The Kotter Family of Haustenbeck, Lippe-Detmold, Germany

Henry Herman Ludvig Kotter (Hermann Heinrich Ludwig Kötter) and his younger brother, August, emigrated to America from their ancestral home in Haustenbeck, Lippe-Detmold, Germany and settled in Utah where they each raised large families.

Henry Kotter

Henry married twice. After the death of his first wife, he married Wilhelmine Albertina Erickson, a Swedish emigrant. They were the parents of 9 children; Henrietta, Ruby, Victor, Herman, Homer, Gertrude, Norma, Elmer and Wendell.

The information on the family history in Germany was provided by Professor Hans Sprenger, a university professor, who was sent to be a rural village school teacher as a punishment for expressing anti-Nazi views. During his time in the village of Haustenbeck, Prof. Sprenger heard a story that said the village was originally settled by Huguenot refugees from France. Since his own ancestors were Huguenot refugees, he wanted to research to see if the village story was correct. He eventually found that he was the only descendant of a Huguenot refugee in the village. The story of the village origins were just a myth. In doing his research, Prof. Sprenger traced the ancestry of almost everyone in the village and was most helpful to our family in searching for our family origins. After World War II, when everything in Germany was very scarce, our family sent several care packages to the Sprenger family which enabled them to survive this difficult time. Here are some general results of his research:

Items Pertaining to the Family History of the Kötter Family in Lippe-Detmold by Professor Hans Sprenger (1899-1973) The Adoption of the Family Name

It used to be the custom in the state of Lippe, that the family name was attached to the owner of the estate and not to the person. If a proprietor had no male descendants and the estate was taken over by a son-in-law, he took also the name of the former owner. In such cases his former name would be found in the parish register, and later he would be mentioned under the family name of his wife. Sometimes both names were used together but usually the last name he adopted was kept on record.

This was the case in the Kötter family. The forefather's name was Töns Henrich Johanmann. This Johanmann married Anna Margarethe Ilsabein Redeker who was also named after her father's name "Kötter", which was his by-name. The young couple inherited with the estate of the wife's parents the name "Kötter". In the beginning they carried the real name "Redeker" besides the Kötter name, but soon dropped the first one. The origin of this name "Kötter" is not known as it evidently traces back onto the past centuries. Such double names of families are customary in this district down to the present days.

Localities of Kötter Ancestors

The family history of the Kötters traces back into the beginning history of the village named Haustenbeck between 1659 and 1661. The first houses were built here in the "Senne" district, which means the sandy fields south of the "Teutoburger Forest". The Count of Lippe was anxious to have habitations along the highway between Bremen and Frankfort.

The first settlers came from the town of Berlebeck, and among them were Herman Waechter and his wife. In the following decades the village grew from inhabitants who migrated mostly from Berlebeck. About 1700 the families Redeker alias Kötter and Kelle came from the same place.

The Johanmann family originated in Schlangen, a village that is centuries older than Haustenbeck. They are listed in that place already before the parish registers were started. One family by that name moved from Schlangen to Kreuzkruge, a highway inn and hotel that belongs to the Kohlstädter Heide, and was built around 1700. Then Töns Henrich Johanmann moved to Haustenbeck where he is found since 1706.

The children, eight of them, of the marriage Johanmann-Kötter were all born in Haustenbeck and their births are listed in the parish register of the reformed church. The family name is used interchangeably as Johanmann and Kötter or both together.

Töns Henrich Johanmann died 13 Nov. 1791 from pneumonia.

At the marriage entry 23 Oct. 1753 in Haustenbeck he is called T. H. Johanmann "von der Heide" meaning the district named Kohlstädter Heide. In the proclamation preceding the marriage he is called as being from "Kohlenwege". This is not a contradiction. From other documents it is evident that the parents of Johanmann were leasers of the "Kreuzkrug" Inn and that belonged to the Kohlstädter Heide located at the Kohlenwege (road) which is a crossway of the Detmold highway, from this crossway which is "Kreuzweg" the inn has received its name. The birth record could not be found. At the death he was recorded as being 63 years old, which means he must have been born 1728. In that same year there was a stillborn child born into the family so that his birth year must have been one year earlier or later, or the age at his death has not been given quite correctly (which happens frequently). It is also evident that he was entered under some other christian name than he was called in life.

