Recent Information about the Posen Schendels

Here is a summary of what I’ve recently learned about the Schendels in Posen, after looking at newly available on-line materials.My interest arises from being a descendant of Michael Schendel (09/23/1808 – 12/06/1897), who married Minnie Klatt (1833) in Posen, and later Minnie's sister Julia Klatt (1847) and then Amelia Rehbein (1856), also in Posen.Michael emigrated to the United States in 1857.I'm Michael's great-great-grandson, through August Frederick S. (07/04/1840 – 12/01/1911), William August S. (04/11/1877 – 03/19/1936), and Loren Clifford S. (01/05/1911-06/30/2002).Michael’s descendants are identified on-line at Karla Huebner’s site: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~huebnerlamb/rootsweb-p/p109.htm#i5408http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~huebnerlamb/rootsweb-p/p109.htm#i5408


Historical sources about the Czarnow Schendels


A book called Deutsches Geschlechterbuch, published in 1933, at pp. 347-92, reportedly contains a history of the Schendels going back to 1608.Trudy Lindemann Hawley reports that she’s traced her Schendel ancestry from the Beyersdorf Schendels with the aid of that book.See http://genforum.genealogy.com/schendel/messages/24.htmlhttp://genforum.genealogy.com/schendel/messages/24.htmlMs. Hawley’s index from that book, which lists 248 Schendels, may be found here:http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=SHOW&db=thawley8742&recno=2506http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=SHOW&db=thawley8742&recno=2506
She’s done a vast amount of helpful work.

Die Geschichte des Deutschtums in Czarnko’w und Umbegung (K. Otto 1937) contains the next earliest-dated reports of Schendels in Posen, to my knowledge.Portions of it are available on-line, translated by Sue Wolf: http://www.posen-l.com/pos/Resources/Books/DGdDiCuU/DGdDiCuU.htmhttp://www.posen-l.com/pos/Resources/Books/DGdDiCuU/DGdDiCuU.htm)Much the same material, with some additional detail, appears in a 1938 Posen newspaper article posted on-line and translated by Trudy Lindemann Hawley on December 9, 1999, in the Schendel Family site on an on-line genealogy forum.See http://genforum.genealogy.com/schendel/messages/1.htmlhttp://genforum.genealogy.com/schendel/messages/1.html.

The Posen Schendels

According to Otto’s book and the Posen newspaper article, the earliest reported Schendel in Posen was Christian Schendel, who settled in Beyersdorf in 1637.The family was still living at the farm in 1937, which had expanded to, or by, 620 acres.Following Christian, we have unnamed Schendels in Milkowo and Sokolowo.“About” 1700, we find a Martin Schendel in Althuette, and “shortly after” 1700 there’s a report of “one free mayor estate”in Althuette passing over to a Mathias Schendel from Beyersdorf.A “village estate” in Radom was in Schendel hands in 1712, and remained there until sold after WWI.In 1714, Elias Schendel was living in Gembitz , and in 1721, Andreas Schendel was living in the same village.In 1772, Martin Schendel was mayor of Lubasch-Hauland .

In the 1800’s, Schendels owned “the mill property [in] Gulcz, district of Czarnkow, and more distant properties in Kujawien and East Prussia.”The newspaper article continues:

When the textile industry declined in our area at the beginning of the past century, some relatives emigrated toward Middle Poland (Ozorkow, Lodz), (and) others went even further to Bialystok as weavers. The emigrants originated from Kolmar and Czarnikau. Others sought their futures in other trades in America, or emigrated back to the old original homeland of the German Empire.

Michael Schendel in Posen

Michael Schendel was born in GroB Salzdorf, west of Schubin, in 1808.His first 7 children (with Klatt sisters) were born in “Schubin” from 1834 through 1853, with no further designation except as to his 2nd and 3rd children (Gottlieb and August, with Minnie Klatt), for whom the birthplace within Schubin is given as GroB Salzdorf.Wilhelmina Schendel, Michael’s first child with his third wife, Amelia Rehbein, was born in 1857 in Schoenlanke, some 120 km west of GroB Salzdorf.So, Michael and family may have moved from GroB Salzdorf to Schoenlanke sometime in 1853-1857.The village of Sipiory (probably the village so-named a few km NW of Schoenlanke, to the west of present-day Studzienki, off # 241) reportedly appears on some (unidentified) documents relating to Michael’s older children.Carol Johnson (author of From Michael to Me) reports that Michael had a younger brother (b. ca. 1810) Christoff, who also emigrated to America.http://genforum.genealogy.com/schendel/messages/23.htmlhttp://genforum.genealogy.com/schendel/messages/23.html

Marriage Records of Schendels in Posen

The Poznan Project of the LDS covers Catholic and Protestant marriage records for 1835 through 1884.The Project administrators estimate that about 40 % of Protestant records have been destroyed.The Project is about 1/3 complete.It has not yet transcribed records in many areas of interest to Schendels, including Szubin, Schoenlanke, and the core area around Beyersdorf.See http://bindweed.man.poznan.pl/posen/proj_volunt.phphttp://bindweed.man.poznan.pl/posen/proj_volunt.php
I don’t know if the Project managers intend later to transcribe birth, baptism, and death records.

To date, the Project shows 48 Schendel grooms, and 80 Schendel brides.See http://bindweed.man.poznan.pl/posen/search.phphttp://bindweed.man.poznan.pl/posen/search.php.The Project also displays further “approximate matches," but very few that resemble "Schendel," e.g., Schindle.The distribution of the registrars for these Posen-based "Schendel" marriages are: Kolmar/Chodziesen): 15 grooms, and 30 brides; Revier: 6 and 8; Pobiedjiska: 5 and 4; Czarnikau: 4 and 5; Margonin: 3 and 9; Witkowo: 1 and 4; Wrenschen: 2 and 3; and various others with smaller numbers.

