The Fenker Family

The Fenker family are Nancy's ancestors, her father's people.

Our earliest known Fenker ancestors lived in village of Brockum in the late 17^th century. The small farming village was a part of Kurfürstentum Hannover (Electorate of Hanover), an Electorate of the Holy Roman Empire. For most of its existence, the electorate was affiliated with Great Britain and Ireland after the Prince-Elector of Hanover became King of Great Britain in 1714. It was merged into the Napoleonic Kingdom of Westphalia in 1807, then was re-established as the Kingdom of Hanover in 1814, with the affiliation with the British crown lasting until 1837. It is today located in northwestern Germany, in the district of Diepholz in the German state of Lower Saxony. It currently has a population of just over 1,000, over 60% of whom are age 65 or older.¹

Living in a North German Village

After Charlemagne's conquest in the late 8^th century of the Saxon tribes that had settled the area, the existing settlements were awarded to his secular and religious retainers as feudal estates. While the landlords of specific settlements changed over time, that structure remained in place at the time the early Fenkers were living in Brockum. The peasants farming the land were tenants of their noble or church landlords, holding an inheritable life tenancy and paying a portion of their crops as rent. At the beginning of the 18^th century the villages were still nearly entirely based on subsistence farming, with each family expected to support itself on what it produced, and enough to pay the landlord and civil authorities.

Landholders could transfer their tenancy to heirs subject to the approval of the landlord. Generally the entire farm, including right to use the common grazing land, was transferred to one heir at his or her marriage, with an obligation to support the parents thereafter. Most commonly the heir was the youngest son, but sometimes was another son or a daughter. The other children may have gotten a settlement, hopefully to enable them to marry the heir of another farm. If they could not they remained landless, and especially in the earlier part of the period we are interested in here, often unmarried.

The “Historical Background” section of Robert Jackson's excellent article Prismeyer Family History provides a much more complete understanding of the social and economic environment the Fenkers experienced in Brockum. While his family was in the village of Oppenwehe, it is just three miles east of Brockum and the two villages have a great deal in common. The main difference is they had different landlords. In Brockum the landlord was the civil government of the area, rather than a religious entity.

The Fenker Families in Brockum

By 1620 there were three Fenker farms in Brockum. When the farms were given numbers in the late 1700's, the Fenker farms were given numbers 33, 58, and 83. The oldest, and largest, was number 33, probably founded in the 1400s.The other two were founded later, perhaps in the late 1500s. There is no record of the residents of Brockum 33, which is still occupied by descendants, having any connection with the Fenkers in our family. It is possible that Brockum 58 and Brockum 83 were founded by non-inheriting sons of Brockum 33, but if so that was before any surviving records, so is now unknown.

Brockum 58 could be considered the "family farm" of our Fenker line. The available lineage begins with Albert (abt 1645-bef 1706) and extends through four generations to Gerd Heinrich (1764-1816). The church book records suggest that he either lost or disposed of the farm and died as a landless swineherd and night-watchman. The line was carried forward by his brother, Hermann Heinrich (1772-1838), who was initially landless but prospered as a Dammhirt (village herdsman) and by about 1800 founded a new farm in Brockum, which was given the number 100.

Brockum 83 also figures in the family history. The earliest know heir to this farm is Beke (abt. 1630-?). Who she inherited it from is unknown. The founder may have been named Engelke Fenker. The family began to use the surname Engelke in the early 1700s and by the mid-1700s had fully adopted this surname instead of Fenker. The lineage was unbroken until the late 1800s, by which time the farm was no longer owner-occupied. But in 1764 a daughter of that line, Anna Dorothe (1734-1797) married the heir to Brockum 58, connecting the two lines.^2,3

Brockum 100 remained in the family four more generations, with the last Fenker heir being Sophie Dora (1910-1942). Her son inherited it, and it was sold to another family about 1980.⁴

Location of Fenker Farmsteads

No. 33, oldest and largest Fenker farm, perhaps connected to our Fenkers in antiquity

No. 58, Fenker farm, known by 1629, home our earliest known Fenkers, out of family by early 1800's

No. 83, Fenker farm, known by 1629, daughter married into No. 58 line in 1764, became Engelke farm by early 1700's

No. 100, founded about 1800 by Herman Hinrich, a non-inheriting son of No. 58 line

Based on map created by Robert Jackson

The Fenkers in this Website

Surnames as we know them were not generally used during the earlier periods covered here. Instead, villagers took on the names of the farms they lived on, using those names much like surnames. One result of that was a man who married a woman who was heir to a farm generally moved to her farm, and took on her name, as women have commonly done when they married in modern times. That occurred many times among our Fenker ancestors, as can be seen in our Fenker Ancestors Chart.

