Education of the young even in basic skills like reading and writing was a highly prized skill reserved mostly for boys of good families, expensive, often hard to get, and a mark of quality. The clergy being literate were often the teachers. Germany and the Netherlands were centers of learning; more so than the British isles or France. Most instruction was done in the family home by paid tutors. Don Fehlings In a message dated 4/30/2012 6:45:03 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: Hi Nelda, It's a confessional thing. You're supposed to be able to read the scriptures--not just have a priest tell you what's what--so most Protestants (in Germany anyway) stressed some sort of basic education. I think that's mentioned in one of the church books that Burgoyne translated--not only was the pastor instructing the children in religious instruction, he was also teaching them to read. Everybody should remember, that 18th century Germany is a settled place, it is not a frontier like America, where the various amenities of civilization don't necessarily exist yet. -Robert Sulentic www.vondonop.org -----Original Message----- >From: Nelda Percival <[email protected]> >Sent: Apr 29, 2012 4:46 PM >To: [email protected] >Subject: [AMREV-HESSIANS] Reading and Writing > > >HiWhat makes you think MOST could read and write? Not to get into an argurement here, but in the 1700s education was not a paid for item. No ones government put the common person though any type of schooling. Look at the records we do find, for any of our ancestors from that time period how many signed with an X . > >Yes, there are some diaries and such but that percentage, if you look at it, is no wheres near most... > >I'd be happy to find out that the Hessians connected to my families could read and write. > >Nelda > > > >Nelda L. Percival, Administrator of Y-DNA surname projects Gilpin, Cupp, Bonstein >and Gillock >My Genealogy - http://freepages.folklore.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~bonsteinandgilpin/index.htm > >GeneticGenealogy - http://www.geneticsand.us >Blog - http://aircastles-lets-talk.blogspot.com/ > >GilpinGenetics: http://www.gilpingenetics.us/ >Web Mistress for LCRG - http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~molcgdrg > > > > > >PLEASE CHECK ALL OF YOUR SUBJECTS! >~~~~~~~~~ >FOUNDER: John H. Merz 1924-2006 Created 1998 >~~~~~~~~~~~~ >http://freepages.military.rootsweb.com/~bonsteinandgilpin >~~~~~~~~~~~~ >ADMINISTRATOR<Kerri> [email protected] >------------------------------- >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message PLEASE CHECK ALL OF YOUR SUBJECTS! ~~~~~~~~~ FOUNDER: John H. Merz 1924-2006 Created 1998 ~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://freepages.military.rootsweb.com/~bonsteinandgilpin ~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADMINISTRATOR<Kerri> [email protected] ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message