A lifetime past

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I can only imagine what it must have been like living in Schleswig-Holstein Germany in the 1700's and 1800's. Research of these two Duchies, has given me a small glimpse into another time that seems worlds away from Australia and the year 2005.

My great great great great Grandfather, Johann Hinrich Dürrhauer, was born in the early 1700's in Eisenberg, Saschen. He married Maria Magdalena Kramer and had one child that we know of, Johann Christopher, also born in Eisenberg in 1750. Johann moved to Casseedorf and he married Dorothea Elisabeth Rhaedish and had eleven children. One of which was Johann Christopher August, born 1786 who married Sophie Dorothea Stephan in 1821 in a small town called Burg, on the island of Fehmarn, the home of the Stephan family. Johann Christopher August also had eleven children, four sons and seven daughters. They were all born in the small village of Casseedorf, in the municipality of Schönwalde, Schleswig-Holstein, which is the northernmost German state, to the east is the Baltic sea, to the west is the North sea. It borders with Denmark to the north and the states of Hamburg, Niedersachsen and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern to the south.

 A second branch of the Dürhauer family, probably other children of Johann Hinrich who retained the spelling of the name with only one "r', stayed in Thuringia near the towns of Sondershausen and Eisenberg. Thuringia is one of the smaller of the sixteen federal states. Eisenberg translates to "Iron Mountain ". It is a small mining town.

 Some of the Dürrhauer women, as well as some of the men had relationships outside of their marriages that resulted in children being born out of wedlock. some eventually married their partners while others moved on to other relationships. Some had relationships while they were still married, hence there were some children born in the same year to different parents. A number of these children born to Dürrhauer women retained the Dürrhauer name.

My research has found that this was a common occurrence, at least in this part of Germany and Denmark at that time. Some people also married or had relationships with brothers or sisters of other families, and in some cases when a partner died the widow or widower would have a relationship with their dead spouses brother or sister.

Casseedorf-Kasseedorf

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The village of Casseedorf is located in the south east of Schleswig-Holstein, in the county of Ostholstein, and covers an area of 3377 hectares. It is situated approximately 40 kilometers from Fehmarn and 80 kilometers from Hamburg. In the 1700's the village had a population of 500 people in 109 households and supported 12 farms.

There are several variations of the spelling of Casseedorf, today it is spelt as Kasseedorf, but it has been known as Cassendorf. The English translation is "Cash Village". Schönwalde means "Beautiful Forest" and they are referred to by these names in many old and new records in the libraries and archives.

An ancient cremation cemetery was in use from the end of the earlier Roman Iron age until the end of the late Roman period. During this period many locally made urns and side vessels were deposited in the graves, together with the carefully selected cremated remains.

Ancient evidence of beer brewing has been found in the form of ancient beer amphora’s of the "Halistatt" period 750-c.450 BC, near Kulmbach.

The village did not have a school until 1709 when education was recognised as being of utmost importance for the economy of the area and an effort was made to educate the people.

Fehmarn

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The small island of Fehmarn, to which the Dürrhauer/Dorhauer family has a strong connection is part of Holstein, and is situated just off the coast and can be accessed by a land bridge. The island is only 185 square kilometers in size and has 40 villages with one city, "Burg", although this is really only a small town.

The landscape is mostly flat with just over 11000 inhabitants.

translated, Fehmarn means "Fortress or Stronghold". it suffered the same warring factions as the rest of Schleswig- Holstein.

Most families during 1600 to 1850 had one male member conscripted into military service. Interestingly, before 1772 the Danish Army was made up entirely of German soldiers and officers. After 1772 the army began to recruit more Danes, and by 1803 the army was entirely Danish.

Germans also frequently served with foreign armies as mercenaries. They served on both sides of the American revolution between 1776-1782, and about 25000 mercenary troops were raised for the British military. They came from all over Germany and were called "Hessians". Some deserted or were sold to Americans as labourers. Many remained in the USA after the war or went to Canada.

Holstein

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The Duchy Holstein was always a part of Schleswig-Holstein that held a German population, whereas the Duchy Schleswig was always home for a mix of Danish and German people. This probably accounts for the change to the spelling of our family name from Dörhauer to Durrhauer and back to the anglicized version to Dorhauer. There were many wars fought between Prussia and Denmark and the land changed rulers several times before finally being incorporated into the Kingdom "Prussia" in 1864 as the province "Schleswig-Holstein, Prussia"

In 1848 my great grandfather, Heinrich Gottfried Theodore Dorhauer was 21 years old when on the 23rd April, Danish troops occupied the Duchy of Schleswig and it was reported in the Hobart Tasmania Courier newspaper that the “ Danish would not cease hostilities and that it would be necessary to compel them to do so. Holsteiners had travelled to Rendsburg for protection, but many lives were lost. 714 students in Kiel were either killed, wounded or taken prisoner, and the city of Flensburg had fallen. However on 24th April German troops re took Flensbug and drove the Danes out of Schleswig. “

Life on the Farms

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The workload and life of the farmers and the general population between 1700 and 1750 was a very difficult one. The owner is purely an administrator of the workforce to work the fields and farms. He manages the twelve farmers in Kasseedorf, the ten farmers in Sagau, and the four farmers in Griebel. The farmers and their families are technically only bond servants.