The religious identification of the Schendels is overwhelmingly Protestant (47/48 of the grooms, and 78/80 of the brides), rather than Catholic.

These figures may change after completion of the Project, of course.Projectvolunteers choose their own areas for transcription, so an element of arbitrariness inheres in the results to date.

From those facts, I draw these tentative and modest conclusions:

1.The spelling of the family name over two centuries is (surprisingly) stable.

2.The emigration of Schendels (from unidentified area of Germany/Prussia, perhaps Silesia or Brandenberg/Pomerania) started with Beyersdorf in 1637, and then moved around the Warthe/Netze (Warta/Notec) valley, but stayed north of the Warthe River, reflecting the apparently typical distributions of Poles (mostly Catholic) south of the Warta and Germans (mostly Evangelical or Protestant) north.Most of the Schendels we currently know about were within an area described by Obornik (Oborniki) in the south, Czarnkow (Czarnkow) and Schoenlanke (Trzcianka) in the west, Bromberg (Bydgoszcz) in the north, and Gniesen (Gniezno) in the east.

3.       The vast majority of the Warthe/Netze Schendels were Protestant.

4.       Michael Schendel was probably descended from Christian Schendel or his extended family.

Geography


Place names on Posen records can be troublesome, given that multiple villages used the same name (Runowo appears 35-40 times, Polajewo about 25, and Trzcianka 9 times throughout Poland), many villages have disappeared or been absorbed, and most German names have been replaced by often dissimilar Polish names.A number of German villages had neighboring villages with the “Hauland” or “Holland” suffix, e.g., Gembitz, Lubasch, and Polajewo.I think the suffix designates a newer settlement that was organized or governed on the “hollanderisch” principle (somewhat more democratic).

The best resource for finding Polish equivalents for formerly German-named villages is Kartenmeister, at http://www.kartenmeister.com/preview/databaseuwe.asphttp://www.kartenmeister.com/preview/databaseuwe.asp

Satellite on-line maps are at maplandia.com.The best maps for printing are at traveljournals.net and mapquest.com.Historical maps may be found at http://www.tr62.de/maps/po-text.htmlhttp://www.tr62.de/maps/po-text.htmlNone of these maps, unfortunately, includes longitude and latitude lines.

Here is what I’ve figured out about place names that occur in Otto’s book, the 1938 newspaper article, and Schendel records.
              
Althuette (Huta); E 16:4, N 52:52; SE of Czarnkow, on #178

Beyersdorf (Piotrowo); E 16:44, N 52:50; SE of Czarnkow; ca. 5 km SE of Huta and ca. 4 km N of Polajewo, off # 178

Chodziesen/Kolmar (Chodziez)

Czarnikau (Czarnkow)

Fitzerie (Marunowo); E 16:43, N 52:57; NE of Czarnkow and Sarbia

Gembitz (Gebice); E 16:41, N 52:54; ENE of Czarnkow, E of Brezno, NW of Gebiczyn, on # 183

Gembitzhauland (Gebiczn); E 16:44, N 52:53; NE of Huta, N of Beyersdorf

GroB Salzdorf (Slonawy); E 17:37, N 53:01; NW of Schubin, north off # 247

Gulcz (Gulcz); E 16:22, N 52:52; W of Czarnkow, NW of Lubasz, on # 181.

Kujawien (??); ??

Lubasch-Holland (? Lubaszor Jedrzejewo?); if Lubasz: E 16:31, N 52:51; N of Milkowo on # 182 and # 153; if Jedrzejewo: ca. 5 km E of Lubasz

Margonin (same); E 17:05, N 52:58; ESE of Chodziez, S of Szamocin, on # 193.

Milokowo (same); E 16:31, N 52:49; SSW of Czarnkow, N of Sokolowo on # 182.

Orlowo (??); E 16:47, N 52:46; W of Ludom (Ludomy)

Ozorkow ( ??); ??

Pudewitz (Pobiedziska); E 17:17, N 52:28; ENE of Posen, halfway to Gniesen (Gniezno) on # E261

Polajewo (same); E 16:43' 60, N 52:47’60; SE of Czarnkow and Huta, on # 178.There is another, nearby Polojewo on # 182 and # 182 S of Lubasz-Milkowo-Sokolowo.

Radom (same); E16:45, N 52:51; SE of Czarnkow and Gebice, ESE of Huta, off # 178

Revier (Rejowiec); E 17:10, N 52:37; E of Obornik (Oberniki), S of Skoki, on # 197

Ronau (if actually Runau, aka Runow, then Runowo); if Runowo, E 16:25, N 52:58; SW of Trzcianka, NW of Czarnkau, and S of present-day Siedlisko, on # 153.

Schoenlanke (Trzcianka); E16:27, N 53:02; SW of Schneidemuehl (Pila), NNW of Czarnikau, WNW of Chodziezen, on # 178 and # 180

Schubin (Szubin); SW of Bromberg (Bydgoszcz), on E261

Sipiory (same); E 17:30, N 53:05; WSW of Bromberg (Bydgoszcz), WNW of Szubin, NW of Slonawy, off # 241

Sokolowo (same); E 16:32, N 52:48; S of Lubasz and Milkowo, on # 182

Witkowo (same)

Wreschen (Wrzesnia)

Note: There may well be transcription or other errors in this account.I encourage corrections or suggestions of alternatives.