Der Familienbrief 2008

Familienverband Behnken

Minstedt N°4

The picture is taken about 1938. As like as many other old farms this house burned down and was replaced by a modern house built of brickstones.

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Dear Relatives and Friends of the Behnken-Family, The executive board and I, the chairman of the Behnken Family Association send our season

greetings to all readers in the nearer home region and abroad and wish you all a Merry

Christmas and a Happy New Year. I give my warmest greetings to all relatives, members, and

friends and hope that you will enjoy reading this family letter.

The family letter we edited a year ago the theme of which was the old historic costume of the

Selsingen parish was very well accepted and both the content and the get-up were applauded.

My namesake Joachim Behnken from Bodenheim did extensive research throughout the

Selsingen area and succeeded in describing the costumes in a very clear and vivid way

although it is today they are worn only for special occasions but is no more in daily use. This

work was not only acclaimed by the family members. The managing director of the „Stade

Home Region Society“ Dr. Dannenberg published Joachim´s work in the Society´s journal

and made it available to the public.

Such an appreciation from a qualified expert of the local history and geography of course

encourages Joachim to write about similar themes. So he decided to write in the family letter

2008 you have in your hands now about the Northern German hall farmhouse, which we

normally call the Nethersaxonian farmhouse. With great pleasure I noticed the commitment

and the joy to do that work Joachim expressed. I must and will say to him a great ThankYou

for his brainwork and writing about these themes so important and interesting. I do it knowing

that all members and readers of the family letters share my opinion.

Reflecting these two themes, the costume and the farmhouse, we know to deal with subjects

of a passed time. But both the costume and the farmhouse are characteristics and distinctive

marks of a considerable period in the history of our home region lasting for centuries.

Somebody might say these looks back to the past are an expression of “not-living-today-in-

the-present“. I answer that you cannot understand the present if you do not want to learn about

the past and have no knowledge about it. Or: The look back serves to a real understanding the

present and to build the future. Especially our relatives in the United States of America ask

questions and search their roots in the old homeland. They ask where they come from and

how their ancestors lived and earned their living. Asking the question: Where do I come

from? Can give you a part of the answer to the question: Who am I? It is really perceptible

that they preserve a part of their ancestor’s homeland in their hearts.

I think in this way we and all the Behnken Family Association gave a lot of delight and

pleasant surprises to all our relatives and friends abroad. Let us go on doing!

I give my kindest regards to all of you, to those who are near and those who are far away,

especially to our American relatives. God Bless you!

Yours

Joachim Behnken Ober Ochtenhausen

Chairman of the Behnken Family Association

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The endeavour to survive and to propagate and multiply is one of the basic intentions and

original instincts of all living beings. Since the human being left the darkness of prehistoric

times he was eager to organise optimal preconditions for this aim. People of the Stone Age

already looked for positive circumstances by building a sort of shelter to find safety against

the inconveniences of weather, against the attacks of cold and wetness – they built a tent – a

hut – a house.

People have always had a special relationship and strong bonds to their houses, to their solid

roofs above their heads and they have it up to the present day. The house is place of harborage,

security, and care. It gives safety and asylum. The house is their home. And additional the

house was even in former times a shelter for the mobile belongings and the cattle and – not to

forget! – a center place of earning ones living Those who owned a house had wealth and, too,

stood on a step of the social hierarchy which guaranteed power and influence in common life.

The word „house“ denominates also a social grouping and even a provenience. Joshua says:” I

and my house will serve the Lord.” (Jos. 24,15) Saying that he does not only describe his

family but also all his servants and those of his relatives whose head and leader he is. Joseph

and Mary had to travel to Bethlehem, to King David’s town “... because they came from the

gender and house of David.” The head of a monarchic state is member of a “reigning house”.

We characterise a man whether his origin is „from a good house“ or „a less house” And the

famous German poet Rainer Maria Rilke writes „ (…) Who has no house by now will not build

one. (…)“, painting with these words a picture of the forsakenness of lonely and homeless men

in some seasons and periods of life.

No wonder that a house was – and is still – much more than only a shelter against bad weather.

