The Lichtenrade Line

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The Lichtenrade Bohnstedt Line:
The Descendants of Ferdinand Wilhelm Adolf Bohnstedt

by Thomas Allen Bohnstedt, California USA
     (the text of this page is my intellectual property. Please do not copy and repost without my written permission)



Recent photo of Bohnstedtstrasze in Lichtenrade, by Bengt Bohnstedt



Ferdinand Wilhelm Adolf Bohnstedt, and Bohnstedtstrasse in Lichtenrade

Ferdinand Wilhelm Adolf Bohnstedt was born in 1798 in Groß-Machnow. After serving in a Berlin army regiment he married Henriette Anger. Ferdinand (who was known by"Wilhelm") and Henriette had their first child, a daughter named Karoline in 1828 in Ruhlsdorf.

1-2. Bohnstedtstrasze in Lichtenrade, pictures taken and supplied by Martin Bohnstedt in the late 1980's

There is a street in the Lichtenrade district of Berlin named Bohnstedtstraße (literally "Bohnstedt Street") and is situated near a public park. When this street first came to the attention of Bohnstedt researchers several years ago, Marvin Bohnstedt conducted some research, and with the help of a German student found that it was named in 1935 for Wilhelm Bohnstedt who was the owner or proprietor of the "Lehnschulzenhofes" Estate. According to the official city information retrieved by the student, the "Lehnschulzenhofes" was an estate or farming enterprise of some significance in Lichtenrade from 1829 to 1856. The estate property was later converted to a public park.

There is also a small dedication above the "Bohnstedtstrasze" street sign which says "Wilhelm Bohnstedt / Besitzer des Lehnschulzenhofes in Lichtenrade", or "Wilhelm Bohnstedt / Proprietor of the Lehnschulzenhofes in Lichtenrade".

Recent photos of Bohnstedtstrasze in Lichtenrade, by Bengt Bohnstedt (standing under the street sign)

Looking back through records retrieved by Wolfgang Bohnstedt,"Wilhelm Bohnstedt" for whom the street was named was without a doubt Ferdinand Wilhelm Adolph Bohnstedt, who was born in 1798 in Hirschfelde and died in 1866. He was the owner or proprietor of the Lehnschulzenhofes Estate in Lichtenrade. This man would have been 31 to 58 years old from 1829 to 1856, and he died when he was 86 years old. He would have been about the correct age to have been the "Wilhelm Bohnstedt" for whom "Bohnstedtstraße" was named. Martin Bohnstedt, who is in fact a great-great-great-grandson of Ferdinand Wilhelm Adolph Bohnstedt, confirmed that his ancestor was the man for whom this street was named.

1. Map of Berlin area, showing Lichtenrade District in the lower half of the map, circled in red
2. Street map of Lichtenrade showing Bohnstedtstrasze

It appears that Wilhelm acquired the Lehnschulzenhofes Estate shortly after the birth of his first child, Karoline, because the rest of Wilhelm's and Henriette's children were born there. It is because of the Lichtenrade location of the estate that Wilhelm's descendants are referred to as the "Linie Lichtenrade", or Lichtenrade Line. Nine children were born on the Lehnschulzenhofes Estate; five sons and four daughters. These children were, in order, Carl Heinrich Gumal (1829), Marie (January 1831), Friedrich Wilhelm Ottokar (November, 1831), Anna (1832), Aline (1833), Carl August Ferdinand Hermann (1835), Laura (1836), Georg Paul Emil Wilhelm (1837), and Paul Wilhelm Sigismund Werner (1838).

One of the five sons of Wilhelm, Carl August Ferdinand Hermann Bohnstedt, was a Secretary for the Public Prosecutor in Berlin, Germany. He married in 1868 in Berlin to Wilhelmine Marie Krieg, but we know of no children from this marriage. It was left to the other four sons to carry on the family name.

