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Lucas Family Roots Tour 2000
This web page hopes to provide images and my impressions for some of the places mentioned in the Lucas family history (Genealogy Supplement of the Descendants of Steven Lucas).  I took the enclosed pictures on a long weekend trip to Graftschaft Bentheim (county Bentheim), Germany in October, 2000.  This county is where the Lucas family ancestors emigrated from in 1848 to escape religious persecution (typical American story).  The county is along the German-Netherlands border, directly east of Amsterdam, directly west of Hannover.  The people here speak German now (with an odd accent), but my ancestors spoke Dutch, so the border between the countries has likely changed over the years.  The countryside itself is mostly flat farm or forest land with many small rivers and cute towns.  The area has many nice woods for walking/biking and appears to be quite popular with (summer) tourists.   This county is perhaps only 100 miles from the North See so the weather can be somewhat cool and damp, this is evident in the morning fog seen in many of the pictures.  I hope you enjoy the tour.

Old Lucas Family Church
Evangelical Old Reformed church (Oud Gereformeerde Gemeente) building in Emlichheim, Germany.  This is the church my Dutch speaking great-great-great-grandfather founded at his home in what is now Vorwald, Germany in 1838.  Old Reformed Church.

Picture of original church building on display in the above church. Orig. Old Ref. Church.

Picture of marker stone from original church on display in above church. Orig. Church Marker.

Old Lucas Family Farm
Entrance sign to Vorwald as it exists today.  Vorwald Sign.

The only business I could see in Vorwald.  I believe the sign on the building identifies it as a guesthouse/cafe in "Old Vorwald".  Vorwald Guesthouse.

Typical buildings in Vorwald are shown here.   Vorwald Farm   The area does not appear to be thriving, although the crane behind the trees suggests that something is going on at least.

Picture of Vechte river (which adjoined the old family farm) showing just how flat this country is.  Vechte River Sign.

Another picture of the Vechte river showing a little more character and the nice hiking/biking path which follows the river for miles. Vechte River Path.

Graftschaft Bentheim Countryside & Towns
The following pictures were taken in the area outside of Uelsen, the town in Graftschaft Bentheim where I stayed.  Uelsen is a very pretty small town only ~15 miles from Vorwald.  The images are typical of the entire country though.   Geese in Yard.   Sheep in Field.  Farm in Trees.

View of the forest from the hotel where I stayed.  Lovely setting and wonderful hotel with an excellent restaurant catering to the nature hike/bike tourists.  Even had a indoor heated city swimming pool next door which guests could use.   Hotel View.  I tried to stay at the nearby youth hostel but no other guests had showed up so they decided to close.  Good thing they did, it would have been eerie staying in a 100 bed youth hostel by myself.

The following 4 pictures are from a bike ride I took around the Uelsen-Neuenhaus-Nordhorn area.  This picture is of the main shopping square in Uelsen.  The morning fog had not burned off yet, but the town is quite charming.  Uelsen Fountain.  This next picture is on the yard of a milk trucking company.  It seems to be a monument to how they did business in the good old days, perhaps when my ancestors were still around.   Milk Wagon.

This next picture was taken on my bike ride through Neuenhaus.  It shows a very pretty, safe and well maintained walking/biking path through one of the neighborhoods.  Biking and walking are obviously very common forms of transportation.   Path by Creek.  This final picture shows the town hall (Rathaus) in Nordhorn.  Nordhorn is a fairly big city (100,000 people?), and is likely the county seat.  The city was bustling but still had some nice parks and walking malls.   Nordhorn Rathaus.

I'm pretty sure the old seat of government in Graftschaft Bentheim was the city of Bad Bentheim.  Its the only town that had a medieval castle.  The town was somewhat touristy but very scenic with a large open park at the center of town below the castle, which sits on the only hill I saw in the entire county.  Here are three pictures of the castle.  Castle from Park.   Castle Walls.   Castle Gate.

Nearby Holland
Just 10 miles or so from Vorwald is the border with Holland and the Dutch town of  Coevorden.  It was in this town in 1845 that Steven Lucas was confirmed as an elder of the new church.  Coevorden is a very pretty and very European looking medium size town.  This first picture is of the main town square showing the town fountain and the main mode of transportation around town (all around Holland actually).  Town Fountain.  The next picture is of an old style Dutch house with a grass roof.   Grass Roof.  More recent houses in town look like this next shot.  Row Houses. Coevorden, like many towns in Holland, is connected by a canal system to other towns.  The canals seem to be used for pleasure boats as much as freight in these days.  Canal.  There is also a late-17th century castle in Coevorden.  Like many castles from this period, it is now a restaurant.   Kasteel.  Finally, there is an interesting old church in the center of Coevorden which was probably known to my ancestors.  It is a Reformed Calvinist church which was the denomination Steven Lucas was breaking away from.  Reformed Church.

Graftschaft Bentheim Church Tour
Because the church played such a large role in the emigration of my ancestors to America, I spent a fair amount of time visiting different churches in the towns of Graftschaft Bentheim.  These first 3 churches from near Uelsen were labeled as being Evangelical Old Reformed, as Catholic or as both.  It was somewhat confusing and a strain to my mediocre German skills, but there is a relationship between these different denominations around Uelsen.  I believe they have joint social activities and they time-share church buildings for services.   Old Catholic Church.   Modern Old Reformed Church #1.   Modern Old Reformed Church #2.   Inside of modern Old Reformed Church #2.
    Uelsen also has a Reformed Calvinist church near the town square which is very picturesque.   Uelsen Reformed Calvinist.  The Reformed Cavinists had most of the nice old churches in the area.  Following are two more nearby Reformed churches.  The first is at the main intersection in Neuenhaus.  Neuenhaus Reformed Church.  The second is, I believe, in a suburb or part of Neuenhaus.  It appears quite old and may have been built before 1850.   Another Reformed Church.

That is all the pictures I have.  I hope you enjoyed the tour.  If you have a question, a comment or additional information to add here, please feel free to send an email to kevin@kevinlucas.com

Sincere regards, Kevin