Finding a house you found and find warmth and a cosy atmosphere. Who had none had to rest

on the run and migrant. That is why all over the world the exigency to build and own a house

was not only an act to save the own livelihood. But the house became expression of attitude

and ethos, civilisation and culture. Perhaps it is done unconsciously but with good reasons that

a drawing of the old Anderlingen in wintertime decorates the cover of our Familienbrief since

15 years showing the straw roofed farmhouses.

Heinrich Behnken, home region author and member of the Behnken family wrote his books

and pieces in Low German. His novel „Lütje Micheels, de Schoolmeister (Lütje Micheels, the

Teacher)“ starts with a description of the village of Anderlingen, the home village of his father

and village of the Behnken family’s origin:

„Anderlingen lies on the High and Dry Lands of Stade. (.....)There

are eight large farms at Anderlingen and eight big farmhouses stand

along the street. (.....)All houses are straw roofed facing their gable

front and the main gate to the street. Their straw roofs are stretched

deeply down and everyone looks like an old man who has pulled his

fur cap so deep into the face against the cold that one nearly could

not see his eyes any more. A little back there stand the small houses

where the farm hands live. And all the houses seem to be grown out

of the dark ground as like the big oaks surrounding every farm and

stretching their treetops wide over the roofs.

Beside this center of the village there are about twenty other houses

standing all a little bit in the background. Farmers owning small-

sized farms live there and some handicraftsmen, a blacksmith, a

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carpenter, a shoemaker, a tailor and not to forget there is a small pub

an a little schoolhouse. (…..)

The third farm you pass when you enter the village coming from

Selsingen is called Micheels Hoff (Michaelis´ farm). The main house is positioned a little bit back from the street. On the left you see the

large barn and behind it the well. On the other side the baking oven

is placed and a little bit more afterwards stands the little house.

Behind the big house you see some crippled apple trees and plum

trees, which seem to be buried by the high oak trees dominating

them. (...)“

Just before the author brings up to the stage any persons he prefers to describe farms and

houses and to describe the village by drawing a picture of its houses.

Two of these „eight big farmhouses“ at the village of Anderlingen from former times have an

immediate and important relation to our family and play a major roll in the family’s history. In

the old times (and for elder people still today) they were numbered as N° 6 – Meiershus

(Meier´s House) and N° 5 – Micheelshus (Michaelis´ House). At Meiershus we find the first man named Behnken we know about at Anderlingen. He lived there from about the year 1700 – Johann Behnken who married Anna Meier, the heir of the farm. The farm still carries her

name up to present days, for farms keep their original name throughout the decades and

centuries, may the real owner change as often as you can think. Since those times members of

the Behnken family own Meiershus.

Meiershus, Anderlingen �r. 6,

Built in 1804 and dismantled in 1953

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Micheelshus is named after the farmer Johann Michaelis who was a resident there in the year

1636. Two generations later the farm came into the hands of a Behnken, via. Lütje Behnken,

who was born 1742 at Meiershus. He married Gesche Borchers, heir of Micheelshus, on

November the 26th, 1772. His descendants still live on that farm.

Micheelshus, Anderlingen �r. 5,

burned down on the „Black Day of Anderlingen“, 24th of April, 1945, when British troops set alight all the village

These splendiferous large main houses of the farms on the High and Dry Lands are the tips

and highlights in the historic development of the so-called Northern German timber framed

farmhouse (“Fachwerkhaus”). The basic idea of the construction is we think about 1000 years

old and was developed from the end of the Middle Ages to that type of building we have

conserved with the example of the “Heimathaus” (House of Home Region) at Selsingen.

The old timber framework farmhouse fulfilled in it’s times several different functions. In an

ideal way it served:

- as place of living and home for the people;

- as shelter for the cattle;

- as storage for the harvested grain and feed for the cattle;

- as a working place and workshop or garage for the different works in the hall which

served as festival- and dancing hall, too, and also as place to lay out the dead and to do

the funeral rites.

The construction of the houses follows the same principles and was repeated throughout the

centuries all over the High and Dry Lands and nearly everywhere in Northern Germany. The

house dimensions or the type of the straw roof may differ as well as the construction of the

walls – the basic idea never changed.

