Horse brook
Pferdsbach is a former village in the area of today's city of Büdingen in the Wetteraukreis and was in the area of today's district of Dudenrod . People lived and worked there for centuries. In 1847, however, poverty and want drove the residents almost entirely to emigrate to Pittsburgh in North America . This was preceded by long negotiations, the necessary clarification of open property issues and the sale of the entire community with fields, meadows and wooded areas, houses and barns as well as the clarification of existing rights and obligations. What remained was a desert . There is nothing to indicate the former building, only remnants of the cemetery and a memorial stone remind of the community and the people who lived there.
location
Pferdsbach was in a valley three kilometers north of Büdingen in the direction of the Kefenröder district of Bindsachsen on both sides of the road below the Christinenhof . The Pferdsbacher Quelle is the origin of the Kälberbach ( colloquially the Kälberbach ), which flows into the Seemenbach in Büdingen .
The land register (parcel register) of the district was created in 1831 by geometer Kirsch : hall 1 encompasses the village of Pferdsbach, hall 2 extends in a southerly direction to the Sandhof, hall 3 is north of Pferdsbach and includes the Christinenhof.
Origin of the place name
W. Sturmfels derives the name from "the brook where horses were kept". This interpretation is probably not correct, because grazing horses that went to water by a stream were not an outstanding feature at that time that would have been suitable for the unambiguous designation of a community. Even if the horse keeping had been typical for the place, it would have been called Gäulsbach , because in the Büdinger area and far around that there were no horses in vernacular, but horses . Possibly the name comes from some important connecting routes and paths that met in Pferdsbach and there led across the brook. The oldest known spellings are Perdsbach (1365), later Perdessbach (1489) and Paretzbach (1490). The place was popularly called Padsbach .
History 1223 to 1845
The village of Pferdsbach was documented for the first time on August 25, 1365 by the dean and chapter of the St. Stephansstift monastery in Mainz , who declared that the knights of Merlau (now part of Mücke ) were to fief the tithes of Bernsfelden and Pferdsbach from them had. You are referring to letters from 142 years ago that could prove this. Thus, the first written mention of Pferdbach would have been to the year 1223. The origin of the place is probably already in the years of the Franconian conquest of 500 to 800 AD. On December 4th, 1366 Johann and Eberhardt R. and Berthold Weppen zu Merlau confess that they received this tithe from the intended monastery as a fief. Landgrave Heinrich confesses on May 1, 1370 that the fiefdom had passed to Hesse. Landgrave Wilhelm the Younger of Hesse confirmed on May 8, 1493 that the Augustinians zu Grünberg had goods at Pferdsbach among other things.
In 1551 the village had 18 families and was "used for imperial investment or appraisal" . Together with Dudenrod , which has eleven families , the residents have to raise three guilders, 17 shillings and six hellers. For 1620 the Ysenburg register of subjects shows 33 houses. In winter, the residents had to earn some extra money as forest workers in the surrounding Markwald (Büdinger city and court forest ). The houses in the village were mostly single-storeyed with a living room, barn and a small stable, which enabled a cow and one or two pigs to be kept.
Shortly before the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War , the town had 33 taxpayers in around 30 houses, but only two with ten to 20 acres of land. Most of them had very little wealth. The register of subjects from 1620 shows 43 families for Pferdsbach and Dudenrod, including six farm workers who had to sacrifice dishes, 22 individuals, i.e. craftsmen and private individuals. Until the war, there was a school in Pferdsbach, but no school house of its own.
It was only after Duke Christian von Braunschweig lost the battle at Höchst in 1622 that billeting took place . With this burden and the compulsory deliveries ( deliveries ) resulting from the war, the villagers finally became impoverished. In 1625, 16 families were on a begging trip, eleven had died of the plague . The cattle were mostly loan cattle. On September 6, 1634, the Swedes lost the battle of Nördlingen . In this and the following year, 13 years before the end of the war, the imperial forces flooded the area. They found no supplies in Pferdsbach, but stole the last of the cattle.
