[ The following is a translation from the original German of an account of the Boeger and Böger family histories written by Helmut Boeger, Osnabrueck. The original German is at http://www.rhonda.de/boegerstamm.html. Translation comments have been made in brackets ([]). ]

The Family Story of Boeger/Böger

The state archive in Detmold is rich in Lippe homeland and family stories. It is amazing how much information is available from earlier homeland researchers such as Preuß, Schwanhold, Weber, and Richard Böger on Lippe family histories. I took the following pieces out of these sources in the state archive and a very interesting chronicle of my home village, Augustdorf, as well as church books of this [Augustdorf] and other communities.

The family, Böger, is the oldest, documented, notable name among the Lippe farmers. Around 1200, a farmer, Hermann Biege lived on the Bega [a river feature] which flowed through a farming region Hillentrup. Hermann Biege is the father of the Böger family today in Lippe and other parts of our homeland.

The Lippe homeland researchers named above concluded that the name, Böger, with variations such as Bieger, Biegher, Boger, Bogher, Boyer, Beuger, and Boiger, came from the feature of the river, Bieg, or Bega in low German. The oldest forms of the name are Biege, Beiger, and Boger from where Boiger, Beuger, and Böger evolved.

So around 1200, there was a Hermann Biege, Meier of Hillentrup. His son, Cordt (Conrad), was a daring young man, who did not accept the simple, peaceful life of a farmer. He entered the service of Count Volkwin III of Schwalenberg. There he was a warrior and archer. His hour to prove himself came. In 1225, the Archbishop of Cologne, Engelbert, was murdered in Gevelsberg on a trip through Gefolgsmannen of the Count Friederich von Isenburg. Suspicion was focused on Count Volkwin III. In the ensuing feud, Schwalenberg entered into battle with the Cologne army. In defense of Count Volkwin III's castle, Old-Schwalenberg, the archer, Cordt Böger, was a valued sharpshooter. He did not allow the enemy to take the castle even after a long siege. They [Cologne army] finally had to withdraw.

Count Volkwin III rewarded Cordt Böger, after the successful defense of the castle, with the fiefs in Barntrup, Blomberg, Bentrup, and Silixen. The fief near Silixen is the reason for the Bögerhof today in External. Cordt Böger stayed in the service of Count Volkwin III. His son, Heinrich I built the Sternberg castle around 1250. Cordt Böger entered into the castle class [nobility] of Count Volkwin III, and died in 1256 in the castle Sternberg.

Cordt Böger's descendents maintained the fiefs. In the Hallbook of 1591, a Johann Böger is named as the owner of the Bögerhof in External and the owner of freedom privileges so he was not part of the masses. Around 1700 Bernhard Böger was the owner of the property. Someone named the property, “Böger vor dem Rohrbraken.” Also, old rights [property and freedom rights] of the estate, Rohrbraken, were extended to the Böger family. Then, a Johann Friederich Böger died in 1716. In 1896, an inn, Bögerhof, arose out of the old farm that today has 22 Ha [hecta acres?]and a fish pond. The owner today is still a Böger. It is rather unique that the same name remained for 700 years on the same property.

Numerous adjacent lines branched off the [original] farm family, Böger, from Hillentrup over the course of centuries. The class of daring warrior and seasoned archer extended into many Lippe farm families. The ancestors of Cordt Böger established adjacent family lines in the fiefs of Barntrup, Blomberg, and Bentrup. The Röhrentrup estates and upper houses as well as the estate in Heiden (since 1722 Avenhaus, first as a tenant) belonged to the Bögers. Also many a scholar came from these estates and households.

Out of the Silixen line, Heinrich Beigher or Bogher studied theology and was a rector and a doctor of theology at Braunschweig around 1500. A Hermann Böger, also coming out of the Bögerhof in External was mayor of Höxter in 1540.

