On driving up to Wagenbach, it was clear that it is a large farm with many structures. Our first problem was to find the house of the person in charge so that we might obtain permission to look around. Barely had we parked the car, when another car drove up and parked very close to us. Thinking that this might be the person I wanted, I went up to the man and found that he spoke good English. Hardly had I made my request, then he informed me that he was only visiting also.
This man had flown in from the US that morning and landed at Frankfurt. While we had been talking, another man came from one of the larger houses and there were warm greetings between the resident man and the visiting man. This visitor had been expected. We found out that his history was that he had been in the US Army and he had become acquainted with the German man. Their friendship turned into being hunting buddies and the American came often to renew their friendship. By now the wives were also present and there was a general invitation to come to the cellar and have some refreshments. We were included in the general graciousness.
After we had drunk everyone’s health, we explained that an ancestor of mine had worked on the farm but left in 1717. They thought this was interesting and they said we could walk around the farm and take any photographs that we wanted.
Today, the farm raises many pigs, starting with brood sows. Their annual production might have been a thousand pigs (just a guess). We found two buildings which looked as though they might have been there when George Utz lived there. One sign was that the structure of the buildings showed that they were a combination of living quarters for people and animals. Today the living quarters for the people have been modernized (with satellite antennas on the roof). The animals have moved to new structures but the tell-tale large doors for wagons remained. Modern housing has been provided for most of the workers today. Probably the farm raised much of the food which the pigs consumed. The actual raising of the pigs seemed to us to be mechanized so that little labor was required.
In the time of George Utz, there would have been few pigs. Pigs and pork did not become popular in Germany until about the start of the Nineteenth Century, but since then, pork has been very popular.
Residents of Wagenbach in 1717 would have walked about two miles to Hueffenhardt to go to church. I have been told by some of the Germanna visitors that the church thinks of itself as Catholic, but it does reject the authority of the Pope. I believe though that it is classified as Evangelische, meaning that it is Protestant legally.
(18 Apr 05)
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.