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The profession of my ancestors is indicated in a catholic church book from Upper Silesia. I'm fairly confident they were farmers, so it should be written Bauer since the register is written in German.

However the word that is written doesn't quite look like Bauer. Is it really written Bauer here ? In the unlikely case where the word would be written in Polish, the other language of that country, it should read as chłop, however it doesn't look like that either. Here is several samples with different handwritings:

handwriting sample 1

handwriting sample 2

handwriting sample 3

lejonet
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Bregalad
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1 Answers1

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Using the same BYU Script Tutorial as your other question, I have come to the conclusion the second image says Häusler, meaning simply "house owner" or "cottager". The same occupation is abbreviated Hslr in the first image.

According to this List of Old German Professions:

The term for "house owner (with a little land for own use)" varies from region to region. The terms for the occupation mainly derives from the different word for cottage:

cottager terms derived from Haus (house): Häusler, Heusler, Heißler, Hüssler, Auenhäusler, Tropfhäusler, Freihäusler;

The third image is more tricky. The bride appears to be recorded as Bauertochter, meaning farmer's daughter. You will note a male further up the page as Bauersohn (farmer's son).

The best I can suggest for the groom is Krämer, a peddler or trader, although I am far from confident on this as it does not appear consistent with the other recorded occupations for this man.

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Harry V.
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  • Thanks. So basically, were they particular farmers living in full autarcy, eating what they produce instead of selling it like larger farmers does ? Or was it just common to name farmers like that in this particular region ? – Bregalad Nov 15 '15 at 20:59
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    @Bregalad I'll have to defer to someone who knows something about German genealogy. In England, a cottager was usually a tenant who (as you say) used his small amount of land to produce for his family, maybe sold a small amount at the markets, but often worked as a farm labourer as the primary source of income. I do not know whether this is the same meaning as Hausler. – Harry V. Nov 15 '15 at 21:16
  • The word Bauernhof means farm in German. – Canadian Girl Scout Nov 18 '15 at 06:44
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    The first two entries are from a birth record of the children, the last for the wedding record of the parents, the first line is dedicated to the husband and the second to the bribe although I am not sure if it appied for that particular column. (by the way I apologize for the bad picture quality) – Bregalad Nov 20 '15 at 09:36
  • I added a larger handwriting sample. – Bregalad Nov 25 '15 at 12:22
  • @Bregalad Thank you for adding the larger image. However, I've stared and stared at it cannot work out what the groom's occupation is. I've edited the answer to include a possibility, but I'm not confident in it. – Harry V. Nov 26 '15 at 20:47