Johannes Gilhoff

Who was Johannes Gilhoff?

Johannes Heinrich Carl Christian Gillhoff was a German teacher and author.

Gillhof was born in Glaisin in Mecklenburg-Schwerin. He followed in his father's profession as a teacher. He graduated in 1881 from a teaching school and later passed the teaching examination in Schwerin.

After becoming a teacher Gillhoff would begin collecting colloquial expressions used by locals, starting as early as 1888. Gillhoff collected about 4,000 Low German expressions, speech patterns and proverbs and published them in a report. In 1892 Gillhoff would also have published a work called Mecklenburgischen Volksrätseln. The book unites 931 riddles, plus variants, that Gillhoff subdivided into subject areas. This work by Gillhoff was overshadowed in 1897 by a similar work by Richard Wossidlo.

Gillhoff's most well-known work, Jürnjakob Swehn der Amerikafahrer, roughly translated into English as "Jürnjakob Swehn, the Traveler to America", was published in 1917. Gillhoff retired from teaching in 1924, but would go on to have published the work called Mecklenburgischen Monatshefte. Gillhoff died in the town of Parchim.