Apr 27 89 : We plant 25 Blue Spruce seedlings in our woods under the oak canopy. Spruces are shade-loving and shade-tolerant as you may observe in a mixed forest. Some trees need the sun to sprout and grow, others need the shade and would suffer and die in the sun as you may see from the tolerance table. I pity the lady I saw slaving with her lawn mower to fight the grass and the Dandelions. Another gentleman had his water sprinkler on to get his grass come out faster - cut and fertilize - cut and fertilize. Recreation suburbia style within a forest...! Which Joneses does he wish to impress? Why does he live in the forest and not in suburbia, if he loves to hear lawn mover engines? Waldesru-u-u-h? At least he had his tie removed. The yellow composite Colt's Foot flower has disappeared and at its place the leaves come out and will grow considerably to an impressive size over the coming weeks and months. I will be monitoring its growth.
Feb 23 90 : After a cold December 1989 a warm week brings out some birds. A cardinal clicks and sings, a house finch claims his territory, a Carolina wren chirps.The usual winter residents of the woods make themselves heard: The red-bellied woodpecker, black-capped chickadee, tufted titmouse. The snow is long gone and there seems to be no need for a full bird feeder. Even the chipmunks are up from their winter den and play in the sun. This is the time to look for old evergreen leaves and fruit, before the new chlorophyl will drown it out. (see also my paper "From my Pennsylvania Spring Diary", published in YES Quarterly-A Journal of International Amateur Entomology, Lansing,Michigan vol.8 (2), Apr/Jun 1991)
Feb 24 90 : The temperature is down to 40F in the morning, and the Dark-eyed Junco flocks are back at the feeder with a downy woodpecker at the suet. Canadian cold is forcast, and the Juncos must have heard the forcast in the news,too. Around 6 am a Cardinal sang, and a tufted titmouse made his tee-tee-tee-tee, four notes, same pitch, sometimes only three notes. It is good to be a pillow birder in the morning trying to screen the birds by their notes and songs. Everybody interested in nature should attempt to listen carefully, especially while at rest and relaxed, and learn to know 10 neighborhood bird songs and notes from one's pillow. If you hear a new call or song, that's when you want to jump out for your binocs and try to identify that new bird in your neighborhood. Well, I have to get some fire wood and get the fire going on this chilly morning. The wet snow in the afternoon drives bird and beast into hiding.
Feb 26 90 : Winter is the time I most enjoy watching Marty Stouffer's Wild America Show. I make an effort to identify the hidden birds in the background by their calls and songs, and I wished Marty would tell us what they are. I think I could now identify the Cactus Wren and Canyon Wren by their song when I would visit the dry West. The first bird I could identify from Robin's sonogram and the second from Marty's briefly showing the bird. In his mountain scenes I am sure I heard the yak-yak-yak of the magpie which I remember from Colorado and from my native Germany. TV is a good medium to study nature, especially if the thermometer goes down to 20F
Feb 27 90 : In my woody backyard on the Sunshine Trail I find only a few of my bird friends today. The red-bellied woodpecker is the most frequent of the woodpeckers on this cold overcast day. His chuck-chuck-chuck-chuck calls everybody's attention to him,mostly four chucks in a row, sometimes three.His name is kind of a puzzle, since there is not much of a red belly for his name. The black-capped chickadees in small flocks of three or four seem to be looking for insect eggs or larvae on the bare trees and keep in contact with their tsee-tsee-tsee notes. From Beartown I hear the song of the House Finch. This bird is a newcomer in the East who was introduced from the far West to the New York area a few decades ago. He has been spreading over the Eastern seaboard at a phenomenal rate and gives the House or English sparrow a hard time. The maps in bird books can barely keep up with his new range. I like the field guide "Bird of North America" by C.S.Robbins, B.Bruun and H.S.Zim best.
