Newspaper clip from the „Warburger Zeitung“ from 6th October 1992:

Big family meeting in Scherfede: 83 Thonemanns travelled from all over Germany

Some Thonemann addresses found in the telephone book

Scherfede. On the parking-lot in front of the multi-functional hall cars are parked with registration numbers rarely seen in this area: D for Düsseldorf, HH for Hamburg, B for Berlin or M for Munich. The various cars have one thing in common: all passengers answer to the name Thonemann. 83 Thonemanns travelled to Scherfede last weekend in order to be present at the big family meeting. Willi Thonemann, train driver and local politician, and Ralf Thonemann from Düsseldorf organised the family meeting. „From 150 bearers of the name in Germany, 83 came.“, the organisers were happy to say.

A lot of Thonemanns and „women“ knew one another by family connections.

„I also thumbed through telephone books and then wrote to the Thonemanns and so established contact with them“, Ralf Thonemann (33) says. Since 1951 this was the second Thonemann get-together in Scherfede. Paul Mohr, the Mayor of Warburg, welcomed the idea of taking a look back on the family history. Mohr gave a short overview of the situation in Warburger Land. In his speech Hermann Hermes, the deputy mayor, remembered the Thonemanns as an old Warburg family.

The name Thonemann (previously Thon, Thun, Theune), translated from Low German means someone who owns a fenced in yard. Already in 1275 a Hermanus II de Thone (head of the woolweavers) is mentioned in the Warburg chronicle. The family also provided councillors in Warburg. Maria Plaggenborg (née Thonemann) compiled the family history. A very prominent Thonemann (Heinrich) was founder of the Marianum grammar school in 1627. You can also read about Vitus Georg Thonemann, an adviser of the Austro-German Kaiser (*1740). The Thonemanns also want to found a family association. During the weekend in Scherfede the big family did a village tour. Of course, they also dined well and celebrated.