Thank you Bill Rehr in the USA for your checking your 1896 dictionary for the meaning of Brinklieger.
I have also checked my 1841 Brockhaus Handwörterbuch without success.
I am adding some further comments as provided to me by a good friend (German) who is 82 years old and remembers old methods of growing and harvesting fuel for use in the fireplace or the ovens for cooking in Germany. In Brittany and other parts of Europe this method was still in use during WW11.
I would welcome some further comments from other list members, especially those living in Germany.
The possible meaning of "Brinklieger" applied to the person who worked on a farm and was employed to grow and harvest young shoots "wooden twigs" from a variety of small trees or bushes which was dried and later used as fuel for cooking. This man may have also lived on the farm rent free in lieu of wages, in any case even if he was employed to carry out this work, his wages were very low.
See below:
Meaning of the occupation and method of collecting fuel =
"Grassy elevated elongated mounds, dividing any two paddocks or fields". On the top of the mounds fast growing special varieties of bramble bushes were planted and the suckers were harvested for use as fuel on the farm. These immature shoots were collected and tied into bundles, then stacked to dry out. During winter when fuel was scarce these dry bundles of wood were used as fuel in the fireplace, primarily for cooking and heating water or for fuel in wood fired ovens for baking bread. Intense heat could be generated from these dried out brambles.
In the winter water also heated for personal use, in the summer the farmers used cold water usually from a well.
See the French word "Talle" = Sucker (shoot from the root)
I hope this gives a little more information on how our ancestors lived in those days.
A Brinklieger, Brinkligger, Brinksitzer is a part time farmer,
whose (tiny) farm is situated on the brink or edge of the village
commons
(grounds used in common by the village farmers, e. g. as a pasture).
The usually would do some handycraft e. g. as a joiner, a carpenter, a
shoemaker,
a tinker etc.
You may have a reference to a book as well. The Brockhaus would not have
it as it is
a speciality of rural communities in northern Germany.
Heinrich Meyerholz,
Steadfast families in the counties Hoya and Diepholz, their origin,
their spreading and the change of their names over the centuries.,
Vol. 1 Families, whose name is derived from places or localities,
Editor: Genossenschaftsverband Niedersachsen e. V. 1976, chapter V
Naming of farms and houses pages 18/19
The term Halbkoetner (Koetner as in cottage) often changes with
Brinksitzer. The Brinksitzerplaces in the majority are younger than the
Voll- und Kleinkoetnerfarms. In the county Hoya a large part of them was
not set up until 1521, mostly at the Brink, the free place in the center
of the village. There were Gross- and Kleinbrinksitzer. there were
Halbbrinksitzer as well. A lot of Grossbrinksitzer later had as much
ground and cattle as many Vollkoetner. The Kleinbrinksitzer however at
the offset besides their garden normally had no or very little ground.
However they were entitled to Reiherecht. (I. e. they could use the
commons together with the other farmers such as woods, heathes, and
peatbogs. )
In the Syke bailiff district there were Lichtefinken. They had a small
place, in later sources they are, just as many Beibauern and Beisitzer
normally listed as Brinksitzer.
A great part of the Kleinkoetner, Brinksitzer and owners of other small
places had a trade or did not have their main income in agriculture. In
the elder registers the craftsmen only exceptionally are listed as such.
Often you can recognize them by the fact, they they have a craft s name
as a familyname. When a Brinksitzer e. g. is called Schroeder or
Schrader, then he most likely was a tailor. The Schnitker was a joiner,
the Kimker or Kuepker cooper, the Schomaker a shoemaker, the Rademaker a
wheel- or carthwright, the Dreier a turner, the Sundmaker someone
skilled in medicine.
Bodenstaendige Familien in den Grafschaften Hoya und Diepholz, ihr
Ursprung, ihre Ausbreitung und der Wandel ihrer Namen im Laufe der
Jahrhunderte,
Band 1 Familien, deren Name von Orten und Oertlichkeiten abgeleitet ist,
Herausgeber: Genossenschaftsverband Niedersachsen e. V. 1976, Kapitel V
Bezeichnung der Hof- und Hausstellen Seite 18/19
Die Bezeichnung Halbkoetner wechselt oft mit Brinksitzer. Die
Brinksitzerstellen sind meist juenger als die Voll- und
Kleinkoetnerstellen. In der Grafschaft Hoya ist ein grosser Teil von
ihnen erst nach 1521 errichtet worden, und zwar haeufig auf dem Brink,
dem Dorfanger. Es wurde zwischen Gross- und Kleinbrinksitzern
unterschieden. Auch Halbbrinksitzer finden sich. Nicht wenige
Grossbrinksitzer kamen im spaeteren Verlauf an Laendereien und
Viehbestand vielen Vollkoetnern gleich. Die Kleinbrinksitzer dagegen
hatten bei der Errichtung ihrer Stellen ausser ihrem Garten meistens
keine oder doch nur eine geringe Ausstattung mit Land. Sie waren jedoch
reiheberechtigt. (D. h. sie konnten gemeinsam mit den anderen Bauern die
Gemeinheiten
nutzen wie Wald, Heide und Moor. )
Im Amte Syke gab es Lichtefinken. Das waren Inhaber kleiner Stellen, die
in spaeteren Quellen ebenso wie viele Beibauern und Beisitzer meistens
als Brinksitzer aufgefuehrt sind.
