| It is with awe and
humility that one can stand before the same altar at which our
grandparents took their marriage vows, where they and their children were
brought for baptism and that one can come to worship in the divine service from a pew shared by
several generations of ancestors from our past and with present relatives. "He and all the company of
heaven have come before us."
1081 [or thereabouts]; Church
records indicate Adam of Bremen died on this date, though the year is
uncertain. He was invited by Archbishop Adalbert of Bremen to write
the history of Hamburg and of the Northern lands which include Asendorf
and the adjacent area of Kampsheide and the Rottmann farms. Adam came to the
bishopric of Bremen in 1068. He is believed to have come from Meissen in
Saxony. Adam's work consists of four books, three on history
and one on geography. He personally visited King Svend Estridson,
who had knowledge of history and geography of the northern lands.
Adam of Bremen was the first European author to record Vinland in a land
centuries later called America. His work Gesta Hammaurgensis
ecclesiae pontificum, covered European history from 788 to 1072.
Adam may have been born in upper Saxony and educated at Magdeburg. His
education was a thorough one for his time. His book is one of the
best historical works of the Middle Ages. Not only is it the
principal source for the early history of the archbishopric of
Hamburg-Bremen [which included the Asendorf church] and its northern
missions, but it gives much valuable data for Germany and other
countries. The author was unusually well provided with documents and
with the qualities necessary for their use. His general credibility
and love of truth have never been seriously challenged, and his
impartiality is shown by the way in which he records the weaknesses of
Adalbert, with whom he had a close relationship and whom he admired.
[source: Today in History, The Lutheran Church-Missouri
Synod].
With the records of St.
Marcellus Church at Asendorf, those of Kreis Hanover [county offices], and
the several library and ship records in Bremen, the Rottmann families can
be traced to 1019. The notes, comments, and official listings
make for a wealth of data and historical annotations. The Rottmann
famlies appear have been of the Jewish or Catholic faith until the time of the
decree of Kaiser Wilhelm when all German citizens were to convert to
Protestantism. It was at this juncture, that many of the Rottmann
descendants chose to immigrate to Austria-Hungary and elsewhere so as to
continue their practice of the Catholic faith. One computer search
for Hungary found more families with the Rottmann name than in their
native Germany.
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