Translation of the german text of the newspaper article  in the "Haller Kreisblattt",
Part "Lokales Steinhagen" ( in the Halle County News, part Locals of Steinhagen)
Wednesday, April 20th, 2005
 

The prepared text of Friedrich Wilhelm Dickenhorst
was changed a lot by the newspaper editor.
 

 

 

The wire to Wright City is hot again

Friedrich Wilhelm Dickenhorst found descendants
of an emigrant of his family in the USA

Steinhagen-Brockhagen, Interest of adventures or despair, enterprising spirit or needs, curiosity or resignation - there have been various reasons for the emigration wave to America in the 10. century. But in one case the descendants of the emigrants and the relatives are similar: Many of them are searching for relatives on the other side of the atlantic ocean. Some are lucky in their search, like Friedrich Wilhelm Dickenhorst, born in Brockhagen. The top of his family research shall now become the Godt family reunion in Hörste in July of this year.

A Dickenhorst at the  Godt family reunion? "My grandfather Johann Heinrich Dickenhorst from Jöllenbeck married my grandmother Catherine Eleonore Godt in 1887"  explained Friedrich Wilhelm Dickenhorst. " The both owned the farm at the Gütersloher Street in Brockhagen". He knows that very clear because he published a book about the Brockhagen farms some years ago.
In 1883 the 26 year old brother of his grandmother, August Friedrich Adolph Godt, took the risk to travel over the "great lake" (atlantic ocean). As born in Brockhagen he asked the local priest Ellermann for a birth certificate, to be able to proof his identity in the country of the unlimited possibilities. Godt settled down in the state Missouri as a farmer, near the town of Wright City. The American branch of the Brockhagen Godt's is based on him.
The parents of this emigrant had bought the Colonat Wissmann in the year 1848 and had built a new farmhouse, of which the gatebalk is still to be seen. To this place of his childhood Friedrich Wilhelm Adolph Godt returned one time: 1927 in the age of 70 years he made the journey from Missouri to Brockhagen by ship and train. This was the last meeting with his brothers and sisters, for example Catherine Eleonore, who already got the name Dickenhorst.
Even after 50 years the contact between Brockhagen and Wright City was going. This is proofed by a photo of the golden wedding of the emigrant with his wife Minnie, which he sent to the relatives in Eastwestphalia.
But in the second world war the contact broke. The american Godt died in 1945, his wife already in 1944. Up from then there was no more contact between Brockhagen and Wright City - for nearly 60 years. Until Friedrich Wilhelm Dickenhorst retired as an engineer. "Then I finally got the time to work on my interest,the genealogie"

There are 62 Godt's in the US telephone books

It did not needed a long time and the now 68year old found the trace over the`big lake´.
There are at least 62 inscriptions with the name Godt in the telephone books. Doing his researches Dickenhorst, born in Brockhagen, now living in Schröttinghausen, found the webpage of a Hans-Jürgen Godt from Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony). Even this one followed the traces of his ancestors and relatives, who live(d) far away over the world.
"He sent out my questions to the USA and after a while we got the answer."
But it was not a normal answer, it was an answer of his closest relative on the other side of the atlantic ocean. A grandson of the emigrant sent an email to the Dickenhorst family.
This Paul William Godt now lives in Wright City, in the third Godt generation. His father and the father of Friedrich Wilhelm Dickenhorst have been cousins.
"The funny thing of this story is, that Paul William Godt has just been in Brockhagen in 2003" Friedrich Wilhelm Dickenhorst told us. The american descendant had visited a family reunion in Denmark and wanted to search for his roots in Germany by this possibility.. "He came to Brockhagen, took his diner in the Ententurm, but could find nobody, who could show him the house of his grandfather"
Now Paul William Godt will do this at July 16th and 17th, when there will be the Godt family reunion in Halle-Hörste. That it will be held in Hörste and not in Brockhagen is caused by the history: " In Hörste at the right side of the exit to Versmold there is the area, where the old Godt farm has been." explains Dickenhorst. This farm the private historican found already in documents of 1556.
From Hörste later the Godt's went to Brockhagen and then to the whole world.

Underlines of the pictures:
1. )  The last meeting: In 1927 August Friedrich Adolph Godt returned to his home farm.
This picture shows him with his sisters Charlotte Karoline and Catherine Eleonore.
2.) Greetings from Missouri: From their golden wedding in 1936 August Friedrich Adolpg Godt and his wife Minnie sent a photo to Brockhagen. In the middle their granddaughter Doris Clara Godt is standing.
3.) Found his relative: Friedrich Wilhelm Dickenhorst is glad that he will meet with Paul William Godt from the USA.