Mar 10 90 : Robins and Grackles are here, the latter in smacking and wistling flocks. The first Phoebe announces his phe-bree, free-bee of the season to my pillow listening post. Blackcapped chicadees, tufted tits, the yank-yank of the white-breasted nuthatch, the kurrr of the red-bellied wood- pecker and his chuck-chuck-chuck-chuck, all seem to announce the coming of spring. In the afteroon we visit the Appalachian Trail and look out for the Skunk Cabbage. Alas, we are a little too early for this harbinger of spring. Maybe we will find him next week.
Mar 11 90 : At 5:30 am the first bird I hear from my pillow listening post is a Cardinal, puee-puee-tuk-tuk-tuk-tuk-tuk.Only twice he lets me know that he is awake,too. I do not hear him for the rest of the day. From Beartown I hear a House Finch advertise for a mate to join him. Dark-eyed Juncos trill almost like Chipping Sparrows who would not be here this early in the season. The Forsythia shows its yellow flowers, the Tartaric Honeysuckle and Lilac buds release the leaves. The forest trees are still bare and let the sun shine to the forest floor which is densely covered by the brown leaves of last year. The only green is the battered Mountain Laurel, the polypody fern and the carpet of the Partridge Berry. Dried up and black berries point to the Spicebush which should shows its yellow flowers soon. The Red Maple and Slippery Elm start to bloom, the first plain to see, the latter hidden and noticeable only to the trained eye.
Mar 12 90 : A warm day makes me go to the Renfrew Park along the Antietam Creek, a Sycamore lowland which also has White Ash, Silver and Norway Maple, the latter three all are "Opposites" in twigs and leaves.The Sycamore gives itself away by its bright and scaly trunk. Look for its hairy fruit balls high in the tree tops.A Marsh Hawk glides by on his way North with its white rump. The trees are still bare, some shrubs start to leaf out like the "opposites" Tartaric Honeysuckle and Privet (watch for their black berries of last year). Look for the dark-barked and lenticled Black Cherry and the unsightly black egg masses of the Tent-Caterpillar which are so character- stic wherever the two are found together. The minute blue-eyed Veronica or Speedwell looks up into the sun,probably Veronica arvensis or Corn Speedwell. It is good to walk a path regularly throughout the seasons, check up on changes in familiar trees and shrubs and keep the dialog with them going.
Mar 13 90 : March is the month to learn at least 10 bird calls and songs The trees do not hide the birds yet, and you should track each bird with your binocs (the 8x30 type will do) until you associate each bird with its call or song. You will do well to remember them when the warbler wave introduces new calls and songs in April and May. By April 1 try to know these calls and songs, bird unseen: In suburbia Cardinal, Robin, House Finch, Song Sparrow, Mourning Dove. To these five add in the woods Blue Jay,Flicker,Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Tufted Tit, Black-capped Chicadee,White-breasted Nuthatch. In the Sycamore Lowland add Red-winged blackbird, Am. Goldfinch, Starling, Grackle, Crow and some or all of the birds mentioned above.
Mar 14 90 : Walking along the Red Run among the bare trees, I noticed little yellow flowerheads sticking out of the ground: They are Colt's Foot, an early composite plant. Later in the season, when the flowers are gone, I will watch for its big leaves at the same spot. I also admire the straight boles of the big Tulip Trees with last years flower heads remaining. Notice how many of them grow in pairs out of the common ground. This may be due to their ancient genealogy as an early member of the dicot tribe where each cotyledon pair developed into an independent tree.In most other dicot plants only one cotyledon of the pair develops and the other wilts away. At sunset I hear the chorus of the Peeper Frogs coming from the wetlands. If I had the patience and a flashlight, maybe I would look for them to confirm their story described in nature books.
Mar 16 90 : Bärbel called me to the window this morning, to identify a bird call she could not recognize. Well, it was a chipmunk who was happy to be out of his den and to be alive. "Verily, an ear is a vain thing for safety", as Bradford Torrey(1843-1912), my favorite naturalist writer used to say.
