Daniel Oetjen and I corresponded about how we might be related. Daniel explored my Kirmse Family Tree on Ancestry looking for connections with his own family tree.

Letter

Daniel wrote the following[1]:

I found a connection. It seems we are 6th cousins [as will be noted later in this chapter, we eventually found that we are 7th cousins] and our first common ancestors are Jacob Cordes and Gerdruth Kracke.

Jacob Cordes and Gerdruth Kracke

Jacob Cordes was a farmer and shoemaker in Scheeßel, his farm had the number 25 and was called Uellerks. It was named after his grandfather Ölrich (form of Ulrich) Cordes, who probably founded the farm and was born around 1633. The name of the farm was used to identify people instead of a family name. Last names changed, but farm names always stayed the same, so Jacob Cordes was called Uellerks Jacob or Uellerks Vadder (father) when people talked about him.

Jacob Cordes married his 2nd cousin Gerdruth Kracke in 1741. Their first son Meinke Cordes took over the farm in 1775. The second son Johann Conrad Cordes, your gr.gr.gr.gr. grandfather, married Mette Ficken in 1776 and took over the farm number 3 in Helvesiek, called Bokels, from his father-in-law Peter Ficken. The youngest daughter Catharina Cordes, my gr.gr.gr.gr. grandmother married Dierck Meÿer in 1777 at the age of 17.

The old farmhouse of Uellerks is part of a local museum today. A new house was built outside of Scheeßel near the train station. The owner, Johann Götze, a descendant of the Cordes family married my father’s cousin Irmgard Oetjen. That’s why I know so much about it.

Wilhelm Kranz OFB Sittensen Database

A famous Scheeßel genealogist published his database and here’s the entry of Jacob Cordes and Gerdruth Kracke[2].

Your ancestor Johann Conrad Cordes is child number 3: My ancestor Catharina is child number 8.

Translation

CORDES , “Jacob” Johann (Lutheran) – Parents: C., Meinke and MÜLLER, Gerdruth (1631.1).
Born in Scheeßel. Christened on 19 Dec 1712 in Scheeßel. Occupation: Farmer and shoemaker in Scheeßel. Farm name/number :: Üllerks, No. 25 Scheeßel. Died in Scheeßel. Buried on 21 Aug 1786 in Scheeßel.
Church Marriageon 23 Nov 1741 in Scheeßel.
With KRACKE, Gerdruth (Lutheran) – Parents:. K., Johann and MÜLLER, Gerdrut Anna (4584.4)
Born in Wohlsdorf. Christened on 14 May 1718 in Scheeßel. Died in Scheeßel. Buried on 04 Nov 1769 in Scheeßel.

Children:
1. Meinke (Lutheran) Born on 07 Dec 1742 in Scheeßel. Christened on 09 Dec 1742 in Scheeßel. Occupation: Farmer in Scheeßel. Farm name/number :: Üllerks, No. 25 Scheeßel. Died on 16 Feb 1808 in Scheeßel. Buried on 19 Feb 1808 in Scheeßel. Church Marriage on 19 Nov 1775 in Scheeßel with Maria MEYER (1632)

2. Gerdruth Anna (Lutheran) Born on 19 Feb 1745 in Scheeßel. Christened on 21 Feb 1745 in Scheeßel.

3. “Johann” Conrad (Lutheran) Born on 26 Nov 1747 in Scheeßel. Christened on 28 Nov 1747 in Scheeßel. Occupation: Halbhöfner in Helvesiek. Farm name/number :: Bokels, No. 3 Helvesiek. Died before 1811 in Helvesiek. Buried before 1811 in Scheeßel. Church Marriage on 19 Jan 1776 in Scheeßel with Mette FICKEN (1606)

4. Peter (Lutheran) Born in Scheeßel. Christened on 29 Jan 1751 in Scheeßel.

5. “Maria” Elisabeth (Lutheran) Born in Scheeßel. Christened on 26 May 1752 in Scheeßel. Died in Wittkopsbostel. Buried on 21 Mar 1785 in Scheeßel. I. Church Marriage on 05 Nov 1775 in Scheeßel with Johann Jürgen Bassen (0515) II. Church Marriage on 09 Nov 1780 in Scheeßel with Hinrich RIEBESEHL (6815)

