Klein Silkow is situated south of the city of Stolp in Pomerania, which was a part Germany then. Together with the nearby  Groß Silkow it was owned by the patrician family 'Von Wobeser' from 1337 to 1810. In 1784, Klein Silkow had 29 houses.

A lot of information, churchbooks etc., has been lost in the war, so it is difficult to reconstruct the whole family lines of these Griep's. Till now, this is what have been found.  

In this early period, the following Konfirmanden -- 13-year olds that confess their faith -- are noted in the churchbook of the Evangelist Lutheran church of Quackenburg:

1703: Sophie Griep and Martin Griep.
1710: Sophie Griep from Klein Silkow.
1726: Martin Griep from Klein Silkow.
1733: Christian Griep from Klein Silkow.
1737: Erdmann Griep from Klein Silkow.
1742: Catharine Griep from Klein Silkow and
          Sophia Griep from Groß Silkow.
1746: Jürgen Griep from Klein Silkow.
1748: Barbara Griep from Klein Silkow en
          Pagel Griep from Groß Silkow.
1752: Martin Griep from Klein Silkow.
1758: Michel from Klein Silkow.

In 1717, wenn all the farms in Pomerania are registered, Christian Griep is mentioned as a farmer at Klein Silkow. In the same year he had a son: Christian Griep, born on April 4, 1717, at Klein Silkow. Probably this is the same one as the Konfirmand in 1733. His father Christian died on April 28, 1754.

Some of the above names do return later on in churchbooks or other registres:

• Sophia Griep married on October 27, 1757, to Michael Nieseiltz from Groß Silkow.

• Erdmann Griep married on November 3, 1760, to Maria Zoschke.

• Pagel Griep, Musquetier beim hochöbl. Manteufelschen Regiment (musketeer in the Mantaufel Regiment) married on February 16, (or April?) 1764, to Maria Seilz from Krussen.

• Catharina Griep, the only daughter of the farmer Martin Griep of Klein Silkow, married on October 23, 1801, to the farmhand Martin Seils.

From the period before 1800 there are also the following notifications:

• Luise (Louise) Griep was born in Klein Silkow on April 30, 1760. She married on October  25, 1786 at Quackenburg to Jürgen Zoschke (1754-1807) from Groß Silkow and had a daughter: Christine.

• Christian Friedrich Griep was born in 1775. He lived at Klein Silkow and died on December 6, 1869 from typhoid. He left behind a wife and three sons of age.

• Christian Griep was born in 1792. His profession is a Ziegler (tile-maker). He died at Klein Silkow on May 11, 1866, from Schlagfluß. He left behind a wife, four children of age and three minors.

• Martin Gottlieb Griep was born in 1795. He lived at Klein Silkow and was married. He died on August 6, 1875, leaving behind a widow and two sons.

The information from the churchbooks of Quackenburg was provided by Dr. Hermann Seils of Negast.

TILE MAKER CHRISTIAN GRIEP AT KLEIN SILKOW

• Christian Griep was born on 6 November 1771 at Klein Silkow. He was a Ziegler (tile maker) and was married to Catharina Maria Kraun. Their son:

• Christian Friedrich Griep was born on 20 September 1798 at Klein Silkow. He was Zieglermeister (tile makers principal) and was married to Frederica Dabrunt. Their son:

• Karl Friedrich August Griep was born on 23 Januari 1824 at Klein Silkow. He was a forester and market-gardener and was married to Philippine Florentine Wummel. They had a daughter, Auguste Friederike Wilhelmina Griep, born on October 18, 1850, at Zirchow.

Information provided by Tom-Gerrit Boyte (B-TG@gmx.de), a distant decendant of this family.