Mar 22 90 : The forest gets its first white blossom patches all over. Its the Shadbush or Juneberry tree (Amelanchier). I went to the Appalachian Trail to look for the Skunk Cabbage. It is not out yet,but I see the first yellow flowers of the Spice Bush. Down at the Sycamore Lowland along the Antietam Creek there are more Spice Bush in bloom, and lo! - the first Skunk Cabbage peeks out. The flowers of the Redbud (purple) and Almond Peach(pink) seem to be early this year. Mrs.Snurr shows me a tree with a screech owl hole. We wait and finally see the owlet peek out. I watch the Carolina Wren sing for some time. When it stop singing, I notice its silent horizontal posture. Above a Sharp-shinned Hawk circles on the lookout for small birds which seem to be subdued and not moving at all. After the accipiter is gone is gonemy Carolina Wren resumes his jubilant song and erect posture. A Pileated Woodpecker undulates by.
Mar 23 90 : This is the time to see last year's dead and dried up plants: The Golden Rods, the Milkweed with its dried-up pods, the Evening Primrose with its four-symmetrical seed vessel, the Hydrangea. If you see a tree with Witch's Broom or twig-galls, you found yourself a Hackberry, the champion of gall carriers. I visit a Bitternut Hickory which is loaded all over with foul smelling branch galls (Phomopsis), about 2-3 inches in diameter. The chickweed, Spring Beauty, Bloodroot, Cut-leaved Toothwort come out in the Sycamore Lowland Woods. The Ryby-crowned Kinglets roam through the Tartaric Honeysuckle,Multiflora Rose shrubs, the only ones that provide enough green for cover these days. The first maple to let out leaves is the Boxelder. The other maples show flowers only. A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker calls attention by pecking at a tree, he does not drum as the rest of the woodpecker tribe. A Belted Kingfisher flies by with his "flying rattlesnake" call.
Mar 28 90 : I go up to the Happel's Meadow wetlands in Blue Ridge Summt. The Song Sparrows jubilate their three-part song. A Killdeer runs before me and stops. A Broadwinged Hawk flies by, our most abundant forest dwelling and smallest buteo in this area.The House Finches court each other. Red-winged Blackbirds 'conqueree' for females who have not arrived yet. I try to identify the bare trees and check for smooth bark, opposite twigs, galls. When I see an oak which may be a pin oak, a few acorn cups and branch "potato" galls confirm this ID. Insects are perfect botanic taxonomists and their galls are good aids in plant identification. It also helps to know which woodland trees to expect in your area by frequency ranking. The US Forest Service has counted trees for most states with your tax dollar, and you might as well take note and know what to expect to see outdoors. The dried plants which I can make out are Teasel, Burdock, Velvet-Leaf, may hatch in late May.
Mar 28 90 : I stop at the Appalachian Trail and see that the Skunk Cabbage is awake here,too. On the forest floor I walk across the carpet of the Partridge Berry. The first brown-mottled leaves of the Trout-Lily -no flowers-, the 3-lobed leaves and flowers of the Hepatica, the narrow- leaved Spring Beauty are here. The Pecking of a Pileated Woodpecker attracts me to watch for a few minutes. I don't know why birders don't simply call him Great Black Woodpecker as they do in Germany. I guess naturalists want to sound scientific and esoteric. Well....! Yes, the Yellow Birch is in bloom. You have to raise your binocs to take note. The Eastern Hemlocks are filled with the 'see-see-see' of the Kinglets, probably the Ruby-crowned. I give up to actually see them in the trees, but I know that they are here on their way north to Conifer Country. I check the Squawroots under the forest trees, a saprophyte feeding on decaying roots.
Mar 29 90 : When I go to the Mormon Church in the afternoon to do some family rooting, I am greeted by a Meadowlark solo. The song is so loud and distinct that I can hear it inside the church for most of the time that I am there. I really should not be inside, but rather be out and looking for this spring's newcomer.
Apr 2 90 : At the Old Forge Water Plant a Belted Kingfisher is on his vigil. A Phoebe sits on the fence and twitches his tail. Through the bare trees I spot an Osprey sail North. Last year's oak apples give me the only clue that I am looking at a Northern Red Oak. On the way home a branch "nut" confirms that I found a hackberry elm.There are surely more scientific ways to identify those trees, but I prefer to rely on the gallmaker's wise judgement that they found their right host tree last year.
