Source:Voortman, Jan Gerrit. Collectie Pohlsander

Description and Usage Tips

Please remember to include Volume and Page Number when citing.

Voortman's Collectie Pohlsander includes 50 volumes of parish records for the years prior to 1900 from Amt Fürstenau and Amt Vörden which were located in Oldenburg (now Niedersachsen), Germany.

The following (Kirchspiel) parishes are included:

Amt Fürstenau

• Kirchspiel Alfhausen
• Kirchspiel Ankum
• Kirchspiel Badbergen (Bauerschaften Grönloh, Gross-Mimmelage, Grothe, Langen, Lechterke, Vehs, Wehdel, Wohld, and Wulften)
• Kirchspiel Berge
• Kirchspiel Bippen
• Kirchspiel Fürstenau
• Kirchspiel Menslage (Bauerschaften Andorf, Borg, Bottorf, Hahlen, Hahnenmoor, Herbergen, Klein-Mimmelage, Renslage, Schandorf, Wasserhausen, and Wieup)
• Kirchspiel Merzen
• Kirchspiel Neuenkirchen im Hülsen
• Stadt Quakenbrück
• Kirchspiel Schwagstorf
• Kirchspiel Ueffeln
• Kirchspiel Voltlage

Amt Vörden

• Kirchspiel Engter
• Kirchspiel Gehrde (Bauerschaften Gross-Drehle, Klein-Drehle, Hastrup, Helle, Rüsfort)

About the Collection

Collectie Pohlsander (the Pohlsander Collection) consists of transcriptions of genealogical records from the archives of Hermann Walter Pohlsander whose records were microfilmed by the Church of Latter Day Saints in 1975. The Collectie Pohlsander transcriptions were completed primarily by Dutch researcher Jan Gerrit Voortman (1933-2009) with help from others in order to create digital files of the Pohlsander records.

Hermann Walter Pohlsander (1897-1988) was a German-born genealogist who spent much of his life researching families from the area of present-day Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen) in Germany. He was a Mormon who began collecting family records while still living in Germany. During World War II, he buried his extensive collection in his garden, thus sparing it from destruction and creating some of the only known records of the area in existence today. Following the end of the war, he emigrated with his family to the United States, settling in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he continued to research and collect genealogical information until the time of his death in 1988.

In 1975, The Church of the Latter Day Saints was given permission to microfilm Pohlsander's collection, which created several hundred films. These films can be ordered through any LDS Family History Center.

In 2000, Dutch researcher Jan Geritt Voortman (see below) began transcribing and re-grouping the Pohlsander microfilms into digital files which have been posted to the Vortmes Website for use by fellow researchers.

About the Author

From 1982 until his death in 2009, Jan Gerrit Voortman transcribed several - mainly German - sets of church and government documents as part of his personal genealogical research that he and his son Ronald carried out as a hobby (see 25-JAAR STAMBOOMONDERZOEK). Jan worked closely with several archives, associations, museums and private collections in Germany and the Netherlands. In recognition of his work he became an honorary member of Heimatverein Menslage and Der Arbeitskreis Familienforschung Osnabrück.