Milkų Seima XVII--XVIII a. Prūsijos Lietuvoje: genealogijos rekonstrukcija. (Lithuanian)

THE MIELCKE (MILKUS) FAMILY IN THE 17^TH-18^TH CENTURIES IN PRUSSIAN LITHUANIA A GENEALOGICAL RECONSTRUCTION. (English)

Involvement in Lithuanian language-related activities by two generations of the Mielcke (Lith. Milkus) family, who had been active in the Lithuanian cultural arena of the Kingdom of Prussia over a period of eight decades in the 18^th century, started with Peter Gottlieb Mielcke (Lith. Petras Gotlybas Milkus, 25/10/1695, Tilsit [Lith. Tilžė] - 09/06/1753, Mehlkehmen [Lith. Miel-kiemis]), a teacher at the Lithuanian Language Seminar at the University of Konigsberg (1723-1725) who later served as an evangelical Lutheran priest in Prussian Lithuania, i.e. in Georgen-burg (Lith. Jurbarkas, 1726-1735) and Mehlkehmen (1736-1753). The purpose of this article is to restore the missing links of Peter Gottlieb Mielcke's family and its four generations, paying attention to genealogical relations with well-known contemporaries, especially those who contributed to Lithuanian culture. The genealogical reconstruction of four generations of the Mielcke family was based on primary authentic sources: the surviving church books of Prussian Lithuania, which are currently stored in the Evangelical Central Archives (Ger. Evangelisches Zentralarchiv) in Berlin and in the State Archives in Olsztyn (Pol. Archiwum Państwowe w Olsztynie), Poland. Microfilm copies from church books that had disappeared during World War II, which had been made before the war from the originals and are now kept at the Saxon State Archives in Leipzig (Ger. Sãchsisches Staatsarchiv, Staatsarchiv Leipzig), were also used. In addition to the church books, the author referred to various archival documents stored in the Secret State Archives Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (Ger. Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preufßscher Kulturbesitz) in Berlin. In restoring the subsequent generations of peter Gottlieb Mielcke's descendants and attempting to find any traces of Lithuanian language-related activity, secondary sources were also used. The most important of these are the biographies of East and West prussian priests written by Friedwald Moeller (1894-1964) and published in the book entitled Das „Zwischen-manuskript” zum Altpreufiischen evangelischen Pfarrerbuch (vol. 1-7, Hamburg, 2012-2014). The conducted study led to the following conclusions: 1. Peter Gottlieb Mielcke was born in the family of Maria (?-after 1695) and Peter (?-after 1695) Mielcke, who were residents of Tilsit. His parents considered themselves Germans: their eight children were given German names, all of them were baptised in the German Church (Ger. Deutsche Kirche) in Tilsit, and his father's surname was recorded in the church's baptism register in its German form: Mielcke, Mielke. The maternal genealogical roots of Peter Gottlieb Mielcke in Prussian Lithuania, Tilsit, originate from the Engelbrecht family and date back to the 16^th century. 2. The baptism register of the German Church in Tilsit indicates that Peter Gottlieb Mielcke had three sisters and four brothers: Johann Friedrich (1684-before 1687?), Maria Elisabeth (1685-after 1712), Johann Christian (1687-before 1691?), Anna Sophia (1689-?), Johann Ertmann (1691-?), Regina Dorothea (1693-?) and his twin Ernst Jacob (25/10/1695-15/12/1772). The marriage records of the same church reveal that the eldest sister, Maria Elisabeth, was married to Joachim Friedrich Potsch (1677-after 1718), who was a merchant in Tilsit. They had at least three sons: Carl Friedrich (1708-before 1712?), Theodor (1709-?) and Carl Gottlieb (1712-?); it was probably Maria Elisabeth who also gave birth to the other three sons of Potsch: Johann Friedrich (1714-?), Gottfried Bernhard (1716-?) and Gotthard (1718-?). Peter Gottlieb Mielcke's twin Ernst Jacob became a well-known merchant and entrepreneur, who was married twice. He and his first wife Anna Maria Rhode (1696?