Vorwort zur ersten Bearbeitung:
Foreword to the first edition, 1554-1700
by Dr. Heino Mammen
(translation by Doug Bradley)
The Niedersächsischen Staatsarchiv [Lower Saxony State Archive] in Aurich has an extensive body of source material, which for the farm and family history of the Harlingerland has previously been evaluated only in a cursory way. In addition to the records of contracts and the numerous farmer registers, the Weinkauf records of Amt Esens are a treasure trove for the local historian. They contain information on the sizes of the properties, on the amount of taxes the people on the land [Hausleute] had to pay, on the services which they were bound to perform, and much more.
When I first worked particularly with the Amt Esens, it was for the reason that my ancestry on my father’s side was in the greatest part made up of Esenser Hausleute: householders from the Esens area. I made cards for the Weinkauf records of this Amt for the time from 1554 to 1743 (provisionally for the time before 1700) and then sorted the excerpts according to farm communities [Bauernschaften und Bauernplätzen]. The processing of nearly 1,000 cards from the years 1701 to 1743 must be reserved for a later time.
I thank all who have supported my work, particularly Mr. Orth and Dr. Schaub for the constant support they have given me.
Dr. H. Mammen
Oldenburg, June 1963
Vorwort zum 2. Band:
Foreword to the second volume
The second set of Weinkauf records from Amt Esens includes all records from 1701 to 1743, which were taken from the bundle of documents numbered Rep. 6 Nr. 15776.
(Dr. H. Mammen, 1966)