From the estate in Heiden came a Johann Heinrich Böger in 1621. At a university he stabbed a rival in a fight for a girl. The letter to his father and his [the father's] response are kept at the state archive. The son wanted to abandon his studies and become a soldier. He asked his father for a horse, saddle, and equipment so that he could get himself to the center for medical exams for military service. The father considered this with his mother. They saw through their son who tried to conceal the scandal at the university. The father agreed, but writes further that he should enter the line of Lippe knights because his brother had no desire for that himself. Further [he writes], his son is really too stupid for the studies [at the university]. Through that [the father's response] the son's sense of honor was encouraged. On this, he went to another university and achieved a doctorate in two ways (religious and secular).

[The passage continues with Count Johann Bernhard, who appears to be the father of Johann Heinrich Böger.]

Count Johann Bernhard was later appointed Lippe Councilor. Because he often said his opinion and as a result of a falling out with the women of the estate, he was forced to take the position. But, he later had a falling out with the [other] leaders there.

He [ Johann Heinrich Böger] became Syndikus [translation unknown] at the Swedish Kanzler Oxenstierna in Osnabrück. There he contributed to the Westphalian Peace. To get respect and dignity, he visited Detmold. Yet the old conflict with the count, who sent a delegation to the inn, still existed. The delegation addressed him, “Hochgelahrter und hochwohlgeborener Herr.” [translation unknown] But Böger responded in between, “I am neither hochgelahrter nor hochwohlgeborener, but you are brown noses of your count who is like an old woman. And you want to be Lippers!” He threatened a lawsuit on account of the insult from the country men, and the count gave in.

A descendant of the doctor of both religious and secular ways went to France and met with Voltaire and Frederich the Great. On his return journey he visited relatives in Lippe.

Famous Soldiers from the Böger Family

Across the region there was much sorrow. A Böger had shot his oldest son during a Lippe hunting trip. The second son fled to Holland because he believed a rumor that his father did not accidentally shoot him [the first son]. The pastor in the region got involved in the rumor. The people from the village delivered the news to the father that he was being exiled from his home. He comforted his crying daughter, “Quiet. One can not put down all the wounded dogs. If that is the will of Christ, then my old age will be spent in another land.”

Once [another time?] the officials came onto the estate to collect the taxes for the class of knights. Böger opposed them with a loaded gun, and they retreated and never came to the estate again. Böger was not concerned so much for the money as for the principle. In his opinion, the tax for the estate had no legal basis. One really wanted to be in the class of farmers and not the class of knights.

The following famous soldiers arose out of the Böger family in Röhrentrup. Out of the [Böger] estate came Phillip Adolf Böger who was a son of Lippe lieutenant, Simon Heinrich Adolf Böger. He [Phillip] also became a soldier. He joined under Fürstin Pauline during the French Time [time of Napoleon] and participated in a campaign in Spain (1809/1810). His wife went along. They were defeated in Spain and were in English captivity. After some years, they returned to Lippe.

A Colonel Böger (highest ranking officer in Lippe) celebrated his 50 year anniversary in 1832. I am not certain that this Böger is the same as the one in the Spanish campaign.

The office of the Lippe Forrest Constable was mostly concerned with the estates in the region or Röhrentrup. Once a new count came, a Böger was dismissed as the Forrest Constable. On that, Böger sent the count a strong letter. Böger reproached the count that he would have a foreigner as the Constable (whoever came from outside of Lippe was a foreigner) and despise the advice of a Lippe farmer. He [the count] did not get that from his father.

Böger had had to pay a fine for the insult to the count, but the letter was worth it to him. Bögers prided themselves on their frankness, but through a strong, thick skull.

How was it in the Senne?

“Also, since the time of Cordt (1520) the family possessed a king's yard in Hohenhausen and in Belle.” King's yards were from the old times of the German kings and kaisers and were managed by “majors” on behalf of the kings. These “majors were mostly retired soldiers. Out of the word, “major,” gradually came the name “Meier” as in Meierhöfe. Gradually these meiers became owners.