The marriage took place in Haustenbeck and there Johanmann took the name "Kotter" or "Kötter".

The whole village was badly damaged during the Seven Years' War by the armies of both sides, and that also refers to the property of the Kötters. There are several claims for damages on file.

Anna Margareta Ilsabein Redeker died of dropsy after suffering of this disease for 13 weeks. She had been a midwife for three years and six months and had attended to this office and work with great diligence and loyalty. In 1728 this Töns Johanmann of the Kreuzkrug had a stillborn son born to him. Töns is the lower German form of the name Anton. It is evident that this is the father of our Töns Henrich; according to the entry in the parish register of Schlangen.

In the same register we find a marriage entry which seems to refer to this Töns Johanmann. The marriage is entered in January 1704. It is, of course, not provable that Töns Henrich is a son of this marriage.

The Johanmann lineage appears before that date in Schlangen but the family association cannot be determined.

John Anton Johanmann married 13 Jan. 1704 Anna Regina Plöger of Oesterholz, provided that the forgoing conclusions are correct.

Johan Anton Redeker also named Johan Töns was born 22 Mar 1709 in Haustenbeck and married 16 Jan 1729 in Haustenbeck. His death is not entered in the register, but occurred around 1735, because his widow marries a second time in December 1736. The added name "Kötter" is never mentioned in the parish register except at the death of his widow when she is named the "old Kötter widow".

Anna Margaretha Ilsabein Kelle was born 10 May 1711 in Haustenbeck and married Johan Anton Redeker 16 Jan. 1729. After the early death of her first husband she married a second time Johan Herman Meyer from Haustenbeck 23 Dec. 1736. She married a third time Johan Simon Kruse, a musketeer (soldier) in Bielefeld, 18 Dec 1743. She died 28 Feb. 1768 of pleurisy (in the death entry is a reference to the first marriage with J. H. Redeker "named Kötter" saying "Anna Margaretha Kruse, the old Kötter woman").

Johan Henrich Redeker (also Recker and Reker) married 3 July 1707 in Haustenbeck. Birth and death are not available. In a list of settlers from 1724-5 he is given as a small Kötter, meaning a farmer with a small property. Redeker is an old German trade name and means Radermacher (wheelmaker).

Christina Waechter, born around 1672 in Haustenbeck according to her age at death married first to Henrich Panker and second to Johan Henrich Redeker on 3 July 1707 in Haustenbeck of asthma.

Kelle, also named Wille--Herman was born around 1680, married 10 April 1708 in Haustenbeck and died 8 Nov. 1727 in Haustenbeck . He was Krueger, which means keeper of the inn.

The Kelle family settled about 1700 in Haustenbeck. Soon after the names of Carl Kelle and Herman Kelle appear, evidently being brothers. The origin cannot be clearly determined, probably the family came from Berlebeck. There we find around 1650 the names of "Johann von der Kehle (Kelle) and Dietrich Kelle". According to a reference book, "Family Names in Lippe" the name traces to "the Kehle", a declining part of the Hahn Mountains near Berlebeck.

Difficult to understand is the following note in the register of communicants in Haustenbeck in the year 1711 "Herman Kellen Papismu reliquit". It is possible that Herman Kelle has become a Catholic but that must have occurred when he was out of the state. Herman Kelle alias Wille was married 10 April 1708 to Gerdruth Bestian Tielen according to the parish register. After his death in 1727 she married Georg Heinrich Dieckwiet in 1728 and died soon after, 24 Oct 1728, being 54 years old so that her birth year may have been 1674, In the death record she is given as Anna Gerdruth Wille "the Krueger woman".

The name Bestian Tielen is taken from a man who was called Bestian Tiele. This Tiele came in 1686 to Haustenbeck and died 1707. The name is extinct with his death. He is mentioned in a document of marriage contract: --Bastian, son of Otto Thile of Zelle agrees to marry Catharine Ilsabein, daughter of Juergen Wittbracht of Haustenbeck. The groom will inhabit her property; otherwise they do not have anything to list, 28 Aug 1686.

