St. Martin Church of Hohnhorst, Schaumburg Province

The town of Hohnhorst is located about 30 kilometers east of the city of Hannover and just south of the Steinhuder Meer. Formerly, this area was in the Hessische Grafschaf Schaumburg which together with bordering former Schaumburg-Lippe makes up the present German Province of Schaumburg in Lower Saxony.

St. Martin Church in Hohnhorst is believed to have been started in the 13th Century. However, the present church building dates from about 1900. The church is named after St. Martin who lived in the 4th century and whose name day is November 11.

The existing records of the church go back to 1603, with a break between 1741 and 1767. It is believed that the missing records (1741-1767) exist on loose pages at the church but were not included when the records were microfilmed. The towns included in the St. Martin church parish (Kirchspiel) in the 1700's and 1800's were: Haste, Helsinghausen, Hohnhorst, Mathe, Nordbruch, Ohndorf, Rehren, and Rehrwiehe.

During the mid 1800's a number of members of the St. Martin Hohnhorst parish, as well as from the neighboring parishes at Beckedorf, Lindhorst, Idensen, Nenndorf and Apelern and others, emigrated to the United States. Many of these first located in the western part of Cook County, Illinois near the present town of Schaumburg, Illinois. However, after a few years a number moved south to farm homesteads in Will County, Illinois or Lake County, Indiana, west to Bremer County, Iowa or further to Nebraska, and north to Minnesota.

Confirmation Index:

• Confirmations 1703 to 1740, A-L
• Confirmations 1703 to 1740, M-Z
• Confirmations 1767 to 1833, A-G
• Confirmations 1767 to 1833, H-P
• Confirmations 1767 to 1833, R-Z

Marriage Index:

• Marriages 1655 to 1741, A-G
• Marriages 1655 to 1741, H-P
• Marriages 1655 to 1741, R-Z
• Marriages 1767 to 1850, A-F
• Marriages 1767 to 1850, G-M
• Marriages 1767 to 1850, N-R
• Marriages 1767 to 1850, S-Z