Glassmakers part 8. Different Types of Glassworks Over the years we can distinguish three kinds of glassworks. 1. Two or three glassmakers build an ambulatory (or flying) glasswork following the German example in the middle of the forest, near a source of water, preferably at the end of a valley flanked by mountains. When the forests are depleted they proceeded to look for a new place, possibly in a neighboring valley. 2. One or two glassmakers obtain a written contract from the lord or from the Abbey in the region. They are assigned an area to work with other glassmakers at an oven where the numbers of workers are a set amount. The forest areas exploited is very important and the time period and the extent of the glassworks permit the creation of villages, such as, Eigenthal, Waltembourg, Troisfontaines, Guntzviller, Plaine de Walshe, Grand-Soldat, Dannelbourg, Harreburg, Lettenbach, and Vallerysthal. Often, the contract stated the obligation to building homes as well as cottages with one road being the norm. 3. A silent partner or financier obtains authorization to create a glassworks with 6, 8 or 10 crucibles (ovens) and he engages the necessary glassmakers to run the enterprise. This was the case of Guntzviller and Grand-Soldat. He can also sell stock to the glassworkers and this was the case at Plaine de Walshe. Agreements among glassworkers (page 35) We do not have any written agreements from this region. Yet, the working methods of the last glassworks in Harreberg implies a written tradition. The oldest document from 1406 in Spessart, the region of Aschaffenburg-Frankfort shows a promise to about 40 glassworkers to work only glass from Easter until the day of Saint Martin and Monday to be a day off. The names of the signers of this accord included: six Stengers, whose name is found at Bitche and the County of Dabo; eight Wentzels, a name from Sarre and Grand Soldat; Kunckel, who in the eighteenth century produced an author who wrote about the art of glassmaking and Sitz, a name spread throughout the country. A similar corporate act appears in 1537 in Hesse with the same names to which are added Gundelach, the name of glassworkers known in Gruneplan, near Hannover. Relations of Locals With the Glassworkers (page 37) It is obvious that given the nature of the secrecy and delicacy of the craft of the glassworkers, so different from regular crafts or occupations that a certain antagonism would exist. A canonical visit in 1714 reports that the workers of the glassworks of Courzerode (Waltembourg) went to the church of Bourscheid, but it states that Niderviller, which supplied the schoolmaster, received these same families. From 1698 their vital records are found in the parish registers of Bourscheid. In this report it is noted that the priest who was the tithe- holder had received 14 ecus (coins) from the glassmakers. There was a complaint that the public houses of Troisfontaines and Eigenthal were frequently visited by the glassworkers. The glassmasters (15 of them) and glassworkers who occupied the area during a certain time of the year, "all German speaking", were denied participation in the quotas for the schoolmaster and the church. The glassmakers of Troisfontaines who came from Eigenthal, who were used to Walscheid, continued to visit their original parish until the reappearance of Biberkirch, which had disappeared around the 15th century. The coming of the glassmakers and also the Picards, who attended Mass at Voyer, permitted the reestablishment of the church in 1719. In spite of that, many families of Troisfontaines preferred going to Voyer, an annex of Walschied at that time. Marriages were exclusively among the sons and daughters of the glassmakers of the area. When some of them chose other crafts such as agriculture, they entered a different milieu. Widows and widowers remarried within a year because of economic necessity. At the end of the seventeenth century, beginning of the eighteenth, because of the Thirty Year War, the villages have lost many inhabitants. In 1714 the number of families in each village was as follows: (page 38 list of towns) With the establishment of the list of grievances of 1789 (Estates General), a public outcry led to the closure or downsizing of some of the glass factories. Among these were Niderviller, Saint Quirin, Vasperviller, Harreberg, Plaine de Walsch, Sodatenthal. It was the Third Estate in the areas of Sarrebourg, Phalsbourg, Lixheim