Amanuensis Monday: The Baptism of Madde Strohmann

After a brief hiatus from Latvian genealogy for a few months, I found my mind wandering back in time again. Sometimes when you’ve hit a bunch of brick walls, you need a set of fresh eyes! I hit the Raduraksti books again, and within the first 15 minutes, I had stumbled across a new family discovery:

                            The Baptismal record of Madde Strohmann

Madde
Born on February 10, 1836 and baptised February 23, 1836
Born at Oldenburg, Gohbsem (Vecpils estate, Gobzemji farm)
To knecht (worker) Janis Strohmann and his wife Lise
Witnesses 1. Madde Strohmann, 2. Anne Sauer, 3. Janis Mattison
Baptised by Pastor Katterfeld at Neuhausen (Valtaiki)

Madde is my great-great-great-grandmother, her daughter Ieva Sedols married Jekabs Akerfelds. Just as her marriage record to Janis Sedols states, she was born at Gobzemji farm in Vecpils estate. I hadn’t found her before, because I hadn’t considered that she might have been born earlier than 1840, based on her year of marriage.

Madde didn’t marry Janis Sedols until 1865. She was almost 30! That is quite old for a first marriage back then. It makes me wonder about this curious birth record of an illegitimate child born in 1865 to an unmarried woman named Madde Strohmann that I had found months earlier. Mind you, since one of Madde’s godparents was also named Madde Strohmann, we know there were at least 2 Madde S.’s. But, an illegitimate child and affair could explain why she married so late!

It seems as though the peasants of Valtaiki parish obtained surnames about half of the way through the year 1835. In terms of continuing to follow this family line, this baptism may be the only clues I uncover about  Madde’s parents. They must have been married prior to obtaining surnames, so finding their marriage record will be slightly more of a challenge given that their names are incredibly common. A marriage could have been my only clue about Madde’s parents besides her baptism or a sibling’s baptism. I don’t mean to be negative, but Janis and Lise Strohmann might be the end of this surname’s line for me!

Ancestor Story: Ieva Sedols, Akerfelds Family Matriarch

Ieva Sedols (my great, great-grandmother) was born January 31, 1869 in Sieksate pagast according to the 1935 and 1941 Latvian censuses. Sieksate is north and west of Nikrace, just a little west of the area’s largest settlement -Skrunda. When I began looking for her baptism record, I searched the Skrunda parish church books since that is the closest large congregation I was aware of in the area, but turned up unsuccessful. Not sure where else to look, I put Ieva Sedols on the backburner for a while.

Until now! With a slightly better understanding on Latvian geography than before, I took a second look and noticed Valtaiki draudze (Neuhausen in German), checked and…
Success! Ieva Sedols, daughter of Janis Sedols and Madde, nee Strohmann of Jaunsemm farm in Berghof estate (Jaunzemji in Kalnmuiza {“Berg” “hof” = “hill” “house” = “kaln” “muiza”}). These church books are very faded and hard to read. Born January 31, 1869 and baptised February 9, 1869 at Valtaiki. Godparents are Ieva Strohmann (maiden), Lise ….ming? and Mikelis Sedols (youth).
Here she is:

Ieva married Jekabs Grinbergs alias Akerfelds in 1892 at Embute Lutheran church. This couple had 5 children: Ernests, Anna, Janis, Martins (born in Tomsk, Siberia) and Katte, before Jekabs died at age 34, leaving Ieva a young widow, living at Cepli farm in Lieldzelda with her 5 children.

(click to enlarge) Jekabs and Ieva's marriage record

Ieva remarried in 1908, to another widower named Janis Blazges. I don’t know if this couple had any children. Janis passed away sometime before 1935, and Ieva was a widow again, living with her son and daughter at Skrundenieki at the time of the 1935 and 1941 Latvian censuses.

(click to enlarge) Ieva's 2nd marriage to Janis Blazges in 1908, 4 years after Jekab's death

When her fellow family living at Skrundenieki were forced to leave their home to go to Germany, Ieva was not with them. My guess is she passed away in Nikrace sometime between mid 1941 and October of 1944.

http://chelli11.wordpress.com/2011/11/05/roadblock-akerfelds/

History Lesson: The Northern Crusades

“Crusade” is somewhat of a romantic term for “people killing people until they agree to abandon their belief system and adopt the one being forced on them”.  I will try my best to summarize this war that shaped modern Latvia:

In 1195, The Pope (Celestine III) decided that the pagan tribes in the Baltics needed to be more Christian. Conflict was nothing new in the area, with Saxon/Danish/Viking raids occurring for centuries before the Crusades began, mostly in attempts to gain control of trade routes.

As the Catholics in the west and Orthodox believers in the East grew in size and power, The Baltics were (not for the last time  history) stuck in between the two. Christianity came to the Baltics following German trade routes down the river Daugava. Bishop Berthold of Hanover led an expedition into Latvia at the Pope’s bidding, but was quickly defeated.

In his wake, in the year 1199, Albert of Buxhoeveden was appointed by the Archbishop Hartwig II with the task of converting the Baltic peoples. Medieval propaganda was used to help recruit crusaders, and in 1202 the Livonian Brothers of the Sword were formed, as a permanent military fixture in the Baltics. The crusaders kept their main stronghold at Riga, in it’s strategic position at the mouth of the Daugava and the Gulf of Riga. Albert of Buxhoeveden was appointed Bishop of Riga.

