Welcome to the family history website of the Wittenburg family. Hopefully this site will remain on the web for a very long time and that dedicated family members will maintain the site. With input from family members, it could be possible to keep the site up to date as far as births within the family are concerned. But even without updates, it will be very interesting reading for anyone who wants to know part of their heritage. It should be noted up front that there are three different spellings of our family name, and the reasons for the difference is explained within. Apparently 'Wittenburg' is the original so that is why the web address uses that spelling. Much of the information contained herein comes from the efforts of Carolyn Earle Billingsley, Ruth Landers and Lyn Lewis . All three are Wittenburg descendants. So, let's have a look.
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This particular Wittenburg family has been in residence in central Arkansas for over one hundred years, first in the Collegeville community of Saline County, and then moving out to Pulaski and Lonoke Counties. From there, family members have spread not only across Arkansas but the United States as well.
There is a record found during a genealogical search of German families that shows JOHN CHRISTIAN FRIEDERICH WITTENBURG and MARIA SOPHIA CHRISTIANE WESTPHAL as being married on Jan 15, 1839 in Bruel, Germany. It isn't known for sure if these are our ancestors, but there is a document that does for sure list the names of the oldest verifiable ancestors. It is a marriage record dated 1871 from Waterloo County, Ontario, Canada which show a Frederick and Maria Wittenburg as the parents of the groom and John C. and Mary D Haak as parents of the bride. Both sets of parents are listed as being from Mecklenburg, Germany and being of the Lutheran faith. This record lists the names of John Christian E.W. Wittenburg and Wilhelmina D.E. Haak as being married on July 30, 1871 in New Hamburg, Ontario. It should be noted here that John Christian E.W. Wittenburg is also known as John Henry Wittenburg Sr. and the latter name is inscribed on his tombstone in Saline County.
John and Wilhelmina are the couple who migrated from Germany to Canada around 1870 with two children, Henry and Fred. Henry was born in 1860 and Fred in 1863. It is unknown exactly why they got married or possibly remarried in Canada since there is a census record from Germany that lists them as being married already. There is an article which explains why they might have migrated in the first place as well as why they may have remarried in Canada. Part of the article follows:
"One Out Of Three Mecklenburgers Left His/Her Country"
In the middle of the past century Mecklenburg was one of the areas in Europe that was most affected by the emigration movement. Mass emigration is a sign of severe social crisis in any country. What reasons did so many people have to leave their country and hope for a better life abroad in the 19th century?
The emigration wave was not limited to Mecklenburg alone. It also covered all other parts of the fragmented German Empire. In all, several million people migrated from Germany. The emigration movement spread to other European countries as well, but Mecklenburg was especially hard hit. In fact, after 1850, Mecklenburg had the third highest emigration count in Europe, superceded only by Ireland and Galcia (land which is currently Poland and the Ukraine).
"And why have you left Germany?" asked Heinrich Heine in 1834, when he met some German emigrants in France on their way to North Africa, "The land is good, and we would have liked to stay", they replied, "But we just couldn't stand it any longer".
The loss of population was most prevalent from the so-called flat or farm land. 88.5% of all emigrants came from rural areas. Most of them came from the lands of the knights, from the manor houses of noble and titled big land-owners. These were the people who had the most compelling reasons for leaving Mecklenburg. This was mostly due to the miserable social conditions caused by the right of abode and the right of establishment rules which existed almost unchanged between 1820 and 1860.
These conditons came about when serfdom was annulled in Mecklenburg in 1820/1821. At that time, many landowners took the opportunity to get rid of a lot of their day laborers who were now considered personally free according to the law. They began to run their lands with a mnimum of permanent workers. The landowners did this so that why would not have to pay for any laborers who were injured or take care of them when they grew old. It was very difficlult for day laborers who were thrown out to find permanent work elsewhere because they needed to receive the right of establishment from the new employer. But that wasn't easy to get.
In 1861, and expert on Mecklenburg history, Ernst Boll, explained the right of abode and right of extablishment in his Abriss Der Mecklenburgischen Landeskunde this way: " A Mecklenburger does not belong to the country as a whole as far as his home is concerned. Rather, he belongs to the one city or village that he happens to be born in, or to the city or village where has has received the right of establishment."
The granting of the right to marry also depended on the granting of the right of establishment., and all subjects needed permission to marry before they could have a family. A man or woman who did not have the right of establishement could never establish a home. Therefore, the main problem for a common Mecklenburger was to get his own home, but many did not succeed. A lot of people that worked as needed paid laborers were refused the right of establishment by the ruling class for their whole lives. They were given only a limited right to residence - only for as long as they had work. These were the inhumane conditions that existed. Mecklenburgers could become homeless in their own country. Therefore, it is no surprise that tens of thousands decided to emigrate rather than walking around homeless. In 1900, approximately 224,692 people who were Mecklenburgers by birth lived outside of their home country. That was almost one third of the original total Mecklenburg population".
So, we can see why our ancestors John and Wilhelmina decided to migrate and probably why they held a marriage ceremony in Canada.
While in Canada, they had another son, John Henry Jr., born on June 9, 1872, in Wilmot Township, Waterloo County. They also had a daughter, Maria Wittenburg, born on January 23rd,1874. Then on March 26th,1876 they had a male who was stillborn and on February 6th,1879 had a female who was stillborn.
Sometime after the birth of the stillborn baby girl, they moved to Arkansas. They are listed on the census of June 16, 1880 as living in Saline County.
Nothing is known of what happened to the daughter Maria, who would have been about six years old at the time they moved. It's speculated she died right before, during, or right after their move to Arkansas. You have to remember the mode of transportation back then and how difficult travel would be on folks.
John and Wilhelmina homesteaded a tract of land in Saline County and built their home there in August, 1880.