Apr 3 90 : At the Water Reservoir I am the only human there to watch the merganser on the lake. An osprey flies in the wrong direction - south. A single Broadswinged Hawk flies over the bare woodlands. A flock of golden- crowned kinglets advertises with 'see-see-see'.
Apr 4 90 : At the Renfrew Park lowland the only tall trees that have their leaves out are the Boxelder maples, all other trees are still bare or at most are in bloom. The first blue Cowbells or Mertensia are in the understory. The first leaves of black cherries and flowering dogwoods come out in the understory from which I hear the sad and slow 'haa-hee-hee-hee-heee' of the White-throated Sparrow. The first distinct 'tee-ho-krrrr' of the Eastern Towhee also comes from the understory. The bird should be renamed Teehow for that is what he calls himself. A Brown Creeper jumps up a treetrunk.
Apr 15 90 : On my way to Easter service I hear the chi pping trill ofthe Chipping Sparrow in town, each trill takes about 2 seconds, longer th and the trill of the Junco who also often gives two trills less than one second each close together with the second trill somewhat slower. This is the only time of year that the songs of the Chippie and Junco can be compared. On the way through the country one can check the power lines for the Kestrel who occupies all lines on his vigil and lookout for prey below. In the forest a new understory green of Black Cherries fills the bare space below the c anopy. Their young leaves show small blisters, the initial stages of the pouch galls which will form soon. The white flowers of the Service Berries begin to fade, and the new white flowers of the Bird Cherries are out ahead of their leaves. The shrill giggle of the Downy, the 'kurrr' of the Red-bellied Woodpecker, the 'davitt-....-davitt of the Cardinal (6-8 times), the fluting 'tee-tee-tee-tee' of the Tufted Tit, the 'tsee-daa-daa-daa"of the Black-capped Chickadee, the 'tsee-daa-tsee-daa' of the Carolina Chickadee are in the forest air.
Apr 20 90 : Brownheaded Cowbird roaming through the forest for nest that he could parasitize. Witch-hazel and Maple-leaved Viburnum leaves are out in pairs. The Oaks are budding. Red Maple flowers are gone, leaves are out.
Apr 21 90 :Yes,they are here now, the Yellow-rumped Warblers,the most abundant warbler during migration at Renfrew Park and elsewhere. Along the Antietam. at Renfrew we had a good look at a Black-crowned Nigth Heron with its long head feathers and at an osprey, both perching in a tree. Rusty Blackbirds were busy in the creek mud. White-throated Sparrows called their sad 'haa-hee-hee-hee-hee' from the understory bushes, Red-crowned Kinglets with their white-eye rings even showed their red crowns. The Boxelder still is the only tall tree in green now in a bare forest. So, we were able to see a Brown Thrasher perform. Blue-gray Gnatcatchers are busy in the canopy. The Yellow-throated Warbler is a first for me. The secretive Ginger flowers are out now. The Yellow Rockets (Barbara vulgaris) are most abundant crucifers in the field. The purple Henbit carpet the fields of the Meadow Lark. White, yellow, blue Violets compete for your attention. Redbuds are still in bloom. The golden Corydalis is in bloom.
Apr 22 90 : The Barn Swallow is here. A Northern Harrier travels North. The Northern Waterthrush visits Red Run Creek. The Juncos are gone, and their trill is superseded by that of the more steady and longer trill of the Chipping Sparrows.
Apr 25 90 : I check the glass jar with the brown Raspberry sausage branch gall and find four ant-like black Diastrophus gall wasps busy looking for an excape from their glass prison. The gall has small escape holes. The sun-loving Sassafras are in yellow bloom and look like the big brother of its smaller shade-loving understory cousin, the Spicebush whose flowers are about gone now. The Redbud flowers are past their magnificent peak, and the Flowering Dogwoods begin to show their white four sepals. From my kitchen window I hear and see a Towhee in the top of an Elderberry with its 'oui' call and its 'tee-ho-krrrr' song. Its performance lasts about two minutes before it flies off.