Descendants of Carl Heinrich Gumal Bohnstedt

Carl Heinrich Gumal Bohnstedt, who was known as "Gumal", married Aline Karoline Emilie Boumann in 1854 on his parents Lehnschulzenhofes Estate. He acquired a farming estate of his own in Striesa near Dahme, and he and his wife Aline had three children; Helene (1855), Wilhelm (1857) and Hedwig (1858).

Wilhelm followed family tradition and acquired a farming estate in Bruchmühl. He married Martha Weiß (Weisz or Weiss) in 1887 and they had three sons and two daughters. Gottfried Wilhelm was born in 1888, Werner Gumal Heinrich in 1890, Helene in 1892, Hedwig in 1894, and Hans Joachim in 1904.

Hans Bohnstedt, circa late 1950's or early 1960's

Although every one of Wilhelm and Martha's five children married, none of them had children of their own. Three of Wilhelm's children; Gottfried, Helene and Hans, are known to have relocated to Los Angeles, California. Their story is told in The Lichtenrade Bohnstedt Line; The German Bohnstedts in Los Angeles.

Descendants of Friedrich Wilhelm Ottokar Bohnstedt

Ottokar Bohnstedt acquired a noble-estate near Zossen, south of Berlin, and then married Martha Götze (Goetze) in 1860. Their first child, Johannes Ottokar Wilhelm Bohnstedt was born the next year in 1861 in Zossen. Johannes pursued a successful career in government and became a diplomat for the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There is no record of marriage or children for Johannes. Likewise for Ottokar and Martha's next child, Paul Bohnstedt, born in 1863.

Max, the third child, was born in 1865. He married in 1897 to Hedwig Hirth and they had one child, a son named Werner Paul Rudolf Bohnstedt, born in 1898 in Berlin, Germany. Werner, a doctor in Berlin, married Anne Wenselowski in 1930, but there is no record of any children for Werner and Anne.

Ottokar and Martha had three more children in Zossen; Arthur (1868), Georg (1871), and Alexander (1873). Georg died when he was fifteen years old. Alexander, the youngest, did marry in 1919 to Margarethe Herschleb, but there is no knowledge of any children from Alexander and Margarethe.

Arthur, the fourth child of Ottokar and Martha, married in 1889 to Elvine Meincke, and together they had two children, Hans, born in 1890 in Berlin, and Eberhard Arthur Ottokar, born in 1893, also in Berlin.

Arthur's first son, Hans, was married twice and he had two children. However, it is unclear whether these two children, a son and a daughter, came from his first wife, Ida, or his second wife, Elisabeth. Of the son, Werner, we know of no descendants. However, when Edgar Bohnstedt recorded Werner's name on the 1939 Stammbaum, Werner was only fourteen years old. It's entirely possible that there are children and grandchildren of this man somewhere that have been overlooked in post-war research.

Of Arthur Bohnstedt's second son we have more information. Eberhard Arthur Ottokar Bohnstedt, who was known by Eberhard, was a pharmacist in Berlin. He married Ida Kleinart and they had five children. The first three children were girls; Liselotte (1923), Dorothea (1926), and Hannelore (1928). Eberhard and Ida also had two sons; Hans-Joachim in 1934, and Ekkehard in 1939.

Martin Bohnstedt at his parent's home, late 1990's

Hans-Joachim Bohnstedt pursued a successful career as an engineer, and married Elfriede Trpin in Wien (Vienna) Austria in 1964. They had two children, Martin, born 1965 in Switzerland, and Birgit, born 1967 in München (Munich) Germany. Martin has achieved success as a legal expert working for the United Nations. His story is told in The Lichtenrade Bohnstedt Line; Martin Bohnstedt.

Hans' brother, Ekkehard, married Marlen Klein, and they had one son, Thomas Bohnstedt, born in 1978 in Bonn Germany.

Descendants of Georg Paul Emil Wilhelm Bohnstedt

Georg Paul Emil Wilhelm Bohnstedt, who was known as "Georg", was born on his parents Lehnschulzenhofes Estate. He built a career as a government official and married Sophie Rossillion de Sahalsky in 1865.