-before 1754) had four children: Maria Elisabeth (1726-?), Ernst Bernhard (1728-after 1746), Theodor Gottlieb (1730-?) and Johanna Christina (1732-?). His second marriage to Anna Maria Klein (?-after 1760) seems to have been childless. 3. Regina Louisa Schimmelpfennig (Lith. Regina Luiza Šimelpenig, 1702-1776), the wife of Peter Gottlieb Mielcke, was the kinship link between the Mielcke family and another famous contemporary - Adam Friedrich Schimmelpfennig (Lith. Adomas Frydrichas Šimelpenigis, 1699-1763), the priest of Popelken (Lith. Papelkiai) and one of the translators of the first Lithuanian Bible (Königsberg, 1735) to have been published, the editor of its second edition (Kö nigsberg, 1755), a translator of hymns and a compiler of a classical Lithuanian hymnal (Kö nigsberg, 1750). Regina Louisa was his sister and the daughter of the Piktuponen (Lith. Piktupėnai) priest Martin Schimmelpfennig (Lith. Martynas Šimelpenigis, 1668-1735), as well as the niece of the Skaisgirren (Lith. Skaisgiriai) priest Adam Friedrich Schimmelpfennig (Lith. Adomas Frydrichas Šimelpenigis, 1677-1740) -- secondary sources allow making this claim. The letter written by Friedrich Muhlpfordt, the Senior Amtmann of Georgenburg, on 21 September 1726 states that the couple were married that year, most likely, in early autumn. 4. The marriage of Peter Gottlieb Mielcke to Regina Louisa Schimmelpfennig, which lasted for twenty-seven years, was blessed with six children -- three sons and three daughters: in addition to Theodor Gabriel (Lith. Teodoras Gabrielius, 28/03/1728-19/03/1762), Christina Petronella (Lith. Kristina Petronėlė, 7/02/1730-19/02/1799), Christian Gottlieb (Lith. Kristijonas Gotly-bas, ?/?/1733-06/07/1807) and Daniel Friedrich (lith. Danielius Frydrichas, 11/01/1739-21/03/1818), the couple also had two daughters: Maria Dorothea (Lith. Marija Dorotėja, 7/7/1730/173123/09/1807) and Eleonora Charlotta (Lith. Eleonora Šarlota, 14/02/1741-after 1753). The names of both daughters were entered in the baptism register of the Mehlkehmen Evangelical Lutheran Church (1736-1753) by Peter Gottlieb Mielcke himself: Maria Dorothea was mentioned more than once as a witness of the baptism of children of those belonging to the parish community, whereas Eleonora Charlotta was mentioned as a two-day-old newborn, whose baptism was registered on 16 February 1741. 5. Archival sources reveal that Theodor Gabriel, the eldest son of Peter Gottlieb Mielcke, who served as an evangelical Lutheran priest in Pillkallen (Lith. Pilkalnis), married Philippina Charlotta Rochau (1734-after 1764), the daughter of Johann Christian Conrad Rochau (7-1771), the Amtsrat of Balgarden near Tilsit, in June 1755. This marriage established family ties between the Mielcke family and Johann Friedrich Domhardt (1712-1781), Philippina Charlotta's maternal uncle and the Councillor of Gumbinnen (Lith. Gumbinė) Chamber of War and Domains (Ger. Gumbinner Kriegs- und Domanen Kammer), who later became the first President of the East and West Prussian provinces, and was highly favoured by Friedrich II, King of Prussia (17121786, ruled in 1740-1786). The baptism register of the Pillkallen Evangelical Lutheran Church reveals that Theodor Gabriel and Philippina Charlotta had three sons: Theodor Gottlieb Christian (01/08/1756-16/04/1761), Friedrich Daniel (09/01/1759-after 1783) and August Benjamin Lebrecht (24/08/1760-7). 6. Peter Gottlieb Mielcke's daughter Christina Petronella, who was married to Daniel Honigke (1702-1781), the Superintendent of the Diocese of Wehlau (Lith. Vėluva), had two children: Christina Juliana (before 15/06/1761-7) and Samuel Christian (08/03/1767--after 1795). Their birth is recorded in the baptism register of the Wehlau Evangelical Lutheran Church (1703-1771). 