In the family of Johann Heinrich Dartmann (* April 21, 1875 in Warendorf, + December 18, 1957 in Salzbergen) there was a primordial "coat of arms"
with the year 1219 and a "book about our ancestors" since the middle of the 20th century. It was a gift from Hermann Dartmann (* April 7, 1910 in
Salzbergen, + April 5, 1971 in Kempten (Allgäu)) to his father Johann Heinrich.
Family Hermann Dartmann, Kempten (Allgäu)
After the school years, Hermann Dartmann did an apprenticeship as a painter and then a
thorough handicraft training at the arts and crafts school in Münster (Westphalia). Then he
went on a hike across southern Germany, Switzerland, Italy to Tunis in North Africa.
In 1934 he attended the master school in Detmold and passed his master's examination
there. His further journey led him to Constance on Lake Constance, where he learned that
a painter was looking for a master in the Wildburger painting business because of the
owner's health problems. On November 2nd, 1938 he started his work in the long-established
company and on August 20th, 1941 he married the owner's daughter.
Presumably for a company anniversary, the closeness to home, down-to-earthness but also
openness of the family business should be documented with the presentation of family
crests.
Coat of arms of family Wildburger
The family history of the Wildburgers (regardless of the spelling Wilburger, Willburger, Wildburger) can be traced back
to the 14th century. In 1551, the five brothers Hanns, Peter, Michael, Heinrich and Caspar probably received the coat of
arms right because of their military merits for the Habsburgs. The coat of arms is probably based on the interpretation of
the family name. The wild man with a crown in the coat of arms and the castle as a decorative ornament is said to
represent "Wildburg"; the fir on the shoulders is intended to indicate the reclamation of the Bregenz Forest, the coat of
arms of which is the fir. It is also striking that the helmet is referred to as an "aristocratic" tournament helmet. The
elevation to the nobility takes place 8 years later.
The family history of the Dartmann from the Westphalian Münsterland could not be presented so impressively at the
time. Hermann Dartmann is said to have started looking for traces. A genealogist commissioned by him in Nuremberg
Coat of arms of family Dartmannis said to have carried out and documented this Dartmann family research. The original book gift can no longer be found.
The "original coat of arms" as a birthday present from Hermann to his father Johann Heinrich was copied by several
Dartmann descendants in various materials (e.g. lead glazing, mosaic tiles or - thermosets, wood fire pictures,
embroidery, etc.) Proudly shown and referred to the year 1219, the year up to which the ancestors according to “Book
about our ancestors” can be documented.
If the above connections were confirmed, it would be a special occasion in 2019 to celebrate this 800-year family history.
However, relying on non-verifiable facts, because the "Book about our ancestors" could not be found and the coat of arms
could not be verified, would be very vague.
Thereupon a grandson of Johann Heinrich, Robert Dartmann (* 05.12.1953 in Salzbergen) went in search of traces.
The decisive note for the book came from Johann Heinrich's granddaughter Rita Dartmann (* June 25, 1958 in Salzbergen): She confirmed that the
"Book on our ancestors" had been loaned to several siblings by Hermann Dartmann. However, the final whereabouts of the book cannot be traced.
However, the book would not have had the title "The Dartmen", but "The Stedinger".
An Internet search with this new information resulted in many hits for a historical novel by Wolfgang Schreckenbach “Die Stedinger. The Hero
Song of a Peasant People ”from the German Culture Book Series, 1937. The book, with a circulation of over 100,000 copies, was the greatest success
of Wolfgang Schreckenbach (* March 12, 1904 in Klitzschen, Torgau district, + March 1, 1986 in Isny, near Kempten im Allgäu) which from the ethnic
point of view deals with the medieval “Stedingerkrieg”.
The Book "Die Stedinger"
After the initial settlement and reclamation of the land on both sides of the Weser, north of Bremen in the 12th century, the
settlers revolted against the Archbishops of Bremen and Earls of Oldenburg in 1204. In 1219 (identical to the year on the
"Dartmann coat of arms"), the Stedinger detached from the archbishopric and formed a free, velvet community. On June
14, 1230, Emperor Friedrich II of Capua wrote to the Stedinger family, "thank them for the previous support of the Order of
Teutonic Knights and suggests that they continue to take care of it."
In the years that followed, however, skirmishes between the Stedingen farmers and the Bremen Archdiocese continued. On
May 27, 1234, Saturday before the ascension, there was a battle. A powerful archbishop's army, accompanied by a fleet of
ships, bypasses the Stedingen defenses and the "Battle of Altenesch" begins. The Stedingen suffer a crushing defeat against
the Crusader army here.
The “Book about our ancestors” is therefore not a genealogical work on the Dartmann ancestors, but a literary historical
work from the 20th century. The identity of the antiquarian bookshop with the lost book has been confirmed by several, in the grandson of Johann
H
Coat of arms of family Tyrmanneinrich, born in the middle of the 20th century, who had seen the book, confirmed by B. reminded of graphical facts (map sketches, book cover).
The authenticity of the coat of arms was checked next. Heraldists could not prove an entry of the submitted Dartmann
coat of arms in the German coat of arms, but they found a similarity to the coat of arms of the patrician family Thyrman
from Dresden, which was registered in 1450. The design of the Dartmann coat of arms was not kept as simple as it was
still common after the year 1219 in the 13th century (beginning of use of the coat of arms). Thus, the execution and year
number contradict each other.
So it cannot be ruled out that Hermann, as a painter and graduate of the school of applied arts, after the unsuccessful
genealogical and heraldic search himself created a family coat of arms based on another coat of arms, which he exhibited
in addition to the coat of arms of his wife in the local painting business and then to his father Birthday gift.
Now the genealogical urge to research was initiated and various archives were searched for Dartmann traces, hundreds
of family information was collected and assigned, several genealogists were contacted and attempts were made to
combine the information given by different family branches into one picture. As of mid-2019, the information was
summarized and published in the book "Dartmann - Chronicle of an Extended Family from the Münsterland". In order to
reach the people of Dartmann origin who have not been in contact so far, this website has been created and is updated with new information.