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When there came up the plan to build a new house there was no question that every farmer in

the village gave horses and wagons for transportation at the house builder’s disposal without

any payment. The basic construction of the new house was made from timber. The wood

came from the oak trees, which still today emboss the picture of our villages. Before one

could start the building it was necessary to have a stable ground, not to “build on the floating

sand”. The building lot was always repaired when a new house was erected on an old lot, for

example when the old one was burned down. Otherwise the builders had to make at first a

solid footing. The material to do it was easily to be found: the heritage of the glacial period,

huge boulders and field stones a great number of which you can find still today in the fields

and on the heath land. Often they used the boulders of prehistoric graves which where

destroyed that way. If the boulders were too big they were cracked into pieces.

The four-cornered foundation raising out of the ground only a few inches forms the ground

plan of the outer walls and is their foundation. Such a footing gives the advantage not to

absorb the wetness of the earth. One short side of the rectangle always faces the street. On that

side you will find the main door later on. The layout divides the later building into a large flat

in the middle and on its both sides smaller flats like the side aisle of a church where the cattle

will become stabled or small sleeping rooms can be placed. In the background the large

middle flat ends with the living flat where the fireplace is. A wall separates the flat from the

small chambers and sleeping rooms. The wall is thick enough to give space for small sleeping

cubicles.

The drawing gives you an idea of a Northern German farmhouse like it was built up to the

change from 19th to 20

th century. ( Missendöör = maingate; Rindviehställe = stables for the

cattle; Knechtekammer/Mägdekammer = sleeping rooms for the male/ female farm hands;

Diele = main flat; Flett = living flat; Altenteilerstube = living room for the former farmer and

his wife when they were old; Kammer = sleeping room; Dönz = living room used very seldom

and only for representative events.) The farm hands were lucky if they got chambers. Often

they had to look for a place to sleep up above the cattle stables where a floor was laid („Hille“

in Low German) Sometimes a cellar was dug under the Flett, but that was not common.

Above the open fireplace a wooden shield (“Füerrähm” in Low German; look at page 12) is

drawn. It served as shield against flying sparks rising from the burning open fire.

The usual type of construction was the „two-pillar-house”: two lines of strong main posts

stood on boulders in the ground. These inner pillars had to carry the full weight of the house.

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That is why they are much stronger and

thicker than the outer posts and have

often a cross section of 14 x 14 and more

inches.

Special care was necessary to erect the

timber framework. Before the carpenters

started to erect the main posts the master

delivered the Lord´s Prayer. The Sunday

before work began the reverend had

asked during the service for a good

success of the work. When all had gone

well a prayer of thanks was said on the

next Sunday. Cross-section of a two-pillar-house

On the right and left line of main pillars a huge joist was laid (“Luchtbalken” above the living

flat, “Unterrähm” above the mainflat/hall) the end of which was fastened on the wall behind

the fireplace. If the balk was not long enough a second and perhaps a third one was used.

At right angles to the „Luchtbalken“ or rather the „Unterrähm“strong cross balks (beams) run

from post to post and are fastened. These cross balks are longer than the main hall is wide.

That is necessary to fasten the construction sideways and the rafters and the roof construction.

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There is no question that a construction with such a lot of joints

fastened without iron nails or other iron parts must be crafted

solidly, exactly, to be long lasting. This work needed

experienced and well-versed handicraftsmen. The drawing

(right) shows a “cluster of joints” with pillar, “Unterrähm”,

crossbalk and rafter. No doubt – only real masters could do such

a work. That is why the master-builder had the right to add his

initials beside the names of the house owner and his wife on the

main door balk. On the gablebalk of Meiershus at Anderlingen

was written: Great Lord, take care of this house and all those who do their work under the roof diligently as You have told them to do. The Lord and the Son and the Holy Ghost may be praised everywhere. – Halleluja Gott Vater sorge für dieses Haus und alle die darinnen ihr Werk so treulich richten aus wie Du es hast bestimmt. Gott Vater Sohn und Heiliger Geist Dein Name sei allhier gepreist. – Halleluja MDB

Johann Behnken Katharina Behnkens 1804

The abbreviation MDB means Meister Drewes Brandt, what are the initials of the master-

builder of the house. This picture shows a corner of a barn at Ober Ochtenhausen. The idea of construction of the timber framework can be clearly noticed. And there is something special: based on the foot made from smaller boulders a foundation of brick stones is erected on which the beam is laid. The cross-joints of the timber framework are fixed with wooden nails. The making of the walls with brick-stones is a more modern type of wall. More ancient walls were made from branches of willow or hazelnut and plastered with adobe (see picture on page 10) .

