John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes

Note 1604

The German author of " 1200 Years in Eschelbronn " said about the village pastors:

"Pastors lived in the poorest circumstances.  They were dependent on the noble patrons (Barons) who mostly managed to put their benefices into their own pockets.  The parishes were full of problems for the pastor's family."
Anthony Jacob got into trouble because he was willing to do manual work.  Some of the Magistrates and Barons thought this was unbecoming for a pastor.  But what was needed was labor to rebuild.  Anthony Jacob was accused of cutting trees in the forest for lumber.  The offense was not the taking of the wood; the crime, in some people's eyes, was the manual labor that he exerted.

Because the Lutheran Parish was so small, Anthony Jacob had little to do in the way of baptisms, marriages, and funerals.  To help support himself, Pfarrer Henckel bought a farm, perhaps as much as anything to grow some food for his own consumption.

An agricultural revolution was underway while Henckel was in Eschelbronn.  The emigrants brought in new ideas.  In particular, the Mennonites from Switzerland brought the idea of keeping their animals in the stalls.  They raised hay for animal food, which was better than browsing in the forest.  In the stalls, the manure was captured and distributed on the fields.  A historian said that the improvements in cattle raising, the improvement in the three-field system of agriculture, which had required one-third to be idle, and the introduction of the potato were the most noteworthy events in the Eighteenth Century.  In another effort to improve their living, the peasants started growing flax and working it into linen.  For a hundred years this was a supplemental income source.

There was a limited postal service in the 17th century, but Eschelbronn was not on the route.  One had to go to Sinsheim or Wiesenbach to get or to send mail.

Much of the life in the village centered on special events.  There were feast days and weddings to celebrate.  The church was very important and its bells sounded the beginning of the day and the end of the day as well as the beginning and end of life with baptisms and funerals.

We know little about the Barons of Eschelbronn who hired Henckel, and they sat in judgment on his performance.  They determined his pay.  One historian called them "tyrannical little barons".  The magistrate said that the baronial brothers and Henckel were not too happy with each other.
(26 Feb 03)

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.