Petershagen now and then

If you want to compare Petershagen in the Tolkiens' time (c. 1800) and today, see my comparision. And see how accurate was the older map! Tolkiens' street, Letztegasse is first one from the left. Today we can see there three houses from c. 19th century.

And below comparision of two maps from the 19th century with the Tolkiens' house at Letztegasse No. 28:

 

London Brothers and their coins

I would like to share my little coin collection with you. My coins come from the places and from the times of the London Brothers born in Petershagen, Danzig (Gdańsk) – Daniel Gottlieb Tolkien (1746–1813) and John Benjamin Tolkien (1752–1719).

The small one is Danzig shilling from the times of the king Stanislaus August Poniatowski (1765). The silver one is English shilling of George III (1817) and the last one is very interesting for every Tolkien-fan because it is a farthing of George III (1773) – a farthing is also an unit of The Shire division. In his Nomenclature of 'The Lord of the Rings' J. R. R. Tolkien wrote:

 (...) the second element in Eastfarthing, Northfarthing, Southfarthing, Westfarthing is the same word as E. farthing (OE feorðing, ME ferthing), quarter of a penny (...)

 Other coins from Gdańsk (Danzig) of the Tolkiens can be seen here (No. 190, 191, 192):

Wilhelm Stryowski i Petershagen

Zaroślak czyli dawne Petershagen wydało kilku znanych ludzi. Z nich największą sławą cieszy się chyba wybitny malarz gdański, Wilhelm Stryowski, którego obraz Konfirmacja w kościele Zbawiciela (1863) przedstawiam powyżej (dziękuję za to zdjęcie Fortowi z Forum Dawny Gdańsk!).

Wilhelm Stryowski (1834, Petershagen – 1917, Essen) był synem rzeźnika Ludwiga Augusta i Julianny Wilhelminy z domu Franz. Malowanie rozpoczął pod kierunkiem wuja Karola Dawida Franza, portrecisty. Był uczniem Johanna Carla Schultza w gdańskiej Kunst und Handwerksschule. Dzięki stypendium studiował w latach 1852-1856 na Akademii Sztuk Pięknych w Düsseldorfie, pod kierunkiem Wilhelma von Schadowa. Po ukończeniu studiów i zwyczajowej podróży po zachodniej Europie wrócił do Gdańska, gdzie szybko zdobył uznanie. Specjalizował się w obrazach rodzajowych, a szczególnym zainteresowaniem darzył flisaków i Żydów. W poszukiwaniu tematów jeździł do Małopolski, gdzie nawiązał kontakty z polskimi malarzami (Wikipedia).

W czasie moich poszukiwań genealogicznych znalazłem też zapis chrztu Stryowskiego w kościele St Salvator (Zbawiciela). To ten sam kościół, w którym ochrzczono dzieci Christiana Tolkiena, w tym "Londyńskich Braci", Daniela i Johna Benjamina. Oto ten zapis z samego początku 1835 roku:

Żeby powiększyć, kliknij!

Christian Tolkien was the best! (1763)

I want to present now the document from the file APGd 300,18/7 (Gdańsk Garrison arrangements, recruitment for the years 1733–1793). 

On 8, 9, 10 and 12 September 1763 there was a competition between the 195 members of the Artillery Corps of the Danzig Garnison (Gdańsk Garrison). It was a custom once a year to check the soldiers' abilities. See that in 1763 the first prize won Christian Tolkien, the Professor's great-great-great-grandfather!

 

The Tolkiens from Letztegasse No. 28, Petershagen

Letztegasse is 'Last Lane' and means something like cul-de-sack or bag-end! Finally I have localized the house of the Gdańsk Tolkiens, of Christian Tolkien (bombardier in the Gdańsk artillery and the feuerwerker) and his wife Anna Euphrosina, née Bergholz!

Yesterday I have made my discovery of the year 2018! In the National Archive in Gdańsk I have found big document being the description of the life of Christian Tolkien (1706, Kreuzburg, Prussia – 1791, Danzig/Gdańsk, Poland). In this records (from 1745 and 1788) we have the following facts:

• Christian Tolkien born in 1706 is described as "Feuerwercker reformé" (reformed pyrotechnician) and "Bombardier" (a rank in artillery) of the Artillery Corps of Danzig/Gdańsk Garrison.  
• in 1788 his wife is Euphrosina Tolkien (born in 1718). In the document we find out earlier wife of Christian Tolkien who was Helena Pokrowska (Russian? Polish?) who died in 1745. They probably did not have any children.
• Helena Pokrowska's sister was Euphrosina, wife of Ephraim Frohgühn.
• Christian and Euphrosina four children are named: sons Daniel and Benjamin (they are of course Daniel Gottlieb Tolkien and Johann Benjamin Tolkien known from Gdańsk and London records!), daughters Renata and Anna Elisabeth
• Renata (we know that she was in fact Eleonora Renata) was married to Johann Carl Bergemann (alias Bergmann; a "Feuerwercker" of the Artillery Corps). In 1788 the Tolkiens' house at Letztegasse No. 28 was prescribed to the Bergmanns.
• Anna Elisabeth was dead in 1788. Her husband was Johann Stobbe and they had one son, Samuel.

Letztegasse (a kind of "Bag End") is the address where John Benjamin Tolkien (1752, Danzig/Gdańsk, Poland – 1819, London) was born! You know that for many months I have tried to guess where their house was placed. Now I know! 

It was Letztegasse No. 28 (ul. Poślednia nr 28) very close to the City Wall (this ground belonged to the Hospital of St Gertrude). At the moment let us see this picture from R. Curicke book on Danzig from the end of the 17th century with these houses:

St Gertrude Hospital and Petershagen with the Tolkiens' house

 Update:

1) First let us see the record on Christian Tolkien and his family from 1788 (more to be seen soon) from the Artillery records book APGd 300,91/1, p. 276 (I have underlined the fragment about the ground books from Petershagen where his house is described):

2) Then let us see the fragment of the ground book of Petershagen (APGd 300,32/46, p. 60). They will send me the photo with better resolution; at the moment I present my weak copy of this page with underlined the date 1788, the name of St Gertrude Hospital and with the number of the house from Buhse's plan of Gdańsk):

3) Let us see this house on Buhse's plan of Gdańsk:

And another map from the beginning of the 19th century:

The house (and the street known in Polish as Poślednia) don't exist any more. But the house could be of this kind (from M. Deisch drawing of the Outer Petershagen from the time when Daniel and Benjamin were small boys in Danzig, Poland – years before their migration to London):