John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes

Note 1352

I return to the Gaar/Garr family to look in some more detail at the ancestors of Andreas Gaar and his wife Eva Seidelmann. The occupations of many of the men are known.

For Andreas' family, we find the following occupations:

Andreas himself was a master weaver.
His father was a linen weaver.
His paternal grandfather was a master weaver.
His maternal grandfather was a cloth maker.
Andreas' great-grandfather, along the male line, was a "citizen, locksmith, and day laborer." Apparently, he learned much of his living as a day worker while studying and working at the art of lock-smithing (described as a journeyman).
The original Hans Gahr was a farmer, apparently specializing in vegetables. Probably Hans did not own any land, but worked for another person on the Kolmbach farm.
Other occupations mentioned in the family tree of Andreas were a master baker, an innkeeper, an assistant judge, all in the person of a great-grandfather.
Also there was another cloth maker, and there were a mason and a baker.

For Eva's family, we find the following occupations:

Eva's father was a farmer and linen weaver.
One grandfather was a weaver, and the other was a master weaver.
Another generation back there was an innkeeper, a weaver, and a man who was simply described as a subject of the Margrave of Sinbronn.
In earlier generations there was an innkeeper, who was also a judge and a mayor.
Another ancestor was a master baker.

On the whole, Andreas and Eva, and their families, were middle class people, where 95% of the people at that time and place were in the lowest group, maybe 4% were middle class, and fewer than 1% were the upper class. Roughly, people of this time were divided into people who labored on farms, the townspeople, and the owners of the land. By the standards of that day, the Andreas Gaar family had little reason to immigrate, as they were enjoying the "good life". In fact, one wonders why they did leave.

Hans, the earliest of the Gaars/Gahrs/Gars, seems to have had humble beginnings, but this MIGHT have been the result of his migration under circumstances where he could bring little with him. Starting with him, there was an improvement in the situation of the family members, which reached to the level of masters of recognized trades.

The pastor at Illenschwang, in 1733 or 1734, wrote that Andreas Gaar went with a party of 300 people. This hints at a bit of history which has not been fully explored. Nothing that Andreas or his son Adam wrote hinted of other people, as they did not give reports on other people who came from the area.
(06 Feb 02)

We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.