The Region - The Ravensberg Countryside
( Das Ravensberger Land )

Before 1871 there was no united Germany but a patchwork of smaller and bigger kingdoms and dukedoms. The Ravensberger Land was never independent but belonged in the middle of the 16th century because of an arranged marriage to the Duke of Jülich, Kleve and Berg. So the Ravensburg was just only the place where the representatives of the Duke lived. It was their job to collect taxmoney for the Duke and so it was important for him who lived in some distance, to have an idea of the riches which belonged to his territory.

Ravensberg was divided into 3 domestic parts: Borgholzhausen, Halle and Versmold. Around these small towns you could find farm settlements and in one of these named Berghausen near to Borgholzhausen is still located the Niedermeyer farm. When political and social changes took place in Germany in the run of the centuries the peasants became free farmers and Germany became a political union. Nowadays Berghausen as an own community is history and its just a part of the city of Borgholzhausen.