• Another son of Christian Friedrich Griep and Frederica Dabrunt was Johann Hermann Griep, born on 28 October 1836. He also was a Ziegler, married to Philippine Juliane Waak, and had a son:

• Robert Otto Griep was born on 4 June 1859 at Klein Silkow. He married Emilie Adelina Dunse (born in 1868 at Woblanse). They lived at Seelitz, Kreis Rummelsburg, and had two children: Max Griep and Martha Griep (born on 26 August 1889).
  In 1892 the family emigrated to America, where they settled in Iowa. Also his mother-in-law Wilhelmina Sinkel came with them. In Iowa they had more children, among them Harry Griep (5 May 1898). On the picture at right this family with their oldest three children.
  In Iowa they lived at DeWitt, Clinton County, situated in the easter part of the state along the Mississippi river. Harry Griep died there in May 1981.

  Information from Dr.F.-K. Schraepler and Phyllis Dearborn (pdear@merr.com), who also provided the picture. Her husband is a grandson of Martha Griep.

FARMER MARTIN GRIEP AND HIS AMERICAN DESCENDANTS

Farmer Martin Griep married on November 15, 1787, at Quackenburg to Agnise Neitzel. Their son was:
Christian Friedrich Griep was born around 1790 at Klein Silkow. He owned land that he let out on lease to tenants. With his first wife Catharina Maria Groth, who died from nervous fever in 1844, he had  eight children: six sons and two daughters. In his seconds marriage, with Johanna Waak, another son was born in 1852. The following of their children are known by name:
Wilhelm Griep, Franzisca Griep and Heinrich August Griep (picture at left). The last one, born on June 22, 1836, at Klein Silkow, migrated to America in 1875. See page: Griep at Dayton, Ohio.

Information provided by John McBride of West Lawn, Pennsylvania, USA, a descendant of Heinrich August Griep.

FARMER GEORGE JACOB GRIEP FROM QUACKENBURG

• Farmer George Jacob Griep, from Quackenburg, was married to Charlotte Christine Kromm. They had a son:

• Johann Jacob Griep, born on September 24, 1808 at Groß Silkow. He married Dorothea Friederike Pelz from Groß-Krien. In the Evangelist Church of Groß Dübsow they had the following children baptised: Karoline Friederike Henriette Griep (baptised on July 21, 1833, married to a man named Zolldahn at Groß Krien), Wilhelmine Johanna Charlotte Griep (baptised on February 4, 1838, married to a man named Sitterlee at Groß Krien), August Christian Griep (baptised on July 26, 1840), Albertine Luise Griep (baptised on November 27, 1842, married to a man named Albrecht at Groß Krien), Charlotte Henriette Maria Griep (baptised on April 6, 1845) and Friedrich Wilhelm Gottfried Griep (baptised on September 5, 1847). Both their youngest sons, Johann and Karl Griep, worked as labourers at Berlin. Johann Jacob Griep died on January 2, 1876, at Groß Dübsow from Wassersucht (?). Hies wife died in 1894 at Groß Krien, 82 years of age.

• The oldest son, August Christian Griep, was born on July 17, 1840, at Groß-Krien. On July 26, 1840, he was baptised in the Evangelist Church of Groß Dübsow. He was a Eigenthümer (self-owned farmer) at Groß Krien and was married to Karoline Henriette Schmidtke from Reblin. In the Evangelist Church of Groß Dübsow they had the following children baptised: Johann August Alwin Griep (baptised on May 31, 1863), Auguste Caroline Wilhelmine Griep (baptised on March 12, 1865), Heinrich Wilhelm Griep (baptised on May 26, 1867), Bertha Albertine Griep (baptised on November 7, 1869) and Carl Friedrich August Griep (baptised on February 25, 1872). Their youngest son was August Ferdinand Griep (born January 27, 1875, at Groß-Krien; married to Ida Anna Berta Kuske from Versin). This youngest son had a daughter:

• Frieda Griep was a nurse. She was married to the farmer Laurenz Feyrer, who came from the Sudetenland, had three children and lived at Neckarsulm.

Information provided by Frieda Feyrer-Griep of Neckarsulm.

