Newspaperarticle from the Westfalen Zeitung dated 27.09.1951
“Meeting of the Thonemann-Family”

Martin Thonemann 1543 – 1567 Abbot of Hardehausen / genealogical table since 1282

Scherfede. In Gasthof zur Egge in the shadow of the historical scene of Hardehausen, where one of the family worked very beneficially for 24 years as Abbot, the first post-war family day of the Thonemanns of the original home Scherfede no. 63 was held last weekend. Not only from Westphalia, but also from the Rhineland and neighbouring Hesse, almost fifty representatives of the family hastened to celebrate a joyful reunion and to take this opportunity to get to know the family circle extended by marriage.

In the course of the family day, a family member, retired headmaster Johannes Cremer from Herzebrock gave an interesting talk on the history of the family, whereby the speaker among other things gave a detailed report on the significance and origin of the name and the history of the family, whose genealogical table goes back to 1282. The name is of Low German origin and in the oldest form handed down is “Thun, Thüne, Thöne, Thone”. The original form of the name means “Zaun” (Thun), i.e. “fence”, and describes in its primary meaning either the owner of a fenced in, fortified yard or the man from the place named Thune. The present form of the name Thonemann is to be regarded as a pet name or rather a descriptive name.

In the report on the history of the family, particular interest was aroused by the work of various ancestors in the honorary position of judge of the village of Scherfede as well as Prelate Martin Thonemann, who was Abbot of the Zisterzienserkloster Hardehausen in the stormy times of the Reformation. It is thanks to him that in those times of turmoil the monastery did not go under and successfully resisted the efforts for innovation of the then Reformation friendly Paderborn royal bishop Hermann von Wied. Due to shortage of space it is unfortunately not possible to take up further points of the detailed talk here.