“Because of the kings yard in Belle, the Bögers there had worked out freedom from the king in Wethigau [Wethi Province?]. In this province, another branch of Bögers settled in Dehlenhofe in Sandebeck into the the 19th century, einem Meierhof von 200 Morgen, der von Lippe relevirte [translation unknown]. Around 1500, the lines after Veldrom branched off, who belonged to the knights of Brake in Nienwalde and Schöneberg in Pömbsen. In Veldrom, it is today lot number 2, Meierjohann. Meierjohann from Vogelhorst married the daughter of Böger. From there came my ancestors to Augustdorf, lot number 51, according to oral and written traditions.

In 1780 or 1781, a Johann Conrad Böger (abbreviated Cord, the old forenames keep appearing) settled in Dören. His unmarried brother came along to the Senne. He fell from the gable of the house. The church books in Stapelage has “Gerhard Böger, new inhabitant in Dörenthal. He died 55 years old on December 6, 1781, 15 days after he fell from the house gable and was buried in December 9, 1781.”

Augustdorf belonged originally ecclesiastically to Staplage. Eight people from Augustdorf (Dörner) would be buried in the cemetery in Staplage. Then Augustdorf got a similar cemetery. According to oral tradition, the eight were so poor, that the members had no coffins and carried the dead to Staplage in old baking troughs.

How did the Senne appear when the first Dörner got established?

It [the Senne]was known at the time as “out of the Dören” and also Dörenthal. The name “Dören” comes from thorns. In low German, it is the same word, “Dojern.” The Dörenschlucht [thorny gorge] was a single pass through the Teutoburger Forest. The pass could easily be defended with the strong thorns. I can imagine that Hermann der Cherusker (9 n. Chr.) held out against the Romans in the Dörenschlucht when they came from the Rhine River, and then drew them further into the Teutoburger Forest where they were destroyed. Some scientists are of the opinion that the battle against the Romans happened on the Weser River because one found a few weapons or tools of the Romans. They considered only a a little the living tradition of the Lippe people that the battle was here.

The tradition does not come from the Hermannsdenkmal [monument], but rather because the tradition was living here, the Hermannsdenkmal was placed in the Teutoburger Forest.

(As we know today, August Böger erred: the battle definitely occurred in Kalkriese/Bramsche.) [later addition by someone unknown]

Three main roads went through the Senne. The first from Berlin came through Dörenschlucht which was along the “Lower Row” (today the new feeder street to the Autobahn). This way was named the Lippstädter Weg (Lippestadt Road).

The second road went to Dörenkrug to the left of the current camp in the “Five Brooks” before Haustenbeck after Paderborn. Both roads traveled on to the Rhine and would be traveled by carts [the kind used by people for trading goods].

The third road was the coal road, “Kollruige.” The charcoal was brought out of the Teutoburger Forest to Bielefeld. Now and then 20 teams of horses traveled one after the other.

In the Senne, there was only uncultivated land [moors]. The presence of pine trees occurred after the first settlement. The Heise [translation unknown] was 3 feet high (about 1 meter) and as thick as a bottle neck. The millennia of moors provided 50 years of cheap fuel for the settlers of the Senne. But for shepherds, the moor was an annoyance. The wool of the sheep got stuck in the heath. In their frustration, the shepherds burned the heath around 1790. About a square mile burned up. Yet even today, this area is called “Auf dem Brande,” [on fire]. The people came from half of Lippe and Prussia to dig ditches with which to trap the fire. After that the prince enacted a law which only allowed burning in well-disguised pipes [barrels?]. -The name “Schapeler” comes from sheep. The lot belonged to the mayor of Staplage and even today is known as Gemarkung Hörste.

There were several ponds in the Senne. One was near the Kirchfichten [church pine trees], another the “Knupffühl,” near “Bauerrichter Böger” [farmer judge Böger] (probably is Heinrich Böger who is a direct descendant of Cordt Böger. Heinrich Böger started the site in 1806, lot number 82).