In 1648 the village was deserted. The remaining four registered residents lived in Dudenrod. In 1662, Pferdsbach was still not settled again, while new life was stirring everywhere in the surrounding area. The gentlemen of the state government in Büdingen decided on January 20, 1662, in agreement with the gentlemen in Wächtersbach , Hanau and Ortenberg, to issue an edict and to post it in the respective cellars (offices of the accounting officers ), "which means that the one, so popular After pferdsbach to sit down And to bawen ten years from all complaints, whatever their names should be left free. ” The edict had an effect, and some families settled, but also reached the village in the following hundred years not back to its old size; In 1750 there were 25 residents who had to pay homage . In 1816, when the village became part of the Hessian state association, the special sample list shows 49 households with 220 people; 199 were local attendants and six were in the military. A year before the emigration negotiations began, in 1845, 42 families lived there.
Reasons for and planning to emigrate
The area of Pferdsbach comprised around 1000 acres of land including the forest areas. The field mark was only 387 acres, at that time almost a third belonged to the Count Christinenhof estate. However, the areas were distributed very differently and also split up into over 2000 parcels due to the Solms inheritance .
Due to the limited area and the low crop yields averaging four hundredweight per acre, as well as the considerable amount of wild food from the princely Ysenburg-Büdingian forest surrounding the fields, the yields were far too low to feed the families. Due to the poor harvests in the whole country and the associated rise in prices, the idea of emigrating to America with its "immeasurable wealth" was obvious. Each settler family was to receive 500 acres of land there as a gift: an area that the whole village in Pferdsbach had to get along with.
After long negotiations with the Hessian government, a favorable purchase agreement was concluded for the Pferdsbacher family, through which their private and community property was transferred to the princely house.
The community still had obligations towards the parish, the church and the school, on the other hand, from the division of the Markwald forest around the Eckartswäldchen in 1830, the community still had rights to purchase wood from other communities and the like. The question of where the students from Christinenhof and Dudenrod would have to be schooled in the future had to be clarified, since the Dudenrod community was not in a position to run a school with its own resources.
On February 28, 1846, the Princely Chamber Director K. Melior submitted an offer, subject to the approval of the Prince of the community, which contained a total purchase price of around 88,725 guilders. The offer contained an average of 75 guilders for the normal morning (2500 m²), 7500 guilders for the buildings and 60,000 guilders for the forest.
The buildings were appraised, in many cases they were only worth demolishing, most of them were miserable huts. It also turned out that the community was not even fully committed to emigrating. According to a report of the mayor Albrecht of 25 February 1846, 45 households and self-employed individuals had with together 150 heads decided to emigrate, 19 households with 67 people wanted to stay. The Grand Ducal Ministry therefore decided that under these circumstances there could be no question of a sale of the municipal property. This was followed by an attempt to persuade the church to stay. In the meantime, nine more decided to join the emigration. The remaining ten families also wanted to give up their residence in Pferdsbach, but still wanted to keep their private assets for the time being. On April 9, 1846, a decision was finally made between the community, represented by the authorized mayors Albrecht, Heinrich Hardt, Heinrich Meinharde, Heinrich Schwab, Heinrich Reutzel and Johannes Mäuser, with the consent of the court clerk of the court clerk von Zangen on the one hand, and Prince Ernst Casimir I of Ysenburg- Büdingen, on the other hand, represented by the Ysenburg Chamber Director Melior, subject to higher approval, concluded the 19-paragraph sales contract.