Standardized spelling of surnames was not seen as a virtue until fairly recent times, and that is certainly clear with this family. The surname was recorded with many variations in church registers. Fennecker was commonly used in the earliest records, but variations including Fencker, Fenncker, and Fennker are also found. The Fenker spelling became common in the mid-19^th century. We have used only the modern spelling on this page for convenience, but have used the spellings most commonly found for each generation in the individual narratives. Family members listed under other spellings are also indexed under the "Fenker" spelling so they can be more easily located.

Our story starts with Herman Hinrich (1772-1838), who founded Brochum No. 100, and his wife. We have included their known children, but have focused on their descendants who immigrated to the United States. That includes 1) their daughter Anne Marie Elisabeth (1802-1844/5) who immigrated in 1832 and settled in Indiana, 2) Nancy's ancestor Johann Hinrich Wilhelm (1830-1888), son of their son Fredrich Hinrich (1798-1868), who immigrated to the United States in 1853 and settled in Cincinnati, and 3) several children of Fredrich's son Hermann Heinrich August (1835-1901), who immigrated to the same area some 20 years later.

We also include pages for a few members of the earlier generations, but we do not have enough details to merit create individual pages for many of them.

There were a number of other Fenker families in the United States, but we have not been able to connect them to this family from Brockum.

Reading More About Them

To read this family's stories you may choose to begin with Herman Hinrich or his wife Annie Marie. Our you may prefer to read about those about whom we have the most interesting information. They include:

• Herman Hinrich and Annie Marie's daughter Anne Marie Elisabeth, who immigrated with her husband and four young children to the U.S. in 1832, the first known member of the family to do so
• Herman Hinrich and Annie Marie's grandson Johann Hinrich Wilhelm, later known as William, who immigrated to Covington, Kentucky in 1853 and became a baker
• The parents of William's wife, Jean Frédéric Lebeau and Christina Baum, whose detailed account of their immigration trip provides a rare insight into the trials of those who crossed the Atlantic by sailing ship
• William's grandson Howard Fenker, whose exploits in World War I remain a mystery
• His son Richard, an actuary who became an aircraft navigator in World War II, then a businessman
• Another great-grandson of William, William John, one of several Fenkers who served in World War II, but the only one lost in that war
• Herman Hinrich and Annie Marie's grandson Hermann Heinrich August inherited the family farm, Brockum 100, but most of his children immigrated to the United States in the 1870's
• Freda Niemeyer, daughter of Herman Hinrich and Annie Marie's daughter who did not immigrate but who did immigrate by herself at age 19, lived with her mother's sister, immediately applied to be naturalized, then married and had a family

If you prefer, you can look for specific people in the Fenker Family Index.

Maps, Charts and Military Service Index

The family is outlined in the Fenker Descendants Chart, which offer links to the narratives of each of Herman's descendants. There is also a chart outlining his known ancestors, our Fenker Ancestors Chart.

Many of the places mentioned in the narratives about each person contain this icon G, which is a link to display that place in Google Maps. For more information about these links see the Map Links section on our main page.

Many members of the Fenker family served in the military in various wars. Those included in this site are listed in the Index of Military Service

Citations

1. [S10740] City Population, online.
2. [S10739] Robert Jackson, "Re: Fenker of Brockum," e-mail to author, 9 Sep 2021.
3. [S10844] Robert Jackson, "Re: Fenker of Brockum," e-mail to author, 24 Sep 2021.
4. [S10845] Lukasik, "Letter translated to English," e-mail to author, 15 Jul 2002, shows sold about 20 years ago.