The posts of the outer walls are much smaller than the inner pillars. But they stand in shorter

distance than the inner pillars. They stand on a base beam laying on a foundation of stones

and are connected with a traverse in half height. To strengthen the construction triangular

struts are added. The tops of the outer posts are connected with beams („Wandrähm“) and

connected with the next inner pillar with a beam. These connecting pieces of timber are

covered with planks and form the ceiling of the cattle stable where the farm hands are to sleep

if there is no sleeping chamber for them.

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The main door is placed in the middle of the gable wall, flanked by the doorposts and

crowned by the main door spar. Above the main door and on the back gable, too, a hip

finishes the gable. The material to cover the roof is high quality straw, normally rye straw.

To make a roof long lasting and resistant against atmospheric attacks the craftsmen needed

the special knowledge and abilities of skilled professional roofers. To build a good roof on a

house was as important as a well-done timber framework construction. Master carpenter and

master roofer had the same high standing. Special carefulness was necessary to do the ridging

and the triangles of the gables. Roof straw was harvested every year on all farms either to

repair their own roof if necessary or to give it to the owner of a newly built house. Helping

each other was self-evident. The roof-ridge was to be covered especially thick and leak proof.

To conserve straw people some-times laid

over a first thin coating of straw another

layer of heather and covered it with

another layer of straw. The roof materials

were fixed with branches of willow. Later

on one used zinc wire. It was more durable

and in case of fire it kept the burning straw

up on the roof and prevented it from

falling down and blocking doors and

windows. In modern times the straw roofs

were replaced by those of metal or tiles to

make the houses more resistant against the

danger of fire.

The edges of the roof gable is protected The drawing shows a gable triangle with owl hole and were

with fitted planks. They framed horsehaeds

a hole that allowed an owl to fly in and catch mice on the hayloft. The ends of the frame

planks sometimes are formed as horse heads. Sometimes you find also other

types of ornaments for the gable. A farm hand’s house from the parish of

Scheessel shows the ornament of which is like a square standing on one

edge (see left). But the big farmhouses have the horse heads on their gable if

they have an ornament up there.

The roof-ridge of this barn (left) made from heather is very good example. It is a building on a farm at Ober Ochtenhausen. The main building (right) is characterised by the hip roof and the triangle of the gable with owl hole. The white post in the middle of the main door can be moved to allow the broad wagons to enter.

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The style of construction of smaller houses, buildings for farming and auxiliary buildings are

similar to the big farm houses. The drawing of an old house at Brest and the picture of the barn

at Ober Ochtenhausen on pages 8 and 9 attest that clearly as well as the picture of an old well.

House at Brest – Etching by Gerhard Eitzen, 1936 Well at Fischerhude Both types of well - a draw well with a teeter-totter (left) or with a winch (right) are to be found on the Dry and High Lands.

After having finished all

carpenters work the house

stood like a carcass.

Concurrent with the work

to cover the roof the

brickwork for the walls is

started. Before brick stones

came into use the walls

were made from willow

branches and a mixture of

adobe and straw. Between

two beams one put upright

sticks. The upper ends

were plugged into drilled

holes. The lower ends were

whittled flat and put into a

groove in the beam.

Flexible branches were

woven between the sticks.

Finally this netting was

plastered with adobe

enriched with straw and

some-times also with cow

manure on both the inner

and the outer side.

Sheep stable at Selsingen, part of the farm called “Heimathaus”. You can Then a coat of watery

clearly recognize the construction of the walls – here without adobe coat. adobe was added to coat

the wall. As a finish the inner side was painted with white lime paint.

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In more recent times the practice began to fill the interspace between the timbers with bricks,

like this wall of a barn at Ober Ochtenhausen. The door is secured with a wooden latch set in

with accuracy (left picture). The gable wall especially above the main door was brick-lined

with ornaments highly imaginative but not as commonly as we know former farms in the

Altes Land or from big farmhouses in the Southern Heathlands. The picture on the right

shows a detail of the gable of that house you can see on page 9.

