The Oehlkers Brothers
By Great-great granddaughter/niece, Lily Oehlkers
As told by my grandfather, William John Oehlkers
My grandfather, William John Oehlkers, has compiled an immensely detailed history of our family name, titled "Brothers Three". Here, I will summarize some of his discoveries and what led our family to America.
John (Johann) Oehlkers, Henry (Heinrich) Oehlkers and Dietrich Oehlkers were all the sons of Johann Dietrich Oehlkers and Mette Margarethe Thole of Germany. The couple had nine children, six of whom reached adulthood. John was the oldest brother, born on January 4, 1850, in Einste, Germany. Dietrich was born in 1858 and Henry, my great-great-grandfather, was the youngest, born in 1865. They were listed as being born in Schwarme, Germany.
Where is Schwarme?
While Schwarme is where many of Johann Dietrich's children were born, a modern map of Germany would tell you that it doesn't exist. In my grandfather's search for our family history, finding Schwarme was one of his harder tasks. Click to see an excerpt about how he was able to uncover it.
We came closer to identifying Schwarme one week later when we talked to Heike Paulmann, a German exchange student. Heike had been attending St. Paul Lutheran Church in Providence and occasionally we had given her a ride home to her exchange parents. On that trip, I said to Heike, “I received a letter this week from a distant relative who says that the Oehlkers family came from a place called Verden.” Heike exclaimed, “That’s my home!” Heike had told us earlier in the year that she knew some Oe(h)lkers, but we had not given much thought to her remark at the time. Not only did she know an Oe(h)lkers family, but her school teacher father had an Oe(h)lkers in his class a few years ago. When Heike returned to Germany, we sent here some family information and she replied. Here is Heike's letter to us in 1984:
“Dear Family Oehlkers,
Thanks for your letter with all the detailed information about the Oehlkers family. You’ll love to hear that we already figured out the exact location where your ancestors came from. Schwarme – not Schramstadt – is a small village somewhat southwest of Verden. Our whole family is excited about finding out more about Detrick Olkers, the writer of that letter (We had received a letter from Walt Oehlkers in Colorado and sent it to Heike) and my father has already called the church in Schwarme and made an appointment for Wednesday. We’ll drive over there to take a look at the books. They claim to have recorded every birth, death and marriage and we hope go get some information. “
[In the header, from left to right: My grandfather Bill, Frau Rott, the wife of a pastor from Germany, and Heike, looking over original records of the Oe(h)lkers history]
Thank you to William John Oehlkers for sharing with me his book, his thoughts, and our history.
I love you, Papa.
Website created by Lily Oehlkers