When comparing the data it is readily seen that Gerdruth cannot be the daughter but the widow of Bastian. But as the given name is not the same as in the marriage contract we have to conclude that Catharine Ilsabein Wittbracht had died in the meantime and Gerdruth was the second wife of Bastian Tiele. Maiden name and origin cannot be obtained.

Henrich Redeker, called "the old Kötter" and in the death record, Johan Henrich, died 4 April 1720 in Haustenbeck, 73 years old.

His name is mentioned first in Haustenbeck in 1698 in court documents. He had taken contraband from a thief into another country on his cart without notification. In 1700 he had fallen into disgrace and was sent out of the country. At that time he had given his property to his daughter who later married Carl Kelle.

At his return he and his younger son, Johan Henrich, lived in the home of Carl Kelle. In 1713 the house was destroyed by fire, because he and his son had dried wood close to the stove. After that, Carl Kelle and his wife filed a suit against him because he had started to build a new house on the old homestead.

In this suit, Johan Henrich Redeker is mentioned several times as the brother and Henrich Redeker, the old Kötter, as the father of Carl Kelle's wife. This makes the relationship very plain. The origin of this first Redeker cannot be determined. Probably he came as most of the Haustenbeck people, from Berlebeck. In the parish register of Heiligenkirchen, which included the community of Haustenbeck, the following marriage is listed: Johan Redeker married his betrothed 7 Sep. 1684. In 1685 at the birth of a son the parents are given as Johan and Anna Sophia Redeker.

Herman Waechter born in Berlebeck married 1656 in Berlebeck. At his marriage he was a serf, but later must have bought himself free. In 1660 he settled with his young wife in Haustenbeck as the fourth man in the settlement. At the first dedication of houses he was distributing beer and for this reason was also named the "Krueger" Waechter.

Since about 1680 the documents only name the "Waechter" people. Herman Waechter must have been dead then.

Elisabeth Meyer, born about 1627 in Berlebeck married 1656 in Berlebeck, died May 1715 in Haustenbeck. She was the daughter of the Supervisor of lands at Falkenberge and a freeman.

In the law court documents her name is predominating. In the settlement of the village she must have played an important part. In the church in Haustenbeck they are still using the pitcher for baptisms which the 'old Waechter woman" had donated.

Johan Waechter of Berlebeck died before 1656.

The origin of Herman Waechter and Elisabeth Meyer can be determined from the marriage license entered in Detmold 20 June 1656 which reads in the present form of the language as follows:

Herman Wachter, son of the deceased Johan Waechter of Berlebeck, marries Elisabeth Meyer, daughter of Simon Meyer, supervisor of lands at Falkenberge and his step-father who is now proprietor of the Waechter property, promises him (in donatitionem propter nuptias) 80 Thaler in cash, a horse, half a bushel of grain, a milking cow, an ox, one fat and one younger hog, besides half a side of bacon; also a yearly donation of a wagon of hay and half a bushel of linseed for sowing. The cash money he agrees to pay 20 Thaler now and the remaining 60 Thaler within the following years, as well as the other items mentioned. The father of the bride promises to give his daughter 80 Thaler in money and just as much in other items as the bridegroom received except for the horse. The bridegroom is still a serf, the bride is free. ("serf") means being in bondage to an employer or proprietor for whom they had to work a certain amount of years.)

Simon Meyer was living in Berlebeck The name is mentioned in the marriage contracts stated before.

Simon Meyer was supervisor of lands at Falkenberge--that means he was officially appointed to supervise a larger district of villages. The Vogtei of Falkenberge comprised the villages of Heiligenkirchen, Berlebeck, Hornoldendorf, Holzhausen, Fromhausen, and Haustenbeck. The settlement of Haustenbeck was also done under his supervision. As a "Vogt" he was a freeman, not a serf, and so was his daughter and her later descendants, the "Waechters in Haustenbeck."