THE GERMAN CONNECTION
INDEX
INTRODUCTION *
FIRST CONTACT *
FIRST GERMANY ANCESTOR TRIP *
HANS´ U.S. VISIT *
SECOND GERMANY ANCESTOR TRIP *
EXCITING RESEARCH OF ANCESTORS *
POSTLOG *
In 1983, while taking a home leave vacation, Wilford Jones showed me the family history journal he was putting together. He showed me the entries about the Oerke family European connections. He said to me, "as you go often to Germany for training with Digital Equipment Corporation (my employer in Spain) why don’t you try to find out more." The family tradition passed on by my Father was as written in Mothers book below.
"His father's people were of German descent--hard-working, thrifty and determined people are these. Oerke is a very common name in Germany and Lloyd's great-grandfather was a member of the Prussian Guard. I always thought of this when I looked at Lloyd's Army picture. To get away from military duty Grandfather Oerke and a brother came over to America while in their 'teens. The boys came over with friends who settled in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. I suppose not having a home tie, the boys became separated. At least we know nothing about one boy except that he changed the German spelling of Oerke.
Frederick Oerke, Lloyd's grandfather, was born in 1836 in Germany and died in 1896 at Caldwell, Kansas."
This was all that Wilford could find out about this German connection. This casual request set off a chain of events that was to result in a 15-year quest for more information about our ancestry.
In a few months I received another weeklong training in Munich Germany. Near the end of this week of training, I remembered Wilford’s request, and as more of a desire not to disappoint Wilford, than a real interest on my part, I asked my German training instructor if he thought my name sounded German. He replied that it could be but certainly not from the south of Germany region of Barberia. He then suggested that we look in the phone book, and proceeded to do so. The results were negative. He then suggested that we check the yellow pages. I replied that surly if Oerke was not in the normal directory we would be wasting our time to look the yellow pages. Besides I thought I had imposed on him too much already. He insisted (much to my everlasting thanks), found an entry for Oerke-KG-Transport und Verkehr, and proceeded to call the number.
After talking a while in German, which I was never able to learn (learning Spanish has been too big of a cross to bear, for me to try a third language), he hung up. He had learned that the company was a branch of a Frankfurt company that provided temporary manpower to larger companies that didn’t want to bother with the recruiting and administrating of personal. (Much as my old company Bendix Field Engineering Corp had done and contracted my services to NASA) The president of the company had been to this office only the day before, but had returned to Frankfurt.
He proceeded to call long distant to Frankfurt and asked to speak to the director. Again after speaking German for a while he handed me the phone and said that he spoke English. This was
Hans Oerke and his first question was "exactly how do you spell your name?" When I replied O E R K E, he said that if it was spelled that way we must be related, for the name was very uncommon. He invited me and my family to come to Frankfurt and he would show us the family ancestor home. We exchanged addresses and promise to write.I wrote early in 1984, giving some of our family history in America, and sending him the first chapter in Mothers book about The Oerke Family. He returned my letter on 19 April 1984, writing
"I am 62 years old, baldheaded and 186 centimeters high. We have four children, all girls, of whom 2 are married. Thus we have 6 grandchildren. I was in the war, first as bomber, later as fighter pilot and left the war as major. Practically all my life I stayed in aviation, apart from some strange activities as introducing Temporary Work in Germany and Founding Manpower, as a sideling. I was more busy with my aviation company in Central Africa and the Middle East."
"The name Oerke is very rare --- During the war some genealogist had reported to Hitler that I was the last bearer of the name Oerke and he had me withdraw from the front line (for a short time only). Everyone with this name comes from a family originating in the area Hehlen-Brokeln-Ottenstein on the river Weser. Because it was here that the Viking clan went on shore, took the land and settled down." The clan came from an
area south of Trondheim in Norway, near the river Oerke (now Ork-la) and mainly from the vilage Oerke-dalen.""The
coat of arms shows on red background two crossed battle axes and is similar to the coat of arms of the bishop of Trondheim which he, like we, still wears.""Oerke means actualy "work" but more in the sence of Power or Energy. and that is what I have heard about all our ancestors: energetic, hard workers, brave and respected by others. Many married into nobility, like I did and my children."
He again invited my family to Germany and we agreed to go in the summer. Monica went to help baby-sit with my godson living in Geneva Swit. during June and July of that year. Elisa, Sandra, and I drove up in July, picked up Monica and continued to Frankfurt to meet Hans.
He took us to his apartment, as he had separated from his wife, and showed us many of his remembrances. We were quite impressed with his two awards from Hitler, including the iron cross, photos of the planes he had flown, a pricture of him with King Husane of Ethiopia, Etc.
