In Trupbach, we are looking at the occupations of the residents of the village at about the time that our ancestors left for America.
There were two wheelwrights mentioned, Johann Friedrich Jung and Johann Heinrich Jung, who were father and son. They overlapped in time in the year 1713. Three joiners or cabinet makers were mentioned and no relationship among them is given. Their last names were NOELL, WALPERSDORF, and HENK. All of these were later than 1713 so that it is impossible to say there were joiners in 1713. There were also wood turners, who were later. Their surnames were NOELL, NOELL (son of the previous), GIEBELER, NOELL, and KORSTIAN. Both of these occupations may have reflected the period of growth in connection with mining in the 1800's.
Again, sometime after 1713, there were several forge workers, the earliest of whom was in 1743. They, too, may be the result of the later mining activity. Their surnames were SCHNEIDER, SCHUSS and his son, HIEDE, BECKER and his two sons and a grandson who comes down to 1862.
The two (black) smiths, WICKEL and STRACKE, were much later, in 1862.
An unusual occupation for a village the size of Trupbach was clockmaker. There were several such men of the house Urmeiersch. They were Christoffel RICHTER (1666); Johannes, his son, in 1704; Herman, the son of Johannes, in 1738; and Johann Henrich HOFFMAN, the son-in-law of Herman in 1773.
There were five linen weavers, the earliest mentioned in 1745, but probably the occupation was present before then. Surnames were STEIN, twice SCHNEIDER, KLASS, and REUTER.
The two tailors seem to be of a later period, as are the two shoemakers.
There were also two masons and two thatchers, all in the 1800s.
There were three innkeepers, but all in the 1800s.
The occupations tended to run in families with the job passed from father to son, or to son-in-law. Since guilds existed for many of these occupations, the fathers probably used their influence to get their relatives admitted as apprentices to the guild.
It would be totally impossible to conclude that Trupbach in the early 1700's was, in any way, connected with the mining or metal working industries.
(06 Jul 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.