Waldau (Waldowo)
Waldau was a village that had three Remus families in it at the time of the 1772 census. Therefore, it is of special interest to me. But first, a bit about the village.
Waldau has a very unusual structure. There is a straight east-west road with houses on both sides and also a north-south road with houses. At the intersection of the two, there is a Catholic Church, a Catholic graveyard, a manor house, and manorial barns converted to a vodka factory. The Lutheran graveyard is in a field to the side of the manor.
The village in 1765 was a mixture of 153 Catholics and 246 Lutherans. It had both Lutheran and Catholic churches and cemeteries. It also had a krug (tavern).
The village was owner by Polish nobility. The Lorenz Waldowski family owned it prior to 1744. It passed to Melichor Zalinski and from 1772 to 1788, the Stanislaw Grabowski family owned it. The Grabowski ownership period largely corresponds to the period when the Remus family lived here.
One of the people in the 1772 census is Christoph Remus. Here is his census record:
Remus, Christoph Waldau Cammin 18113047 6039 227 51
Remuss, Christoph Waldau Cammin 18113047 6041 115 51(duplicate)
Christoph Remuss is living with wife (Eva Meske), two sons (Martin and Franz), three daughters (Marianna, Eva and Christine); there are seven in household. Christoph is listed under a column labeled Halbbauern/literally half farmer. So he had some other work (running the village) and farmed half time. Most of his older children were born in Vorwerk
Lukowo, an extension of the village of Sypniewo that he managed until about 1744 when he began to move to Waldau. Christoph was the father of Daniel (below). Click here for Christoph's descendents including Daniel. Their descendents later moved to Kreis Tuchel, Prust in particular.Here is a view of the village from the fields.
Click
here to see the details in the above picture using Adobe Acrobat.I am pretty sure that Christoph and family occupied the manor house and at least for a while he was the schultz of the village. This assessment is based on his affluence and managerial experience in
Lukowo. Also, there is no listed schultz for this village in the 1772 census. This arrangement must have been made with the Stanislaus Grabowski family who owned the village. Here are pictures of the modernized manor house
Click
here to see the details in the above picture using Adobe Acrobat.And here is a picture of the barn (now a vodka factory):
Click
here to see the details in the above picture using Adobe Acrobat.
Also in the village there was a tavern run by Daniel Remus, son of Christoph above and born in
Lukowo. The Krug no longer exists but a very good example of such a tavern is at the ethnomuseum; click here to see that Krug. This arrangement must have been made with the Stanislaus Grabowski family who owned the village at that time. The 1772 land census record says:Daniel Remus Waldau Cammin 18113047 6039 227 51
Daniel Remuss Waldau Cammin Zempelberg 18113047 6041 115 51 (duplicate)
Johan Daniel was living with wife (Dorothea Runk), two daughters (likely Marianna Elisabeth and Anna Dorothea), and two hired male farm workers. He was a kruger - tavern keeper and also farmed.
My great- great- great-grandfather Peter Remus was also living in Waldau. Here is his 1772 land census record:
Remus, Peter Waldau Cammin 18113047 6039 227 51
Remuss, Peter Waldau Cammin 18113047 6041 115 51 (duplicate)
Paechter des Vorwerks, Peter Remuss; living with wife (Barbara Juliana Zyck/Pufal), three sons (my gggrandfather Daniel, Christoph, and Johan Georg), one daughter (Anna Maria), two hired male workers, and three hired female workers. There were a total of 11 in household. Peter died in 1778 and his wife Barbara married Johan Christian Grugel of Insdorf
(Doringsdorf?) in nearby Konitz Parish.Paechter des Vorwerks means head of an extension of the village some distance from the village. Since his sons were all shepherds, perhaps the latter living arrangement may reflect being shepherds. On the other hand Vorwerk often means manor house so Peter may have occupied this manor until an early death (with not a very valuable estate as his children became shepherds). It is not clear where this extension (Vorwerk) of Waldau is located but it is typically within a few kilometers of the village. It might have been Vorwerk Tekianowo discussed above.
My great- great- great-grandfather Peter was the second son of Kruger (tavernkeeper) Caspar Remus of Schmirdowo.
Click here to go to Schmirdowo. Peter's family is shown as family 6 on the generalogy of Martin Remus and his son Caspar.Click here for the Adobe Acrobat Version of a map of the village and note the label Waldau shown outside the central village. These could be called Vorwerks.
When these Remus families arrived in Waldau, the Lutheran church was banned. So all their early records are contained in the church books of the Waldau Catholic Church shown next:
This house in Waldau was built in 1831 so might have been seen by my ancestors.
Want to see the details of this picture?
Click here for the Adobe Acrobat VersionClick here to see more pictures of the modern village.
Click here for an 1806 map showing Waldau in the upper right hand corner.
Click here for a 1914 map showing Waldau in the upper right hand corner.
Click here to go to other West Prussia Villages.
Please send any queries to Bill Remus at
October 1, 2007
