HISTORICAL RESEARCH SERVICES

Parish Registers of the "Ev-luth. Landeskirche Hannover"
Church district Bramsche

The whole Osnabrück area (church districts Bramsche, Buer, Georgsmarienhütte and Osnabrück) was a state of it`s own (“Fürstbistum Osnabrück”) until 1806. The religious situation in this area was very special and you can find both Lutheran and Catholic parishes in all church districts. The special and very unusual thing is that you can find Lutherans in the catholic parish registers and Catholics in the Lutheran ones for the period 1650-1806/14.

Based on the so called "Capitulatio Perpetua" of July 25, 1650 the whole Fürstbistum was divided between the Lutherans and Catholics based on the confessional situation of 1624. In the church district of Bramsche eight parishes (Bippen, Bramsche, Engter, Fürstenau-St.Georg, Gehrde, Menslage, Quakenbrück-St.Sylvester and Ueffeln) were given to the Lutherans, while nine ones stayed to be or were given back to the Catholics (Alfhausen, Berge, Bersenbrück, Fürstenau-St.Katharina, Merzen, Neuenkirchen im Hülsen, Quakenbrück-St.Marien, Schwagsdorf and Voltlage). In Badbergen and Vörden both a Lutheran and a Catholic parish (with records of their own) existed, but they used one and the same church building. The parish membership was based on a strict territorial basis. This ment for instance that everybody, who lived in the parish of Ankum belonged to the Catholic parish of St. Nikolaus, independent of the fact if his/her personal confession was Lutheran or not. The Lutherans in a Catholic parish (and Catholics in a Lutheran one) were allowed to stay Lutheran, but they had to bring their children to the Catholic church to baptize them, they had to marry in the Catholic church and they had to be buried at the Catholic churchyard. They were regarded as beeing baptized as Lutherans. But their baptisms, marriages and burials were recorded in Catholic parish registers. And they had to pay the fees for baptisms, marriages and burials to the Catholic church. You can find remarks for the Catholic parish registers which are relevant for Lutherans in blue letters. The Catholic parish registers are accessable at the Diozösanarchiv Osnabrück.
But there are some exceptions for the already very confusing situation. The Catholic churches of Lage (monastery) and Malgarten (convent) managed to establish Catholic parish-like areas within the Lutheran parish of Bramsche. And the Lutheran church of Börstel (former convent) did the same within the Catholic parish of Berge. And – there were a lot of attempts of the people, who belonged to a church of the “wrong” denomination to do their baptisms, marriages and burials in a church of their own faith. If this was done officially they had to pay a fee in both parishes and often we can find the relevant entry in both the Lutheran and Catholic parish registers. But there are a number of cases (especially baptisms) in which families tried and managed to “escape” from the territorial principle. In these cases we can find the entries in Lutheran neighbour parishes. You can surely imagine that this means that research on such families can be quite complicated after it is not seldom that one Catholic and two or three Lutheran parish registers have to be checked for a Lutheran family, which stayed in one village for their whole life.

Parish

Baptism

Marriage

Burial

Confirmation

People who received Lord`s Supper

Remarks

Badbergen

1671 -

1671 -

1671-

1797 -

1876 -

 

 

 

 

(missed 1673 - 1676)

(missed 1813 - 1821)

 

 

Berge

1840 -

1840 -

1840 -

1840 -

1894 -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

earlier entries in the parish registers of Börstel.
entries before 1806 either in Börstel or in the parish registers of the Catholic church Berge-St.Servatius

Bersenbrück

1959 -

1959 -

1959 -

 

1959 -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

earlier entries in the parish registers of Gehrde.
entries before 1806 in the parish registers of the Catholic church BersenbrückSt.Vincentius

Bippen

1690 -

1690 -

1690 -

1728 -

1777 -

 

 

(missed 1710, 1711, incomplete 1690 - 1709)

(incomplete 1735, missed 1736 - 1760, 1818, 1819)

(missed 1702, 1704, 1727, 1736 - 1761, 1853 - 1872)

(missed 1732 - 1761, 1798 - 1814, 1851 - 1875)

(missed 1801 - 1908)

 

Börstel

1698 -

1698 -

1698 -

1739 -

1876 -

entries of 1688/89 in the parish registers of the Catholic church Berge-St.Servatius

 

(missed 1747 - 1763, 1790, 1791, incomplete 1764 - 1789)

(missed 1748 - 1791)

(missed 1744 - 1791)

(missed 1749 - 1791)

 

 

Bramsche

1670 -

1670 -

1670 -

1740 -

1876 -

 

 

(missed Sept. 1692 - 1720)

(missed Nov. 1695 - 1710, 1736)

(missed 1689 - 1708, 1720, 1736)

(missed 1777, 1778, 1780 - 1821, 1852, 1874, 1875)

 

 

Engter

1724 -

1724 -

1724 -

1725 -

1876

 

 

 

 

 

(missed 1772 - 1781, 1795 - 1821)

 

 

Engter –
chapel of the Barenaue estate

1697 - 1798

1697 - 1798

1744 - 1798

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fürstenau

1678 -

1678 -

1678 -

1762 -

1876 -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gehrde

1713 -

1714 -

1714 -

1741 -

1876 -

 

 

(missed 1818)

(missed 1750, 1760 - 1769)

(missed 1750, 1760 - 1769)

(incomplete 1743, missed 1744, 1746 - 1749, 1751 - 1770, 1806 - 1821)

 

 

Loxten

1854 -

1854 -

1857 -

1854 -

1876 -

entries before 1854 can be found in the parish registers of Menslage, Badbergen or Quakenbrück
entries before 1806 in the parish registers of the Catholic church Ankum-St.Nikolaus

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Menslage

1694 -

1694 -

1694 -

1810 -

1876 -

 

 

(missed 1748)

(missed 1746 - 1748)

(missed 1748)

 

(missed May 1946 - July 1951)

 

Quakenbrück

1667 -

1667 -

1667 -

1822 -

1876 -

 

 

(missed 1701 - 1703, 1716)

 

(missed April 1683 - 1691)

(missed 1852 - 1887)

(missed 1879 - Oct. 1888, 1928 – 1934)

 

Üffeln

1672 -

1670 -

1670 -

1731 -

1896 -

 

 

(missed Oct. 1727 - 1730, incomplete 1731 - 1741)

(incomplete 1727 - 1741)

(missed 1724 - 1729)

(missed 1734, 1736 - 1741, 1784, 1853 - 1875)

 

 

Vörden

1822 -

1835 -

1822 -

1835 -

1873 -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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HISTORICAL RESEARCH SERVICES
Jens Müller-Koppe
hrs@hist.de
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