Dear listers, My ancestor Hans Jakob Wunderli died 3 June 1832 in Meilen, Zurich. He left fifty pounds to the main school and fifty pounds to "das Armengut". I have translated the latter to "the poor-estate" but I feel this is very vague. Can somebody tell me what the "Armengut" was? Kjell Ove Hattrem Molde, Norway
> Von: Kjell Ove Hattrem [mailto:[email protected]] > Gesendet: Sonntag, 2. Februar 2003 14:19 > > Dear listers, > > My ancestor Hans Jakob Wunderli died 3 June 1832 in Meilen, > Zurich. He left fifty pounds to the main school and fifty pounds > to "das Armengut". > I have translated the latter to "the poor-estate" but I feel this is > very vague. Can somebody tell me what the "Armengut" was? > > Kjell Ove Hattrem > Molde, Norway The German word "Gut" has several meanings: 1. Property - usually meaning a large farm. 2. Goods. 3. Assets. The last one is to be used in this context: the funds collected by a public organisation (usually the church) to help support the poor. The rules of the Geneva (Calvinistic) church in 1561 http://www.reformiert-online.net:8080/t/de/bildung/grundkurs/gesch/lek3/ lek3.jsp#5 state for example: ----- Die Diakone sind "damit beauftragt, das Armengut entgegenzunehmen, zu verteilen, und zu verwalten..., sich um die Kranken zu kuemmern und sie zu pflegen, und die Armen zu speisen." ----- It is the deacon's duty to accept, distribute and manage the "Armengut", ... in order to look after the sick and feed the poor. Whilst different words may have been used for this in different areas, "Armengut" is also found in the Zuerich legislation in much more recent years: http://www.kanton.zh.ch/appl/zhlex.nsf/4ae6e4ab7adb6f58c125602f004d07a8/ 5b976556b476183bc1256036003cd584?OpenDocument (scroll down to para 210) ----- Ist der Anspruch des Verpfaenders auf den Ueberschuss des Pfanderloeses durch Verjaehrung erloschen, so faellt der hinterlegte Betrag in das Armengut der Gemeinde. ----- I'm not going to try to translate this correctly ;-). It is dealing with securities in the context of loans - under certain circumstances any surplus will be given to the "Armengut" of the village. Best regards - Wolf __________________ Wolf Seelentag, Ph.D. Reherstr. 19 CH - 9016 St.Gallen +41 (0) 71 - 288 51 21 [email protected] http://swiss.genealogy.net/