The county office and the municipality considered the sale to be advantageous for the residents, and so preparations for emigration began, despite the pending approval of the contract by the ministry. In June 1846, the government raised concerns about the treaty, which was then revised and finally approved on August 26th. Its main points were:
The parish of Pferdsbach sold their 276 acres of 356 square fathoms of forest to the Prince of Ysenburg and Büdingen, as well as the compensation wood that the parishes of Büdingen and Haingründau had to surrender to them, the parish of Pferdsbach. She also sold her share in Eckartswäldchen, the property located in the Pferdsbach district, as well as the buildings to which the municipality was entitled, with all rights and liabilities. Likewise, 38 goods and 23 building owners sold their goods and buildings to the prince. The trees on the property and everything that belonged to the buildings were also sold. The only exceptions were washing kettles, iron fires and stoves. The handover of the forest to the buyer should take place quickly after approval of the contract. With this, the authorization wood of the municipalities of Büdingen and Haingründau passed to the buyer, as well as the rights of the Pferdsbacher am Eckartswäldchen . It was also negotiated that the buildings should be left in their “current state” and that fertilizer and fodder could only be used in the goods sold. The purchase price was set at 95,000 guilders and was due on January 1, 1847, except for 12,000 guilders. The rest should be paid when the building is handed over.
Finally, an agreement was reached on disputed taxes and repayment pensions. The prince took on the obligation to pay the contributions to the district forester's salary of 51 guilders and 48 ¼ kreuzers. He also paid 17 gulden man money to pay for the parish of Wolf and the wood it required. He also took over the school fees of the parish of Pferdsbach for the school in Dudenrod in the amount of 11 guilders 34 ½ Kreuzer and 4 guilders housing money for the teacher there.
emigration
On September 14, 1846, the government in Darmstadt signed the application to emigrate, and on September 19, 1846, 41 family fathers and self-employed individuals signed the emigration protocol that Mr. von Zangen kept. In autumn, the Ysenburg rulers took over the sold properties in the district.
On January 2, 1847, the Pferdsbacher family agreed that they wanted to travel to New York via Mainz , Cologne and Antwerp . There they wanted to separate first. Some planned to go to Pennsylvania , others to Ohio . A committee contacted the Büdingen emigration agent Lehning. In mid-January, the ship contract was signed in Mainz, which provided for the transport of 171 people to New York. It was estimated that the crossing would take 90 days and provisions were procured accordingly.
On March 28th the Pferdsbacher broke out. The emigrants set off with packed carts, borrowed from acquaintances and friends. They covered the distance to Antwerp with stages in Frankfurt, Mainz, Cologne and Antwerp by ship and train. From Antwerp, the group traveled to America in two transports. 159 people, including former residents of Büdingen, Orleshausen , Büches , Dudenrod, Wolf , Aulendiebach , Michelau , Hainchen , Mockstadt and Bindsachsen , arrived with the ship Albert on June 3, 1847 in New York harbor.
The second transport followed on June 12 with the Morgenstern ship . The Hessian government supported the emigrants through their consul in New York , who helped the emigrants with the preparations for their onward journey after their arrival. The Pferdsbacher people traveled by train to Pittsburgh , where they were expected by old friends from their closer home. Some of them stayed in Pittsburgh, the majority became farmers in the wider area. "Most of them became wealthy people in their new homeland, but still they had to find out there that life is a struggle."
Desolation
With the emigration of the Pferdsbacher people, the community was legally extinguished: “Notice. Concerning: The dissolution of the community of Pferdsbach in the district of Büdingen. - The undersigned authority thereby brings to the general public knowledge on the highest order that the conditions on which the dissolution of the community of Pferdsbach were made dependent have now been met, Se. Royal Highness the Grand Duke the dissolution of the parish of Pferdsbach on April 1st. J. have deigned to speak out most graciously. At the same time, it is hereby announced that the area of Pferdsbach has been assigned to the municipality of Dudenrod in administrative and police terms and that the necessary decrees have been issued. Büdingen, June 1, 1847. The Gr. Hess. District Councilor of the Büdingen District Dr. Spamer. "
The remaining ten or eleven families moved to Büdingen and the surrounding towns.
In 1906 only one existing building in Pferdsbach is reported, a residential building which was owned by the family of five of the grand ducal district forester Heinrich i. P. Jeck was inhabited until his death at the age of 92 on September 25, 1902. Jeck was also the last person to be buried on September 28th in the presence of Prince Bruno, Hereditary Prince Wolfgang, the Büdingen mayor and many others in the Pferdsbach cemetery. The house was auctioned for demolition on December 6, 1905 for 100 marks. The square had to be cleared by May 1, 1906.
