrich Reyels, Schmidt in N.E., Johann Bösch
des Bartold Martin Bösch,
Hausmann in N.E. Sohn, Anna
Reyels des Peter Christian Reyels, Brandeweinbrenner bey
der Kirche Ehefrau, Catharina
Meyer, Hinrich
Meyer,
Hausmann aus Cadenbergen Ehefrau, Margarete Binde, der
Peter Binde, Schuster zu
Norden der Kirch Ehefrau.
Catharina was born on 5 April 1809 and was baptized on 7 April. Her parents were
Mathias Wölber, a joiner from the Nordende, and
Rebeck(e)nee
Ahlf.
I also found the marriage record for
Mathias Wölber and
Rebeck Ahlf:
1800 Copulirte
d. 30sten October der J.gesell
Mathias Wölber des
Claus Wölber
Tischler zu N.d. Kirche ehel. Sohn mit d. Jnfr.
Rebeck Ahlfs, des Hinrich Ahlfs,
Hausmann in N.E.
eheliche Tochter.
The batchelor (Junggesell)
Mathias Wölber, the son of
Claus Wölbern, a joiner living north of the church (N.d. Kirche = Nord der Kirche, where Kirche is the church), was married to the spinster (Jgfr = Jungfrau)
Rebeck(e)
Ahlf, the daughter of the farmer (
Hausmann = farmer) Hinrich
Ahlf from the Nordende on 30 Oct 1800.
(Note: This record was the most difficult of the records to read. The Lamstedt records are quite legible and so are the later Bülkau records. Some of the earlier Bülkau records are more difficult to read, however.)
I also found a 20 May 1768 marriage record for
Claus Wölber, a widow from
Norden der Kirche, who married Margaretha
Tiedemann, the daughter of the late Marten
Tiedemann from the Nordende.
I do not have ready access to the
Neuhaus records, but they are available through the LDS Family History
Centers. Most LDS churches have Family History
Centers.
The records that I have quoted required about three hours to find. I admit that I am rather experienced with the Lamstedt records, but this is the first time that I have seriously researched the Bülkau records. The LDS FHL microfilm numbers that I used were as follows:
2126096 Lamstedter Bördemuseum Stammtafeln, M-Z
1189000 Lamstedt Kirchenbuch 1806-1836
1189501 Lamstedt Kirchenbuch 1836-1852
1188958 Bülkau Kirchenbuch 1816-1852
1188957 Bülkau Kirchenbuch 1715-1726, 1746, 1751-
1752, 1759-1815.
Please contact me directly at
fredbuck@sprynet.com if you need additional assistance.
My best regards,
Fred Buck
Cincinnati, Ohio