which wanted the reduction of the factories "devourers of forests." The most insistent villages were Arzviller, Biberkirch, Fleisheim, Gosselming, Guntzviller, Hartsviller, Hermelange. Schneckenbusch conceded that its factories improved the lifestyle but wanted them destroyed. This covered four glass factories with seven or eight furnaces. Lettenbach wanted to dispose of four furnaces. The town of Nitting prepared a complete inventory citing four glassworks, two potteries (possibly at Niderviller, Cirey, Domevre, Halmoze), two furnaces at Abreschviller and Cirey, three salt works at Dieuze, Moyenvic, Chateau-Salines. (Page 39) REMAINS AND GLASSWORKS SITES IN THE FORESTS OF DABO AND SAINT QUIRIN We've already discussed the villages and hamlets created by the glassworkers in the forest regions, to which they were assigned the products of their farm yards (cottage garden), the freedom to harvest the forest acorns for their livestock. The clearing of forests near the factories permitted the cultivation of grains and fruits. Cattle was raised in nearby pasture land providing milk and dairy products. This double activity of glassmaker and farmer lasted until the middle of the twentieth century. Even at that time, the glassworks divided their vacations for the planting season in June and the harvest season in October. Villages grew rapidly because of the many children in each family. In the 18th century, six to eight children was normal. In 1862 when the glassworks of Harreberg were divided among the descendants of the ten original owners there were 130 beneficiaries. A great number of the people have to choose other occupations in order to subsist. Everything from shoemakers, carpenters, bakers. The women helped by doing embroidery and spinning. Roadside crosses and fallen gravestones are all that remain to remind us of these people. The most beautiful of these crosses was erected in 1717 by Pierre Stenger and Ursule Walter in Eigenthal. A rustic figure of Christ reminds us of Joseph Schwerer in 1728 at Dannelbourg. In Hommert, another Christ figure honors Ursula Shirra (daughter of the glassmaker Jean Martin Gerard and wife of Jean Steiner, the mayor). The name Shirra for those named Gerard was still current thirty years ago. In Troisfontaines the pedestal of a cross erected in 1743 by Samuel Moser (one of the two founders of the Harreberg glassworks) and his wife Anne Marie Walter (widow of Jean Stenger) still exists. At Eigenthal, Antoine Stenger, son of the glassmaker and farmer erected a cross close to his home. The tombstone of Martin Gerard, provost of Troisfontaines who died in 1741 was restored and reused on a wall in the church of Biberkirch. Its uniqueness lies in its presentation of the symbols of the craft. A footed glass chalice, a pair of scissors and the pincers of the glassmaker. Inventory of the Glass Factories (page 41) Archeological Sites..... GLASSFACTORIES NO LONGER IN EXISTENCE Glass Factory of Haffingenthal According to a tax record of 1551, two glassworks existed in the area of Haffingenthal in 1540. By 1551 only one continued to function. To this day, the site has not been identified but one supposes that this was in the region of Abreschviller. In this same document of 1551 there is a mention of Peter Glaser of Saint Quirin who was indebted or responsible for yearly payment for workers in the County of Dabo. Glaser could have been his family name or his craft. Glassworkers with that name existed in the 16th century in Volksberg. Glassworks of Donnersthal - Thomasthal This glassworks is particularly well known because of a legal document from October 7, 1627. (The name of Donnersthal changes and sometimes there is a phonetic Thomasthal). The act states that Jean Philippe, Count of Linange and Dabo, recognizes having given permission in 1621 for the installation of the glassworks in Donnersthal, but that it had not been maintained in proper condition having destroyed the forests, running it into debt to such a point that on this day the Count is assigning Jean Jager, his wife Catherine and their heirs to be in charge of this place. The last clause states that if the glassworks should be destroyed or abandoned, the Count reserves the right to repossess the property. The site of this property is unknown. [to be cont'd] [from Janet Nichols] ==== KUNKEL Mailing List ==== If you have any problems with this list please contact Janet Reinhold, [email protected]