The property boundaries were marked by ditches and sometimes by walls and fences to

demarcate the owner’s farm to the street, or to the neighbour’s farm, and often also to the

surrounding meadows, the forest, and the heath lands. Boulders as found or split into pieces

were arranged in layers and used as demarcations. These walls were about three feet high and

were topped by layers of grass or heath. Since modern times the walls have been topped with

rhododendron or azalea bushes.

The entrance to the farmyard was directly opposite the main door to make it possible for the

heavy wagons to enter the farmhouse hall straightforward.

The names of a lot of construction parts have their origin in words from the old Saxon

language. The word „Hamm“ what means the walm on the gable is derived from the Saxon

word „hamo“ what means covering or paneling or casing. The words „Rähm“ or „Rahmen“

(frame) and „Fach“ (division as part of the house) come also from Saxon origin. And that

applies, too, as I may say most important room of the house, the „Flett“ (flat at the end of the

hall where the fireplace is). In the Old Saxon language this words means living hall and that

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expresses in a very exact way what the „Flett“ of the Northern German farmhouse was used

for.

The “Flett“ was a kitchen and a living room, a place to work and meeting point, the center of

the family’s daily life and social epicentre for all people living at the farm no matter whether

farmer or farmhand. It was place of cooking and eating. From here the housewife could keep

a watch on the work of the farm hands on the barn floor. Here one met the neighbour and

conducted business. Shaking hands made the contract and no signed paper was necessary. On

the Flett one talked about general conditions of betrothments and negotiated marriages, one

brokered the wage of the farm hands and employed them by shaking hands. When the old

farmer handed his farm over to his son and successor it was done on the Flett. Stories and

tales were told sitting around the fire, and while doing some handicraft or knitting work one

sang songs which often were well known from the service at church, and interchanged news.

That was done in the evenings when the strenuous daily work on the farm and in the fields, in

the forest an on the heath land was done. Even today a proverb is well known: Spinning in

the evening brings wellness and health. Spinning in the morning brings troubles and hurt,

what that says is those who take the easy way, and do wrong, and will never earn a good

living. They are doing the easy and soft work in the morning hours instead of the normal

heavy farm work.

The epicenter of the Flett was the fireplace. Originally it was only a hole in the hardened

adobe ground surrounded by some stones. But in later times it was developed as a real flat

stone on which the open fire burned. Over the embers one could put a grill. A shield against

flying sparks sheltered the open fire hung down from the ceiling and was fastened on one end

on the wall of the “Flett”. It also should control the smoke. There was no closed stove, there

was no chimney either. The smoke had to seek its way out through chinks and crannies or

portholes in the ceiling or through the open side door or the owl’s hole in the gable triangle.

The shield also diverted the smoke and directed it to the pieces of ham

and the sausages, which hung down from the ceiling. So no special

smokehouse was

necessary.

In the area of the

former dukedoms of

Bremen and Verden

part of which was the

parish of Selsingen, the

heads of the shield-

beams were formed as

“flails”. More in the

south, in the regions of

the heathlands, they had

the form of stylized

horseheads. A holder

for the cauldron was

hanging down from the

shield. This provided

for the movement of

the cauldron up or down Cauldron holder with Cauldron holder with Fireplace with shield depending on how quick rich decorations

and cauldron the soup should cook

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Through the times the holders developed into real works of art. The blacksmiths applied all

their skill and craftsmanship to produce a real splendid piece of work.

The floor of the living hall („Flett“) often was paved with pebblestones laid as decorative

ornaments or later on with brickstones. It was not only a flat floor to live and to work on. As

already mentioned it was used to initiate and to execute all what was of importance for the

farmer and his family. The “Flett” and the hall were also used as dancing hall and banquet

hall. Festivities were held and the dead were put on the bier. In every respect the Flett was the

center of the house. It seemed necessary to fashion it in a representative way. The paved floor

was a stable ground for large storage furniture as cupboards, chests and sideboards made from

oak wood.

The back wall carried a - depending from the farmer´s means and fortune - long or shorter

shelves for plates and drinking-vessels made out of stoneware or porcelain and tin. These

were not only for use but also for display. Have a look at the sideboard standing in the

Heimathaus at Selsingen (picture on page 13) and at the Flett of Jüttenshus, Anderlingen Nr.

