In doing research - we continually came across terms which were unfamiliar.  I would often go out to various newsgroups to understand what these terms meant.  Below is a summary of some of those terms.
 

• Colon is not an abbreviation but rather the Latin word for colonist or settler.  It was used in that area to designate the new farmers of low-lying land that was drained and farmed in the mid-1700s, but came to be a general term for those who farmed a certain size and had inheritance rights [the nobility and church still "owned" the land]. The Colon was the main farmer, who had inheritance rights. Although the Colon did not technically own the land under the still extent feudal system, his heir had the right to farm the land.  Usually one of the sons became the new Colon.  If he had no sons, the husband of one of the daughters became the new colon and took the name of the Head of the Family.  Around 1810 there was a land reform which passed ownership rights to those Colons but at a steep price of annual compensation to the nobility and church for their losses.  So some of the Colons who now nominally owned the land were not so well off, especially if the harvests were bad.  The economy of that area collapsed after Napoleon was driven out, partly due to the onerous terms of the "land reform" and because the home weaving industry was no longer viable due to competition with English mechanization.  So there was considerable emigration to Holland and America from that region.  Quite a few of the Colons ended up as prosperous farmers in America.  In 1975, they reorganized the Kreis designations and today Brochterbeck is in Kreis Steinfurt.


Although the Colon did not technically own the land under the still extent feudal system, his heir had the right to farm the land.  Usually one of the sons became the new Colon.  If he had no sons, the husband of one of the daughters became the new colon and took the name of the Head of the Family.  In addition to the main house occupied by the Colon and his family, most of the farms also had a Leibzucht.  Generally, a relative also lived off the farm.  There could be other houses as well.  Earlier we find Backhausen, later Heuerhausen.  These latter had no automatic inheritance rights.  The Colon was responsible for the maintenance of food and shelter as well as the labor for all persons born to household as long as they remained unmarried.  It is important to remember that the inheritance remained undivided until towards the middle of the 1800s, when for the first time division became possible after the officially ending of feudalism.  In the 1800s, we find the development of Neubaurei, new farms carved out of the previous common land of the nobleman.

People, whose land was too small for a farm, were called Kotters.  They generally had no life stock, but only a garden.  They could also be called a Kossath.  People who actually owned the land were Eigentumers.  The name begins to be seen more in the 1800s in this area.
 

• The word Erbe actually means "inheritance."  The inheritor is often called "Erbman."  The owner of all land was the Lord.  In this case the owner was the Prussian King because it was so stated "dem Pruessen Koenig" It could have been a baron or even a cloister, depending on the Lord of the Place.  The inheritor did not actually inherit the land in the sense we know it today.  He only inherited the right to live there and farm the land.  We call it a tax, that which he paid, but we could just as well call it a rent, except that the farmer's heir would also be entitled to farm the land and so on.  The amount varied according what the Lord stated, It was not only in kind, but could also be in terms of compulsory service, so many day's labor for the Lord, which at harvest time and planting time was undoubtedly expected, perhaps every other day at peak times.  The lot of the feudal farmer, though better than those without inheritance was not wonderful.  The "heuerling" that was "eigenbehoerig" also had to give service to the Land Lord.

 

 
 
 
 
 

Contact Ginny Chung at gchung@mindspring.com for further information.