A number of months ago Wyneken descendant Ben Phelps shared with me several scanned documents pertaining to the Wyneken family that he had acquired from various sources in the course of his research. Among them were such things as death records and last wills.
One of these documents I find especially post-worthy for two reasons. First, it documents the appointment of Christoph Wyneken, one of the oldest know Wyneken forebears, to the office of “Rentmeister”, translatable as “government treasurer”, in the Duchy of Bremen and Verden. Second, the appointment is signed and sealed by Queen Christina of Sweden. (At the end of the 30 Years War, that northern part of Germany was under Swedish rule.)
The picture at the top of this page shows part of the title page of the document, and the picture at the bottom includes the date — 6th of February, 1649, Christina’s signature, and her seal, covered presumably for protection.
This document is located in the Stade archives: “Acta betreffend Bestallung des Landrentmeisters Christoph Wieneken für die Herzogthümer Bremen und Verden,” Niedersächsisches Landesarchiv Stade, Rep. 5a Nr. 1931, 1649 and 1651.
Wyneken Family History 