THE SURNAME WESTHEIDER
1. General Points about the Origins of Surnames
In primitive societies people were normally known by one
personal name (what we would nowadays call a given- or forename). This sufficed
in the then current structures of the settlements, the village communities and
the rural estates. Until the early Middle Ages the forename served mainly for
use within the family or to facilitate the search for a particular person. Bur
after the mass migrations had taken place, after the general adoption of
christianity by the tribes in Germania and the settlement structures had been
firmly established, the forename was given a further significance. The forename
should clearly identify a person and his connection to his estate. To get an
overall view of the estates and the membership of all persons, official
registrations began. But as there were only few different forenames,they had
problems concerning the clearness of the persons. Therefore by-names or
nicknames came into use. Frequently these reflected the person`s profession (e.g.
Mueller, Schmied) or characteristic (e.g. Kleine (Little), Krumme) or a location
connection (e.g. von der Heide( heathman)).
At first, each person had his own by-name, which was not hereditary and hence
not a true surname. Because clarity in the classification of names especially in
longer-term documentation for land ownership and transfer had an importent role,
the by-name soon became a firm last name. With the passage of time, this last
name became assigned also to family members and descendents. These by-names were
later mostly taken as surnames. It was, however, sometimes the case that
different by-names within a family were used alternately as surnames, so that in
registration both names appeared as the surname and then both names were carried
on by the descendents.
It should be borne in mind that the general population could then neither read
nor write, and, when making entries in the church register, the writer (usually
the parish priest) would write the name as he heard it. Because of this, not
only the dialect spoken played its part (the name Teufel(devil), for example,
became in dialect DEubel, Duewel or Deibel) but also the personal formulation of
the name. For example, members of the Westheider family gave their names as
Westheidermann, Woestheider. Additionally, there were special writing styles
that were common in the language of the time, and these also applied to names. (e.g.
Meier, Maier or Schulze, Schultze).
A further feature is the change of names on marriage. Whilst for a long time it
was the rule that a women took the surname of the spouse, this was also often
done by a man who married the heiress of an estate. The children of this pair
then sometimes had the surname of the mother and sometimes the birth name of the
father. This is often found in the church book entries.
2) The Founding of the Surname Westheider
The first person who lived on the later-registrated land of the
Westheider property Versmold No.89, had the personal name (the forename) Johann
and for a more detailed description of him the additional note "up de
Westheide" (from the western heath) (see also family history - later in
English). This was an entry in the year 1554. As a fire in the Vermold church in
1683 destroyed every church record, one is unable to fill the 100 year gab until
the next register entry. In 1669 the Chronicle of the Versmold Farms, which may
be seen in the local administrative office of the Lutheran parish in Versmold,
shows a Jakob Witte as owner of the Westheider property (see also the Chronicle
of the Westheider property). My assumption is that the residents of the property
lost their lives in the Thirty Years War and the property was then awarded to
the above-named. By that time by-names had already become family- or surnames.
This is apparent from the entries in the church register. At this time there was
also a farm belonging to the Witte family (Versmold No. 70). Family members
lived there with the same forenames as on the Westheider property. It may be
assumed that the residents of the Westheider property adopted the addtional
by-name Westheider to tell them apart - and so it is in the subsequent church
book entries. This does make sense, as the Westheider property is the place of
origin of this family. So the next owner of the Westheider property had the
by-name Westheyde-Witte. The children of Johann Henrich Westheyde-Witte and Anna
Maria née Schlotte had the surname Westheider!
In the following years there was a series of family changes. After Johann
Henrich´s death Anna Maria inherited the Westheider property and married Johann
Heinrich Boschulte from the farm Versmold No.24 (see also family history).
Johann Heinrich was entered in the church register with the additional by-name
Witte-Westheider (i.e. Boschulze d. Witte-Westheider). (Let me emphasize that
Heinrich and Henrich are the same name, one person pronounced it with i, others
without and the registrar wrote the name how he heard it). The children were
given the surname Boschulte-Witte-Westheider, but, apart from one, (the daughter
Anna Elsabein who reached adulthood), they all died in their very early years;
at her wedding Anna Elsabein only gave the surname Westheider. After Anna
Maria´s death, her widower Johann Heinrich becamme the owner of the Westheider
property. He subsequently married twice and had children with both wives, and
they took the surname Boschulze-Westheider. Anna Elsabein, the above-mentioned
daughter of Anna Maria Schlotte and Johann Heinrich Boschulte inherited the
Westheider property. She married Johann Philip Selchert and this couple`s
children had the surname Westheider. One can see here that the men forwent their
birth surname and took on the surname of their wives.
Anna Elsabein´s husband Selchert became the owner of the Westheider property on
her death. He married again and then his widow became the heiress and she
married again, so that the thread of names becomes more obscure. In the church
registers, however, beside the birth names of the family members, the by-name
Westheider was nearly always shown.
Opinion:
In my consideration the name Westheider came into existence on
the site of the farm Versmold No.89. I selected this because this land was part
of the former Westhof (Western Farm), which lay in the west of the village
Versmold. The soil in this region was particularly non-productive, only heather
growing on the sandy soil there. So the name Westheide (west = western; heide =
heath) and then Westheider came into being. Later on the by-name Westheidermann
was registered in the church books. Also the surname Witte continued for the
relevant family line.
The surname Westheider does not therefore constitute a direct relationship
between the first and the current family members. I have tried to establish a
connection for each living person back to those in the Westheider family that
were entered in the church book of the Lutheran parish in Versmold in 1690. In
this connection, I refer you to the pages Stammbaum (Family Tree) and Blood
Relationship.