We have recently received a collection of work regarding the Grothaus family in Europe from Josef Broeker.
You may read the first email we received from Josef which was in German, below:
Email from Josef Broeker to Rick Greathouse, 4 Apr 2009.
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Josef Bröker
Date: 2009/4/4
Subject: von Grothaus
Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,
leider ist mein Englisch nicht so gut, deshalb dieses Schreiben in Deutsch.
Seit etwa 25 Jahren - immer mit Unterbrechungen - forsche ich über die Familie von Grothaus.
Dabei kam ich in Kontakt mit mit Otto von Grotthuss aus Kronberg und auch Harry von Grotthuss aus Neuwied, der - wie ich erfahren konnte - mit Ihnen schon Kontakt aufgenommen hat.
Im Jahre 2001 fand hier in Ibbenbüren ( bei Tecklenburg) ein Familientreffen der Barone und Freiherren von Grotthuss statt.
Auf diesem Treffen besuchten wir die Orte, die die von Grothaus einst besessen hatten ( Reste der Mesenburg, Ledenburg, Krietenstein, Spyk bei Lingen.
Dieses Treffen bildete den vorläufigen Abschluss meiner Forschungen zur adeligen Familie von Grothaus.
Als ein Ergebnis konnte ich den Ahnherrn der heute noch blühenden Familie von Grotthuss ( Kurland/Livland) finden und außerdem die Genealogie der westfälische Linie von Grothaus komplett korrigieren - die des Max von Spiessen ist total fehlerhaft.
Zur Zeit beschäftige ich mich mit dem Pozess um Krietenstein. Denn bis in die heutige Zeit wird dem Otoo von Grone der Vorwurf der Felonie = Lehnsuntreue gemacht, weshalb sein Burglehen zu Wittlage ( Krietenstein) eingezogen wurde.
Die sogenannte Grothaus Fehde mit dem Blutbad im Gehn ist die unmittelbare Folge davon.
Wenn Sie Interesse haben, sende ich Ihnen meine wissenschaftlich = durch Urkunden abgesicherten Forschungsergebnisse.
Zunächst eine Aufschwörungstafel bei der Osnabrücker Ritterschaft.
MfG Josef Broeker
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Translation provided by Vivian Taylor:
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Very esteemed Ladies and Gentlemen,
Unfortunately my English is not too good; therefore I am writing this in German.
For perhaps twenty-five years--always with interruptions--I have been doing research on the Greathouse Family.
In so doing, I came into contact with Otto von Grotthuss from Kronberg and also Harry von Grotthuss from Neuwied, who--as I was able to learn--had already made contact with you.
In the year 2001 there took place here in Ibbenbueren (near Tecklenburg) a family meeting of the Lords and Ladies Grothaus. Immediately after this meeting we tried to find the places which the von Grothauses had once possessed. (The remaining [places are] at Mesenburg, Ledenburg, Krietenstein, [and] Spyk near Lingen.)
This meeting organized [shaped, formed] the preliminary conclusion of my research on the noble Grothaus Family.
As a result I was able to find the ancestors of the Family von Grotthuss still flourishing today ([in] Kurland/Livland) and in addition to correct completely the genealogy of the Westphalian line of Grothaus. The [research] of Max von Spiessen is totally incorrect.
At the time I was occupied with the POZESS [not in my dictionary; maybe "possessions"] around Krietenstein. From then up to the present time I have been absorbed with Otoo [Otto?] von Grone, made the subject of a felony violation of feudal obligation, because of which his tenure of a baronial castle at Wittlage (Krietenstein) was taken away.
The so-called Grothaus feud with the massacre in the Gehn[?] is the direct result of that.
If you are interested, I'll send you the scholarly results of my research, proven with documentation. Next [will be] a register of those who took the oath among the Osnabrueck nobility.
MfG[?] Josef Broeker
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In a later email, Josef shared a copy of his work, titled "Publikation 1984 von Grothaus" along with several other works he has collected.
Vivian Taylor has been working on translating and extracting anything which might be relevant or interesting to our search for Herman Groethausen's German roots. She has just shared a translated extract which was found in the source mentioned above.
The following is an extract from "Publikation 1984 von Grothaus" by Josef Broeker:
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Page 313: Family of Grothaus--without an addition [of an Estate Name] to the Name
1. Hermann von Grothaus
From the family of Grothaus, he is the first one who was mentioned in the Tecklenburg records. In those, in fact, he functioned only as a witness (between 1402 and 1414).
According to the evidence of the investiture books of the Osnabrueck bishops Heinrich von Holstein (1402-1404) and Otto von Hoya (1410-1424), Hermann von Grothaus was invested with, among others, manors in Mettingen and Lengerich (today, the Steinfurt district)--[manors] which previously Arnold and Hermann von Keseling had held in fief.
Interesting in this connection is an entry in the Tecklenburg investiture book (Chronological Publications, F A Solms-Braunfels), according to which Hermann von Grothaus at that time obligated himself as a Tecklenburg fief holder and lord of the castle provided that the fief which the Keselings had held previously would be transferred to him by the Count of Tecklenburg.
According to the evidence of the investiture books (F A Rheda and Solms-Braunfels), he was invested, from 1420 to 1428, with the [manor] Hoemoelle near Telgte and the [manor] Overenkamp near Westbevern.
With that, the information about him in the records is exhausted, and important genealogical questions regarding his family, for example his blood-kin relationship to Johann von Grone and Cord von Grothaus, must unfortunately remain unanswered.
Page 314: Proof in the records [source citations]
1402 Aug. 29 Reference Book A 190, No. 149 Muenster State Archive
1402 without day OGQ, Vol. V, page 72
1412 without day OGQ, Vol. V, page 104
1412 without day Tecklenburg Investiture Book F A Solms-Braunfels
[Family Archive?]
1412 April 30 Reference Book A 190, No. 175 Muenster State Archive
1414 May 10 Reference Book A 190, No. 180 Muenster State Archive
1420 without day Tecklenburg Investiture Book F A Rheda
1428 without day Tecklenburg Investiture Book F A Rheda
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Special thanks to Vivian Taylor for her help in translating Josef's email along with the extract from Josef's work, "Publikation 1984 von Grothaus".
As time permits, a PDF version of Josef's work will be made available in our European research collection,
http://greathouse.us/library/families-eu/index.htm .
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