Apr 28 90 : At Renfrew along the Antietam River some friends are back: the Yellow Warbler, the Yellow-rumped Warbler, the Worm-eating Warbler, the Gray Catbird, the White-crowned Sparrow. More Spring-beauty, Ginger flowers are out. The Blackhaw Viburnum whose red-stalked leaves left me in doubt last week identifies itself by its white flower umbel. White Garlic-Mustards are aplenty on the forest floor with the purple-flowered Henbit. The House Wren chitters in full force and its song should be added to your bird song memory chip. The Jetbead bush(Rhodotypos) starts to show its white four-some flowers. Note the opposite leaves and last year's black berries of this unusual species of the Rose family from the Far East. The trees begin to close their ranks, but some still look bare: The Walnut, Ashes, Black Locust, Kentucky Coffee Tree, Beech, Sycamore, Paulownia in particular. The green leaves of the Chestnut Oak are showing, and some purple leaves of white oak on its lower branches only.
Apr 28 90 : The understory Witchhazel begins to green, and you will find the beginning stages of its cone-galls on the leaves as well. The Woodthrush arrives with its whippy pearls of 'yak-yak-yak......', especially in the afternoon. I am waiting for its flute songs in vain. Some Crabapple and the Tartaric Honeysuckle are in bloom. The sun still penetrates through to the forest floor. If you hear a 'tsee' come from the forest floor, look for the White-throated Sparrow who keeps in touch with its fellow travellers this way. I have another look at my glass prison with the brown Blackberry sausage gall. There are now about three dozen of Diastrophus wasp hatchlings out and a corresponding number of escape holes in this cynipid gall itself.
May 4 90 : The Chimney Swift is back on the Shippensburg campus. The white and not so pretty (says who?) webs of the Eastern Tent-caterpillar adorn the Blackcherries. I hope that the Cuckoos will take care of them soon.
May 5 90 : May is Wood Warbler month. In the oak tops I see the Blackburning and hear his 's-s-s-s-srreee' pearling upward. The Chestnut-sided Warbler is the loudest of the group with his 'pee-pee-pee-pee-peetcha' or, as some understand him:'pleased-pleased-pleased-to-meet-ya'. Well, that's o.k. with me. me. Two oak top dwellers are the Northern Oriole with his flute call and the Scarlet Tanager with his sore-throat Robin-like song or his 'kip-churr' call coming from the green canopy. The forest is nearly closed with chlorophyl and the forest floor is shaded. I have to rely on my ear now more than on my eyes to spot birds, and especially new birds. The Ovenbird rings his loud 'pechee-pechee-....' about 8-10 times with increasing volume towards the end from the forest floor.
May 6 90 : The Northern Waterthrush bobs his head politely at the rocky Red Run Creek. The Rose-breasted Grosbeak examines the branches of the Black Locust. Mrs. Grosbeak had me fooled first with her sparrow-like appearance until I saw her lord. Red-eyed Vireos are back in the forest with their tireless 'vireo' song repeated over and over again. The Chimney Swifts twitter over Hagerstown. I think a caught a brief glimpse of the Yellow-throated Vireo in the oak tops.
May 7 90 : There is a new 'bz-bz-bz-bzee' in the forest air which I recall from a previous spring: The Black-throated Warbler scans the oak tops, but also comes down to medium stories to give you a chance for a closer look. The Black-throated Green Warbler prefers to stay high and is harder to spot. Look for the Celandine Poppy at shady roadsides, a European immigrant. Its juice is as yellow as its 4 petals, a sure clue of identification. The last trees to leaf now are Black Locust, Black Walnut, White Ash, Sycamore, Hickories, Paulownia, Tree-of-Heaven, Gingko biloba, Northern Catalpa. The Mimosa trees are still bare. So are some Northern Oaks, killed by the Oak wilt, and some American Elms who succumbed to the Dutch Elm disease.
