There is NO misspelling at all, Elspeth! Now, about the Sauerland I could tell you a wee bit as my best girlfriend is living in this area and it's about 1 1/2 to 2 hours by car from where I'm living now. The best would be you ask what you are interested most in and I will give you any information I can. Including the one or other URL...but I need a bit time to collect the informations. All in all the Sauerland is a region with middle-high mountains, some lakes and barrages; a bit rough sometimes but beautiful landscape; good possibilities for winter sports... If you want I can look up some information especially about Schwarzenau/Bad Berleburg... I'm not sure what you are looking for especially - so, please, ask...
P.S. Found some more dates: Schwarzenau (850 citizens, 360 - 590 m over N.N. )is called the pearl of the River Eder Valley. It is situated in a distance of about 10 km to Bad Berleburg. This village is the origin of the "Church of Brethren" in the USA.
Click the photo on the top of the site. A gallery is opened. Click "Folge 1" and view pictures...until "Folge 6" to view all pictures of Schwarzenau and the landscape!
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Oh, I forgot about Krefeld. Krefeld is a rather big town at the Rhine (Rhein) situated between Dortmund and Düsseldorf at the other side of the river. This is really "Rheinland" at its best! It's not far from where Aon had lived so she should be able to tell you more about it than me: it's the region where she grew up (well, not exactly but rather near!) if I remember right...
you do =) (I totally forgot to check this thread once in a while *smacks her forehead*)
Krefeld is about 15 minutes from Düsseldorf via the motorway so it's really quite close =) It's not overly big but it's nice for going shopping and around it are alot of smaller towns of which some are really old. I remember that some years ago there was a tanker-accident on the rhine at Krefeld and my school was in the north of Düsseldorf right on the Rhine. The explosion was so big it even made the windows of my school tremble and they had to replace them all due to instability...
http://www.krefeld.de/ this is the official website of the town, only in German though =/ but you can go to "Tourismus" and then "Grußkarten aus Krefeld" and it will show you postcards of Krefeld.
Krefeld is a part of the Region called "Niederrhein" (Lower Rhine) and this is the official tourism website: http://www.niederrhein-touristik.de/
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Thanks gaberlunzie and Aon! The pictures are great.
It's so cool to see the places my ancestors came from. Not a great suprise to see it looks very like Pennsylvania where they settled.
I suppose what I want to know is what the landscape is like, what people did to make a living, especially back in the 1600's to early 1700's, was there some special industry besides farming. What crops does the land best support. Was it a sheep area, or cattle. What was the dress like. Is it an area that is close in its history to its German counterparts, or was it more influenced by it's Dutch neighbors, or was everyone just trying to make a living. I don't know what I want to know. I suppose what little tidbits of history and culture makes this area what it is.
As I think of more questions I'll ask!
Thanks
BTW, do either of you have any idea where the name Berkey would have originated from? We were always told German. But it would be Swiss or Austrian or who knows what. Could have been spelled Burkey at one time as well.
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Berkey? hmm I don't have a clue.. btw, there is photos of the landscape in the niederrhein touristic page, just go and look around regardless of the language.. there should be photos. The thing about that area is: it's very flat. There are alot of old farms around that still look alot like a hundred years ago if you can imagine them without modern gear. There is alot of World War II things around, like the Tank-stops and the motorways which were built for quick transport of troups to the front. As well some strips of the motorways are completely flat and were built for bombers to land on and the like.
There is a peculiarity that you find at the Niederrhein. Alleys of a certain type of tree which is capped at the top frequently (the look awful in that time) to form some sort of bulb on the top of the stem. It's on the opening page of the Niederrhein touristic page the bottom right photo. Another thing alot of ppl think of when they think of the region is windmills...
Elspeth; if Berkey, Burkey is of German origin it MIGHT come from the name "Buerger", "Burger", which means "townsman, citizen". Aon, what do you think?
RavenWing;
I found a bit about the surname "Scholl" in an encyclopaedia. It is said that "Scholl" can have several meanings.
1) coming from "Scholle" which means a clod or a lump of earth and is related to "Bauer" which means "farmer" or - in the figurative meaning - a "clumsy man".
2) coming from an expression of an old form of German "schol" = "guilty"="instigator".
well I found a village near Hameln which is called Berkel. I was having a look into Berkey but as a reference I only found Berkey in Ohio and an article about a German family who emigrated to that particular place (I think they were "Menonites" (how was it spelled?)). Since ppl often took up the name of the place they came from that might be a clue. A very wobbly one though.
Well, Berkey & Burkey are sounding similar when pronounced English so there might be a connection...
Elspeth; if Berkey, Burkey is of German origin it MIGHT come from the name "Buerger", "Burger", which means "townsman, citizen". Aon, what do you think?
RavenWing;
I found a bit about the surname "Scholl" in an encyclopaedia. It is said that "Scholl" can have several meanings.
1) coming from "Scholle" which means a clod or a lump of earth and is related to "Bauer" which means "farmer" or - in the figurative meaning - a "clumsy man".
2) coming from an expression of an old form of German "schol" = "guilty"="instigator".
This is all I could find.
Wow, thanks for all the information. You really didn't have to go to all that trouble, though.
Elspeth; if Berkey, Burkey is of German origin it MIGHT come from the name "Buerger", "Burger", which means "townsman, citizen". Aon, what do you think?
RavenWing;
I found a bit about the surname "Scholl" in an encyclopaedia. It is said that "Scholl" can have several meanings.
1) coming from "Scholle" which means a clod or a lump of earth and is related to "Bauer" which means "farmer" or - in the figurative meaning - a "clumsy man".
2) coming from an expression of an old form of German "schol" = "guilty"="instigator".
This is all I could find.
Wow, thanks for all the information. You really didn't have to go to all that trouble, though.
Oh, you're welcome...no problem at all! It's a subject I'm very interested in and so it was fun! I am glad I could help...