Also, in the “five beeches” was a pond that served as a watering place for wheelbarrows. The name today, “In der Krippen” [in the mangers] comes from that wheelbarrows carried feed for the horses in the mangers that were in the beeches. All the ponds gradually dried out. Because the moor and the foot-high moss that continually degraded the reservoir and because the stones there were broken through the “Ragohlen” (deep ditches), the water of the ponds drained off into the low lands. Thus, Bielefeld has an almost an inexhaustible supply of water in the depths of the Senne. Also in the dry summer of 1959, Bielefeld had no shortage of water. Such dry conditions otherwise could have effects for years.

Of importance for the Senne was the Senne Horse Farm of Lopshorn (a hunter's castle of the Lippe princes that was burned down by the Poles in 1945 and never rebuilt, as well as the Meierei Lopshorn and the Forsthaus Hartröhren). The Senne Horse Farm was designed around 1450. The original Senne horse was a cross between an Arabian stallion and a Danish mare. It was a very tough horse.

Napoleon was supposed to have ridden a Senne horse to Russia. By the way the old villagers of Augustdorf knew from their ancestors that Napoleon's troops would line up through the Untere Reihe (the old Heerstrasse) and the Dörenschlucht. Napoleon himself was apparently never in Lippe (among the Fissenknick windmills by Bad Meinberg, there is a well-known story in which Napoleon viewed [the land] through a window).

Up to 1500 wild horses greatly damaged the settlements of Dören and occasionally Stuckenbrok. The Prussians sued the Lippe princes in the government supreme court in Wetzlar. The horses remained free in the winter of 1775 through the time Count Simon August died in 1782. After that (Lippe became a principality) came Prince Friederich Wilhelm Leopold and Princess Pauline, who were unforgettable as Heinrich Drake rightfully says. All three rulers did much for Augustdorf. The name, Augustdorf, was introduced in 1789 in honor of the deceased Count Simon August.

The settlers in Augustdorf received 10 free years and 50 Reich silver as an interest-free loan that later issued as 5 Reich silver. Each settler obtained 20 bushels of Senne seeds. The first settler was named Struss, also known as Strussman and he came from Pivitsheide. He received a single [quota of] 60 bushels of seed through the Head Forester Böger from Lopshorn in the Dörenschlucht. Struss established Dörenkrug, but it was not fit for use. His horses were sold.

The second Dörenkruger was named Bergmeister, who robbed sale people and occasionally beat up people. Also, according to local traditions, he sold his wife for a Taler an der Karrner [translation regrettably unknown].

The third Dörenkruger was named Hagemann. Then, things slowly became better at Dörenkrug.

Disputes and lawsuits around Huderrecht

In a solemn ceremony with a handful of earth and a green branch, the settlers sent a representative of the Rentkamer about their various properties. They obtained a Erbpachtbreif [letter for inheritor's rent?]. Later they became a free colony.

In 1786 there were 37 lots, 40 men, 41 women, 118 children, 2 donkeys, 17 oxen, 46 cows, 10 cows [different kind?] and 21 goats. The war [legal suit or series of suits] against Stuckenbrok took place in 1789. Also, Haustenbeck was fought. It was always around the Hudenrecht (hude = hüten) [huden = overseer and protector]. The villagers of Stuckenbrok existed to watch the cattle in Dörenschlucht. Also, no one said of the quarreling villagers as Abraham once said to Lot, “If you want to go right, I will go to the left.”

The villagers of Augustdorf lost a lawsuit against Haustenbeck and had to pay. Also, the villagers of Stuckenbrok retained rights to the Lippe land. From the hearing in the Stuckenbrok suit, a decision was produced. The villagers of Augustdorf should give up a Strickstockbreite [translation unknown]. “That is not so much,” said the representatives of Dörner and they agreed. Hereafter, it was established that they had given in on the raging issue of Huderecht. Those were defeats that the villagers of Augustdorf had to accept.

