[Deutsche Version]
Dieter G. H. Garling June 22, 2003
Mecklenburg in the past - a short FAQ
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FAQ.Mecklenburg, June 2003 (MEC is used for Mecklenburg)
Please, send any corrections and suggestions to garling@web.de
Q: Where is MEC?
Q: What was MEC's recent history?
Q: What is the weather pattern like in MEC?
Q: What about currency and salary?
Q: What are the main weigths and measures?
Q: Where can I get maps of MEC?
Q: Where can I read old church books? Main archives in MEC?
Q: What is the meaning of rural professions like "Tagel"ohner", ... ?
Q: I have a lot of questions - if you can't answer them could you direct
me to a source that might be able to? i.e. books I might purchase,
tourist pamphlets, internet resources, organizations or people etc.?
Q: When were civil registers introduced?
Q: Is XYZ a common last name in Germany? then and now? Is XYZ simply a
name or does it carry any other meaning? Who else is looking for my
surname?
Q: Why are people fixed in the church records with different given names?
Q: Why were German names so long?
Q: Do you have any family stories about my ancestors? Do you have any
bits of information about their personalities, or life experiences?
Or their appearance?
Q: Would XYZ or others in my ancestry have been veterans of any wars?
Q: Was their public education or schools for the common person in
Germany about 1850? how about after and before this time?
Q: Would XYZ have been able to read and write - beyond his name?
Q: Reasons for emigration to the USA - specific family events that led
to emigration from Germany? Or events and experiences in leaving and
coming to the USA?
Q: Do you know where or how my ancestor would have learned about going
to the US? Why not some other European country?
Q: What would the transportation to the US have been like? How long
would it have taken?
Q: Would XYZ have come through Ellis Island in New York City? or were
there other ports of entry to the US at that time?
Q: How would the imigrant have decided where in the US to settle?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Where is MEC?
A: Currently, MEC is a part of the Bundesland "MEC - Vorpommern" (MEC -
West Pomerania) in Germany. It is located in the northeast of
Germany surrounded by the Baltic Sea (North), Schleswig - Holstein
(West), Lower Saxonia (South-West), Brandenburg (South) and Poland
(East). The capital is Schwerin. MEC was never part of Prussia!
Q: What was MEC's recent history?
A: The "written" history started in 995 (first time the name was men-
tioned), i.e. MEC is a thousand years old. 1167 the German state MEC
was founded. 1304 MEC got (nearly) the typical extension. In the
following centuries MEC has been split into two and more parts:
1229: MEC, Rostock, Parchim-Richenberg and Werle-G"ustrow
1621: MEC-Schwerin and MEC-G"ustrow
1701: MEC-Schwerin and MEC-Strelitz (the territory of MEC-Schwerin
before and after 1701 is different)
In 1871 the German Empire was founded, Grand Duchies of MEC joined,
in 1918 the grand duchies were abolished, in 1934 both Grand Duchies were
united in the German state of MEC. In history MEC often had to suffer
in foreign wars, e.g. during the Thirty-Years War (1618 - 48), 1674
- 1675 during the Brandenburg - Swedish War, 1700 - 1721 the Northern
War, 1756 - 1763 Seven-Year-War, 1813 - 1815 the Napoleon War.
Two further important historic facts are inherited serfdom (approx.
1650 - 1820) and mass emigration (approx. 1850 - 1890).
Q: What is the weather pattern like in MEC?
A: Some American friends of mine, who know MEC and the US, told me: MEC
and Indiana are the same: weather, nature, ... People from MEC will
feel like home.
Q: What about currency and salary?
A: The three currency levels in MEC were: Taler, Schilling and Pfennig.
Till 1848 one 2/3 Taler was 32 Schilling, 12 Pfennig added up to one
Schilling. Another name for the MEC 2/3 Taler was Gulden. To make
the MEC Taler comparable to the Taler in other German states, the
value was defined: 17 Taler were made with 234g of silver. From 1848
till 1873 one Taler was 48 Schilling, 12 Pfennig were one Schilling.
I. e. 234g silver 14 (full) Taler = 21 Gulden (2/3 Taler) = 672
Schilling. From 1873 on the German currency units were Mark and
Pfennig (one Mark was 100 Pfennig).
The daily payment of a Tagel"ohner (day laborer) around 1820 was
approx. 10 Shilling (men), 6 Shilling (women).
Q: What are the main weigths and measures?
