Hello everybody,

Some time ago I was sent a small chronicle of Ludwigshorst, Kreis Regenwalde in German. It was collected and assembled by a researcher as dedicated as some of you are and with his permission I have translated it into English. I thought maybe some of the people that are researching this particular area, might like to know about it..

Ludwigshorst was and still is a rather small farming village,  almost at the spot where the rivers Zampel and Uekelei (with 'Umlaut normally) pass into the river Rega.

In 1818 it was under Kreis Regenwalde, under the administration of the "Dewitz circle" of altogether 32 villages. Then in 1821/1822 it became a colony founded by Carl Friedrich Ludwig von Dewitz, hence the name LUDWIGSHORST, under the patronage of Maldewin. Carl Friedrich Ludwig von Dewitz had been heir to Maldewin since September 15, 1794.

By September 1822, twenty seven colonists had been settled in homes with 4 barns and had been given 220.75 Morgen woodland, which was cut to develop farmland in the area. It had two fireplaces  where each family baked their loaves of bread, usually it gave ten loaves per family every two weeks. The fireplace had to be built 50 - 100 m away from any dwellings and it was covered with slates. It had a large iron door and was heated with leftover small woodpiecess ('Reisig') called kindling.

Together with Friederikenwald and Curtsdorf they formed the county Hermelsdorf b, which however never became independent. Whilst Ludwigshorst remained a part of Maldewin, Friederikenwald and Curtsdorf were joined to Hoekenberg. In 1856 Ludwigshorst  was 322 Morgen 61 Ruth large.

In 1857 owner Von Dewitz requested for Ludwigshorst to receive the status of an autonomous community, (possibly with the name Hermelsdorf). However, it was not accepted by the colonists, who strongly objected and the negotiations for autonomy  went on until after 1873. It is not clear, at which time Ludwigshorst became autonomous since  a census of 1885 still indicates Ludwigshorst as a "wohnplatz" (living place) of Maldewin. And then, in 1910 a census shows it as a "village". According to some records it appears that possibly Ludwigshorst became a village between 1904 and 1910.

In 1866/67 Ludwigshorst consisted of 30 taxpaying property owners and 27 taxfree buildings, one of the the schoolhouse, which contained also a larger room for prayer services. There were by then 247 people in 42 families,13 horses, 44 cows and 77 sheeps. It is indicated that the area under the plough consisted of  207.9 Morgen, but the land was not very productive, so that the total income per Morgen were estimated to be only 13 Sgr. There were no gardens, grassland was 27,26 Morgen with an income of 20 Sgr pro Morgen

By 1873 Ludwigshorst had grown considerably and land had been added to it, according to the statistics of 1866 for land taxes. With one prayerhouse, it was still part of the motherchurch in Maldewin.

In 1939 Ludwighorst consisted of 95 households, 359 of which were men, 187 females. - And 248 people were involved in farming.

There are some more pages about the fact that Ludwigshorst didn't want to become autonomous during those years and v. Dewitz offered extra land, but they refused all the same. He then also offered to take over the care for the poverty stricken people, but nevertheless negotiations went on indefinitely until  the 1900's. Another concern at that time was, that the farmers started bringing in help, which was of questionable and in many cases criminal character and the other surrounding areas were concerned about the influence of morality, morals, etc.

Following this will be a list of  property numbers and names and who lived where at a certain time.

Family Dumrese: the shepherd Heinrich Dumrese from Stoeckow (Kreis Kolberg-Koerlin) died in 1909 in Kurtsdorf. He was shepherd and property owner. His children were born in Johannisberg (Plathe area and in Amalienburg (Justemin area). Descendents afterwards settled then in Ludwigshorst as well as in Curtsdorf.

Family Roloff: Hermann Roloff is named in 1879 as a godparent. He is property owner in Ludwigshorst and comes originally from Justemin, where his brothers Friedrich and Carl  were owners of farms. The main centre of the Roloff family was Gross Raddow. There you can find documents relating to the Roloffs till the 16. century.

Family Zahn: Until 1945 the family Franz Zahn owned in Ludwigshorst  property Nr. 23  and Nr. 32 was owned by family Robert Zahn. It is however, questionable, whether the following descendants are from the family Franz Zahn. It is assumed, that the property owner Wilhelm Zahn was one of the first colonists in Kurtsdorf.

There was another family Zahn in Ludwigshorst, who moved later on possibly to Maldewin.The ancestor Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Zahn was married with Johanne Friederike Sophie Schlenter, whose parents were also probably one of the first colonists of Ludwigshorst.

Data from Ludwigshorst

Inhabitants of the colony Ludwigshorst

 in 1822                           27 colonists with houses

1866,1867                       30 houses

                                           237 soals (people)

                                            42 families

in 1871                              31 houses and 211 inhabitants

1885                                   31 houses

                                             222 inhabitants

1932              390 Inhabitants (incl. Friederickenwalde, Kurtsdorf and Brenkendorff)

1933                                    346 people

1939                                     95 Households

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Properties in Ludwigshorst

l.  Ernst Hoefs

2.  Wilhelm Richard

3.  Paul Ziemann

4.  Fritz Koehler

5.  Wilhelm Luebke

6.  Gustav Schellin

7.  Gastwirt Dumrese

8.  Max Richard

9.  Arnold Buchholz

10. Schule

11. Karl Eichler

12.  Paul Seefeld

13.  Wilhelm Otto

14.  Emil Radtke

15.  August Daehn

16.  Heinrich Dumrese

17.  Malermeister Braun

18.. Petermann und Stueber

19.  von Eisenhart-Rothe

20.  Gaude

21.  Ponath, 2. House = Gaude

22.  Wilhelm Kamrath

23.  Franz Zahn

24.  Reinhard Roloff

25.  Richard Seefeld

26.  Hermann und Anna Gehrke

27.  Robert Hoefs

28.  Julius Radloff

29.  Schmidt - 2. house = Bartz

30.  Willi Bartz

31.  Robert Zahn

32.  Anna Radloff

33.  Wilhelm Buchholz

34.  Ewald Radloff

35.  Lewke