Very Rev Fr Bernard Hafkenscheid, C.SS.R. (1807 – 1865) — Genealogy

Fr Bernard's Genealogy

A distant nephew of Fr Bernard Hafkenscheid, Mr Maurits Hafkenscheid, has put up an interesting website which catalogues the genealogy of Fr Bernard himself. The site can be found at http://www.hafkenscheid.com/

The site explains that the Hafkenscheid family (Hafke = Habicht = havik = hawk, Scheid = Flurgrenze = borderline between estates) has taken its name from the former Havkenscheid castle in the hamlet of the same name near Bochum, Westphalia. In 1340 Deitrich von Havekenscede was vassal of this castle and is the ancestor of a family that has held it in fee until the seventeenth century. There are several indications that his family is connected to that of Fr Bernard.

The ancestors of the family came to Ulft, the Netherlands, under remarkable protection of the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen family, to which the Count of Bergh belonged. Joannes Fredericus Hafkenscheid, the oldest ancestor in the family file on this site, was employed by the Count of Bergh and was made viscount of the House of Ulft in 1691.

The coat of arms depicts a hawk on top of a hill. The official description (in Dutch): "Schild: in goud op een heuvel van sinopel staande een havik van natuurlijke kleur, met opgetrokken rechterpoot, de vleugels in vlucht. Helmwrong dekkleden en vlucht: van goud en sinopel".

The site is divided into generations. Fr Bernards "spreadsheet" we give below:
While the site is probably relevant only to scholars of the great Missioner, still the fact that it gives some mortuary cards of relatives is a rather unique and personal resource in reference to the life of this Father which we are serializing. Also much of that life in the early chapters is drawn from letters written home by Father as a seminarian to the reading of which we are told all the members of the direct and even extended family and friends were invited by his father, Michael. Thus these are the people who were there and followed the career of their great uncle.

Below are the mortuary cards of Father Bernard's parents and brother. They tell us that his father, Michael, died in Amsterdam on 28 September (the vigil of his name's day) 1846 at the age of 74 and that his mother followed him 5 years later on 23 January, 1851. Fr Bernard must surely himself have had a copy of this card. That of his brother Christiaan is captioned with the interesting heading "Jesus, Mary, Joseph" which is common enough but to which is added also "Thaddeus" in honour of the holy Apostle and helper of the helpless, St Jude Thaddeus. It tells us that he, a doctor, died in 1899, that is 34 years after Fr Bernard. The final image we have reproduced is of Father's niece Maria Johanna who died at the age of 28. The only other direct family photograph given on the site is of her and she died in 1852, so once again Fr Bernard would have been aware of this sad death. †