<<I did some checking and apparently the closest occupation in terms that we can understand in modern day is a lawyer>> Sorry, Karen. This is totally wrong. As I tried to say: the word "Geschworener" is not meant to be an occupation. The best way to look at this entrie in the church or other bokks is to see it as a characterization of the "social position" of a person. In German the correct word would be "Stand" for which there is unfortunately no adequate translation into English. But if you really want to see your ancestor as a "lawyer", it's up to you. :) Heinz

----- Original Message ----- From: <herero > As I tried to say: the word "Geschworener" is not meant to be an > occupation. The best way to look at this entrie in the church or other > bokks is to see it as a characterization of the "social position" of a > person. I do understand what your saying - and I am not sure how to read Geschworener as I don't have access to the original source. This information was sent to me by the Stadt in Rodgau and I do not know what they used as a source. All I know is that they have responded to a letter I sent asking them to help me find the family of my grandfathers sister for me. I presume that the information has not come from church records but another source. The reason that I am saying that is that years ago I paid a genealogist to travel to Rodgau and look at the church records for me (they had not been copied by LDS at that point) There are subtle and not so subtle differences in the information sent by the genealogist and that from the Stadt. For example I know that the genealogist gave me christening / baptism dates, yet the information from the Stadt matches the actual birth certificate dates. The information from the Stadt also points out some obvious inconcsistencies at times. But not others that we are aware of - eg on my grandfathers birth certificate it states that he was the second son of his father, yet we cannot find any record, nor is there any family knowledge of another older son. The letter from the Stadt states, translated simply says that they looked at the documents in the archives and worked in co-operation with the Homeland Researcher. So I have no idea what documents. They certainly added information that I doubt would have been in church records eg military information for WW1 and WW2 plus census information and so on. Not every person has an occupation listed, but those that are are. are definitely listed as occupations. There are three family members who have Geschworener listed, a number who were Maurer's (Builder) and a number who were Maurermeister's (master builder), one Leineweber (Linen Weaver), two Lehrer's (Teacher), one Schuster (shoemaker) and one Fabr. Arbeiter. Actually the person listed as Fabr. Arbeiter (Factory worker) was listed on his marriage certificate and his sons birth certificate as a gardener. His death certificate states that he was a labourer. So as I said I have no idea what sources they have used. I do have a book with a very detailed history of Rodgau here and I will read that a little more closely over the next few weeks and see what it says about these ancestors. I do know at this point that at least one of the gentlemen that has his occupation listed as Geschworener was also the Bürgermeister for a number of years. The two people that I asked about Geschworener were native German's. One is 92 and the other 54. (unrelated). The elder person stumbled with a literal translation, she said a person in the court, but was emphatic it was not a judge, "more like a solicitor" but said that even that was not adequate. Its such fun when there is no direct translation :-) At the moment these people are too far back on the family tree for me to be overly concerned, except as a matter of translation and understanding for record keeping. I am one of the odd family researchers who is more interested in finding living relatives. From all accounts my grandfather, even though he was living here in Australia since he was 16, was very close to his family in Germany and his brothers in America (we think thats where they were). A very tragic event broke the connection between Germany and Australia. I am very conscious that because of circumstance his German family were never told what happened here. As I said I wrote to the Stadt asking them to help me locate my grandfathers sisters family and they very generously not only sent me that information but also the family tree back to 1600. They weren't to know that I had already done that part, it was living relatives that I was having trouble with. I am just amazed that they were able to take the two addresses, one in Nieder-Roden and one in Dieburg that I sent them. Addresses that my grandfather had written in a mix of Old German, English, modern German and Latin on a scrap of paper about 1920. Judging from the way that they are scrawled as opposed to his usual very neat and precise hand I would say that they were written in a hurry.And from that identify who these people were to my grandfather, and who the living relatives in Rodgau were now. One family had moved to Frankfurt am Main and apparently they are working on more information regarding living descendents from this branch. They even went to great lengths to explain that my grandfathers sister was not really his "direkt" sister but his "stiefschwester" - step sister. I am totally in awe that the Stadt would do this for me. I sent the request not really expectng a response. Instead they not only answered but went way above and beyond. You may be able to tell me how I can thank them for what they have done. They have sent me no account for the information and I feel so guilty - 10 years ago it cost me over $300 Australian for similar information from a genealogist. There must be some way that I can thank them, even if its to write to their boss?? And for interests sake given the length of my ramblings, I did phone the grandson of my grandfathers sister yesterday and was in luck. His daughter was there and she spoke english. So between my lousy German and her excellent English we were able talk a little and understand each other. Letters are going to go back and forth :-) sadly both his parents have died but apparently there are cousins who will also be able to help. Its been a great weekend!!! A Happy Karen from a cold Australia :-))

OK, Karen well understood and a fascinating story. With regard to your "Geschworener", I would just recommend (as a native German speaker) to stay with the translation "juror at a court" and consider it a honorary position and not an occupation. That's all :) Heinz