1731 Heinrich Arend Vahlsing Death

Citation

The 3 Jan. 1730 burial record of Heinrich (Arends) Vahlsing is found on image 147 of the Petzen Kirchenbuch "Verzeichnis der Getrauten und Gestorbenen 1641-1784".

Image

petzen band1b img147
Figure 1. Burial record for Heinrich Arends Vahlsing

Transliteration and Translation

Transliteration
Anno 1731

den 3t. Januarÿ ist Henrich Vahlsing gewesener
32 jähriger Schäfer auß dem Hochgr[äflichen]
Vorwerde Höckersau begraben seines alters 63 Jahr
Hochgräflichen Vorwerde Höckersau

In this 1731 Petzen death record, “Hochgräflichen Vorwerde Höckersau” refers to a manorial outlying farm (Vorwerk) belonging to the high comital (i.e., ruling count’s) estate, located at or called Höckersau*.

A precise breakdown:

  • Hochgräflich(en) — Literally “high-comital.” This denotes ownership by the reigning Graf (Count) of Schaumburg-Lippe. In parish records, this adjective signals sovereign or comital domain property, not a private noble or peasant holding.

  • Vorwerde / Vorwerk — An outlying estate or farm administratively attached to a main manor or domain (often supplying grain, livestock, or labor). Vorwerke were commonly staffed by shepherds, farmhands, and overseers rather than independent farmers.

  • Höckersau — The specific place-name of that Vorwerk. In Schaumburg-Lippe usage, such names often designated a small settlement, estate complex, or cleared area associated with comital landholding.

Meaning in context

Henrich Vahlsing was a shepherd employed at the comital Vorwerk Höckersau*, i.e., a shepherd in service to the Count’s domain, not a village farmer or householder in Petzen itself.

Smooth English rendering

A historically faithful translation would be:

“from the High-Comital Vorwerk of Höckersau”

or slightly more explanatory:

“from the comital outlying estate (Vorwerk) at Höckersau”

This phrasing accurately conveys status (sovereign ownership), function (estate farm), and location (Höckersau) as understood in early-18th-century Schaumburg-Lippe records.

See Höckersau-Sandfurt

Translation
In the year 1731,

On 3 January, Henrich Vahlsing, a shepherd, from the Count’s outlying
estate farm at Höckersau, aged 63 years, was buried

Citations

  • [PET-D-1730a] "Archion Protestant Kirchenbücher Portal", database with images, Archion (https://www.archion.de/p/1ebf0fad1a/ : 8 Jan. 2026), path: Niedersachsen > Niedersächsisches Landesarchiv > Kirchenbücher der Evangelisch-Lutherischen Landeskirche Schaumburg-Lippe > Petzen > Verzeichnis der Getrauten und Gestorbenen 1641-1784, image 147 of 239