Emigration

Until his death my father did some ancestry research. He reckoned that when a large part of the residents of Ladbergen emigrated to the USA approximately in the middle of the 19th century because of a famine in Ladbergen, members of the Schoppenhorst family had to be among them. In two stories of his chronicle Friedrich Schoppenhorst, born 1848 (90), describes how immeasurably poor the people were in the 19th century: Our turf diggers and My friend Heinrich Maneke. Several times my parents visited descendants of the emigrants from Ladbergen who had founded the village New Knoxville in Ohio. Friedrich Saatkamp in (1) writes that the founders of the village dismissed the name “New Ladbergen” as so much misfortune had happened to them in Ladbergen. In contrast to that Friedrich Schoppenhorst, born 1848, wrote in the newspaper “Heimatglocken” No. 6 (1815) that at the purchase of the land from one Mr Veitel the Ladbergers had to obligate themselves to name the new village Knox-Ville as the wife of Mr Veitel was born a Knox. Even today there are villagers here in New Knoxville who speak the same Low German as it is spoken now in Ladbergen. But there is nobody here called Schoppenhorst.

A couple of people from Ladbergen but most notably the Protestant church Ladbergen are still in contact with people from Ladbergen in the emigration regions in the USA. But as Mr Apitz, an employee of the Protestant church says, according to his knowledge there is nowhere a Schoppenhorst to be found.                                  

The pictures from “New Knoxville” (at the top left) are taken from www.newknoxville.com

The sailing boat “Fridjof Nansen” (alias “Bremen” in the ARD series “Windstärke 8” (Wind Strength 8)) at the bottom right was taken by me in Lübeck in August 2005. The emigrants traveled from Europe to the New World on such boats in the 19^th century. (Please click on the picture)

The tomb stone of Fredericka Schoppenhorst (75) bottom left is taken from: www.rootsweb.co

However, my parents got to know the parents of the astronaut Armstrong (the first human on the moon) whose ancestors on his mother’s side come from this New Knoxville respectively from Ladbergen. Friedrich Kötter from Ladbergen/Overbeck emigrated there in 1864. Armstrong owns a farm close to New Knoxville. Dietmar Kötter, innkeeper of the inn Gasthof "Up de Birke” is a descendant of above mentioned Friedrich Kötter.

Despite a couple of visits to his parents my parents never got to know Mr Armstrong. Once he was invited to visit Ladbergen but as he demanded 10,000 Dollars the Ladbergers abstained from his visit.