Except my greatgrandfather Fritz Söhlkes's ancestors from Schaumburg-Lippe only a few people lived in Lower Saxony. But they are quite interesting.
Marienburg south of Hildesheim is my starting point according to my current knowledge.
In 1707 Philipp Raesfeldt appears in Marienburg. He marries an innkeeper's daughter and takes
his father-in-law Hardeck's inn.
He probably is a relative of Bernhard Christoph Raesfeld who appears around 1700 in Hildesheim. Bernhard
Christoph is "Schreiber" (sort of clerk) of the Domkapitel's (cathedral's chapter) granary. In opposite to
Philipp he seems to have been
very respected and whealthy because he is in close contact with bailiff's, canon's and treasurer's families. He
also cumulates a respectable property. In 1707 Bernhard Christoph is sponsor at the baptism of Philipp's eldest son
Bernhard Hinrich.
Where these to Raesfeldts come from I could not find out yet.
Philipps son Jost Henrich, born 1712, moves to Peine probably around 1730. I assume he learned his
profession - surgery - from his future father-in-law Johann Wilhelm Cronewerth who was a military surgeon.
Cronewerth, katholic as the Raesfeldts, is said to have been born around 1680 in Damm,a district in Peine. I found
this remark in the freeman's list of 1718. I could not find his baptism in the Peine records and assume that his family
moved to Peine around 1690 and he had been born at some other place.
He works as a military company's surgeon and is buried on the Lutheran cemetry in Peine in 1764.
Max Cronewerth who is the innkeeper of the "Eulenburg" inn in the Peine district of Telgte is probably
a brother of Johann Wilhelm the surgeon.
But let us come back to young Jost Raesfeldt. In 1740 he marries the daughter of surgeon Cronewerth. The first
child is born in the same year in Braunschweig. In this town Raesfeldt works as surgeon until 1748. He then
moves to the small village Meinersen near Peine. He settles down as "Amtsarzt" (sort of medical officer).
The katholic family adapts itself to the Lutheran surrounding without any problems. The children born in
Meinersen are baptised in the Lutheran church by the Lutheran vicar. Lying on his deathbed in 1757 Raesfeldt converts
to the Lutheran religion. His widow converts in the following year. Even the children born in Braunschweig
who were baptised katholicaly are confirmated in the Lutheran church later.
After Jost Raesfeldt's death his family lives in great poverty. The surviving children get money out of the
poor-box.
While the third son Andreas Hieronymus lives in Elvershausen from 1779 until his death in 1791 working as
a teacher (and where his mother dies in 1785) the second son Otto Georg moves to Wittenburg in Mecklenburg.
He earns his living as spicer and grocer. In 1770 he marries a daughter from the
Wittenburg Lutheran vicar's family Schaller, works as a teacher in Lankow near Schwerin for a few years
and finally lives in Buchholz/Mecklenburg working as a custodian until his death in 1791.
You can find more about these families at Schmidt.