Mechthild
*1830
Born and raised in the village she marries a farmer, learns to adapt to life in the countryside, and gives birth to Wilhelm, her only son.
Wilhelm
*1856
Wilhelm grows up on his parents’ farm, which he later takes over. With his wife Elisabeth he has two children named Gertrud and Gerhard.
Elisabeth
*1860
Elisabeth, a girl from the town of Bocholt, falls in love with Wilhelm at a dance. They soon marry and move in together on his farm. In addition to working on the farm, she sits at the loom as a home weaver, as was customary in her family.
Gertrud
*1880
Gertrud suffers a severe case of measles as an infant, from which she never fully recovers. As a “helpless person”, she is dependent on help her whole life.
Gerhard
*1879
Gerhard leaves his parents’ farm to earn money in town as a trained blue dyer. He uses the savings to build a little house for himself, his wife Anna and their children in the village center of Rhede, but he pays for it with his health
Anna
*1880
Anna lives in Rhede with her husband Gerhard and their two children. She works as an industrial weaver in one of the new steam-powered textile factories. Everything here is faster than in the homebased weaving community, but the personal risks are also increasing for Anna.
Bernhard
*1899
An adventurous boy who, at the age of six, is at home in the village of Rhede. He would later like to become a carpenter or roofer and build his own house.
Josefine
*1905
Her birth in 1905 is a small miracle: many babies at this time do not live to see their first birthday. But Josefine survives – yet she doesn’t eat like other babies do.
This is the Rheesing family.
Their stories come to life at our media stations on the tour of the exhibition.