He also showed us an We started the next day in his Mercedes for a five-day trip through the fairy tale area of Germany called Weservergland.
It is call the fairy tale region because so many fairy tales originated in this part of Germany. Hameln of the pipe piper is close by as also Bodenwerder where the stories of the Baron Munchhausen originated. The Brothers Grim are also from this area, as are others.
During the trip, we heard many stories of his life and family that would have made a book if we had recorded them. Every evening after checking into small "gashouse" hotels, he would have his many beers and snaps, while continuing his stories.
The area where the Viking clan had settled consists of three small towns on a plateau within a bend of the river Weser. The largest is
Ottenstein followed by two small towns Brokrin and Hohe that are only about one half mile apart. We visited the cemetery of Ottenstein where many Oerke grave stones were observed, even though by German law no grave can remain that is over 50 years old.House construction in this part of Germany is typically made of a frame of large wood beams filled in between the beams by brick or plaster. The main beam over the entryway has carved in it the owner’s name that built the house and the date, along with quotes that the owner wanted. Hans took us by a couple of houses that were built by Oerkes in the 18th and 19th century. One is interesting because it was built by one of Hans’ ancestors. It has the name
Oerke spelled wrong (Oorke). The story told by his family was that the owner had contracted an engraver to do the beam by letter and the engraver couldn’t read the correct spelling as it was not a familiar name and put what he thought should be correct. A familiar story of all Oerkes.Hans did not know anyone locally and made no attempt to contact anyone, even though there were several Oerkes in the phone directory. We did contract a historian in this area, that was in a hospital in a nearby city. He agreed to do some research when he got out, but as he was quite old and feeble, I did not hold much hope in this contact.
After we left, Hans did contact someone else that found our first concrete lead. This person found in the emigration records of this area from 1846 to 1870 to include only one Oerke. This record read: Heinrich Friedrich Christian Oerke, born 1836 at Ottenstein, emigrated 1865 from the port of Bremen, Germany. On September 27, 1865, at the age of 29 he arrived in the port of New York City.
The following year the ÚS. Oerkes were having a
family reunion at Marvin’s ranch near Butler Mo. We invited Hans to come and he agreed. During this reunion Hans got to know the ÚS. connection. . After the reunion, Wilford, and Rowena drove Hans, Elisa, and myself down to Norman, with stops in Caldwell, and Kingfisher.In Caldwell, we were able to show him where Fredrick was buried and was quite meaningful to him. We also saw the homes where ancestors had lived and built. We contacted Robert Oerke and he found the family bible where Fredrick had recorded the birth of his children, along with photos of him and his family. This family bible had been recorded in the Mormon’s genealogy records.
The next big step in our search for our ancestors was a trip in 1993 by Gladys, Rowena, George, Barb, and myself to visit our ancestor home in Ottenstein. Again Hans was to host this trip. He had written the pastor of Ottenstein and had given him the full name and birth date of Fredrick. We had repeated most of the itinerary of our 1984 trip, but this time when we arrived to Ottenstein, we had a surprise.
When we entered the pastor’s house we had a room full of people waiting for us. There was the mayor of the town, a newspaper reporter, the town historian, and three men with the sir name of Oerke. They had all the original documentation on a large table, with a summary sheets of our ancestors. One of the Oerkes, Wilber, was a direct descendent of our great grandfathers brother. He is still living in
the house where Fredrick was born, and they had the ownership documentation sense it was built. It has passed down from father to oldest son, and now it belongs to Rainer Oerke, the oldest son of Wilber Oerke.Maybe a translation of the newspaper article dated 16 July 1993 can say it best.
EXCITING RESEARCH OF ANCESTORS
ON THE OTTENSTEIN PLATEAU
Americans sought after traces of their ancestor
Heinrich Friedrich Christian Oerke
Emigrated about 128 years ago
OTTENSTEIN. On the scene ancestral research can turn into an impressive adventure. Such was the experience of four descendants of Heinrich Friedrich Christian Oerke, who emigrated from Ottenstein to the United States of America in 1865. He first saw the light of day on the tableland in 1836 and was laid to his final rest in Kansas in 1896,
One hundred twenty-eight years have passed since this farewell to Germany, and now, four of six great-grandchildren appeared quite deeply moved by the encounter with the Oerke family house at 36 Breiten Street (now occupied by Rainer Oerke) and by the study of church books, which Reverend Frolich was able to produce. Following the research of old documents and entries and the visit in the presence of the great-grandfather, they left sad-hearted from Ottenstein.
Who was their ancestor anyway, whom the Americans encountered with heart and mind at his cradle and in his home in Weserbergland? Heinrich Friedrich Christoph Oerke and his wife Justine Osterhage, born Boker, (widow).