7. The church books of Szittkehmen (Lith. Žydkiemis) and Mehlkehmen make it possible to revise the information on the family of Daniel Friedrich Mielcke provided in secondary sources. He and his wife Louisa Juliana Schroder (1752-1810), the eldest daughter of Paul Schroder (1723-1796), the priest in Ballethen (Lith. Balėtai) and one of the contributors to Lithuanian hymnal of 1781, raised five children - two sons and three daughters: Friedrich Wilhelm Ferdinand (21/04/1771-28/11/1853), Charlotta Amalia (25/06/1772-after 1812), August Gottfried (01/12/1774-11/10/1837), Dorothea Henrietta (26/05/1780-05/04/1863) and Johanna Christiana (06/04/1783-25/11/1873). Their youngest daughter Louisa Juliana (23/06/178628/06/1786) died as an infant. 8. No data suggesting Peter Gottlieb's son, Christian Gottlieb Mielcke, who made the greatest contribution to Lithuanian culture from his family, was married has been found so far. The Pill-kallen church books testify that Peter Gottlieb's daughter Maria Dorothea remained unmarried. 9. The family of Peter Gottlieb Mielcke also raised two sons of Regina Louisa from her first marriage to Tobias Tiedtke (1688-1725), the priest of Lappienen (Lith. Lapynai): Christoph Ernst (03/05/1722-after 1772) and Gottfried (08/11/1723-25/01/1791). The birth of both boys is recorded in the baptism register of the Lappienen Church. Regina Louisa mentioned her two sons in appeals dated 1753. From 1741 to 1745, Christoph Ernst Tiedtke had been studying at the university of Halle and teaching there at the Lithuanian Language seminar for some time. He mentioned that fact in the appeal to appoint him as the priest of Ballethen dated 12 December 1747. Incidentally, this is the only known source suggesting that lectures at the Lithuanian language seminar in Halle had been held longer than over the period of the 1740s, as has been previously assumed. Christoph Ernst Tiedtke never returned to his motherland but served as a priest in Brandenburg, in the church of the town of Nauen located near Berlin. His brother Gottfried Tiedtke studied at the University of Konigsberg, attended its Lithuanian Language Seminar, and then served as a priest in Prussian Lithuania for the rest of his life. 10. All the boys who grew up in the family of Peter Gottlieb Mielcke -- two stepsons and three sons, following the example of their father, perhaps also drawing from the experiences of all three uncles and their maternal grandfather, chose to study theology. All of them, except for the eldest stepson Christoph Ernst Tiedtke, studied at the university of Konigsberg and then worked in Prussian Lithuania. All were ordained as evangelical Lutheran priests, except for Christian Gottlieb, who worked as a cantor in Pillkallen all his life. All of them were teachers at the Lithuanian Language seminar at the university of Konigsberg, and the eldest stepson taught at the Lithuanian Language Seminar at the University of Halle. At least one daughter, Christina Petronella, married a clergyman - Daniel Honigke, the superintendent of the Diocese of Wehlau. Through their involvement in compiling Lithuanian writings, the three sons left their mark on the history of the Lithuanian written language. 11. Some grandchildren of Peter Gottlieb Mielcke also studied theology; however, this trend had been steadily declining over time. No data suggesting his grandchildren were involved in Lithuanian language-related activities has been found. It seems that the number of descendants who had the surname Mielcke had also declined. On the other hand, the female grandchildren of Peter Gottlieb Mielcke married priests, including people who contributed to Lithuanian culture (e.g. Wilhelm Theodor Schimmelpfennig, Karl Wilhelm Otto Glogau), while his maternal great-grandchildren, already with other surnames, spread quite abundantly not only over Prussian Lithuania, but also further to the West and are being traced to the present day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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