• The Eigentümer (self-owned farmer) Christian Griep had a son in 1818:

• Martin Gottlieb Griep born in 1818 at Klein Silkow. He also is Eigentümer, and a member of the church council. He was married to Charlotte Christine Groth and had six children. He died on January 2, 1867, from typhoid. Two of his sons were: Karl Friedrich Griep (born on November 11, 1847 at Klein Silkow, married to Auguste Hermine Stubbe, had a son: Otto August Hermann and died in 1917) and Heinrich August Griep (born on December 4, 1857, at Klein Silkow, married to Auguste Berta Therese Mielke and had a daughter: Minna Karoline Ernestine Griep).

• These grand-children, Otto August Hermann Griep (1885-1921) and Minna Karoline Ernestine Griep (1885-1945) married with each other and had a son: Alfred Heinrich Gustav Griep, born on May 29, 1910, at Stolp. This son and his family lived at Stolp until March 1945, when they were forced to move to Mecklenburg and after that to Schleswig-Holstein. From 1951 they lived at Bielefeld.

• Karl Ludwig Griep was born about 1803. He married Ernesthine Mielke, born about 1824. In 1867 he gave notice at Klein Silkow of the death of his 14 year old daughter Auguste Wilhelmine Charlotte. Another member of his family, living at Klein Silkow, was Hermann Griep. His wife died in 1901 and Karl on September 19, 1903.

FARM-HAND CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH GRIEP AT GROß SILKOW

• Christian Friedrich Griep was born in Groß Silkow on February 15, 1805. He earned his living as a farm-hand. He died on September 9, 1881, at Versin. His son:

• Ludwig Friedrich August Griep was born on August 1, 1832, at Labuhn. He had a daughter:

• Emilie Therese Griep, born on August 21, 1881, at Klein Krien.

Information provided by Inken Saltzwedel-Krüger of Staufen, Baden-Württemberg,
a grand-daughter of Emilie Therese Griep.

ANOTHER CHRISTIAN GRIEP

• Christian Griep was born on November 19, 1828, at Scharsow. He married Charlotte Möwes and had four children. Christian died at Klein Silkow on March 4, 1884, and his wife in 1903. She was registered then as a widow, chargeable to the parish. One of their children was:

• August Griep, born on June 6, 1851, at Deutsch Buckow. He is Eigentümer and he married Johanna Bastubbe, born on March 10, 1851, at Muttin. They had seven children, among them daughter Bertha Auguste Griep (born on 12 September 12 1877 at Scharsow, married in 1911 to Hermann August Vorbau, living at Alt Warbelow). August died on October 1, 1929, at Gumenz, and his wife in 1937 at Treblin. One of their daughters was:

• A son of August and Johanna is: Gustav Griep, born on 30 July 1874 at Scharsow. He died in 1952 at Möhrenbach in the GDR. He was married and had a son:

• Otto Griep, born on 16 September 1902 at Klein Silkow. He married Luise Schwarz, born on 11 September 1906 and had five children: Heinz, Erhard, Hans, a daughter and Siegfried (1948).

Information provided by Heinz, Erhard, Hans en Siegfried Griep of Möhrenbach.

FARMER Johann Albert Wilhelm Griep

• Johann Albert Wilhelm Griep was born on February 10, 1846, at Klein Silkow. He was a farmer, and he died there on March 5, 1886. He had a son:

• Leonhard Bernhard Carl Herman Martin Griep, born on November 11, 1872 at Klein Silkow. He died on February 23, 1946, at Zinnowitz, a German village along the Baltic Sea. His son was:

• Walter Griep, born on March 22, 1903, at Goschin in the Free State of Danzig.

