Fritz and Dora Rathkamp came to Milwaukee in 1868. Dora was born Dorothee Hülsemann in 1838. She was born in Albringhausen, a 16km drive from Oeftinghausen, where the Rathkamp family lived. Albringhausen today is basically a suburb of Bassum, population 16,604 and is the home of Stiftskirche St. Mauritius und St. Viktor.
This church was built in the early 1200s and was a very important institution in the region. It was a convent for the feudal elites in the area. This also happens to be where all of our Hülsemann ancestors were baptized and married.
When Korey and I visited in 2010, Herr Wessels told us a story. He mentioned that in the early 1800s while Napoleon was conquering this part of the world, he ordered the church pews removed so that the church could quarter his horses.
I’ve done some research since our trip and have found the story to be at least partially true.
Napoleon’s actions most definitely affected the area, but that doesn’t mean he was directly involved. More accurately, under his direction, his administration absolutely took over this part of Germany. They created the “Napoleon Road”, now the B 51 highway between Bassum and Bremen.
The administration also took ownership of many homes in the area which then quartered their troops. You can also imagine the strain this put on local citizens, as these troops also needed to be fed.
Napoleon overplayed his hand with his disastrous Russian Campaign in 1812-1813. There are reports of locals witnessing Napoleon’s troops retreating through the area, back to France, exhausted from the battles they had just fought.
These events were most certainly witnessed by our Hülsemann ancestors. The only question is: How directly were they affected? What did they see and experience?