6. Jacob (Lutheran) Born in Scheeßel. Christened on 14 Dec 1754 in Scheeßel. Occupation: Civil & church juristin Visselhövede. Died in Visselhövede. Buried in Visselhövede. I. Church Marriage on 03 Jun 1785 in Visselhövede with Cathrin Marie MORITZ (1577)II. Church Marriage on 02 Sep 1796 in Visselhövede with Catharina Margreta ALBERS (1577) III. Church Marriage on 26 Dec 1807 in Visselhövede with Anne Catharine GERKEN (1577)

7. Christopher (Lutheran) Born in Scheeßel. Christened on 04 Jan 1759 in Scheeßel.

8. Catharina (Lutheran) Born in Scheeßel. Christened on 19 Oct 1760 in Scheeßel. Died on 15 Oct 1829 in Westerholz. Buried on 19 Oct 1829 in Scheeßel. Church Marriage on 30 Nov 1777 in Scheeßel with Dierck MEYER (5424)

The ancestors of Johann Conrad Cordes and Catharina Cordes are even more interesting. Gerdruth Müller, their paternal grandmother, was born about 100 meters from where I’m sitting now, in the mill of Lauenbrück and her father was Jacob Müller, the local miller. Gerdruth Anna Müller, their maternal grandmother, was a daughter of Tönjes Müller, the miller of Scheeßel. Jacob and Tönjes Müller were sons of the Scheeßel miller Berend Müller. The Müller family of Scheeßel is special. They owned the mill in Scheeßel for centuries and even today they own it. Ernst Müller was a popular artist and changed his name to Müller-Scheeßel.

Maybe that’s enough information for now. I will look up other familiar names from your family tree.

Daniel

Relationship

The second son of “Jacob” Johann Cordes and Gerdruth Kracke, Johann Conrad Cordes, who married Mette Ficken in 1776 was thought to be my 4th great-grandfather, Johann Cordes. However, after further research, it was found that my 4th great-grandfather, Johann Cordes married Hanna Götzen. So this was not a connection with my family tree.

Additional research filled out more of the Cordes and Meier/Meÿer branches of my Kirmse Family Tree and additional relationships were found. Our common ancestors were found to be the Meinke Cordes and Gerdruth Müller:

Meinke Cordes and Gerdruth Müller

The Wilhelm Kranz Genealogy OFB Sittensen Database has the following entry:

Translation

1631 CORDES , Meinke (Lutheran) – Parents:. C., Ölrich and MEYER, Engel (1636.2)
Born in Scheeßel. Christened on 15 Jun 1680 in Scheeßel. Occupation: Farmer and shoemaker in Scheeßel. Farm name / number :: Üllerks, No. 25 Scheeßel. Died in Scheeßel. Buried on 8 Nov 1726 in Scheeßel.
Church Marriage on 3 Nov 1707 in Scheeßel, with

MÜLLER, Gerdruth (Lutheran) – Parents: M. Jacob and SCHÜLERMANN  Margretha (6057.2)
Born in Lauenbrück. Christened on 17 Sep 1686 in Scheeßel. Died in Scheeßel. Buried in Scheeßel.

Children:

1. “Jacob” Johann (Lutheran) Born in Scheeßel. Christened on 19 Dec 1712 in Scheeßel. Occupation:  Farmer and shoemaker in Scheeßel. Farm name / number :: Üllerks, No. 25 Scheeßel. Died in Scheeßel. Buried on 21 Aug 1786 in Scheeßel. Church. Marriage on 23 Nov 1741 in Scheeßel with Gerdruth KRACKE (1578)

2. Engel (Lutheran) Born in Scheeßel. Christened on 2 Oct 1718[4] in Scheeßel. Died in Wohlsdorf. Buried in Scheeßel. I. Church Marriage on 31 Oct 743 in Scheeßel with Berend GROBRÜGGE (3043) II. Church Marriage on 30 Nov 1758 in Scheeßel with Johann WAHLERS (8003)

And, the relationship path is:

Notes

1. The letter as presented is an edited composite of several communications.
2. Wilhelm Kranz. Genealogy database. Downloaded from http://www.genpluswin-database.de/nofb/ofb/sittensen/index.php?id=zeig1&ia=1578.
3. Wilhelm Kranz. Genealogy database. Downloaded from http://www.genpluswin-database.de/nofb/ofb/sittensen/index.php?id=zeig1&ia=1631
4. The baptismal record has Engel Cordes’s baptism date as 7 Oct 1718.