Only a barn, which was presumably built in the 19th century from the remains of various barns belonging to the emigrants (under monument protection since 1991), clearly testified to the settlement of the valley years ago. After the house Ysenburg-Büdingen let the barn go to ruin despite the existing monument protection, it collapsed in 1997. It is difficult to find references to the former village of Pferdsbach today. The hidden memorial stone for the collapsed barn and the remains of the old cemetery with some gravestones hidden under leaves and earth are the only remnants of the community and silent witnesses of the past. In Büdingen, the Pferdsbacher Weg is a reminder of the abandoned village.
List of emigrants
The process of emigration required clarification of possible outstanding claims. Therefore, the following names of the departures were given by the Grand Ducal Hessian District Council in Büdingen, Dr. Spamer, made public in September 1846. "... intend to emigrate to America. All those who believe that they can make claims or other claims on the same are hereby requested to submit such claims to Großh within three months. To assert the district court , otherwise the dismissal certificates will be issued. "
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literature
Unless stated in the individual certificates:
- Büdinger Allgemeine Anzeiger: Report on the lecture by the teacher and local researcher Karl Heusohn on the emigration of the residents of Pferdbach, February 3, 1927
- Karl Heusohn: Outgoing places . In: Büdinger Heimatblätter No. 9–11, 1929
- Hans-Velten Heuson: “In the stream of emigrants to America. In 1847 the Pferdsbach dissolved their community “ , Heimat im Bild (supplement to the Gießener Anzeiger, Alsfeld Kreis-Anzeiger, Büdinger Kreis-Anzeiger, Lauterbacher Anzeiger), born in 1968, No. 22, May 1968, pp. 1-3
- Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (es): When the Pferdsbacher family moved to Illinois. , November 20, 1984 Note: Illinois appears to be an editor's mistake. In any case, no corresponding indications are known.
Archival material
Inventory list of the Hessian State Archives Darmstadt :
- District court Büdingen G 28, F1240 Emigration of all residents of Pferdsbach 1845–1849
- Local court Büdingen G 28, 270 - family law matters
- State Ministry G 1, 135/6 Emigration of all residents of the community of Pferdsbach, district of Büdingen, to North America in 1847
Remarks
- ↑ Two horses, a colt, 35 cows, ten calves, five oxen, a bull, 50 pigs, 97 own and about 12 loaned sheep and seven beehives were recorded for the place.
- ↑ The corporals, the hound servant who had to keep the princely dogs, the forester, the shepherd, the two tithe and the schoolmaster Konrad Seng were exempt from forced labor.
- ↑ A local citizen owned 27 acres, five local residents 14-15 acres each, five local residents 10-13 acres each, eight local residents six to nine acres, twelve local residents four to five acres, nine local residents one to three acres and five local residents owned less than one morning
- ↑ In 1845 the village citizens owned a horse, 59 cows, two sheep, 42 pigs and 16 goats. 891 fruit trees were counted in the district, most of them probably plum trees.
- ↑ Unscrupulous advertisers described the wealth of North America in the most dazzling colors. So no fertilizer is necessary and several harvests per year are possible. So: Hans-Velten Heuson: In the stream of emigrants to America. In 1847 the Pferdsbach dissolved their community . In: Heimat im Bild (supplement to the Gießener Anzeiger, Alsfelder Kreis-Anzeiger, Büdinger Kreis-Anzeiger, Lauterbacher Anzeiger), year 1968, No. 22, May 1968,
- ↑ The parish of Wolf demanded 6½ sticks of beech logs, 1½ sticks (4–6 cm in diameter) and 80 shafts ( brushwood ) as well as 17 guilders, 40 kreuzer man money and four guilders accidentals as an annual contribution to the parish salary. For the joint school in the towns of Pferdsbach, Dudenrod and Christinenhof, the total salary of 199 guilders and 49 kreuzers had to be clarified, to which Pferdsbach had to deliver 7½ sticks of beech logs, 1½ sticks of beating wood and 2¼ sticks of sticks ( root wood ) and 90 waves. The parish of Wolf demanded an annual contribution of 35 guilders for the maintenance of the parish buildings and the church, which is equal to the four percent interest of 875 guilders capital.