FARMER JOHANN GRIEP

• Johann Friedrich Martin Griep was a farmer at Dargatzhof, a small hamlet near Klein Silkow, belonging to the community of Loitz. He was married to Dorothea Wilhelmine Henriette Vandersee; they had no children. His sister, married to a man by the name of Gliewe, had a son who was adopted by Johann Griep after Gliewe had died. This son was:

• Hermann Griep was born on February 4, 1862, at Dargatzhof. He inherited the farm of his stepfather and became the last independant farmer of the village; all the other farms were acquired by the city of Stolp. On November 29, 1884, he married at Dargatzhof to Auguste Quandt, born on July 31, 1859 at Scharsow. She was a descendant from the family of foresteers from which the name Quandtheide was derived. She already had a child (Anna Quandt, born May 9, 1883 at Plassenberg; married the miller Hermann Lück of Klein Silkow and had 13 children; died in 1956 at Bliesheim). He died at Dargatzhof in 1939 and his wife one year later. Hermann Griep and Auguste Quandt had the following children:

• Johannes Griep (Hans; born on December 22, 1885 at Dargatzhof; together with his sisters he ran the farm until the Russian army came in 1945; expelled to the west in 1947 and died at Waldau in 1962), Minna Griep (born on May 16, 1887 at Dargatzhof; died single in 1974 at Harpstedt), Luise Griep (born on January 11, 1889 at Dargatzhof; died single in 1966 at Waldau) and Ernst Griep.

• This last son, Ernst Griep, was born on December 21, 1898 at Dargatzhof. He became schoolteacher at Pennekow, Kreis Schlawe, married Käte Scheunemann from Alt Marrin and had, living at Pennekow, three daughters: Adelheid (February 17, 1930; lived in Bremen after the war), Marianne (July 17, 1934) and Waltraud Griep (born June 23, 1937; married Gerhard Lange). From 1940 on, Ernst Griep is schoolteacher at Pustamin. He died in 1976 at Harpstedt.

Information provided by Gerhard Lange of Unna and Adelheid Griep of Bremen.

• Martin Griep was born at Klein Silkow around1804. About 1829 he married Dorothea Karsten.

• George Griep, married to Maria Groth, had a son on February 15, 1805: Christan Friedrich Griep.

• Christian Griep was born in 1828. He lived at Klein Silkow and is noted as in receipt of poor relief and a prisoner. He died on April 30, 1881 from Schlagfluß (?).

• On November 18, 1870, Charlotte Schultz, 45 years old and wife of Christian Griep, comitted suicide by hanging herself. She left behind her husband and a minor child.

• Franz Griep was born in 1831 and lived at Klein Silkow. He was married to Wilhelmine Fernow, who died in 1882, 45 years old, from consumption. He himself died on April 17, 1891, leaving behind three children, among them two minors.

• In the middle of the 19^th  century there is a family comprising: Martin Gottlieb Griep, Gottlieb Griep and Louise Schmidt. The last one is noted as a widow in 1882, when she died from Wassersucht (?). She left behind two children of age.

• Albert Griep had his own farm at Klein Silkow. In 1883 he gave notice of the death of a baby.

• Franz Ludwig Griep was born in 1856. Hij is Eigentümer at Klein Silkow. In the night from January 3 to 4, 1894, he kept laying drunk along the road some 50 yards from his house and frose to death.

• Ferdinand August Gottlieb Griep lived at Klein Silkow. In 1885 he gave notice of the death of a child.

• Heinrich Griep is married to Johanne Froggel. In 1885, when his wife died from pneumonia, he lived at Klein Silkow. They had a son that must have died before 1885: Franz Hermann Heinrich Griep (baptised on July 30, 1869, in the Evangelist Church of Groß Dübsow).

THE FAMILY OF OTTO GRIEP

Around 1930 a Griep family lived at Klein Silkow, with the father working as a fireman on the distillery. His son worked as a farmhand on the Rittergut (manor). One of them was named Otto Griep.

The family lived at the end of the village, along the road to Qantheide, house number 15 on this map. They can be seen on the picture below. The photo is taken at Klein Silkow, during the celebration of the harvest of 1935. Grandpa Griep is the sixth person from the left (with mustache); before him to the right his daughter-in-law, son and grandson.

Foto provided by Dr.F.-K. Schraepler