DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES-L Archives

Archiver > DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES > 2006-02 > 1139152928


From: "Nick Tullius" <>
Subject: RE: [DVHH-L] Session, Joch, Weide & Hutweide
Date: Sun, 5 Feb 2006 10:22:19 -0500
In-Reply-To: <00ed01c62a09$0b08dbc0$6001a8c0@yourqdhfp5lhxd>


I am not surprised to see multiple conversion factors given in various
Heimatbücher. There were few (if any) real standards for these units
(remember the "Pressburger Metzen" defined at a meeting of the Diet in that
city, to try to eliminate the variety of "Metzen" used and ensure that
everybody was using the same unit). Much later, when the SI ("metric")
measurements were introduced, very few people had the tools and knowledge in
math to deal with these conversions and all the decimals involved.

I have seen the number of square metres contained in a "Joch" given as 5735,
5754, and 5755. Unfortunately, most older units do not convert to metric
units in round numbers. There were obviously no calculators or computers
around. How many decimal points can you accommodate when you are doing the
all calculations manually? When dealing with small quantities, the errors
resulting from neglecting the decimals are small; when the numbers get big,
the errors can get quite large.

So, rather than picking a favourite from among the various Heimat-books, I
am 'professionally compelled' to go with the experts, in this case the
University of North Carolina. Here is a quote from their site:

Joch is a traditional unit of area in German speaking countries, especially
in Austria. One joch is the area of a square 40 klafters (about 83 yards) on
a side. This comes to 0.5755 hectare or about 1.422 acres. The plural is
joche. Joch is also the word for a yoke in German, so this unit represents
an area that could be ploughed in a day by a yoke of oxen. In what is now
the Czech Republic this unit was known as the jitro; in Croatia it is the
jutro.

The "Sessions" also varied somewhat in size from village to village. And, as
Alex also showed, a "half-Session" was not necessarily the mathematical half
of a full "Session" (the Kleinhäusler did not usually have the animals that
use the Hutweide; so they did not get any Hutweide).

Finally, not to get too legalistic about it, but the "Weide & Hutweide" was
only operated by the community, on behalf of the owners, but it was owned by
the householders and not by the community. It was strictly pasture for
sheep, cows, horses, and pigs; it was never ploughed under or used for
growing crops. The cowherd, shepherd, etc was employed by the community to
look after all the animals in the village. How that was done on a day-to-day
basis, is a different story (and has been described elsewhere, I believe).

Regards,
Nick



-----Original Message-----
From: Mercydorf [mailto:]
Sent: February 4, 2006 11:03 PM
To:
Subject: Re: [DVHH-L] SESSION & "Weide" and the "Hutweide"


Hi Alex,
I have on a Mercydorf webpage: 1 Joch = 2.2 acres:
http://www.dvhh.org/mercydorf/lookups/1931-32-census-landowner.htm
Is this correct? Also The "Weide" and the "Hutweide" shared by the
community, who actually owned it?
Which is what I understand to be farm land surrouding the village. Did the
users of this land have to pay a fee? Thank you, Jody

----- Original Message -----
From: ajleeb
To:
Sent: Saturday, February 04, 2006 9:02 PM
Subject: [DVHH-L] SESSION.



The "Session" situation in Billed was as follows:
Out of 252 houses, 188, had a whole Session, and 64 half of a Session. A
full Session consisted of, j. 8 Joch of land in the "Winterflur", in the
"Sommerflur and in the "Brachflur." Added was 6 Joch "Wiesen" and 1 Joch,
"Hausplatz", a total of 31 Joch.
A half Session, consisted of 4 Joch in the 3 "Fluren" and 1 Joch,
Hausplatz, a total of 17 Joch.
A quarter Session, consisted of, 2 Joch in the 3 Fluren = (6) plus 1 for
the "Hausplatz" for a total of 7 Joch.
The "Weide" and the "Hutweide" shared by the community.

Alex.

www.dvhh.org/


==== DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES Mailing List ====
Writing a Successful Posting by Susan Williams:
http://www.dvhh.org/networking/inquiries.htm#SUCCESS

Village names and their equivalents in all languages can be found at the
DVHH Village Index http://www.dvhh.org/villageindex.php. The database is an
ongoing project, so if you do not find your village, contact Jody McKim.

==============================
View and search Historical Newspapers. Read about your ancestors, find
marriage announcements and more. Learn more:
http://www.ancestry.com/s13969/rd.ashx


This thread: