Oelfke

The name Oelfke, name of farmers from the "Hohe Heidmark" of the administrative district Heidekreis in Lower-Saxony, Germany traces back to Ol, Oel=Adel (nobility), Od=Besitz (property), like Oleff, Oloff, Odulleib, that's the one who has the life in sense of "being inheritor", simply expressed that's the one who owns the inheritance of farmer.^[1] The farm's name "Oelfkenhof" in Oerbke is already traced to the "Celler Schatzregister" of 1438.^[2]

A descendant of the Oelfke family immigrated to the area of Hamburg, Minnesota where thousands of his descendants now live.