Hi Holger,
only very general information about the social standing of a Kleinkoetner.
A Kötter or Kötner was a 'farmer' without much property who had no shares or
advantages in the 'Allmende' the common ownership of his village.
If a member of the landed gentry put two or three properties together to let
these to one tenant farmer and a small piece of land was in an unfavoured
position it was cut off from the rest and let as a 'Kot' (cut = abschneiden =
accut) the person who worked this Kot was the Kötner.
He would own his homestead and a garden.
They owned no horses or oxen, but worked their ploughs with cows.
One or the other may have been the local blacksmith, but not every Kötner
generally was a blacksmith, and therefore they would not likely belong to a
guild or such.
There was also the difference between a Grosskötner and a Kleinkötner, the
Large Kötner would be likely to own horses, the Small Kötner as said before
worked the land with cows.
Cheerio
Ingrid