A: Linear measure:
1 meckl. FuB = 12 Zoll = 29.1 cm
1 meckl. Rute = 8 Ellen = 16 FuB = 4,66 m
1 meckl. Meile = 7532 m
Square measure:
1 meckl Hufe(*) = ca 4000 square Ruten
1 meckl Morgen ( bis 1648) = 300 square Ruten = 65 a
1 meckl Morgen (nach 1648) = 117,67 square Ruthen = 25,53 a
1 Hektar = 461,28 square Ruten = 7532 Morgen
(aproximately: 1 Hektar (ha) = ca. 4 Morgen = ca. 120 square Ruten
Pls consider: the /Hufe/ was never a real square measure. It was the
area, where a given yield was possible (in dependence of the quality
of the soil). Therefore /Hufe/ has large regional differences.
Weight measures:
1 meckl Pfund = 484,7 g
1 Zentner = 112 Pfund = 54,3 kg
Coins:
untill 1600: 1 Mark = 16 Schillinge = 192 Pf (denari)
untill 1872: 1 Taler = 3 Mark = 48 Schillinge = 576 Pf
from 1872: 1 Taler = 3 Mark = 30 Groschen = 300 Pf
(the Taler was abolished in 1908)
Q: Where can I get maps of MEC?
A: Up to date topographical maps (1:25,000) from MEC and historical maps
are available at
Landesvermessungsamt MV
L"ubecker Str. 289
D-19059 Schwerin, Germany
Ask for their map catalog for MEC. The best German gazetteer
is Meyers Orts- and Verkehrslexikon des Deutschen Reiches, edition of
1912, which is available on microfiche in the LDS Family History
Centres. There is an LDS microfilm #068814 available of "Karte des
Deutschen Reiches" (scale 1:100,000, 1km = 1cm) which may be loaned
thru the LDS Family History Centers.
A list of MEC villages and assigned parishes is available at
http://www.MFPeV.de
At http://www.bubis.com/mvp.htm you can get a list of actual
geographic dates you (select the county, then "Zahlen, Daten und
Fakten"). Even better is www.meine-stadt.de/mecklenburg-vorpommern
Q: Where can I read old church books? Main archives in MEC?
A: The best possibility to read old church books is provided by your
local branch of the LDS Family History Center. All MEC church books
were copied to microfilm by the Mormons and are now available for
private family research.
The main state archive in MEC is the "Landeshauptarchiv":
Landeshauptarchiv Schwerin
Graf-Schack-Allee 2
D-19053 Schwerin, Germany
Available are e.g. emigration records (requests for emigration),
church records after 1875 or census records (1704, 1751, 1819, 1867,
1900). Not all sources are available for all areas. In most towns
there are local archives (list of selected archives at www.MFPeV.de).
The main church archive is (all MEC church books are available):
Landeskirchliches Archiv Schwerin
M"unzstr. 8 - 10, PF 011003
D-19010 Schwerin, Germany
Q: What is the meaning of rural professions like "Tagel"ohner", ... ?
A: The meaning of the professions changed in time. A rough explanation
is:
/(Ritter)Gutsbesitzer/ were the about 550 - 600 rich man who owned
the land in MEC (among them the duchies). Such a large piece of land
was called /Gut/ or /Hof/.
/Pensionare/, /(Guts)P"achter/ were the tenants of the /G"uter/ or
/H"ofe/. The had a lot of /Knechte/, /M"agde/, /Tagel"ohner/ who did
the work.
/H"ufner/ is a very old term for a peasant. His land had a size of
one /Hufe/. One /Hufe/ was enough to feed one family. 1755 a /Hufe/
was defined depending on the quality of the soil from 48 ha to 195
ha. A derived professions is /Halbh"ufner/, who had half of a /Hufe/.
Another old term for a peasant was /Kossate/. He lived in a small
house (sometimes called /Kate/ = small shack, therefore the
"profession" /K"athner/ is also used) and worked on a small piece of
land (1/4 ... 1/2 /Hufe/?).
/Hauswirth/, /Hausmann/: official name for peasants, their land was
usually only leased for a certain amount of time. In the 19th
century (beginning 1822) they became hereditary lease holders.
/Erbp"achter/: name for peasants with hereditary lease (meaning that
the oldest son would receive the lease) held land, (lease holders)
approx. 5 - 20 ha. After 1867 only hereditary lease was possible.
/Bauer/: modern term after about 1850 for middle-sized farmer (less
500 Morgen). But also:
Old MEC law and justice divided people in /Adlige/ (noble man) and
/Nichtadlige/. The /Nichtadlige/ were /B"urger/ (citizens) and
/Bauern/ (farmer).