7, see page 14) to get an impression. The picture of the Flett of Jüttenshus shows an example

of an evening meeting with spinning and knitting, talking and telling stories. The doors and

also the small furniture are elaborately decorated. You can see this on the door to the back

rooms and on the door of the little bread cabinet hanging on the wall. This style of decoration

is called “Baroque style of Selsingen“.

Sidebord standing in the Heimathaus of Selsingen with pretty decorated stoneware plates. The girl wears the historic Selsingen costume. To learn more about that costume see the “Familienbrief 2007”

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This picture shows the „Flett“ at Jüttenshus“, Anderlingen �° 7. It is made about 1920. The daily work is done, but that does not mean that there is nothing more to do. Spinning, knitting, sewing and stitching were important works to be done. Around the fireplace are assembled: From left::

- Georg Schwetjer from Bremervörde, herdsman at Jütten´s farm - Hinrich Brandtjen, Jüttenshus; later husband of Christine Tietjen, 5th person from left, d �r. 5, hawker - Katharina Heins, daughter of teacher Heins; later spouse of teacher Jakob Behnken from Meiershus - Margarete Behnken from Micheelshus, later spouse of Deacon Johann Meyer from Haaßel, living at

Rotenburg - Christine Tietjen, hawker; later spouse of Johann Ficken, emigrated to the United States - Marie Brandtjen, Jüttens; later spouse of Hinrich Ficken - Margarete Brandtjen, Jüttenshus; later spouse of Lütje Burfeind from Ober Ochtenhausen - Anna Behnken, Meierhuss; later spouse of Jakob Bockelmann from Farven - Adelheid Behnken, Micheelshus; later spouse of Johann Behnken, Fellerhus at Anderlingens - Johann Dankers from Bremervörde, shephard at Jütten´s farm - Anna Schröder, Hembeck; later spouse of Clement Tomforde

You can clearly see the heads of the beams of the fireshild ending as flails. From the ceiling hang down pieces of ham and sausages. The backwall is decorated with the well filled shelf for plates, the door with a decoration of „Baroque Style of Selsingen“

As you can see on the drawing on page 6 the Flett is like a cross-line of a T sitting transversal

on the end of the hall. The both ends have windows to lighten the Flett and can be entered

through small doors.

The motto or aphorism or dictum written on the long gable beam must be noticed as a special

feature of the Northern German farmhouse. The owner implored the care of the Lord for his

house and family with a passage of the Holy Bible or a sentence from the psalter.

Concurrently he displayed his faith and his trust in God. And simultaneously he set a

memorial for himself and his spouse. The master-builder, too, who had built the house was

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given credit: he could set his initials on the beam work of the gable front above the main door

aside of the owner´s names. The dictum written on the gablebeam, the longest and strongest

beam of the gable, ran often over the full length of the beam. The names of the owner and the

initials of the master-builder normally decorated the beam above the main door and the head-

bands connecting the door posts and the main door beam.

It was common use to write a dictum on the gable. Nobody failed to do it. These epigraphs

were placed over the main door faced the street and were visible for every passing man. They

served, too, as decoration for the house and as evidence of the fortune of the owner. A rich

man could write a dictum with decoratively painted or engraved characters They also gave an

impression of the owner´s life motto. They were a personal confession for example in

religious questions.

Only a few old farmhouses still exist on the High and Dry Lands. The one you see in these

pictures is to be found at Granstedt and is certainly one of the oldest preserved houses in the

High and Dry lands of Stade. The dictum dates from 1725. Evidently the house is no longer

used. The main door has not been opened for a long time. The dictum - WER GOTT

VERTRAUT DER HAT WOL GEBAUET IN HIMMEL UND AUF DER ERDENN –

JOHANN GERCKEN – ALHEIT GERCKENS – (Who trusts in God has built well not only on earth but also in heaven – Johann Gercken – Alheit Gerckens) decorates the maindoor beam. The head-bands carry the date: 8

th of July, ANNO 1725.

The dictum is written with white color on the green-painted beam. The master-builder´s

initials are not mentioned.

