Karl Friedrich Jaeger

Karl Friedrich Jaeger around 1840

Karl Friedrich Jaeger (born August 22, 1794 in Cannstatt , † November 28, 1842 in Münchingen ) was pastor in Bürg am Kocher and also the author of numerous works on Swabian and Franconian local history published in the first half of the 19th century.

Life

Karl Friedrich was the fourth child of Philipp Friedrich Jäger (1751–1823), pastor in Cannstatt and later in Waiblingen, and his wife Christiane Friederike (née Stand). He grew up in Waiblingen and attended Latin school there. At the age of 14 he went to the lower seminary at Denkendorf in the autumn of 1808, to Maulbronn in 1810, and finally to Tübingen in 1812, where he undertook intensive historical studies and obtained his master's degree in 1814. In 1817 he became vicar in Kornwestheim with Pastor Stang, after which he was city pastor administrator in Oberndorf a. N.

In 1820 he came to Bürg as pastor on appointment by the lordly von Gemmingen family . Here he married his wife Ulrike Wilhelmine (1795–1881), the daughter of the Kornwestheim pastor Stang, in January 1821. They had two daughters and four sons, including the later natural scientist Gustav Eberhard Jäger (1832-1917) and the later educator and gymnastics writer Otto Jäger (1828-1912). The eight-member family took in Jaeger's mother-in-law as well as two aunts and a sick cousin who had returned from American emigration to the rectory in Bürg , all of whom died there and are also buried in Bürg.

Rectory in Bürg, where Jaeger lived from 1820 to 1841

The contemplative community work in the small community of Bürg with about 300 souls left Jaeger plenty of time for local history studies, especially in the library of his employer’s brother, Baron Ludwig Eberhardt von Gemmingen at Presteneck Castle in neighboring Stein am Kocher . Hikes led Jaeger through the Neckar Valley and the Odenwald . Jaeger is described in the autobiography of his youngest son from 1907 as a huge pedestrian who not only covered the four-hour march from Bürg to Heilbronn several times a week, but also hikes through the entire Neckar Valley and the Odenwald all the way to Switzerland.

Jaeger worked in Bürg for over 20 years, where his literary works on the city history of Heilbronn , Augsburg and Ulm as well as on the Fuggers were created . Jaeger was in lively contact with the board of directors of the State Library in Stuttgart, Prof. Haidt, and one of Jaeger's daughters assisted the father as a private secretary in the attic room that he had as a study. At least his work on the history of the city of Heilbronn , published in 1828, formed the basis for further publications up into the 20th century, albeit with errors. The work was relocated by the JD Claßschen bookstore in Heilbronn and delivered in four deliveries. His work on the history of the Swabian Reformation contains the first comprehensive account of the work of the Heilbronn reformer Johann Lachmann .

He was a doctor of philosophy and a member of the German Society for Research on the Patriotic Language and Antiquities in Leipzig and the Society for the Promotion of History in Freiburg im Breisgau.

In the spring of 1841, an eloquent pastor was sought in Münchingen who could stop the community from moving to the neighboring Korntal. Jaeger moved to Münchingen with his family and took up the pastor's position in the 1500-strong community. After his sister's death, he also took in her two daughters. Jaeger died unexpectedly on November 28, 1842.

Appreciation

Karl-Jäger-Strasse in Heilbronn is named after him today.

Works by Karl Friedrich Jaeger

• Handbook for travelers in the Neckar region (1824)
• Weinsberg Castle (1825)
• Messages on the Swabian and Franconian Reformation history (1828)
• History of the city of Heilbronn (1828)
• Ulm in the Middle Ages (1831)
• History of the city of Augsburg (1837)
• History of the Fugger House
• JC v. Pfister 's History of the Constitution of the House and State of Württemberg (1838)

literature

• Wilhelm von Heyd:  Jäger, Karl Friedrich . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 13, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1881, p. 653 f.
• Wilhelm Steinhilber: The pastor and historian Carl Jäger . In: Swabia and Franconia. Local history supplement of the Heilbronn voice . 9th year, no. 11 . Heilbronner Voice publishing house, November 20, 1963, ZDB -ID 128017-X .
• Hans Helmut Jaeger: Family Chronicle Jaeger V. Volume, Part 1, Erlangen 1982
• Norbert Jung: Karl Friedrich Jäger - Pastor and Historian , Heilbronn 2015

Individual evidence

1. ↑ after Julius Hartmann in Allgemeine Kirchenzeitung, 10th issue 1843

Web links

Wikisource: Karl Friedrich Jäger  - Sources and full texts