Person:Maria Kreyenhagen (1)

This is a sad story for someone who had started out life, as a person, who had a lot of promise. She seems to have become the owner of a "Half Heir" (Halberbe) farm in the village of Kalkriese, before she was age 19. By local Saxon law that meant there were no other male heirs, but we know from the 1847 documents presented at a "trial", by the Baron von Barr himself (who also acted as a judge) that there were at least two brothers (they were named in the documents).

"CATHERINE" was married in 1810, when Napoleon was the ruler of her country. Was the ownership of the estate, and her marriage subject to the "Code Napoleon" instead of old Saxon local law?

There is also evidence that her father was still living at the baptism of her first born son. That furthermore brings up questions of why she could become the estate owner.

After her marriage, her new husband then became the "Colon" (a title) of the estate. Catherine had 9 children, all born in the area around Kalkriese. It is likely that the family was the most prominent in the local society, and would have been a frequent guest at the Baron's "castle".

Immediately after the estate "settlement", members of the family, who had not previously migrated earlier, left for America. On the sea voyage, her 15 year old daughter, Christina Louise, died for an unknown reason.

The family joined the eldest son, and two of the daughters in Bartholomew County, Indiana. Only one daughter remained behind in the Kingdom of Hannover. "AMC" and her husband (JFW Tobrocke) lived on the Baron's old estate, and perhaps she observed her childhood home being destroyed, in order for the Baron to construct a new "castle" on her family's former land?

In the USA in 1847, it was only a year later (1848) that Catharine's husband, and then herself a few weeks later, succumbed to the local "swamp fever" (malaria) that was common in the "White Creek" area.

--White Creek 23:07, 14 July 2020 (UTC)

CATHERINE KREYENHAGEN

1. ↑ German Immigrants In American Church Records
   Volume I: Indiana Protestants.
2. ↑ Frans Kraaijenhagen of the Netherlands.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3} by Geneva C. Schroer Kelley, in St. John's Lutheran Cemetery.

   Book & CDs

4. ↑ Thoerner, Udo. Venne in America. (Osnabrueck, Germany: Arbeitskreis Familienforschung Osnabrueck e. V.)
   2008.
5. ↑ Betty Fisher of Cincinnati, Ohio.
6. ↑ Died of "Swamp Fever".
7. ↑ A decree by the Imperial Diet, dispossessed most of the RULING BISHOPS. Therefore, the 600 year old "Prince-Bishopric of Osnabrueck" (and others) was terminated.