Those farmer's places were entitled with different names in time:
/Hausmann/, /Hauswirth/ is used in reference to /Hausstelle/. That
was the common term during the times of serfdom and a little longer
out of habit (after the Thirty-Years War till 1821/22, in parts until
1870/71). If the farmer reached an age where he could not stand up to
the demands he went to the /Altenteil/. He moved in an extra room or
an extra house on the farm and was /Altenteiler/ from then on. His
successor, usually the oldest son, had to care for him until he died.
The same rule applied when a strange person overtook the farm. The
other sons that could not overtake a farm, lived and worked as
farmhands (/Knechte/) for their brother. They could also work at some
other place, then they usually lived as impecunious /Einlieger/. One
could say that they lived for rent. That could be that way for a
whole lifetime. The reward was paid in natural produce. They even
received their clothes from the farmer. The /Tagel"ohner/ (day
laborers), worked for a salary at a different place every day. This
term was formed because of the establishing money economy -
especially on knightly courts (/Ritterg"uter/).
After the Thirty Years War the /B"udner/ ensued. They did not own a
real farm, just so-called /Buden/ - stalls. They were small farmers
with about 5 - 10 ha (hectares, aproximately 12 - 25 acres) of arable
land. A "real" farmer owned approx. 20 ha (50 a.). After an edict by
the duke of MEC in the mid-18th century a lot of /B"udner-
stellen/ were established in all of the ducal villages. They received
arable land from until then unused areas, that was usually very bad
land. Most of the time it had to be cultivated first (flood areas,
moors, wooded land).
In the mid-19th century the establishment of /H"auslerstellen/ began,
due to the emigration wave. Those people did not have any perspective
in MEC. To keep them there, land of up to 100 square Ruten, approx.
2000 square metres, was given to interested people. Those were, as a
rule, people that made their living by taking on several short jobs.
The /H"ausler/ (and-owning worker, workmen) did not own any other land.
/Knecht/ (male), /Magd/ (female): unpropertied worker, usually at one
court (farmhands, servants)
/Tagel"ohner/ (day laborers): unpropertied worker, worked were there
was work, the daily payment (= /Taglohn/) around 1820 was approx. 10
Shilling (men), 6 Shilling (women), a workday started at 5 am and
lasted till dusk (including a two hour break); a bushel (40 l) of
rye cost 48 Bl (= 1 Reichsthaler), one bushel of barley cost 32 Bl.
/Kirchenjurat/ member of the local parish council
/Arbeitsmann/ (non-farm) laborer, used in the second half of 19th century
/Einlieger/ subtenant, had no own house and no land
/Holländer/ worked in the "milk production"
/Schweizer/ was engaged with cattle-breeding
/Statthalter/ worked for a tenant on a /Gut/ or /Hof/, was the advisor of
the field-workers
Q: I have a lot of questions - if you can't answer them could you direct
me to a source that might be able to? i.e. books I might purchase,
tourist pamphlets, internet resources, organizations or people etc.?
A: For general genealogical questions for Germany read the SGG FAQ by
Jim Eggert (at http://www.genealogy.net/gene/faqs/sgg.html). For
MEC genealogy let me mention these web sites
(here you will already find the answers to most of your questions):
1. The "Verein f"ur Mecklenburgische Familien- und
Personengeschichte e. V." (MFP) started to provide several
MEC information on its web page: www.MFPeV.de or at
http://www.math.uni-rostock.de/~mfp
2. Another source is the German Genealogy: MEC Web Page:
http://www.genealogy.net/gene/reg/MEC/mec.html
If you have very special questions, probably the mailing list which
especially deals with MEC genealogy questions, can help you.
You can subscribe via
http://list.genealogy.net/mailman/listinfo/mecklenburg-l
Once subscribed, you can post your questions to this group with a mail
to: mecklenburg-l@genealogy.net.
On my homepage (come.to/garling) I tried to answer a lot of common
questions. Adresses etc. you will find in the chapter "Research Help",
information on emigration is summarized in several emigration chapters.
Q: When were civil registers introduced?
A: In MEC starting from 1.1.1876. The Civil registry office is called
Standesamt.
Q: Is XYZ a common last name in Germany? then and now? Is XYZ simply a
name or does it carry any other meaning? Who else is looking for my
surname?