This house (look at the next page) at Ober Ochtenhausen built in 1748 is not decorated with

any passage of the Bible or other religious words. Only the names are recorded:

B H THEST MARTENS H F WOBCKE MARTENS ANNO 1748 - M HH

The abbreviation B H means „Bauherr“ (owner), H F means „Hausfrau“ (housewife), M

means Meister (master), HH are the initals of the master-builder.

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This house from 1895 (see below) at Ober Ochtenhausen shows a variant of interest. Instead

of the initials of the master-builder the house number (N° 7) is recorded between the names of

the owner and his wife.

The dictum on the gablebeam says: „Gott du wollest deinen Segen

auf dies Haus und Menschen legen die es bauen und bewohnen

wollest du in Gnaden schonen Blitz und Wetter Sturm und Brand

sei gnädig hier von abgewandt In Jesu Namen Amen“ (Good Lord please put your blessings on this house and on the people who built it and live in. Spare their lives with grace and do not strike them with thunderstorms, flashs, and fire. In the name of Jesus Christ –

�° 7 on the doorbeam of Amen”) the house you see above

The entwined initials J B follow these words meaning perhaps Johann Brandt, a former

owner. The names of the owner Peter Viebrock and his wife Anna Viebrock born Brandt are

recorded on the door beam and a decoration of flowers and the year of building ANNO 1895

are written on the head-bands.

Coming to the end of the 19th century one can notice a change from the aphorisms with a

spiritual intention. You find also mottos with a real profane content saying good but worldly

wishes for the house and those who live in it. But that was not normal use. Religious

quotations from the Bible, the psalter, or from hymns were preferred up to the beginning of

the 20th century as transmitted from the ancestors.

17

Written on this gable of a house at Ober Ochtenhausen from 1890 you read:

„Des Hauses Zier ist Einigkeit, des Hauses Freude Gastlichkeit, des Hauses Segen Fröm-

migkeit, des Hauses Glück Zufriedenheit“ – Bauherr: Thees Blanck - Anno 1890 - Ehefrau:

Marg. Blanck“

„The house´s honour is unity, the house´s joy hospitality, the house´s benediction piety, the house´s luck contentedness” – Owner: Thees Blanck – Anno 1890 – Spouse: Marg. Blanck

Although the owner did not choose a religious motto but a worldly aphorism you must not

think that he was an atheist. Look at the allusion to the undoubtedly necessary piety. You can

rather consider it a question of mode and style, which allowed the use of a motto without a

direct reference to religious items.

A motto which people liked very much to use decorates the gable of the house Reith N° 1 (see

page 18). It is an excerpt from Psalm 91:

“The man sitting under the shield of the Highness and resting in the shadow of the God

Almighty says to the Lord: My confidence and my castle, my Lord who is my hope - Psalm

91, 1-2“

18

I found this sentence several times, once more for example it decorates this house also at

Reith (look down) which Peter Heidtmann and his wife Anna Maria erected in 1797. The

master builder´s initials are C and O – M for master. They are reported on the left head-band.

Today Klaus Behnken owns the house.

Here you find a

speciality that

may catch your

eye: To the

names of the

housewives or

owner´s wives

(B F means

Baufrau –

owner´s wife) is

allways added a

“s” at the end.

But the words to

decorate the

gablebeam were

not only chosen

to praise the

Lord or as an

expression of trusting in God. Look at the house on page 19. The motto is asking for help

against fire and natural catastrophes and even against disagreeable and awkward customers.

Here they are called „godless people“ („Gotts vergeszne Leute“). Thiefs and other offenders

19

are mentioned with one breath with the „unexpected dead“, sufferings from water and fire and

other dangerous circumstances of life. The petition for care against „wrong blessings“means a

curse or another sort of malediction. You find this house erected in 1786 at Neukloster.

„BESCHÜTZ MICH AUCH AUF HEUTE VOR ALLER A�GST U�D �OHT VOR GOTTS VERGESZ�E� LEUTE� VOR EI�EM SCH�ELLE� TOD VOR SÜ�DE� U�D VOR SCHA�D VOR WU�DE� U�D VOR SCHLOGE� VOR U�GERECHTEM SEGE� VOR WASSER U�D VOR BRA�DT“

The motto says: „Save me today and every day against all fear and troubles, against godless

people and a unexpected dead, against sins and discredit, against all wounds and strikes,

against wrong blessings, against water and fire.”