At only twenty-nine years of age, this youngest heir decided to leave his parents and five siblings (Hanne Dorothee Caroline, born 1824, Heinrich Friedrich Christoph, born 1826, Auguste Caroline Conradine, born 1829, Caroline Wilhelmine Friederike Henriette, born 1831, and Friederike Conradine Caroline, born 1833) and to turn his back on home in order to face the hardships of like. He ran into the aftermath of the American Civil War and at first found it hard to hold his own. In his new home he found a wife in Marie Clara Krause, born in Germany in 1846 and already six years in the USA. The pair reared eight children, one of whom was William Henry Oerke. Marie Clara Oerke survived her husband by thirty-four years and later died in Kansas in 1930.
The second oldest son William Henry married Laura Long, and this marriage was blessed with a son, Lloyd William Oerke, who took Nanetah J. Massey as his wife. Two daughters and four sons came from this union, four of whom spent time, as it were, at the cradle of their great-grandfather: Gladys Luise from Wichita, George William from Asheville, North Carolina, Rowena Mae from Norman, Oklahoma, and Kenneth Vern from Madrid.
This youngest son, and expert in the field of satellite technology, transferred to Spain because of his job and during a stay in Munich coincidentally came across the name "Oerke-KG-Transport und Verkehr" (Oerke Transport and Commerce Ltd.) in the telephone book. He inquired to find out if there was any relation. It turned out that he found a Hans-Hermann Oerke in Bonn (now Honnef), who was born on April 11, 1922 in Hanover and belongs to the Oerke line in Hohe/Brokeln. Moreover, the latest findings in Ottenstein revealed that, going back 200 years, Hans-Hermann Oerke could likewise be traced to the "Ottenstein" Oerke family, not only as a "namesake" but also as a "genuine relation."
This Hans-Hermann Oerke, a former bomber and fighter pilot in World War II, a flight captain in Central Africa and the Sudan after 1945, and a success in the field of commercial transportation by means of geophysical flights, received the deciding telephone call from Spain, out of which closer contact immediately developed. Thereupon Kenneth Vern Oerke and his family visited Hehlem and Ottenstein in 1984, and Hans-Hermann Oerke was a guest of the different Oerke families in America in 1985.
Three great-grandchildren (Kenneth excepted) visited Germany for the first time. With great interest they admired the buildings of the late Grobkoth farm of their great-grandfather, still characteristically intact today even through the remodeling and additions which modernized and changed them in 1938 and 1947. By 1971 the land was only farmed for additional income and was completely sold in 1985. Previously all the fields had been leased. In the years 1987 and 1988 Rainer Oerke also remodeled the farmhouse and buildings for purely accommodation purposes.
The guests from the USA spent an additional few days in Germany and among other things undertook a Rhein-trip before returning home.
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They also explained that only the oldest son could inherit property from their father (it is called the process of "primogeniture") and all other children of a marriage had to make their way without an inheritance of property. This was to prevent the property from being divided up into such small units that no one could make a living. It is interesting that yet today, Rainier’s younger brother is living and working in Berlin and Rainier, as the eldest son of Walter and Hildegard Oerke, has already inherited the family home. The inheritance to the oldest son becomes effective when he marries, with the parents having a lifetime interest. Most younger brothers would enter service in the military, church, government, or learn a trade, or stay at home helping and living on the good will of their oldest brother. I suppose that Fredrick didn’t like any of these alternatives and chose emigration as a way to become a landowner himself. His father also was not the oldest son, so he moved and married in November of 1823 Justine Boker, a rich widow of only 10 months with two daughters, and gained ownership of land for himself and his descendants.
The Ottenstein Oerkes did not know of our great-grandfather or of his emigration. This is because both him and his brother had very similar names. His older brother carried his father’s name (Heinrich Friedrich Christoph Oerke) and my great-grandfather’s name was Heinrich Friedrich Christian Oerke. Although there were two birth entries in the records with two birth dates, the names appeared to be the same, especially sense using abbreviations was common and there were no marriage or death entries. They had concluded that the second birth entry was a mistake. It was a pleasant surprise for them to get independent confirmation to the second birth.
In 1996
George, Rowena, and I revisited the family home in Ottenstein and introduced Elisa to Walter and Hildegard. This time we had no translators and Rainier was on a trip. They tried to make us fill welcomed and offered us refreshments. They suggested that next time we should make sure that Rainier would be home. Sense communication was so difficult we left in a couple of hours.Hans invited us to come to Germany in 1997 to help celebrate his 75th birthday, but no one was able to make the effort.