A: This is difficult to answer. For the previous century you can check
the register of the 1819 census. This includes a list of names and
their location. But this census only covers MEC. Nowadays you can
search for XYZ in the German online telephone directory (e.g. at
http://www.teleauskunft.de/). You will get surnames and zip codes
(i. e. of the towns, where the families live)
From the usenet I got the following list:
The most common German names, in approximate order, are:
1. M"ULLER 2. SCHMIDT 3. MEYER 4. SCHNEIDER
5. FISCHER 6. WEBER 7. BECKER 8. WAGNER
9. SCH"AFER 10. SCHULZ 11. HOFFMANN 12. BAUER
13. KOCH 14. KLEIN 15. SCHR"ODER 16. SCHWARZ
17. WOLF 18. NEUMANN 19. BRAUN 20. ZIMMERMANN
21. HUBER 22. HARTMANN 23. WEISS 24. RICHTER
25. LANGE 26. KRAUSE 27. KR"UGER 28. WERNER
29. PETERS 30. FUCHS 31. WALTER 32. K"ONIG
33. K"OHLER 34. KAISER 35. JUNG 36. KELLER
37. HERMANN 38. ROTH 39. GR"UN 40. GROSS
To look for the meaning of the name XYZ you should read the surname
book for German names, "Deutsches Namenlexikon" by Hans Bahlow.
Q: Why are people fixed in the church records with different given names?
A: There are different reasons.
Church records in previous centuries are not as official documents as
state records are nowadays. If someone got four given names at birth,
it would be hard for the pastor to remember all four names in the
death records (it is not the same pastor as for the birth).
In the church records it was not necessary to list the full name of
the father for the birth record of his son. Everybody in the village
knowed "Frederich Garling the shepherd" better than Frederich Adolph
Christian Garling. Imagine three "Cords"-families living in the same
village, nobody would know who Johann Heinrich Friedrich Cords is,
but everybody would know the oldest son of the black smith.
Sometimes a pastor wrote only the used given name of the person, or
he remembers only two out of four names, or he remembers two names
correct and wrote a wrong third given name. Often the people were
called not by a given name, but by a short form of it.
The people had no identity cards. Unfortunately (especially the old)
church books are not written for genealogists.
Another reason is the "life" of a name. For example the surname
Z"ulocke moved to S"ulck over centuries. Or German names were
americanized in US (e.g. Kr"oger changed to Kruger). The spelling of
the names was not fixed. The pastor wrote in the church book what he
understood. And there is no difference in "Mayer", "Meier", or
"Meyer".
Given names are also very "flexible". There is the short form (how
the people were called), the official form, or the Americanized form.
See the table:
MEC aka German full name American full name American aka
Ann Anna Annie
Carl, Karl Charles Charlie, Chuck
Caroline Carol Lina, Carrie
Trin Catharina Catherine Cathy, Kitty, Trina
Lotte Charlotte Charlette Lottie
Christian Chris
Stien Christina Teena
Dortie Dorothea Dorothy Dottie
Liesch Elisabeth Elizabeth Lizzie
Ernst Ernest
Franz Frank
Friederich Frederick Fred, Fritz
Friederike Frida, Frances
Gustav Gus
Heinrich Henry Henni
Jette Henriette Henrietta Hattie, Harriet
Ilsch Ilsabe Elizabeth Lizzie
Joachim Joseph
Johann John
Lehn Magdalena Lena Lena
Greth Margarethe Margaret Maggy, Marjory
Mrick Maria Mary Mary
Fieck Sophie
Wilhelm William Bill, Willie
Minna Wilhelmine Mina Minnie
Any additions?
(I hope the columns are well visible with your browser)
Q: Why were German names so long?
A: In general people had three or four given names. The largest name I
found in my database is Gustav Friedrich Johann Carl Wilhelm Heinrich
/Eickelberg/. I have three given names and I know a lot of Americans
who have three given names. Unfortunately I "forgot" to continue this
custom with my children.
Q: Do you have any family stories about my ancestors? Do you have any
bits of information about their personalities, or life experiences?
Or their appearance?
A: It is very difficult to find "personal" information of that time. But
I think, if you know, that someone e.g. lived as a "Tagel"ohner",
"Hauswirth", "Einlieger", "Sch"afer" (shepherd), ... you can try to
find out a lot of information on how he lived. The poor MEC people
had no special "personality".