Diederich Gercken and his wife Becke erected the house „1786 D 13 MAY“. The master

builder´s initials are M(for master) CW.

In the chronicle of Ober Ochtenhausen, 1st volume, page 745 and following you find an article

by Ulrich Klages and Wolfgang Dörfler titled „Ein hauskundlicher Rundgang durch Ober

Ochtenhausen“ („About Ancient Houses - A walk around Ober Ochtenhausen“). The authors

lay particular emphasis on three characteristics of the farmhouse N° 1 (address is Im Dorfe 9).

Which must be mentioned, too, on this place. (See the picture of the farmhouse on page 20.)

The authors say this house stands like a giant between dwarfs „with exclusive majesty“ on

the end of a large farmyard. With its length of 38 m and a breadth of 15 m it is without doubt

one of the largest farmhouses on the High and Dry Lands and for the time it was built - 1832

– it is very grandstylish. You must suppose that the building´s owner Angelus Meier was a

real rich man who did not spare any money to build such a reprensentative and pompous

house.

20

That is proved already by the used big four-cornered granite blocks of the foundations the

ground-joist is laid on. Such expenditure was without any doubt a special thing at that time.

The stones left and right of the main door show an inscription: „A-M. 1832“ right of the main

door (what may be the initials of the owner Angelus Meier) „M-H-STM“ left. This is

presumed to be the initials of the stone-dresser (STM = Steinmetz = stone-dresser)

Finally there is the timber used as third special thing. The master builder who signed the

main door beam with the initials M.C.OD is assumed to be a foreigner, but it is well known

that the timber did not come from the closer region. The 13 m long and 43/43 cm thick beams

show traces of so-called „raft-borings“. The rafters needed them to tie together the logs with

ropes. The wood for the roof-trusses is also presumed to be such floated timber or

„waterwood“. This wood was very resistant against wood-worms. Probably it came from

Middle European forests down the river Elbe, using the high tide from Neuhaus and up the

river Oste. On the High and Dry Lands there were no trees as thick and tall as those Angelus

Meier used for the house building. We can not imagine what enormous sums of money he

must have spent. The large dimensions of the house, the expenditure and the quality of the

materials used are a hint that the master builder came from the Elbe Marshy Lands because

that was were such giant beams were used.

21

The arch above the main door seems

like the tip of the top of all this pomp

and extravagance. It shows with

exactly incarved letters the owner´s

name and the name of his housewife,

the year of erection, and the initials

of the master builder. Also this arch

is unusually pompous. You rarely

ever find another like this on the

High and Dry Lands of Stade.

Obviously Angelus Meier could

afford it and made no secret of his

richness and fortune.

If there was not

enough room for a

long sentence on the

beam it was common

to write only abbrev-

iations for the words

or syllables. An

example you see on

this small house built

1770 at the village of

Ober Ochtenhausen.

The abbreviation W

G V T H W G B I H

U A E means:

„WER GOTT

VERTRAUT HAT

WOHL GEBAUT IM HIMMEL UND AUF ERDEN“. (Who trusts in God does well in

heaven and on earth)

The old Northern German farmhouse with its thick and large straw roof became rare in the

High and Dry Lands of Stade like everywhere in Northern Germany. The houses burnt down

or were taken down. New houses were built only out of brickstones without the old timber

framework. More and more strawroofs were replaced by those out of roofing tiles or even

metal since the middle of the 19th century when fire ordinances came in use and orders of the

fire-fighters were enacted. That changed forever and after the appearance of our villages.

When you still find an old house in use it has been remodelled and redesigned and adopted to

modern requirements. Often the old floor plan is changed past recognition. People and cattle

have not lived under one roof for a long time. To store the harvest and supply goods,

machinery and tools other storage buildings are made. But the old spirit still reigns the land.

Many of the new houses carry a plate on the gable which says for example: “The Lord may

take care for this house and all those who enter and leave it” even if they no longer have a

gable beam to write a motto on. The old wisdom is still valid that as long as the old oak trees

grow around the houses and farms the heritage of the ancestors is still alive.

Written and illustrated by Joachim Behnken, Bodenheim, and Lütje Behnken, Wedel.