Something about the Deipenau's

The name as such is very unusuall, even in Germany. There are just about twenty entrances in the german telphone directory. But one can find Deipenau's all over the country and far beyond its borders.

The first official records of Deipenau were made in a register of farms in the small village of Othfresen, north of the Harz-Mountains, in what is now called Lower-Saxony. How the name's got there is so far unknown, but it is said by some historians, that the name Deipenau has derived from the mediaval name DEPENAU and thus, linking our family to the noble house of the Counts of Depenau who, in mediaval times, had some not so small amounts of property in that area.

Around the middle of the 19^th century many small farmer and farmhands left their villages to seek an adequat income to raise and support a family.

The "Salzgau-County", where almost all of the Deipenau-Families lived in those days, was well known around the world for its Klesmer Music. Needless to say that at least one family-member played an instrument. One of our forefathers, a certain Johann Heinrich Deipenau, played in one of these Klesmer-Band and it is known that he toured South-America and as far as India. He came back home after a two-year stint, bought a Pub with a Guesthouse attached, in the nearby village of Ohlendorf, got married and settled down. Another Deipenau flew from being drafted into the Army to Australia to work for the Railways. He got married to an english woman and fathered four sons and a daughter. There are descendant of the Deipenaus to be found in Namibia as well as the USA, although by names other than Deipenau. There are two Deipenau-Families in Argentina, both with male children and grand children.

As you can see, there are Deipenaus still around and although the name will eventually distinguish in the not so far future in Germany due to lack of male descendants, I am not too worried that the Name will be lost in the next hundred or so years.

Tuelau-Fahrenhorst, March 7^th of 2010

Detlev E. Deipenau