The Windheim Files
Photograph of Windheim House 25, courtesy of Anneliese Scheumann
Windheim is a church district in Westphalia which includes the villages of Windheim itself, Ilse, Joessen, Haevern, Rosenhagen, Neuenknick, Seelenfeld, and Doehren. The church records begin in the autumn of 1669 and are almost continuous. Many immigrants from Windheim settled in and near Fort Wayne, Allen Co., Indiana from 1836 to 1900.
From 1989 to 1996 I read these records and attempted to record all events (baptisms, marriages and burials) in a relational database for the years 1669-1800. I have followed some families up to the present day.
Common surnames include Bultemeyer, Gallmeyer, Doehrmann, Boese, Kolle, Humbke, Mentzing, Salge, Strangmann, Westenfeld, Meining, Piepenbrink, Dicke, Roembke, Witte, Stoppenhagen, Jackemeyer, and Nuerge.
The on-line database below is fully searchable but is for demonstration purposes only. It contains about 5000 names, and is not updated. I am responsible for any errors.
Please review my policy concerning errata.
If any of these names connect to your families, you may write to me for more complete information.
Write to Richard Scheimann
Families of Windheim, Surnames Index
Families of Windheim, Persons Index
Map of the Windheim area in Germany
Emigrants to Fort Wayne, Indiana, from Windheim
My essay describing my study of the Windheim records
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