The early establishment of the line of descent of the Petri family from Horn is based on the affiliation to the Stipendium (scholarship) Simonis et Judae Apostolorum of 26.3.1500 / 11.8.1501 (low German copy of the foundation charter from the 17 th century in the state archives in Detmold). The chaplain & representative of the bishop of Paderborn, Johann Loiss, whose father Conrad Loiss was the priest there, received dispensation from the pope due to his illegitimate birth & endowed a capital fund for the establishment & upkeep of an altar in his local parish church at Horn (“situated on the right hand side of the ascent to the pulpit”). This capital fund was intended to be at the disposal of the family & descendants of Gertrud, the sister of Johann Loiss & widow of Heinrich Rodewig, citizen of Horn & continue as lay patronage after the reformation in Lippe , determined for studies of the male descendants of Gertrud Rodewig, born Loiss.

Gertrud Rodewig left a son, Hermann, mayor of Horn, & four daughters, namely Adelheid, married to Alhard Lange, another daughter married to Heinrich Otterjäger, then Gesa, married to Heinrich Sander, & Ilsa, married to Lüdecke Waterbeck.

Alhard Lange & Adelheid born Rodewig left a daughter who married a Rodewig Niebecker, & their son Johann Niebecker was judge & “gograf” at Horn , born around 1524 & married to Margarete Hanebaum. From here arose the five lines of descenders, Rodewig, Niebecker, Otterjäger (later Höcker), Sander & Wasserbach, each of which, if a suitable student applicant was available, benefited annually from interest of endowed capital fund. After the Sander line died out there remained , up until the present, that means practically up to 15.11.1923, the day of the introduction of the rentenmark (after the inflation) , the four branches Rodewig, Niebecker, Höcker & Wasserbach as beneficiaries of the grant. In case of a bigger number of applicants 1820 the limiting restriction was enacted, whereby those born in Lippe had preference over “foreign candidates” with otherwise equal rights.

As a result of the manifold interrelationships of the students in the small district very many of those born in Lippe who have studied theology, jurisprudence, medicine or philology in a German university have benefited from this grant which had existed for 400 years & now, through the devaluations after both world wars, came to a standstill & on 14.10.1969 was officially wound up. As son –in – law of judge Johann Niebecker in Horn (died shortly before April 1615) Christoph Petri, judge at Horn & progenitor of the Petri family, & his descendants , became beneficiaries of the endowment.

Through the researches of the student of theology Friedrich Reinecke in Horn, who worked on the records of the estate & family history of many farming families in Lippe in the age of the hereditary farms (his academic remains lie in the state archive in Detmold ) it is proven that Christoph Petri stems from Petershof in Oberheesten Nr.3 (near Horn), today called Petringmeier. There will be a short report about the estate & its owners up to the present in the appendix. The latinisation of the family name Peters can in all probability be traced back to the first judges in the family , also the crest, that shows in its seal that animal of the rocky slopes, the chamois, & reminds one of the rockman Petrus, from whom, of course , the original christian name Peter is determined.

The family, which at first had lived only in Lippe, had already by the 18 th century, no doubt through family connections, entered Prussian service in Westphalia, & also Lingen /Ems and the lower Rhine. In the 19 Th century branches then formed in England & the USA.

Protestants, isolated catholic Members of the family live today in almost all federal states of Germany, with main concentration in North Rhine Westphalia, in England, in the USA with main concentration in Massachusetts, and in Argentina and South Africa.

1999 in Ann Arbour, MI (USA), Berlin, Bad Salzuflen, Bielefeld, Bodelshausen, Boston, MA (USA), Bremen, Burham on Crouch, Essex (GB), Detmold, Ebenhausen, Earls Baxton, (GB), Eutin, Framingham, MA (USA), Frankfurt am Main, Grafing, Grosse Point, MI (USA), Hamburg, Herford, Iserlohn, Jülich, Kapstad, (Südafrika), Köln, Kusterdingen, Lemgo, London, Mettlach, München, Münster, Newcastle-upon Tyne (GB), Newton, MA(USA), Nürnberg, Osnabrück, Rochester, MA (USA), Saarbrücken, Southborough, MA (USA), Tecklenburg, Ulm, Villa Belgrano, ( Argentina), Volmarstein, Voerde/Niederrhein, Wesel, Wuppertal.

Among the professions that of legal predominates. An unusual case indeed is that in one part of the family the legal profession has been passed down through eleven generations from father to son. Today the majority of living Petris are active in business & industrial & commercial life, followed by teachers, engineers, Jurists, among many others. 

Publications

First in 1903 the genealogy of the Petri family was printed, since then examined, corrected & supplemented according to parish registers & other archives up to the present.