- ↑ Namely from the city of Büdingen 527 sticks of beech firewood, 117 sticks of beech felling wood, 148 sticks of beech stickwood, 5940 pieces of beech waves; from the municipality of Haingründau: 136 sticks of beech firewood, 36 sticks of beech felling wood, 149 sticks of beech stick wood, 1760 pieces of beech shafts.
- ↑ For everyone over the age of twelve: 40 pounds of ship's rusks, ten pounds of fresh bread, 200 pounds of potatoes or, for every 20 pounds of potatoes, 6 2/3 pounds of dried vegetables, ten pounds of rice, twelve pounds of flour, eight pounds of smoked meat, six pounds of butter or lard , two pounds of salt, one measure of wine vinegar. Two thirds of the adult portions were accepted for children aged eight to twelve and half for those aged one to eight.
- ↑ Five families went to Wolf over the years: Johannes Mäser in 1847, Heinrich Imhof in 1847, Heinrich Jeck I in 1850, Heinrich Hardt in 1849 and Georg Wolf after 1857. The families Johannes Schäfer and Weigand Stürz, the blacksmith, went to Büdingen in 1847. Peter Stoll followed in 1891 (demolished in 1898). The two families Heinrich Schmidt (1868) and Karl Jeck († 1928 - son of Heinrich Jeck II. - 1905, demolished in 1906) moved to Dudenrod. The further home of Peter Bauer is unknown (demolished in 1892).
- ↑ Coordinates of the cemetery: 50 ° 19 ′ 17 ″ N , 9 ° 7 ′ 18 ″ E
Individual evidence
- ^ W. Sturmfels: Die Ortnames Hessens , p. 74
- ^ G. Simon: The history of the rich house of Ysenburg and Büdingen . Volume I. Heinr. Ludw. Brönner's Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 1865. p. 105
- ↑ Karl Heusohn: Outgoing places . In: Büdinger Heimatblätter No. 9, 1929
- ^ G. Simon: The history of the rich house of Ysenburg and Büdingen . Volume II, No. 179
- ↑ W. Diemer: The settlement of the Vogelsberg
- ^ Scriba Regesten ( Heinrich Eduard Scriba : Regesten of the documents printed up to now on the state and local history of the Grand Duchy of Hesse) No. 1620
- ↑ Scriba Regesten No. 1659
- ↑ Scriba Regesten No. 1630
- ↑ Peter Nieß: The quarrelsome Pferdsbacher , with reference to the Ysenb. Protocols, fasc. 7 and 9, date unknown
- ↑ Possibly also Alert
- ↑ Probably morning tears
- ^ A b Hans-Velten Heuson: In the stream of emigrants to America. In 1847 the Pferdsbach dissolved their community . In: Heimat im Bild (supplement to the Gießener Anzeiger, Alsfelder Kreis-Anzeiger, Büdinger Kreis-Anzeiger, Lauterbacher Anzeiger), year 1968, no. 22, May 1968, pp. 1-3.
- ^ Advertisement sheet for the city and the district of Büdingen, Nro. 23 of June 5, 1847
- ↑ Reidel: Farmer laying by noblemen - fate of the razed village of Pferdsbach . In: Büdinger Allgemeine Anzeiger , October 16, 1940
- ↑ Obituary and thanks, Büdinger Allgemeine Anzeiger, 27. u. September 29, 1902
- ^ Newspaper advertisement, Büdinger Allgemeine Anzeiger, November 21, 1905.
- ↑ Hessische Zeitung Darmstadt 1846, p. 1503.
Web links
- "Pferdsbach, Wetteraukreis". Historical local dictionary for Hessen. In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
Coordinates: 50 ° 19 ′ N , 9 ° 7 ′ E
