Woltow Manor House

Information from Geschichte des Kirchspiels Basse und aller eingepfarrten Ortschaften [History of Basse Parish and all Places Served from It] by Andreas Parlow

We find the next bit of news in the year 1305, when Nicolaus, Prince of Werle, exchanged Woltow from the brothers Knight Bernhard and Hermann Mosteke. Thereafter Woltow went to the Buk family: in 1366 Nicolaus Buk and in 1381 Squire Claus Buk, who died in 1390. In 1389 we find Henneke Buk in Woltow, who in the same year exchanged portions of Woltow for portions of Kowalz with the brothers Hennecke and Albrecht Moltke of Strietfeld. In 1433 Claus Bützow sold the tithing rights from Woltow to the Squire Heinrich Moltke of Strietfeld. The owner of Woltow in 1471 was Vicke Moltke.

In 1533 the Bützows were again in charge in Woltow. Then on April 3, 1533 Nicolaus Bützow mortgaged four Marks [a measurement of land] of Woltow to Henning Moltke of Strietfeld. Woltow appears to have remained in the hands of the von Moltke family thereafter. Otto (died 1609), his son Claus (died 1641), and Claus’s son Gebhard were the lords of Woltow. Gebhard von Moltke died on December 18, 1678 in Woltow as “the oldest patron of the church” and was buried on February 12 in Basse. His widow Ilsche, née von Behr, married as her second husband Hans Albrecht von Moltke of Strietfeld and died there on May 26, 1691.

In 1684 we find District Administrator Otto Christoph von Halberstadt in Woltow. His father, Major General Balthasar Gebhardt von Halberstadt (1621-1692) had purchased Woltow. It is not clear when Woltow passed to Otto Christoph. In Basse on September 11, 1684 Otto Christoph married Maria Catharina von Parkentin, whose first husband was Detlev von Ahlefeldt. Otto Christoph von Halberstadt left Woltow in 1692 and mortgaged the estate to Peter Möller.

Noteworthy is a baptism in the year 1715: On September 23, 1715 Margaretha Hedwig Hahn was baptized. The witnesses were Miss Margaretha Sophia von Normann, Miss Anna Hedwig von Wulf, and Mr. Christian Friedrich von Wulf. The parents of the child were Otto Christoffer Hahn, builder and church warden in Woltow, and Ilse Budde. This baptism is remarkable in several ways: all the witnesses were nobles; and none of the witnesses were from Basse parish. Even given that this was the baptism of the child of a church warden, no nobles appeared as witnesses for church wardens or any other underlings either before or after 1715. The explanation may lie in the background of the child’s grandmother, whose name was Catharina Moltke. The name Moltke appears in the parish only as “von Moltke,” the family who had their seats at Woltow, Samow, and Strietfeld. This gives a great deal of room for speculation, which I leave to the reader.

The estate remained in the hands of the von Halberstadt family until 1726, when Ludolph Friedrich von Bassewitz bought it from Balthasar Friedrich von Halberstadt, Otto Christoph’s son, for 22,000 Reichstaler.

Ludolph Friedrich moved from Duckwitz to Woltow to take up residence.

After the death of Ludolph Friedrich in 1735, Woltow went in 1757 through the casting of lots among the sons to Philipp Cuno Christian von Bassewitz and remained with him until his death in 1769. In 1755 he was a co-signer of the constitution of the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

In 1772 Woltow was sold by the creditors of Philipp Cuno Christian von Bassewitz to the Danish Major Heinrich Wilhelm von Bülow for 20,500 Reichstaler. The major had the von Bülow coat of arms placed on the Woltow lord’s church pew, which is in the gallery of the south nave. On 21 February, 1764 Heinrich Wilhelm von Bülow married Christina Wilhelmine Margaretha von Lehsten in Dobbertin. It is not clear whether he was living in Woltow.

