Among the treasures of my personal collection of local history and family history books is a story or biography of an early Mercer County pioneer woman by the name of Liwwat Boke.
Elizabeth Knapke was born 25 June 1807 at Nellinghof, Neuenkirchen, Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, Germany. She immigrated from Germany to the United States via Bremen to Baltimore in 1834 or 1835. She was officially married to Bernard “Natz” Boeke (Boke) in Cincinnati in 1835. He was also a native of Neuenkirchen and had come to America in 1833. They had known each other well for several years.
The young couple soon settled in the thick forests of Mercer County on what is now Rolfes Road. They immediately began clearing the land. They had six children with three sons living to maturity. Natz died in 1857 and Liwwat died in 1882. They are both buried in the cemetery at St. John, now known as Maria Stein.
Elizabeth “Liwwat was the second child born to Herman Henry Knapke and Gertrude Lienesch. Her siblings were: Marie Katharine - 1803, Gertrude - 1809, Bernard - 1813 and Herman Henry - 1817. The name Liwwat, pronounced Livvet is a familiar form of Elizabeth. The baptismal records show the two older girls born at Nellinghof, the third at Trimpe (a nearby farm) and the last two born at Bieste. Nellinghof was a small village of about 3400 acres, divided into about 36 farms, ranging from 15 acres and up. Bieste was a bit smaller. Liwwat’s father was the younger of two sons so he could not inherit the 15 acres of leased land where he was born.
At this time, in the 1830’s, the feudal system was a way of life in the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg and other parts of Germany.
The Knapke family were peasants or poor heuerleutes, a class of people who worked for large land proprietors and were paid with a small plot of marginal land to use for their own family needs. They were bound to the “lords”. This way of life developed gradually over the centuries. This practice developed in the  Middle Ages. Most peasants were not educated. In the feudal system some people were classed as nobles, others were peasants (the poorest of the Poor). For the poor there was no way out. Some of the “lords” were bishops of the Church.  She wrote “The prince-bishops nobles are relics of the Middle Ages.” She referred to this obligation or payments as “always to the lord, here it was the bishop. He was also a noble! But not so noble! Now I’ll go to hell. (I am not so fearful anymore as my poor, ignorant, unread forefathers.”
The title of Prince-Bishop meant he was also lord of the territory - controlling all the peasants who farmed the territory. This practice caused many troubles and scandals over the centuries as “no man can serve two masters” (the church and the state).
Liwwat’s father died in 1828 in Bieste. Her mother at the age of 66, came to America in 1842, along with her sister, Maria Katharine and brother, Bernard. Her mother lived nearly 10 years in the new country. She died in 1851 at St. John. In America they lived across the road from Liwwat and Natz.
Back in Germany, in the 1830’s, there was not enough land or local work so large numbers of men traveled to nearby Holland during the summer months to earn extra money. The poor working and living conditions contributed to poor health for many families. During the winter most of the poor families spent the entire time spinning and weaving flax into linen. Starting in 1830, the hand-woven linen could no longer compete with machine woven linen and cotton. At this time also, Holland did not have a need for the migrant workers. The poor became desperate. She said “We were starving”. All this contributed to the immigration to America.
Liwwat was an educated young lady. She started school already during her fourth year at Lage Kloster. She said “they had taken me in as a favor.” What possessed someone to “take her in”? Who was the favor for? Did she know early talent? Her parents were too poor to pay for her to go there. The Kloster Lage was a cloister or monastery, about two miles from her home. The Benedictines managed the establishment during this time. Again, somehow she continued her education in Osnabruck at the Cathedral school during the years 1826, 27 and 28. Part of her education was her training as a midwife. With this certificate, she gained her freedom from her status as a heurleute by becoming a professional.
As for her husband … John Bernard Boke was born 25 October 1800 in Neuenkirchen. One familiar form of Bernard was Bernatz, which was shortened to Natz. He was the won of John Henry Boke and Anna Maria Wiethe, of Alfhausen, near Neuenkirchen. His father died in 1803 at the age of 43. His mother remarried in 1804 to John Henry Lonnemann, who died in 1810. Natz’s mother died in 1816, leaving him with three young sisters. Natz and his half-sister emigrated to America together in 1833. Natz was classed as a Knecht or farm hand or common laborer. He could earn 10 times as much in America than he could back in the old country.
Liwwat was a remarkable woman, way ahead of her time. On one occasion, in 1844, while they were living in Mercer County, she wrote a letter to Bishop Purcell, of Cincinnati, about the Pastor of their parish at St. John. He had very, very different ideas and she sure did not agree with his teachings. Later that year the parish received a new Pastor.
Liwwat kept a journal of what was happening in her life and her observations of what was going on in the world around her. She wrote on all kinds of subjects, including the Council of Treat and the Inquisition. She wrote “I am a Catholic, now and before, but I will not always sip every time the spoon comes to my mouth.” She showed great concern about the equality of women. In regard to women and the Church, she predicted: “The day will come when women will stand on the same rung of the ladder.”
In 1871 she wrote “In a hundred years the Church will become more democratic, and women will not sit in the second place.”
Her journals were discovered and translated over 100 years later. Luke Knapke compiled the book of her special stories from the translations of her journals. Luke B. Knapke and Vincent Knapke were both into genealogy. They met at the home of Vincent and his wife in Columbus in 1976. Vincent had some of Liwwat’s journals and drawings in his possession but was unaware of the extent of these papers.
The preservation of these papers was a story in itself. In the late 1960’s, Vincent received a call from his first cousin, Ceil Seger. Ceil called him after she found out that she did not have too much time left on this earth. She asked Vincent if he’d like to have “all those old papers in Grandma’s attic?”
When the home farm was sold, Frances Schulte, Vincent’s aunt, now living in Dayton, salvaged the papers from the house, which had been built around 1880. Frances kept the papers, later giving them to Ceil, her only daughter. Ceil was now living in Minster and stored the papers in her basement. How they survived is a miracle. They were in the attic at St. John for over 40 years and with Frances and Ceil for 40 more years. Vincent went to Minster to pick up the papers, took them home and just left them in the garage for several years. During recovery from his fourth heart attack, he got them out and enjoyed the drawings. Then he got into the writings. He quickly called Cousin Luke and sent photo copies to him. The cousins became very involved with much enthusiasm over these papers.
Following Vincent’s 5th heart attack in 1978, his energy was spent on Liwwat’s papers. Vincent had a knowledge of Low German so he translated the many papers which were a mixture of Low German and High German, in the old German script. Vincent died in 1984.
In putting this book together, Luke Knapke gives much credit to his cousin Vincent and to his wife for all her help. Also to the Minster Historical Society and various others for help in getting the book printed and for all those other little details required to write a book.

More of Liwwat’s journal will appear in future editions of The Delphos Herald.