Schellin (Skalin) is a village that was formerly a manorial farm. The Dukes of Pommern created this estate in the 13th century (see below). In the 18th century the farm was converted into a factory. Somewhere between the 19th century and Second World War the land was broken up into individual parcels. The remains of the manorial farm/factory are shown in the following pictures.

It has a nice 15th century church that was initially Catholic, became Lutheran in the 16th century, and returned to being a Catholic Church following the Second World War. The structure of the building remained relatively unchanged and often the same fonts and altars were still in use over this long period. The church is in the classic 15th century Pommern style seen throughout Pommern.

The Dukes of Pommern created such estates in the 13th century. Some estates remained the property of the Dukes (royal villages), some were granted to the nobility (largely German and Slavic Knights) that supported the Duke (noble villages), and some were granted to the church. The church held villages might contain a monastery or might be a manorial farm controlled by a church official like a bishop whose management was contracted out.

In the 15th century, the village owners throughout Kreis Pyritz seemed to compete with each other in building beautiful Pommern style churches for their manorial farms. They largely controlled the church, its records and the clergy for the church. Around 1820, the Prussian government required the churches to keep duplicate church books and provide them to the Prussian government. These are the church books they Mormons have microfilmed. In the late 1870’s civil records were also required and many are also available from the Mormons.

My interest in this village is that a Remus family of Shepherds lived here briefly. Here are details:

Please send any queries to Bill Remus at

October 5, 2010