Ein grosser Teil der Kleinkoetner, Brinksitzer und Besitzer sonstiger
kleiner Stellen betrieb ein Gewerbe oder hatte seinen Haupterwerb nicht
in der Landwirtschaft. In den aelteren Registern sind die
Gewerbetreibenden jedoch nur ausnahmsweise als solche bezeichnet. Sie
sind aber haeufig daran zu erkennen, dass sie einen Berufsnamen als
Familiennamen fuehren. Wenn ein Brinksitzer z. B. Schroeder oder
Schrader hiess, dann war er fast stets ein Schneider. Der Schnitker war
ein Tischler, der Kimker oder Kuepker ein Boettcher, der Schomaker ein
Schuster, der Rademaker ein Stellmacher, der Dreier ein Drechsler, der
Sundmaker ein Heilkundiger
Folks,
these dictionaries are nice but they don't always get it right in the
historical sense. The word BRINK has a meaning of edge or outside just
like the English version of the word - on the brink meaning edge. The
origin we are looking for goes back to early times when sons had to
build a new farm in order to build a family. The original farm they were
born on couldn't be subdivided so they either became Knechte (farm
hands), Heuerleute (contractual laborers for the main farm for the right
to use some of the land to feed the family) or they somehow managed to
get a piece of ground outside the main village farming area. Typically
this would be on a part of the Mark or common ground. The word
Brinksitzer or other versions were NOT considered an occupation but
rather denoted the status of the farm they lived and worked on. A close
cousin would be a Markkötter (Köter) who had a cottage in the mark but
had no real rights to any of the land. It belonged to the Church or the
lord of the land and was used by the larger farmers whose land rights
were held by those up the line. The actual usage was controlled by the
Markgenossenschaft which was the group of senior or lager farmers of
the Kirchspiel (parish). The Landesherr (lord) would assign the
Kirchspielvogt to watch over things for him. Rarely was a Brinkligger
entitled to actually have any rights to a portion of the Mark even when
these were apportioned off in the mid 19th century under landreform.
Those who had got even more and those who had nothing got nothing.
(The rich get richer etc nothing much has changed in time). So many,
many non-landowners left for places where they could actually own land
like America.
While I'm on the subject of Mark and land reform, let me mention that
this public land surrounding the village was used by the farmers to drive
their animals into to let them roam and feed themselves. They were
other uses like getting peat or plaggen for humus to improve their own
land. When this land was finally reapportioned, the Landesherr (state)
would get one-third for itself and the rest would be apportioned using
various rules depending on which region we are talking about. Most
farms had inheritance status of Vollerbe, 1/2 Erbe or some other fraction
assigned to it. Mostly these portiones were used in the partitions
accordingly. Brinksitzer were out of luck in this division of common
ground as were Heuerleute of course.
Fred
Elizabeth wrote:
> Hello Atina and Bill,
>
> Thank you Bill Rehr in the USA for your checking your 1896
> dictionary for the meaning of Brinklieger.
>
> I have also checked my 1841 Brockhaus Handwörterbuch without
> success.
I just want to mention that Ernest Thode's German-English Genealogical
Dictionary says: Brinke - grassy hill; ridge
Brinker - cottager on the edge of a village near a grassy hill called
a Brink
Brinklieger, Brinkmann, Brinksitzer, Brinkkoet(h)ner, Brinkköt(h)ner -
cottager on the edcge of a village near a grassy hill called a Brink.
This book is my favorite source for translating occupations,
relationships, etc., from German to English.
Thank you, for all the information you have sent, your translation helps us all understand some of the terminology used in old documents. This book must be so interesting, because your explanation will be a great addition to my data base with the description of the farms and explanation relating to the occupations carried out by farm workers in Germany pre 19th century is just great.
Is this the book Bodenstaendige Familien in den Grafschaften Hoya und Diepholz, volume 1 of 1976 out of print?
but there is a good chance to find it on zvab.de the site of the German
antiquarian booksops on the web.
There are two volumes, the one I described, it has 480 pages
and volume two with all the names that are not derived out of place
names, with 1044 pages,
the format is DIN A 4, about your legal size.
A great source, on-line, for out-of-print German books is
www.zvab.com
Worth using their search menu and simply typing in the village or surname of
your ancestor. Never know what will show up. Some of the dealers
specialize in engravings of German villages that are truly a delight to
obtain. I have used this to purchase many a book on small villages across
the former German empire. Shipping can be a bit expensive...but then so can
having a researcher photocopy the book and mail it to you!