Von Bülow sold the estate to Wedige Gustav von Walsleben in 1777 for 24,000 Reichstaler. Wedige Gustav von Walsleben married Agnesa Elisabeth von Mandelsloh in Toitenwinkel on January 27, 1767. The bride’s sister Antonia Wilhelmine von Mandelsloh was married to Joachim Ludolph von Bassewitz, owner of the Lühburg estate. Wedige Gustav von Walsleben died in Woltow on March 1, 1796 and was buried in Basse on March 9. The inheritance was not divided up until 1804, and his son Anton Albrecht Ulrich von Walsleben received Woltow under an offset of 70,000 Taler. In 1808 he had to sell Woltow and went as lessee to Neu Vorwerk/Boddin.

The new owner for 41,150 Taler was Baron Conrad Ignatz von Lützow. He was chief chamberlain in Schwerin and the owner of the Gustävel estate. He does not appear to have lived in Woltow but leased it to Johann Peter Christian Stein, who took up residence in Woltow and remained until 1822. Stein was married to Wilhelmina Henriette Catharina Carls.

Peter Ludwig von Witzendorf bought Woltow in 1823 and took up residence. In 1838 his daughter Sophia Amalia von Witzendorf married Carl Ludwig von Plato in Basse.

On August 8, 1840 Ludwig Georg von Oertzen bought the estate for 123,000 Taler. He took the oath of fealty to the grand duke on October 24, 1841. In 1872 he also bought the estate of Holz Lübchin for 80,000 Taler. Ludwig Georg von Oertzen was married to Adelheid Ernestine von Burgsdorff. He completed his law degree, was named district administrator in 1861, belonged after 1869 to the Select Committee of the Governing Nobility, and was president of the state parliament after 1876. He died on September 17, 1879 in Woltow, his widow on July 23, 1895 in Rostock. Both were buried in Basse on the rear wall of the Schack Chapel, and their graves may still be seen.

After his death his sons cast lots for the inheritance. His oldest son Carl Friedrich Jaspar, who until then had leased the Holz Lübchin estate, received cash and went as lessee to Nütschow. The youngest son Claus drew Holz Lübchin, while Friedrich Carl Theodor Rudolph von Oertzen became owner of Woltow. He joined the Mecklenburg Dragoon Regiment 17 in 1870 and took part in the Franco-Prussian War. In Vilz in 1873 he married Margarethe von Plüskow, daughter of District Administrator Josias von Plüskow of Kowalz, who was a member of the Vandalia duelling fraternity in Heidelberg. The couple moved to Berlin in 1888. Here Margarethe visited hospitals as inspiration for her literary endeavors. She was an author of Christian-themed literature.

Magnus Stever from Niekrenz, the owner of Dahlen near Friedland, bought the Woltow estate in 1909 from Friedrich von Oertzen, who was living in Rostock. Stever had been leasing Woltow since 1907. The purchase price was supposed to have been 760,000 Marks. Stever was born on July 8, 1865 in Niekrenz near Sanitz, son of local estate owner Heinrich August Stever. His grandfather was Johann Christian Theodor Stever, senator in Rostock. On January 28, 1928 the second son of Magnus Stever married a Mrs. von Meerheimb and farmed the estate as inspector for his father.

In 1921 Woltow had an area of 811 hectares (2004 acres).

The manor house was rebuilt into a home for bachelors in the 1960s, and a kindergarten and cooperative store also moved in.

The house has stood empty since 1991, and the owner planned to convert the building to a recovery and educational residence for the over-50 generation. An association founded in 2003 concentrates on the maintenance of the park complex and the ecological rehabilitation of the overgrown streams and paths.

Ownership to 1945:

Keywords:

• Manor House
• Rostock
• private property
• von Oertzen family
• von Bülow family
• von Halberstadt family
• von Moltke family
• von Bassewitz family
• von Walsleben family
• von Lützow family
• von Witzendorf family
• von Bützow family
• Tessin Department