Indentifying Information
| Document | Indentifier |
|---|---|
| Preibisch Survey | X |
| Preibisch Survey Owner | Marcin Krüger |
| Rezess Contract Owner | Martin Krüger |
| First Land Record Owner | Martin Krüger |
| 1830 Blatt Number | 2 |
| 1864 Property Tax Number | 2A |
| 1921 Community Register House Number | 2 & 3 |
| Estimated Current Address | Gebiczyn 2 |
Special Note
Farms 2A and 2B appear to have had two families that built and shared one house. Each owner had separate land holdings. The following description of the two properties will be confusing and possibly not totally accurate because of this fact. These two farms are located on the 10 morgen and 75 square ruthen noted in section 5 of the Rezess Contract that was marked C on the Preibisch map of 1826. On the map there is a pencil marked boundary showing the property of Martin Erdmann and Wilhelm Krenz. Note that the property line was drawn directly through the house on the property.
The Land Records
Farm 2A
Gottfried Krenz (1798-1862) and his wife Rosina, née Gehler (died prior to 1851), purchased a partition of Farm 2 from the widow Anna Christine Krüger by a notarial contract dated August 10, 1839, including two morgens that no longer belong to the property for one hundred thirty thalers. Following the subsequent removal of the parcel from Farm 2’s register, it was registered to Krenz as Farm 2A pursuant to the document dated December 28, 1847.
Gottfried Krenz, from the estate of his wife Anna Rosina, née Gehler, declared and officially confirmed that he acquired the Farm 2A on March 12, 1851, for the sum of one hundred and eighty-nine thalers, and that the title of ownership was registered in his name pursuant to the deed on April 19, 1851.
Farm 2B
Peter Dumke and his wife Anna Justina Krenz purchased a field from the colonists Gottfried and Rosina Krenz, husband and wife, by means of a notarized contract dated July 19, 1843, for twenty thalers. The land record further documents that Dumke built half the house himself. The document does not explain if there was a family the relationship between Anna Justina Krenz and Gottfried Krenz. Gottfried Krenz had legally acquired the two morgen of land being sold along with an additional 4 morgen of farmland from the widow Krüger pursuant to the contract dated August 10, 1839. Farm 2B was registered to Dumke on December 28, 1847.
Peter and Anna Justina Dumke transferred Farm 2B to their son Wilhelm for 49 Thaler and a life estate by a contract dated November 21, 1851. This contract was registered on December 4, 1851. Wilhelm Domke married Henriette Westphal and registered the property jointly on November 4, 1854.
The owner of Farm 2A on October 1, 1855, is Michael Erdmann (1826-1891) and Anna Dorothea Krenz (1828-1891). Michael was the son of Gottlieb and Rosina nee Kienitz Erdmann the previous owner of Farm 1 and brother to Ludwig Erdmann, the current owner. Anna Dorothea was the daughter of Gottfried and Anna Rosina nee Gehler Krenz.
The owner of Farm 2B was the previously mentioned Wilhelm Domke (1827-1867).
Rentenkataster 1855 – 1920
The Rentenkataster lists three owners of Farm 2A:
- Michael Erdmann
- Martin Domke
- The unmarried Maria Martha Domke
The Rentenkataster for Farm 2B list two owners:
- Wilhelm Domke
- Emil Wanke and his wife Emma nee Domke
The unmarried Maria Martha Domke listed for Farm 2A is the daughter of Martin and Ernestine nee Birkholz Domke. Emma nee Domke (1866-1933) and her husband Emil Wanke (born 1865) listed for Farm 2B is also a daughter of the couple. The Emil Wanke family lived in Gembitzhauland until at least the time of the birth of his last daughter in 1908. Sometime after the birth of the last daughter the family moved to Eichenfelde, Kreis Ostprignitz, Potsdam, Brandenburg, Prussia.
Property Tax 1863-1865
The property tax records of 1864 lists Michael Erdmann as the owner of Farm 2A. However, a note in pencil on this record says that Wilhelm Krenz is half an owner of the property.
Wilhelm Domke is recorded as living on Farm 36A. Farm 2B was originally written in the column next to his name but it has been crossed out.