May 9 90 : The Indigo Bunting sings from the tree tops in the Red Run orchard like '1-2-3-4-seea'. The Bluets or Quaker Ladies' are in bloom at the park. The White-throated Sparrows still have not left for the North. I heard their sad 'haa-hee-hee-hee-hee' from the forest floor this morning. The American Redstart and the invisible Yellowthroat with the latter's 'seea-seea-seea' or 'seedra-seedra-seedra' are new songs in my ear. A woodchuck signals his loud unexpected 'teet' a few feet behind me which is echoed by his companion some distance away. I should not mistake this shrill 'bird' call hence. Bombus americana, the Great Bumblebee is collecting at the blue Ground-Ivy nectaries.
May 13 90 : A familiar warbler call of constant high pitch 's-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s' with emphasis at the center reminds me that the Blackpoll Warbler may be the last one of these migrants for the season. I hope that there will be a few more warbler days to come. I empty my glass insectary with the black Diastrophus gall wasps, all dead by now, and count 39 of them. They measure 2.5 mm head-to-end, their antennae 2 mm, their excape holes 1 mm.
May 16 90 : The Bay-breasted Warbler has arrived. His song is short like 's-ss-sss-sss', monotone with increasing intensity, 3 or 4 pearls of sound in the upper oak canopy. The Goldenrod Gall Fly, Eurosta solidaginis has hatched in my jar with her speckled wings. The Mimosa begins to awaken and shows her first leaves, surely not an early-riser among the dormant trees. The Brownheaded Cowbird is on his forest prowl again looking for unsuspecting parents. His call sounds like a rusty door hinge squeaking and gives this parasite away, if you know what to listen for. His lady is silent and does the tricking.
May 20 90 : The song of Backpoll Warblers is everywhere in the oak canopy. I see the first Tiger Swallowtail of the season and the Big Carpenter Bee, Xylocopa virginica, who is looking around my garage to drill into its wood to start a new brood. The House Sparrows find and feed on caterpillars in the oak trees, maybe on the small instars of the Gypsy Moth. They behave like Chicadees and hang on leaves and branches eager to examine and look for an apparent delicacy which only they can see. I wish I could examine what they eat in the oaks. They behave like this only in May, it seems.
May 21 90 : It is a rainy warbler day: Blackpolls, Blackburnians, Chestnutsides, Yellows as well as E.Wood Pewee, Red-eyed Vireo, Woodthrush, all singing at the same time around 11 a.m. in my oak forest habitat. Visibility is poor, but the bird concert is great and a challenge to your sound memory. The song pearls of the Blackpoll Warbler has the highest sound frequency which I have heard of any bird so far. Some people I asked are not even able to hear a pitch that high, or are they simply not paying enough attention?
May 24 90 : In the shadow of the Appalachian Trail forest the Arrowhead and Maple-leafed Viburnum is in flower. The Northern Waterthrush is still here walking in the shadows of the Red Run Creek, bobbing his head up and down. His song is new to me, like '1234567' sung in one breath. I catch an insect in the shadow of the creek, about 9 mm long in body and another 9 mm of antennae, wings folded on his back, a poor dark flier who does not even attempt to escape from me. I decide it must be one of the Caddis-flies or Trichoptera which has just come out of its self-built stone house in the rushing water nearby. I remember now that I saw a similar insect outside the windowpane at home a few days ago. The False Hellebore shows its green flowers.New shoots of the saprophytic Squawroot are out like "oak asparagus"a s they would say in Germany. Look for Partridge Berry in the same shadyarea.
