Report on the Third Family Reunion

Whitsunday 1998 in the Magdeburger Börde. By Harald Hobohm.

For the first time a family reunion took place in the Magdeburger Börde, the ancestral home of the Hobohms. This was my first trip to the Börde, and I was impressed by the scenic beauty of this region. Although I was not born in the Börde myself, I can trace my origins in a direct line to Wormsdorf. On the eve of the reunion I visited the towns of Wormsdorf and Warsleben, from which my ancestors came.

About 40 people came to this reunion, including descendants of Hobohms, Hoboms and Hochbaums. The vast majority came from the Börde region, of course, although some participants came from as far afield as the Vogtland, Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg und Hessen. Just in time for the reunion the weather also improved; how fortunate for us!

The reunion began with a Whitsunday service in the abbey church of Mariental in the vicinity of Helmstedt. The service was held by the Rev. Ekkehard Hochbaum from Berlin. After the church service there was a commemoration of the chroniclers of our family - Johannes Hoogenboom of Breda, Dr. Maximilian Hobohm of Quedlinburg and Franz Hohbaum of Berlin.

The next stop was in Nordgermersleben, where Dr. Wolf Hobohm told us something about the history of the town and its people in front of the "Palais Hobohm".

In Erxleben Richard Hohbaum talked to us about "The Hobohms of Erxleben and the past Residence of the Hobohms of Alvensleben".

In Uhrsleben we had three stops and listened to various reports about the Hobohms of Uhrsleben. We visited the church, where the font has been donated by a Mr. Hooboom.

Richard Hohbaum introduced us to the "Hobohms" of Hakenstedt. Three brothers from Hakenstedt are the ancestors of several lines of our family. We visited the church and the two estates of the Hobohms.

The next meeting place was Ummendorf, where a staff member of the museum told us about the history of the town. We also had an opportunity to visit the museum.

The last stop was Eilsleben, another "Nest" of Hobohms as we were told by a member of the local history club. He said he had himself been able to trace about 20 Hobohms from the local public records.

We celebrated the end of the long day in a restaurant in Eilsleben, from where we once again dispersed in all directions...

The next reunion will hopefully and probably take place on Whitsunday 2003.

Thanks to Richard Hohbaum for the careful and almost certainly very time consuming organisation of the reunion.

Harald Hobohm

Taunusstein