The Wilhelm Krenz Family
Robert and Amelia (Krenz) Leppke on left. Gustav and Augusta (Krenz) Steger on right. Photo given to Vera Papke Erickson by Evelyn Steger Herther.
Wilhelm Krenz (born 1835 – died prior to 1885) was the son of Gottlieb Krenz and Dorothea Siewert. He had at least one sister, Anna Rosina, who was born in 1838 in Kahlstadt Kreis Czarnikau.
His wife, Anna Christina Erdmann (1833 – 1895, died in South Dakota), was the daughter of Gottlieb and Rosina nee Kienitz Erdmann and the sister of Michael Erdmann.
The couple were married on January 30, 1861. The marriage was recorded in the church books for Rogasen, Kreis Obornik, however a note in the marriage record states the ceremony took place at the church in Wischinhauland. There is no recorded information of a church in that community. Likely this was an unofficial old Lutheran church to which the family belonged. The baptismal records for their first children are recorded in the registers for the Evangelical Lutheran Church Community of Budsin. Several other families from Gembitzhauland’s northern farms are also listed in these limited records.
The couple had at least three children. Two daughters, Wilhelmine Auguste (1864 – 1938) and Amelia Ernestine (1866-1847) emigrated to South Dakota. Because the couple were not members of the Gembitzhauland church no death record has been found for Wilhelm, but it likely happened prior to the introduction of civil records in 1874. Delbert M. Leppke in his family history “History of Leppke-Westphal-Krause Families” from 2008 writes that after the death of her husband, Anna Christina worked as a seamstress at her brother-in-law’s tailor shop. In his history he says that she was living in Rogasen however the Hamburg ship manifest from 1888 says that she was living in Gembitz.
In 1887 a marriage was arranged between the youngest daughter, Amelia, and Robert Leppke (1860-1954) the son of the former owner of Farm 41. Leppke who was living in South Dakota had emigrated in 1883. Amelia left Hamburg on May 11, 1887, and the couple were married in June after her arrival.
On March 7, 1888, Anna Christina and her other daughter Wilhelmine emigrated with Robert’s youngest brother Theodore. To be able to claim a homestead Anna Christina filed citizenship papers in April 1894. She died the following summer prior to filing her claim.
Church Affairs and Parish Tax 1876 – 1879
Property records for Farm 3 show that Michael Erdmann likely sold 2A to Martin Domke after 1865, possibly in connection to the death of his brother-in-law Wilhelm Krenz,
Martin Domke (1835-1899) was the son of Peter and Anna Justine nee Krenz Domke and brother of Wilhelm. In the “Delegenheiten der Evangelischen Kirche” of 1876 – 1879 he is listed as the sole cottager living on Farms 2A and 2B.
Building Register July 31, 1890
Per the building register of July 31, 1890, Martin Domke is the sole cottager living on this property.
Building Register June 1, 1907
Per the building register of June 1, 1907, Ewald Fischer and Julius Jahnke are each half cottagers. Each man owns a half a house and a shed with a cattle barn.
Ewald Fischer (born 1875 – died prior to 1945) was the son of the owner of Farm 18 in Polajewohauland Wilhelm Fischer and his wife Henriette Hahnefeld. He married to Marie Martha Domke (1879-1946) the daughter of Martin Domkeon February 12, 1900. The couple later move to Farm 5.
Julius Jahnke (born in 1865) was the son of Johann Gottlob Jahnke and Anna Rosina Tumm in Niewiemko. On April 13, 1895, he married Bertha Auguste Siewert (born 1866), the daughter of Christoph Siewert and his wife Dorothea Schendel. Her father was a day laborer on Farm 18 in Polajewohauland.
Community Register 1921 – 1933
The community register created after Gembitzhauland (now Gebiczyn) becomes part of Poland lists both Ewald Fischer and Julius Jahnke living in Gebiczyn in 1922.
Ewald and Martha nee Domke Fischer are now living in house 10 with their six children.
Julius and Augusta nee Siewert Jahnke are living in house 3 with their two children, a son-in-law and a grandson.
There is a widow, Anna nee Krenz Weise (born 1874 in Sokolow Kreis Czarnikau), living with her two daughters at house 2 at that time. She may be sharing half the house with the Jahnke family.