Cross another name off the list: Holtermann

Not that I need to order even more microfilm, but after just finding 3rd great-grandfather Wilhelm HOLTERMANN's baptism record, the names of his parents and his place of birth, it looks like there are at least a few more rolls of film in my near future. I'm pretty darn pleased to have found this information, because there sure hasn't been anything in St. Louis records to help. The sad thing is, I realize now that I could have figured this out months ago had I been more aggressive. Heck, the HOLTERMANNs' origin could have been solved over a year ago had I followed through on a hunch and a suggestion. As it turns out, Wadersloh -- south of where I first suspected (Wiedenbrück) -- is where Wilhelm and his siblings were born and baptized. Wiedenbrück and Wadersloh were targeted as the result of collateral research, which really does pay off sometimes.

The first clue that the Catholic records of these towns should be checked was actually what I (and Cousin Dan) were not finding: Wilhelm HOLTERMANN and Dorothea LODENKAMPER's marriage record in St. Louis. This made me suspect that the couple may have been married prior to their emigration. So, the next step was to take a look at the IGI. Search results showed that the name LODENKAMPER (and variants) was somewhat concentrated around Wiedenbrück and Liesborn (south of Wadersloh). An online contact also suggested looking into this area based on his ancestry. The problem was, all of this was far too vague for me and I really dislike wasting time and money on films without some sort of definitive clue to justify getting my hopes up.

Research of other HOLTERMANNs in St. Louis and Osage County is what helped break down this brick wall. Passenger lists for Ferdinand and Bernhard HOLTERMANN referenced both Wadersloh and Wiedenbrück. (Additionally, a man named Peter Heinrich LODENKAMPER was aboard the same ship as Bernhard HOLTERMANN and Peter's last residence was in the same are of Westphalia.) Ferdinand HOLTERMANN was determined to be worthy of interest because he settled in Osage County, Missouri, not far west of St. Louis. Bernhard HOLTERMANN was even more likely related to Wilhelm HOLTERMANN because he settled in St. Louis, attended the same church and one of his citizenship papers was filed the same day Wilhelm filed his.

Ordering microfilm from the FHL was a no-brainer, but where to start was a little tricky. I decided on Wiedenbrück since that appeared to be Bernhard HOLTERMANN's last residence (based on the passenger list). While Bernhard may have once lived in Wiedenbrück, examination of the those Catholic records showed no HOLTERMANN families (or at least no matches) among the baptisms and marriages. (There were plenty of LODENKAMPERs, LAUKAMPERs, etc., but still no matches to Dorothea or other St. Louis LODENKAMPERs.) I was a little disappointed by the lack of results and, as usual, was distracted by other research. Months passed. Then, this summer when Cousin Dan and I started to communicate, I decided to order the Wadersloh records and resume looking for the HOLTERMANNs and LODENKAMPERs. Thankfully, this second attempt at guessing the town and church was successful.

Although not baptized with his full name, Wilhelm Louis/Ludwig HOLTERMANN was listed near the end of the roll of microfilm. Realizing that dates in American records aren't always exact, I was happy to find that his date of birth, 7 August 1821, was correct and I wouldn't need to order another roll of film to view baptisms from 1822 and beyond. Wilhelm's parents were listed as Anton HOLTERMANN and Friederike HÜLSMANN. So far, Dan and I have found that Wilhelm had at least six siblings. One of Wilhelm's brothers was named Bernhard Joseph, who by all accounts looks to be the same Bernhard HOLTERMANN who immigrated to St. Louis. Although we are currently unable to connect Ferdinand HOLTERMANN of Osage County to our HOLTERMANNs, I did find Ferdinand's baptism in the Wadersloh records, and the two HOLTERMANN families are intertwined throughout the records as sponsors and witnesses -- somewhere further back there just has to be common ancestry.

With a little luck, we'll be able to extend the HOLTERMANN ancestry even further. In all of the baptism records of his children (as well as when named as a sponsor), Anton HOLTERMANN is listed without another name. I suspect that his full name may have been Jodocus Anton HOLTERMANN, which was found in a 1780 baptism record. If correct, then his parents -- Wilhelm's grandparents -- were Bernhard Anton HOLTERMANN and Maria Gertrud BADDE. There is quite a bit of circumstantial evidence in the Wadersloh church records to suggest most of the HOLTERMANNs can be traced to the HOLTERMANN-BADDE couple.

While one German brick wall has been torn down, the LODENKAMPERs still remain a mystery. The Wadersloh church records are chock full of people by this name, but we've yet to find anything relevant to the St. Louis immigrants.

[genealogy, Holtermann, Lodenkamper]