John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes

Note 1089

In the last note, we looked in on Trupbach, Germany, in the year 1707, where we found the names of many of our Germanna families.  Three of these families immigrated to Virginia in 1713 after they were recruited by Johann Justus Albrecht to mine silver for George Ritter and Company.

There is a tax list for Trupbach in the year 1566.  This shows some of the major elements in their livelihood.  One of the "richest" people in the village was Henn Schneider, who owned the following with his stepson Hermann (no last name given, and perhaps he adopted the name Schneider).  They had a house, two barns (or sheds), the farm itself, the meadows, the fields, one horse, six cows, three heifers, sixteen sheep, seven swine, and a bond (I presume evidence of money that he had lent to another individual).  The farm may have been the land around the house.  The meadows and fields were probably separate pieces of ground at some distance from the house.  Most people in the village owned a "Hauberg" * , and many had a mention of a garden and orchards, but Henn Schneider had none of these listed.  He was one of the few people in town who owned a horse.  So perhaps his life style was a bit different from the others.

At the other extreme was Demuth, a single female farm laborer.  She had no surname, and certainly she had little in physical goods.  The tax collector put her down for "all her goods" at a very modest evaluation, and he noted her cow.  The total tax was 3 Batzen, one of the smallest coins.

In all, there were 17 households.  Some of the names that we might recognize include Schneider, Becker, Hofmann, Heiten, and Zimmerman.  (Not only are there spelling variations in some of the names, the village itself was called Drupach.)

A more typical family was Heyte Leineweber (Linenweaver), whose house, farm, and grounds were rated at 50 R (Rädergulden).  His meadows had a similar evaluation, but his fields came in at 56 R.  His garden was 8 R.  The Hauberg was 60 R.  The forest was 6 R.  His five cows were rated at 4 R each (a standard evaluation), four heifers at 2 R each (again standard), twelve sheep at ½ R each.  The swine were rated at 1R each.  All of the animals, except for the horses, followed the standard evaluations of the time.

I presume the meadows were used to graze animals, and to cut hay for winter feeding.  I am also presuming the fields are where the land was plowed, and grains and flax were planted.  On most of the households, the meadows were rated more highly than the fields, which shows how important it was to grow hay and provide pasture for the animals.

Again, I am taking information from Beyond Germanna which originally came from " Ortsgeschichte Trupbach ", 1989.  In 1566, there appears to be no Richters in the village.

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( * To read other Notes on this website concerning " Haubergs ", you may click on the links below.  There are also some links for German web sites that explain what a "Hauberg" is in detail, and have some photos and drawings.

1. The Fellinghausen Hauberg Photos page;
2. Page 36, Note Nr. 894 ;
3. Page 42, Notes Nr. 1038 & 1039 ;
4. Page 44, Note Nr. 1089 ;
5. Page 57, Note Nr. 1408 ;
6. Page 64, Note Nr. 1584 ;


7. Page 86, Notes Nr. 2141 & 2142 ;

(Other Websites:)
8. HAUBERG-Production of Charcoal (Translated by Google to English);
9. HAUBERG-Production of Charcoal (In German);
10. Der Siegerländer Hauberg (In German)  (Click on "Haubergsarbeiten im Jahreslauf", "Der historische Hauberg", and "Einführung" on the right.)

Be sure to read on down the Notes pages referenced above, since "Hauberg" is discussed in several places in those Notes.  GWD-Webmaster)
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(07 Feb 01)