The Origins of the Felzien Family

By LaVonne Murray

    The Felzien family came from Holzendorf, Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Germany.  Mecklenburg is a historic region of Germany located along the Baltic Sea coastal plain.  It is a farming region with a mild climate and is generally flat with some low hills.  It has many forests and lakes and is crossed by the Elbe, Warnow and many other rivers.  After World War II, the area came under the jurisdiction of East Germany.  Since Germany reunited, the area of Mecklenburg is a part of the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

    When researching our Felzien family, we must look at Mecklenburg as its own country or state prior to 1871.  Before the unification of Germany in 1871 people did not consider themselves to be Germans.  They were natives of one or another of the three dozen loosely allied German states.  For example, they would have considered themselves to be Prussians, Bavarians, Pomeranians, or Mecklenburgers.

    Throughout the 1800’s Mecklenburg was divided into the two grand duchies, Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz.  Mecklenburg-Strelitz was further divided into two parts, one on either side of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.  Our Felzien family was from the eastern portion of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.  They were from the village of Holzendorf located east of Neubrandenburg, which today is part of the administrative district of Gross Miltzow.  One must be careful when locating Holzendorf on a map as there are several villages by that name throughout Germany.

    Members of the Felzien family were also living in the nearby village of Klein Miltzow during the 1840’s and 1850’s.  I could not locate Klein Miltzow on the map, but I believe it is located between Gross Miltzow and Badresch.

NAMES AND LEGENDS

    In our family oral history, which has been passed from one generation to the next states that Felzien was not the original spelling of our family name.  In my research I found this to be accurate, but I did not find the name Felsen to be an earlier spelling of Felzien.  At this point in my research, I believe that the original spelling of Felzien was probably the old German name Weltzien.  The surname Weltzien originated in Mecklenburg and Pommerania.  It is considered to be a locality name, which means it originated from a specific area.  It is often found in the vicinity of Rostock.  I located several villages named Weltzien (or some other variation of spelling) on maps of Mecklenburg.  On one of the previous maps you can find a village named Weltzin. It is located north of Neubrandenburg.

    From our modern perspective, we have a tendency to think that names have a fixed, “correct” spelling.  This has not always been the case.  In earlier times names were often spelled in a variety of phonetically correct spellings.  People belonging to the same family often used different spellings.  When looking through church record books, it is not uncommon to find a name spelled in one variation and then a completely different one in the next entry.  One source I found said that names in Germany were not standardized until after 1874.  When looking for variations in the spelling of names it is helpful to have a little understanding of German phonics.  Remember in the German language that the letters ‘F’, ‘V’, and ‘W’ all have a similar pronunciation!  In the Badresch Church Book (1843-1854) I found Felzien spelled as Felsin, Feldsin and Velsin.  In the Holzendorf Church Book (1823-1864) it was spelled as Velsin and Velzien, and in the Holzendorf Church Book (1800-1820) it was spelled as Welsin, Welzien and Welsien.

    Ernst and Fred Felzien’s father was Johann Chrisoph Welsin.  Their mother’s name was not exactly Freda Ricke.  If you put Freda and Ricke together you have the first name “Fredaricke”.  I believe someone along the way must have misinterpreted old-fashioned handwriting.  Her name was actually Friedericka Sophia Rosenkranz.

    When filling out the following family group sheets, I recorded the person’s name as it was written on the earliest record that I found for that person.  In most cases this was the person’s baptism record.  I chose to do it this way rather than standardizing the names because I felt it showed at a glance how the spelling of the Felzien name evolved through the years.  When you look at the entry for Ernst and Fred it looks like I made a mistake and recorded them both with the same exact name.  Well, I did give them the same name, but it was not a mistake!  On their baptism records they had the same name.  This was not that uncommon.  A child was generally named after his godparents and so might end up with the same given names as a sibling.  The child would have been called by only one of the three names and it very often was not the first name listed.  When looking at the women’s names you’ll note that sometimes their names ended with an ‘a’ and sometimes with an ‘e’.  In the German language an ‘e’ at the end of a name was not silent.  It was pronounced the same as an ‘a’.  For example, the name “Auguste” was not pronounced as “August”, but rather as “Augusta”.  Again, I recorded the spelling of the person’s names as I found it on the earliest record for that person.

    Last of all, at this point I have found no evidence to support the family legend that another Felzien brother came to America at an earlier date and was never heard from again.  The only other brother I found was Johann Joachim Friedrich Velzien who died at the age of 5 years from the measles.  It is possible that this legendary missing Felzien was another relative or even someone from their village who had left years earlier.

EXTRA PEOPLE

    In the church books I found some additional family members whom I am not sure how they fit into our family tree at this point in my research.  Their names are as follows:

  1. Dorothea Elisabeth Rätke.  Maiden name was Velsin.  She was the widow of a laborer and died  5 October 1830 at the age of 83 years from old age.  Holzendorf, Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

  2. Christine Dorothea Velsin, a spinster.  Died 29 November 1834 at the age of 55 years from stomach sickness.  Holzendorf, Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

  3. Jochen Rosencranz, laborer, oldest son of Andreas Rosencranz, and Catharina Dorothea Wolmuths, youngest daughter of the late Franz Wolmuths, a day laborer in Petersdorf, were married 7 November 1749 at Helpte, Mecklenburg-Strelitz.  (I believe this could possibly be the parents of Carl Heinrich Rosenkranz, but I need to verify the information with Carl’s baptism record.  Please don’t quote them as being his parents until I verify the information!!)

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