In the footsteps of our ancestors

1763: The Great Trek from the old to the new home

More than 250 years ago, anno 1763, the family Adam REBLE leaves their home in Eutingen/Baden to apply to colonist places in the Kingdom of Denmark.

The family consists of six people: Adam Reble, bricklayer, 46, his second wife Anna Maria nee Büchel, sons John and Martin from his first marriage, 18 and 14 years, Dorothea 6 and Adam two years.

In the Duchy of Schleswig, which belonged at that time to Denmark, they are willing to change heath land into fertile farmland; details see Reble family chronicle chapter 1 : "How it all started."

The journey begins in the spring of 1763 in the hometown Eutingen at Pforzheim, halfway between Karlsruhe and Stuttgart. After the few belongings are sold, one takes goodbye to relatives and friends: entry in the church book " Nach Jütland".

First stop is the Free Imperial City of Frankfurt, 150 km north of Eutingen. Here they are provided by the Danish Embassy with passports and earnest money and are waiting for other emigrants to make a trek together.

We can only guess at the size of the tour group. The first trek of emigrants on 28/01/1761 consisted eg of 50 people with 4 covered carts and a cargo cart. This group rumbled and walked more than 500 km on bad and unsafe streets to the north.

Juli 1763: How happy they must have been when at last the towers of Altona and Hamburg appear on the horizon. Here on Danish territory they can take a time out and they will be supplied with fresh provisions for the last 150 km.

From Altona it still takes a week to Flensburg:
1 Day - Elmshorn
2 Day - Itzehoe
3 Day - Hohenweststedt
4 Day - Rendsburg
5 Day - Schuby in Schleswig
6 Day - Flensburg

5.AUG 1763: Registration on a reserve list (rank 146 of 338) in order to run for vacant positions; details see Family Chronicle Chapter 2 : "In the new home"

The other stations

8 NOV 1764: a court in Neuberend may be adopted on the outskirts of Schleswig; current location: Klosterreihe 115, Neuberend... view maps.google
But the yield is poor. The eldest son, John had already fled to Friedrichsanbau.
1772: The rest of the Reble family changes to Königshügel near Schleswig, where the Stollberg Hof is taken over: today Dorfstr.19... view_maps.google
This farm will be managed until 1776, probably the year of death of Adam Reble, after a lifetime of work, hopes and hardships.
The youngest son Adam dies 1775 in Königshügel at the age of 14 years. The fate of Anna-Maria, Dorothea and Martin is unknown.
12 SEP 1774: The eldest son, John takes over the "Fuchskuhle" in Friedrichsanbau, by marrying Catharina Loise Huber, the daughter of the previous owner, the widow Eva Catharina Huber;
today: Klein Bennebek, Friedrichanbauer Str.11... view_maps.google.
4 APR 1805: Acquisition of the neighboring point "Jungfern Ort" on public licitation
1807: Takeover by son, Johann Jürgen Reble
1823: Takeover by brother Johann Reble
1842: Sale of the place and removal to Kropp s.Familienchronik Chapter 3 : "The further development"
1872: Johann Jürgen Reble becomes Parzelist in Kropp and acquires the house "In de Kniep 2" in the center of Kropp... view_maps.google
(now no longer available because it was demolished for the construction of commercial buildings and car parks).
1930: Son Johann Hinrich dies and - in the shadow of the global economic crisis - the house is put up for compulsory sale; end of agriculture.
1977: Son Heinrch acquires and renovates in retirement the farm
In de Eck 2, Nienborstel-Dörpstedt
(photo right)
position plan view maps.google
will be sold after the death in 2003;
end of country life.

2013: On the oxroad from Hamburg to Flensburg

We walk in the footsteps of our ancestors and explore the last part of their journey on the historic "Ochsenweg" von Wedel near Hamburg to Flensburg.
further see en.wikipedia.org

Prior to the scheduled tour we meet initially on Sat 06/07/2013 at a family party in Kiel.

On Sunday we go by horse trek to the museum Molfsee, where we visit an original colonist's house in 1764, which originates from the same area where the family Adam Reble started in 1764.

Then we explore with bikes the Ochsenweg between Flensburg and Hamburg in the footsteps of our ancestors.

We are supported by Hans Peter Stamp (Dr.agrar), a well-known local historian and author with roots in southern Germany and distantly related to the family Reble.

further see:
Stamp, Hans Peter
"...und weiß wie Alabaster"
Eine Kulturgeschichte der Kartoffel.
Wachholtz Verlag 2013

Fr. 12 JUL 2013 Trip home to Düsseldorf