May 25 90 : I collect a few insect leaf galls around my house: Pouches from the Black Cherry, cones from the Witch-hazel, balls from the Hickory. I put them in glass jars to see what may come out later in the season. Now is the time to watch for insects. I examine the lower sides of leaves and check for tiny white triangles about 1 mm each side. On Flowering Dogwood, Boxelder Maple,White Mulberry I find what I am after: The Mulberry Whitefly has two brown bands across its white wings, its body is 0.8 mm long. Under a Mulberry leaf I find two whiteflies together side by side. One is about 20% smaller, the male I presume. Later in the season there will be tiny black scales with white waxy edges, the new generation which you may want to collect to hatch. Its Linnaean name is Tetraleurodes mori, probably meaning genus number four of the floury ones living on the Mulberry.(Tetra = four, aleuron = flour). day is sunny. I listen for warblers in vain. They left for Northern climes.
May 26 90 : The warbler wave has passed towards Canada.
May 27 90 : An Eurosta Fly hatched from the Altissima Goldenrod Ball Gall into the glass cage of my insectary.
July 21-29: We attend the family history workshop in Winnipeg on Prussia which I am in charge of running on Sat., July 21. Attendance of ca.75 is good. Symposium on the history of Mennonites in Poland and Prussia from July 21-24 is good,too. My paper is read July 23. We(B{rbel,Hans,I) stay with Margaret Kroeker family, 86 Hazel Dell. She and her sister Hannah Rempel are in charge of Mennonite Genealogy Inc.,in Winnipeg which was founded by their late father Abram A.Vogt of Steinbach. Mennonite World Conference, July 24-29,the biggest crowd of Mennonites ever in one place. I am interested in the Soviet delegation and choir and the Kanadier Mennoniten in Latin America. We meet Peter J.Dyck,Francie Loepp, Gudrun Janzen Eglitis from Minneapolis and her brother Gerhard Janzen from Bad Oldesloe, Ruthild Foth from Ludwigshafen,Theo Schmidt, Hans-Jakob Galle, Erwin Boschmann. I find time to visit antiquarian book shops to buy books
Aug 1 90 1990,August: On our way back we stop again at Jan and Peter Goertzes in Thunder Bay,Ontario to see Omama Margarete Goertz at Lakehead P.Hospital who is past 90 years now and mainly absent, it seems. Our return leads via Sudbury where Bärbel has a distant cousin to Frau Elisabeth Wiens in Virgil,Ontario where we have a few pleasant days of sight seeing(Niagara Falls) and visiting. I find time to visit antiquarian book shops in St.Catharines and Toronto to stock up on insect books. Claudia visits Virgil before she starts her job as a nurse in Waynesboro. We return to Waynesboro on August 13 and find our house somewhat overgrown with vines. The mail has piled up at the post office, among it a letter from Mr.Weyna from Poland with xerox pages from the Amtsgericht records of the Bydgoszcz archives.
Aug 15 90 After transcribing the Amtsgericht deed records of Kommerau No.4, I learn the following: Johann Goertz of Kommerau acquired his hof Kommerau No.4 by marrying his first wife Helene Franz of Kommerau in 1776, daughter of Franz who died in 1776. A protocol of 1783 gives a title history of his real estate. At his death(1794) a certain Heinrich Goertz of Gogolin owes him money which might mean that Heinrich was his younger brother who got their father's farm at Gogolin and had to pay Johann's share of it. Gogolin needs to be checked out as the possible location and origin of the Goertz family. The records of Amtsgericht Culm and of General-Kommission for Gogolin should be searched prior to 1800. Elisabeth Balzer of Kommerau, daughter of Behrend B., was another wife of Johann Goertz. She maried Stephan Kerber of Kommerau in 1795 and died 1808. Probates of them are interesting reading.
