Dear Listers,
In reading many German church records, I have found the following occupations listed:
Tagelöhner, Arbeitsmann, Hofgänger, and Knecht. My dictionary translates each of them as a day laborer. Is there a difference in their occupations as day laborers, or do they all mean the same thing? Appreciate your help, thank you.
Greetings from Arizona
Irma Franke
Hi Irma,
In reading many German church records, I have found the following
occupations listed:
Tagel�hner, Arbeitsmann, Hofg�nger, and Knecht. My dictionary translates
each of them as a day laborer. Is
there a difference in their occupations as day laborers, or do they all
mean the same thing? Appreciate your help, > thank you.
your dictionary is correct in translation with the occupations - TAGEL�HNER,
ARBEITSMANN, HOFG�NGER.
They were day-laborer of the landed proprietors, paid on a daily rate with
few money and products of nature.
They lived as EINLIEGER, in rooms at houses of HAUSWIRTHE or B�DNER or the
master gave them dens to live in. They were pretty poor and lots of people
who decided to emigrate were day laborer.
The word Arbeitsmann came up later in history. Tagel�hner is the older word,
but both designations were used quite a time in the same place. It was
possible that a fathers occupation changed from Tagel�hner to Arbeitsmann
and back from child to child.
The Hofg�nger is possibly a younger person. My grandma told me that they
called the teenagers Hofg�nger, when they finished school with 14/15 years,
when they began their regular working lifes.
KNECHT is somewhat different. The Knecht, female MAGD, worked on a regular
basis for the landed proprietor or for a HAUSWIRTH. Knechte and M�gde at
HAUSWIRTH places were usually children or other relatives of the Hauswirth.
They had nearly no cash payment, but lived with the family (usually - were
the familiy) of the Hauswirth. Here you have also the occupations JUNGE
(boy) and M�DCHEN (girl). These were the youngest over 14 years - future
Knechte and M�gde, their first occupation after school.
In the archives of August you can find a very good description of a day
laborer in english and a link to a german homepage with excellent
discriptions of different occupations and the life on a little farm in those
further days.
Bye
Silke Sarnow