The Tiegenhagen Mennonite Church in Prussia was originally part of the Gross Werder congregation which in 1735 was divided into four quarters: Orloff (Ladekopp), Bärwalde (Fürstenwerder), Tiegenhagen, and Rosenort. All of these quarters were served by one bishop (Ältester) who administered one church record of baptisms.
The following excerpts of the Tiegenhagen baptisms were taken from a microfilm copy. The originals are in the Gdansk State Archives in Poland which contains the “Verzeichnis der Getauften Mennoniten , 1782-1840, nebst einem Anhang der Lehrer und Dienerwahl, 1746-1908, von Dirk Tiessen, Petershagen 1782 angefangen”.
Mennonite Baptisms in Tiegenhagen: 1782-1800
Mennonite Baptisms in Tiegenhagen: 1801-1813
Gross Werder Gemeinde Baptisms: 1814-1823
Bishop Dirck Tiessen of Petershagen was born on September 24, 1727, and died in Petershagen on June 11, 1806. He was elected bishop (Ältester) in 1767. On April 18, 1752, he married his first wife, Maria Harder, widow of Wilhelm Thun, who was forty years old. After her death on March 23, 1771, he remarried in July 1771 to Margaretha Neyfelt, widow of Harm Wiens. She died on September 8, 1801.
In 1781, Dirck Tiessen lost all of his buildings by fire caused by wet hay. This cost him all of his writings and church books. In 1782, he began the Taufbuch of the Grosswerder church and the Kirchenbuch of Tiegenhagen.
Return to the
Mennonite Genealogy
Prussian Mennonite Genealogical Resource Page