Perhaps a native German speaker has already answered question in private, but if not, here's my two cents. My German-English dictionary translates Pedell as "caretaker". Duden's Rechtschreibung offers further information, in German, which I translate as follows: Pedell: mostly Austrian. Archaic for: Caretaker of a school or college. Unfortunately, neither my dictionaries nor my Duden's have an entry for Ortspedell. This is just a random guess then, but perhaps then Ortspedell meant "local caretaker", e.g. the person who maintained the local public buildings. By the way, the dictionary also translates Pedell as "beadle" and "porter". And just so you don't have to look it up if you don't know it, (I didn't) a beadle is defined as a minor official in the Church of England responsible for keeping order. Somehow this last definition seems a little far afield to say the least. Hope someone has better info, but if not, well, there you have it. Cheers, MJLL -----Original Message----- From: Lutzem@aol.com [mailto:Lutzem@aol.com] Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2000 7:44 PM To: PFALZ-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [PFALZ] Ortspedell An ancestor's occupation between 1771 and 1815 is listed as a farmer but after this occupation is the word, Ortspedell. The two are written as follows: "Ackersmann/Ortspedell." Orts means place and pedell means servant. What would have been expected of this person in the late 1770s? During the same time period, another man connected to my ancestry has Schuhmacher/Pedell after his name which would translate as shoemaker/ servant. What is the difference between an Ortspedell and just Pedell in terms of responsibility? Thank you for any assistance. EM Lutz