The next year, twin boys were born in Torgau, Georg and Waldemar. However, their mother also died that same year. It is unclear whether she died in childbirth or sometime after, but we might speculate that she suffered health problems from some complication with her pregnancy.

Georg again married in 1868 to Paula Luise Arntz. Georg and Paula had four children, Elsa (1875), Olga (1877), Wanda (1881), and Eberhard Julius Georg Waldemar Bohnstedt (1886). Elsa and Olga both married and had children. Wanda also married; in fact she married into the von Coburg family, to a man with the unwieldy name of Emil Alfons Plato John Albert Freiherr von Coburg, a descendant of the Saxon royal family, also known as the "House of Wettin". But she had no children and she died at the age of thirty, one year after she married.

Their brother, Eberhard also married, but so far as anyone knows, he had no children. However, he did build an interesting military career, a career which has been referenced in several books. His story is told in The Lichtenrade Bohnstedt Line; Colonel Eberhard Bohnstedt.

Eberhard Bohnstedt as a young German Army officer, probably a lieutenant (Leutnant) or Captain (Hauptmann)

As for the twin brothers; Waldemar married Marie Krauß (Krausz or Krauss) and they had two children. The oldest child, a daughter named Hertha, died in 1911 at the age of seven. Records indicate that the younger child, Hans, was killed in Italy, sometime after 1939. The cause of death is unknown as is the actual date of his death.

1-2. Sons of Jörg Bohnstedt, L-R; Ralf, and Dr. Jan Bohnstedt

Waldemar's brother, Georg, a medical doctor, married Bertha Tadey in 1907. They had one son, also named Georg, born in 1909. Like his father, the younger Georg pursued a career in medicine. Georg Bohnstedt II had four children; two daughters; Maren and Inger, and two sons; Jörg and Bengt. One of these daughters, Inger, provided to Duane L. "Sparky" Bohnstedt, an American Bohnstedt researcher, a copy of the Mitglieder de Bohnstedt'schen Familien-Verbandes März 1938, or the "1938 List".

1. Bengt Bohnstedt
2. Andrea Bohnstedt (left) with her brother, Sven, and sister Kristina

Andrea Bohnstedt, Georg's granddaughter through Bengt Bohnstedt, developed a successful career as an economic analyst, and in the process obtained a certain amount of notoriety in professional circles. Her story is told in The Lichtenrade Bohnstedt Line; Andrea Bohnstedt.

Descendants of Paul Wilhelm Sigismund Werner Bohnstedt

Paul Wilhelm Sigismund Werner Bohnstedt, who was known as "Werner", acquired an estate of his own and married in 1866 to Ottilie Rust. They had one son, Paul, born in 1869. Paul, a medical doctor in Silesia, married in 1909 to Klara Limpricht, and they had one daughter, Dorothea, born in 1911 in Brieg, Silesia, which is now Brzeg, Poland. They had no other children that we know of, no male children who carried on the family name.

If the family name is carried forward by the Lichtenrade Bohnstedt Line it will be from the few surviving male descendants of Ferdinand Wilhelm Adolf Bohnstedt; Martin and Thomas Bohnstedt, grandsons of Eberhard Arthur Ottokar Bohnstedt, and Ralf, Jan and Sven Bohnstedt, grandsons of Georg Bohnstedt.

See Also:
1-18 / The Bohnstedt Lines in Prussia
1-20 / The Bohnstedt Noble Estates
1-25 / The Lichtenrade Bohnstedt Line; Colonel Eberhard Bohnstedt
1-26 / The Lichtenrade Bohnstedt Line; The First Bohnstedts in Los Angeles
1-27 / The Lichtenrade Bohnstedt Line; Andrea Bohnstedt
1-28 / The Lichtenrade Bohnstedt Line; Martin Bohnstedt
1-43 / Genealogy 1-6-2: Prussia and Eastern Germany: Lichtenrade
5-8 / Appendix G: Mitglieder de Bohnstedt'schen Familien-Verbandes März 1938

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