The crusaders first focused on the Livonian tribe (in modern day Vidzeme), succeeding in Christianising the majority of the Livonians by 1208, and even enlisting them to join their crusade against other tribes.

Next the crusaders turned their sights on the Latgallians and Selonians of modern-day Latgale and Estonians, to the north of Vidzeme. The crusaders did not attack Courland (Kurzeme) on a large scale because Bishop Albert believed it to belong to the King of Denmark .

After Albert’s death in 1230, the crusaders attempted to peacefully  convert Courland with a series of treaties with some success.  In 1242, the newly formed, reorganized Livonian Brothers of the Sword, now known as the  Livonian Order (a sub-army of the German Teutonic Order) led by Andrew of Groeningen began a military campaign against the Curonians, and with much effort, managed to subjugated the Curonians in 1267, establishing their main stronghold in Kuldiga. The southern-most parts of old Courland (Ceklis and Megava) were not officially conquered by the crusaders, but united under the rule of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, ending the Latvian leg of the Crusaders’ northern Holy War.

Below is pictured the old Curonian territory (which I tend to favour since most of my ancestors hail from Kurzeme). You can see Valtaiki parish in the Bandava region, and judging by this, Nikrace was also within Bandava.

Old Courland

Document: An Illegitimate Child?

Being that Janis Sedols and Madde Strohmann were married in 1865, I started combing through the Valtaiki church books from 1865 onwards in search of their children. Besides Ieva in 1869, they also had Janis in 1871. Janis was born at the same farm as his sister Ieva – Jaunzemji in Berghof. His godparents were Janis Sedols, Anne Strohmann and Martins Jekabsons.

Janis Sedols, son of Janis and Madde Sedols

(Side note: since the newborn Janis Sedols is the son of Janis Sedols, and a godparent is also named Janis Sedols, this tells me that there was likely at least one other related Sedols family at the time. The godparent Janis is a “jungen” (youth or bachelor) and since he shares the same name as the father Janis he wouldn’t be his brother – my best guess is that the father Janis does have a brother, and godparent Janis is a nephew. Of course, this is speculation until I can prove! Just another tidbit a baptismal record can give you.)

But that was all that I found, which is not typical of the time period! Did the family move? There are Sedols in Embute parish as well, but I haven’t seen any Janis and Madde. I also came across this interesting baptismal record:

Lawihse Konrad, illegitimate daughter of Simon Konrad and Madde Strohmann

I know it’s hard to read, but what it states is that on Berghof estate, Buhdeneek farm (I still haven’t found Buhdeneek’s contemporary name), jungen (bachelor) Simon Konrad and madchen(maiden) Madde Strohmann birthed and baptised an illegitimate daughter named Lawihse. Lawihse was born on May 26, 1865 and was bapisted June 6, 1865 at Valtaiki. Lawihse’s godparents were Lawihse Kuhning, madchen, Kristoph Strohmann, jungen and Lihse (Strohmann?).

Is this the same Madde Strohmann?? If it’s true, Madde and Janis Sedols were married May 16, 1865. 10 days before this child’s birth. It sounds a little soap opera, but there are not that many Strohmanns or Sedols (or Konrads, on that note) in the area. The father’s name is very light, too… was it pencilled in later on? More often than not, for other illegitimate children’s baptismal records I’ve found, no father is listed, just the mother. Did someone stand in as the father? Was it actually Janis Sedols’ child, conceived before marriage? Maybe another Madde Strohmann all together…

Interesting, anyways. Another puzzle to solve!

Document: Janis Sedols and Madde Strohmann

I took a stab at guessing that Ieva Sedols’ parents were married within 5 years of her birth and found a marriage record for Janis Sedols and Madde Strohmann (remember one of Ieva’s godparents is a Strohmann) in 1865 in Valtaiki. It looks like Janis was from Strebuki farm, Berghof (Kalnmuiza estate) and Madde was from Gobzemji farm, Oldenburg (Vecpils estate). Just to recap… Janis Sedols and Madde Strohmann are the parents of Ieva Sedols, who married Jekabs Grinbergs alias Akerfelds. Jekabs and Ieva are the parents of Janis Akerfelds who married Anna Ziverts and had 14 children, one of whom was Arvids Akerfelds. So Janis Sedols and Madde Strohmann are my great, great, great-grandparents.

Place of Interest: Valtaiki Lutheran Parish

Figuring out all the different estates and places in Embute parish really helped me out, so I figured I’d do the same for Valtaiki. I consulted the same old book (Das Curländische Privatrecht by Friedrich Georg von Bunge) as I did for Embute, as well as the church books and a map obviously. Some of the residents of these places may have attended Skrunda or Aizpute churches at some point in time or other, I’m sure. Valtaiki is a very small place today, while Skrunda and Aizpute are much larger.

Berghof (Kalnmuiza)
Oldenburg (Vecpils)
Kazdangen (Kazdanga)
Kalwen (Kalvene)
Perbohten (Perbone)
Laiden (Laidi)
Zilden (Cildi)
Gross Blenbienen (Blendiena)
Sergemiten (Sermite)
Wangen (Vanga)
Rudden (Rude)
Appussen (Kokapuze)
Ehnau (Enava)
Puhnen(Puni)
Neuhausen (Valtaiki)
Alt + Neu Pelzen (Vec + Jaun Pelce)
Alt + Neu Sexaten (Vec + Jaun Sieksate)
Kandeln (Kandeli)
Hemmessen
Bojendorff (Bojas)
Paddern (Padure)
Rudbahren (Rudbarzi)