| In the 11th century Soegel was known as "Sugila"
and the parish may have been founded in the 800s. In 1150 the parish was referred to as
"Soggelen" in a Corveyer document. The present-day church was built in 1867-68
replacing a church which had been built in 1482.
The village of Stavern, known as "Stavenerrevar" from as early as 919,
belonged at first to the parish of Bokeloh. In 1424 Klein Stavern became part of Soegel
parish and in 1455 Gross Stavern followed. A "chapel-community" was formed in
1851 which included Gross Stavern, Klein Stavern, Sprakel and Bruneforth and the church of
St Michael was built at that time. St Michael's became a parish in 1868 and has records
for baptisms, births and deaths existing from that date.
The village of Wahn was also in the parish of Soegel throughout most of the 19th
century but became a parish, St Antonius, in 1868. The entire village of Wahn was
evacuated in 1940-42 when the weapons test-area for the firm Krupp was enlarged. The
village was relocated further west but the residents of the original Wahn were moved to
various locations. The new location of Wahn was east of Lathen. Baptism records for the
parish of Wahn exist from 1851-1942, marriages and deaths from 1868-1942.
Other villages which belonged to Soegel throughout the 19th century but now have their
own parishes or have been combined with other parishes are Spahn (1910), Wippingen-Ost and
Werpeloh (1911) and Eisten (1966.) Soegel parish records exist from 1669 but have gaps in
several places.
Most information taken from Handbuch des Bistums Osnabrueck, compiled
by Hermann Stieglitz and published by Bischoefliches Generalikariat Osnabrueck.
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