Conrad Schwenk, (my ggg-grandfather) b. 1773 in Feldstetten, had come to Mundingen, some 10 miles south of his home village, in January, 1797 and had been accepted as a citizen there. By citizen is meant that the village council had accepted him into citizenship upon their approval and his payment of a rather substantial fee.  This entitled him to vote in the local elections of council members, the school teacher, etc. And it entitled him to a specified number of cords of firewood each year from the village-owned forest land.

Conrad had learned the brewing and innkeeping trade from his step-father Jacob Kezler. So at age 23, he
apparently heard that Elias Fischer, who getting up in years, desired to sell the Hirsch Inn and brewery in
Mundingen. And he had an eligible step-daughter Felicitas Breymayer, then age 33, who desired marriage. So in April of that year, a marriage contract was drawn up. It contained 20 conditions. And then on May 16th, they married.  The newlyweds occupied the res. part of the inn and her mother and step-father Elias moved to upstairs - attic - part of the building, with the kitchen being shared by both families.

And now back to the 20th Century. On August 14th 1997, I received a 30 page document from Dr. Kiess of Stuttgart.  He is currently doing more research on the history of Mundingen. He had found this 1797 inventory in the town hall and then photocopied all these pages for me.  He and his wife then penciled in either English or modern German translations of many of the archaic terms. Without those translations, I would have remained ignorant of many of the objects of the inventory;  A modern dictionary offers little help in these matters. I will not attempt to list all items - chattel and real estate - brought to the marriage by our Conrad and Felicitas. I will show only those which seem most interesting.  But first you must become somewhat familiar with the currency values of the time. Otherwise two Guldens and five Kreuzer will be meaningless.

A Gulden at that time was what we call a dollar (ca. 1871, currency changed in Germany to the Deutsch
Mark). A Gulden was worth 60 Kreuzer.  A third denomination was the Heller. The smallest coin of value.
Like a penny of today.

Conrad bought the Inn, brewery and its equipment, garden area and some 10 acres of farmland for 2500
Gulden.  Felicitas' 4 yr. old cow, owned prior to marriage, was assessed a value of 30 Gulden; her 8 yr. old
cow 20 Gulden.  The assessor from the administrative city of Münsingen, who lodged in the Hirsch Inn for two nights during the inventory was charged 13 Kreuzer for "lodging and drinks." The charge for "oats and hay" for the horse he had rented to travel to and from Mundingen was 40 Kreuzer for two days.  The fee charged for his renting the horse for two days was one Gulden.  I hope with these examples you will have gained a feeling for what a Gulden was worth.

The inventory was made on 21 Nov. 1797.  I do not understand why this was not done directly after the
wedding in May.  The inventory form used was a standard one used in this part of old Wuerttemberg. First
section was for chattel - personal possessions.  The second for real estate.

Under chattel, here are the categories:  Cash, Jewelry, Books,  Clothing, Beds, Linen Bedding, Brass
Containers, Pewter, Copperware, Iron Utensils, Tin Utensils, Wooden Utensils, Furniture, Miscellaneous,
Livestock, Crops, Grain/Hay/etc. in storage, Food, Tack (saddles, etc.).

Conrad's Assets:
Cash: 2800 Gulden.  What is interesting here is that it was stated this money he had received as inheritance
from his late father and mother and monies from his living step-parents in Feldstetten.  He had paid 2000 of this as down payment in April for the property.

Jewelry: 0
Books:  A hymn book, a bible, a sunday school book and one old hymn book. Market value: ca. 2 1/2
Gulden.
Men's clothing: 2 hats, one green felt cap, one pair of good shoes, one pair of boots, and a leather pants. Total
value: 10 G.

That's about it for Conrad except for a couple cupboards and boxes. No livestock nor tack. His total assets in personal property and real estate: 2902 G, 27 Kreuzer.  Then to be deducted from this figure were:

12 Gulden for Burgershaft (citizenship acquisition fee) costs.
15 Gulden for the wedding costs (one half paid by him, the other by the bride). Net assets of Conrad:
2875  G.,   27 K.

Felicitas' Assets:

Cash: From dowry/inheritance from her late father and late grandfather: 478 Gulden. And 39 Gulden of her
own savings.
Books:  a bible, hymn book and sunday school book.
Silver Jewelry: one pair of shoe buckles worth 2 G.  Pendant of pearls worth 6 G.
Clothing:  Large number of skirts, all described briefly by color
Pots and pans and furniture, nothing worth much. But she did own a Gehimmeltes Bett, a four-poster - you
know - the kind with a top and probably with closeable curtains around the sides.Worth 6 Gulden.

Livestock:  Two cows, worth 50 Gulden totally.

Her total assets after the 15 Gulden deduction for the wedding costs:  692 Gulden.

Sum of assets for the couple:  3568 Gulden, 3 Kreuzer, 1 Heller.

Then at the end of the 30 pages of inventory, the assessor lists his expenses for conducting the inventory. I
have mentioned some of those up above (horse rental charges, lodging, etc.).  The total costs of conducting this inventory was just short of 7 Gulden.

One of the most interesting parts of this large document was to find the signatures toward the end of this of
Conrad, Felicitas, and then of her mother and step-father Elias Fischer.  Thus we now have signatures of these four, and earlier in 1771 of Conrad's parents and her parents upon the marriage in Feldstetten. Plus that of our clergyman ancestor Samuel Christoph Lieb in 1690!

Also of interest was the notation written in upper left corner of page one which indicated that this document
had been reexamined upon the death of Elias Fischer in Jan. 1803.  I had never been able to find his death date before in Mundingen (though it was not stated as to where he died).  Felicitas' mother died then that same year in Mundingen.

Though these ancestors of ours did not own much fancy personal property, they were actually quite well off. Very few people of the day could afford to buy a property like the inn, brewery and land.  3868 Gulden assets at the beginning of the marriage was a lot of money in those days.  It would be interesting to see the inventory made in 1842 after the death of Felicitas. Dr. Kiess said in his letter that he would be finding some more "tidbits" for us there in Mundingen.  Maybe that will be one of those.

Don Schwenk   17 Aug. 1997