On a daily basis each farmer has to supply four horses and a plough, an efficient farm hand, a female servant to look after them, and a third person, either male or female, to work the Count's properties, " Bergfeld" and " Vinzier " totaling 26 teams of 4 horses (104 ) and 78 workers. And they did not receive any wages or remuneration of any sort.

They also had to work their own farms which were between 35 and 40 hectares, of which one third remained untilled. They needed about 6 horses to get the work done.

The inventory for 1705 lists the farmers as having 369 horses and 200 cattle, of which 150 were milk cows. And Bergfeld and Vinzier also had 200 head of cows to take advantage of the butter exports to England.

The average farmer kept only 9 chickens and a rooster because feed was a problem, not only for the chickens but also oats for the horses, and rye and wheat for human consumption was scarce. There was only just enough feed for the animals. the cows grazed in the paddocks and in winter were fed on hay and chaff which had to be grown in place of wheat. Pigs were put out to forage in summer, and in autumn they were taken to the forests to feed on acorns and beech nuts, then slaughtered and sold prior to Christmas, except for the breeding sows that had to be fed through the winter months.

Woodworkers

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The name Dürrhauer originates from “Tür & Hauer” meaning “Door Cutter” or “ Door Maker”, using the old method of shaping wood with an ADZE. 

Except for Johann Hinrich (abt 1712) who was a “furrier” My other ancestors were “Woodworkers”. ( builders and cabinet makers )

Work for woodworkers and carpenters, as well as for the general population in the small village of “Casseedorf” would have been scarce, given the economic conditions at the time. Most work would have been carried out on a barter system for the general population, and in exchange for food, or monetary gain from the noble or more affluent families. Work carried out on farms would have been done in exchange for food.

 The parish churches were the hub of the communities in the small villages. the peoples lives revolved around their church. Births deaths and marriages and People Registers and Census Records were all recorded in the church books. Money from the Government was distributed to the poor through the church. Very few families were able to survive without this "Gift".

Younger members of families were sometimes fostered out to other families who were marginally better off financially, and some went to work and live with other families as servants.

Two of Ephraim Dürrhauer's children were fostered to other families, Anna Maria, born 1826 went to the "Streese" family, and Johann Christian Carl, born 1834 went to the "Ewers" family. Sophia Dorothea Christiane, my Great Grandfather's sister went to work for the "Orht" family as a servant girl when she was 19 years old.

Farm Workers & Immigration

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The farming lands that were cultivated were fertile, the dues (taxes) the farmers paid were just bearable, but the standard of living was reasonable, given the circumstances of the era.

Many children were born causing over population, resulting in a severe shortage of farmland, with not enough to go round for the male offspring to earn a living.

only the youngest son in a farmers family was eligible to inherit his father’s farm. His older brothers were practically disinherited through the birth of a younger male sibling. They would try to marry into a vacancy, a farm with no male heir, or buy a farm in the area. Needless to say this could only be achieved by a very few. The others became cottage men or day workers. A cottage man (Kaetner, Kaethner) worked a small portion of a farmers land, providing his labour in return for the privilege. The day workers worked on the farms as long as there was work available, and lived on the farm as part of the job. They were called "Einwohner", paying rent to the farmers. They had no say in the village affairs. It was from this class that produced the majority of emigrants.

The other contingent of Emigrants came from the the young farmers boys who could not get land to farm and were too proud to become a cobbler or weaver.

 Attracted by the offer of free land in America and assisted passage to that other great land of opportunity, Australia, they took their lawful share of the family's farm, plus what they had managed to save and joined the steady stream of emigrants to find what they would never have in the land of their fathers.

 To this day people are still emigrating from Schleswig-Holstein and an article By Klaus Struve, a resident of Keil echoes the sentiments of their ancestors who fare welled the early emigrants on their journey.

"Our best wishes are with those who are leaving. May none of them nourish sanguine hopes, and may none of them build castles in the air, may they take with them to the new world the diligence they know and the good habits and moral values of their native land. May they not forget the saying, In the sweat of your brow, you shall eat your bread. "

Author: Russell Albert James Dorhauer 

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