Excellent descriptions of the life of the common people during the
first half of the 19th century you can find in two books by Fritz
Reuter (available in English, out of print?):
o "Seed-Time and Harvest; Or During My Apprenticeship" (from "Ut Mine
Stromtid")
o "When the French Were Here; or In the Year 1813" (from "Ut de
Franzosentid").
o "Seven Years of My Live" (from "Ut de Festungstied")
Further books, that I can recommend:
o Lisa J"ursz: Carl Malchin, ein mecklenburgischer Maler; Verlag
Atelier im Bauernhaus Fischerhude 1995, ISBN 3-88 132-246 9; Carl
Malchin painted excellent pictures from the old MEC countryside.
Some of them are presented on my web site (come.to/garling)
o W. Karge, E. Muench, H. Schmied: Die Geschichte Mecklenburgs (The
History of MEC); Hinstorff Verlag, Rostock 1996, ISBN
3-356-00527-8; This book (in German) is a good description of MEC
history.
In general it is said, that typical characteristic of the people in
MEC were diligence, calmness and perseverance.
Q: Would XYZ or others in my ancestry have been veterans of any wars?
A: There will be no records of poor people, only of the leaders in the
war. But I found in MEC in some village churches commemorative
tablets with the names of people, who took part in any wars for the
years 1813 - 1815, 1870 - 1871, or lost their life in WWI, WWII.
Write to the local pastor.
Q: Was their public education or schools for the common person in
Germany about 1850? how about after and before this time?
A: Difficult to answer for me. I think the children in villages went to
school till the age of 14. It was enough for them to learn reading,
writing, to believe in God and to work for the land owner. The Grand
Duchies tried to raise the common education level, in the area of
the /Ritterschaft/ it was hardly to realize.
Q: Would XYZ have been able to read and write - beyond his name?
A: In the middle of the 19th century - I think yes. See the letters
written to emigrants in my webpage (come.to/garling)
Emigration
==========
Q: Reasons for emigration to the USA - specific family events that led
to emigration from Germany? Or events and experiences in leaving and
coming to the USA?
A: In my opinion there is only one reason for emigration from MEC to the
US in the last century: the very, very poor life of the people, i.e.
poverty, serfdom and lawlessness. Furthermore they had no hope for a
better live in their home country. Almost every emigrant hoped to one
day live on and cultivate his own piece of land - almost impossible to
achieve in their home country. R G Tiedemann (tiedemanng@aol.com)
added: In connection with the question of the reasons for emigration,
I am particularly interested in the issue of physical mobility. While
poverty obviously was the principal underlying reason for emigration,
I wonder to what extent this was possibly under conditions of serf-
dom. Serfdom implies being tied to the soil. Yet in the course of the
18th century the growth of an underclass of people without access to
land seems to have led to greater physical mobility by necessity. I
wonder, therefore, how firmly my ancestors, apparently shepherds in
the Grevesm"uhlen area, were tied to the land around 1800. I have
certainly found it difficult to pin them down to a particular place.
However, the real wave of migration started in the middle of the 19th
century, well after the abolition of serfdom. The factor that created
this growing pool of migrants, it seems to me, was greater efficiency
in agricultural production (enclosure of common lands; increasing
mechanization; direct management of estates by large landowners; even
the effects of peasant emancipation, etc.). Fewer people were
required in the countryside, with fewer opportunities to survive
there.
Q: Do you know where or how my ancestor would have learned about going
to the US? Why not some other European country?
A: Most of the emigrants went overseas, especially to the USA, but also
to South America. In the USA they had the best development
conditions. In fertile regions of North America anyone could purchase
land for very low prices. When the first people reported about their
success in building a better life to their relatives in MEC, a chain
reaction started.
Q: What would the transportation to the US have been like? How long
would it have taken?
A: The crossings could last up to 90 days with sailing ships. The
conditions were more than bad, only very few emigrants had a bed
during their crossing, many people were piled in tiny cabins
underdeck. There was hardly enough food for everyone, especially
towards the end of the journey. It is said that England's ships were
equipped even worse than Germany's. (Diary of an emigrant
http://www.eMecklenburg.de/geo/emigrat/emi_diar.html)
Q: Would XYZ have come through Ellis Island in New York City? or were
there other ports of entry to the US at that time?
A: Before 1850 a large amount of people went from Rotterdam to
Philadelphia, PA. Later Hamburg was a major emigration port, mainly
to New York.
Q: How would the imigrant have decided where in the US to settle?
A: Preferred states are Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio and Indiana. In
Oklahoma, e.g., there was a "land lottery" - land was given away for
free to immigrants; other states that were low on citizens came up
with very fair prices or conditions to attract immigrants.