The first school with four children opened in 1782. The first teacher was named Dreimann and came from the moor. There were sure to be more children in the village, but they did not come. The instruction only took place in winter, and in the parlor that was also the living room of the poor teacher. During the instruction time, the teacher had to simultaneously balance other commitments in his life.

The first pastor in Augustdorf was called Voigt and was a son of the superintendent Voigt from Lüdenhausen. But the first pastor was not well-suited [for the job]. He was a Nachtschwärmer [fanatic for the night life] and sometimes returned to the village on a Sunday morning a short time before service after he celebrated the entire night somewhere else. As such he climbed the pulpit. He had to be there for an entire year to get his salary from the government in Detmold. Also, the forest managers got salaries from the government. They would stop for drinks at the Hiddeser pubs and they would sit together until midnight. One time, one of the forest managers said that his salary was gone. Someone found the money in the pocket of the Dörner pastor, but he said that he didn't know how the money got there. The villagers of Augustdorf stood by their pastor and was of the opinion that someone had played an evil trick on him. The pastor was released from the Konsistorium without announcement, and he went to America where he was employed in a government office.

The streets follow old country paths. The first villagers of Augustdorf often went hungry. In the years 1790-1800 came reports from lot number 57. For three days, the family had no bread to eat. Then the father and the son made their way to Prussia to beg for the first time [in their lives]. But they were badly rejected at the first house, where someone let the dogs loose on them. They made their way back home. But they had no more energy and laid together close to the ground in order to die. Fortunately, travelers from Prussia came by as they were traveling out of the forest. They took pity on both of the Senne dwellers and gave them bread and also some for the rest of their community. The legend goes that the travelers were not hungry the entire day because the joy of the good deed empowered them.

Oat bread was distributed by the government in 1813/1814 to the villagers of Augustdorf. The hardships from Napoleon's war had caused this need. The last famine in Germany was in 1847/1848. Entries in the chronicles reported that the people ate tree bark in order to keep their bodies going.

The Senne Division came to a close in 1855. They struggled for it for five years. The villagers of Augustdorf received 4000 bushels of seeds, 10 bushels of seeds per cow. Pivitsheide, 1400 bushels of seeds, 7 bushels per cow. And the princely Rentkanmmer received 600 bushels of seeds, namely the Kammersenne.

To the lot number 51, my great-grandfather, Conrad Böger, was allotted 52 bushels of seeds through the Senne Division. He was [later] allotted 50 more bushels in addition. 32 bushels worth of farmland belonged to the site. On January 24, 1853, this Conrad Böger was selected as mayor in an exciting election in Frohenkruge. Previously, his Uncle Henrich, lot number 82, was mayor for about 10 years. Henrich Böger was Pietist [political term? church term?] and stood in contrast to the liberal Pastor Krecke. Fiesty church battles took place, but the Peitists stayed in their church. The son of Conrad Böger also became mayor so that for almost 60 years, the mayor's office was in the hands of these three Bögers.

In the time of the grandfather, it was decided that the first road construction in Augustdorf would start. Previously, there were only country roads. The grandfather showed the power of the [mayor's] office in the situation as a participant of the Official Community Day. According to oral tradition, the vote on the Official Community Day over the road construction in Augustdorf was very exciting. By the oral tradition, the majority was missing a voice that the grandfather had quickly determined. He then called, “Herr Baron!” meaning the Herr Baron from Blomberg in Iggenhausen. Now slowly a hand was raised and the road construction was settled to the indignation of the town constable. Not all the villagers of Augustdorf were for the road construction. Some had the opinion that oxen could not go out on the rocks. My grandfather helped the Baron from Blomberg on another occasion in a vote. Those that did not want to come themselves to a session could send representatives. If one considers that today Augustdorf is one of the largest villages in Lippe – over 3000 inhabitants – so the progress is clear.

Written by Helmut Boeger, Osnabrueck