April 15, 2000: Bärbel left for Germany yesterday to celebrate her mother's , Elfriede Kittler, 90th birthday on April 18. That leaves me here in Colorado Springs to address a question that was emailed to me:
Someone on the internet (in April 2000) wanted to know what a Rittergut was/is, what a Gutsverwalter and Kämmerer was/is. Since I grew up in Powarben, Kreis Königsberg and in Eichmedien, Kreis Sensburg in Ostpreussen - both were Rittergüter owned by my father Paul Gerhard Goertz from 1930 until 1945 - I have some ideas on these questions. In Ost- and Westpreussen of the time period prior to 1800, there were basicly 3 land sovereigns who owned and had jurisdiction over land property:
1) The King (crownland or Domainen) who usually rented his crownland out to hereditary tenants long term (30 or 40 years). The Kgl. (=Royal) Rentamt was in charge of dealing with the tenants, collecting the rent, renewing the lease contracts. Today the Praestations-Tabellen are the sources which tell us who the tenants were, how much land they had leased for how much etc., a good genealogical source. The crownlands were the first to convert hereditary leases into full ownership after the Stein/Hardenberg land reforms (Regulierung, Ablösungen) after 1812 and to record deeds in the new Prussian courts which started universally in 1783 (Prussian Hypothekenordnung of 1783).
2) The Nobles / Adel or knights/Ritter who owned the Rittergüter. Noone else except the Adel had the privilege of owning this kind of land property. They either could use the land themselves or rent it out to tenants, mostly long term, too. The tenants usually didnt have as good terms as those on crownlands (= Domainen) since they had to do Scharwerksdienst for the noble landlord like doing work for the noble household on certain days of the week. Only the law of 1867 changed these priviliges of the Adel and after that, non-noble families (Bürgerliche) could purchase Rittergüter,too. So, I grew up in Adlig-Powarben and Adlig-Eichmedien.
3) The cities like Danzig, Elbing, Thorn, Culm in West Prussia owned estate land, the Kammergüter, which they leased out. The Kammeramt, run by the City Kämmerer, took care of dealing with the tenants. Cities ranked third in land ownership in Ost- and Westpreussen.
Since my father, Paul Gerhard Goertz, owned several Güter, he had to delegate running the daily chores to be done. He hired a Gutsverwalter (also called Guts-Inspektor) for each estate who represented him at the bank or dealt with the grain merchants or on the Gut whenever needed who also gave the orders to the 6 Gespannführer (horse teamsters) and workers about ploughing etc. Larger estates had two different people as Gutsverwalter and Inspektor. The Gutsverwalter would then take care of accounting only. The Kämmerer took care of the granary (Speicher) and kept it under lock and distributed the grain (rye, oats, barley) to the 6 horse teamsters (no gasolin in thosse days). Each Gespann (horse team) consisted of 4 work horses. In Adlig-Powarben and Adlig-Eichmedien the Kämmerer also rang the bell in the morning to call to work (not worship) and at 12:00 and 13:00 to mark the noon hour of Mittagspause recess.
My father got up early before sunrise and had a brief Hof conference (close to the Hof well in Powarben, as I recall) around 6 a.m. with the Gutsverwalter/Inspektor, the Kämmerer (Mr.Juesche) and 1.Gespannführer (Mr.Gehrau) to discuss the working strategies of the day: Where to deploy the workers and horses, where to plough, make hay, harvest, thrash grain, streu Mist, change plans if raining, cut and plant trees, repair cobble roads, barns, fences, houses, build Kartoffel Mieten and Rübenmieten, tranport grain and Rüben to the train station, dig and clear draining ditches to protect soil and crops from flooding (We had a full time "Drainage Meister" Mr.Geduhn in Adlig-Powarben who supervised a crew for this kind of draining job).
The Gärtner (Mr.Oelsner) usually was not included in this working strategy planning of the day. He took his orders from the Gnädige Frau as to Gemüse needs of the herrschaftliche household including heating needs of the Gutshaus, getting fire wood and coke and coal. He got assistants and horse power as needed.
The Kutscher (Mr.Reuter), like the Gärtner, usually took direct orders from the Gutsherr or the Gnädige Frau and took care of the Kutschpferde (the 2 personal horse-and-buggy horses) required for travelling needs of the household as well as of the riding horse of the Gnädigen Frau and the children. The slick car that we had in the barn remise was never used since gasolin meant cash spending, was scarce and rationed anyway during the war (WWII).
We also had a Stellmacher (carpenter) and Schmidt (blacksmith). I often spent time in the Schmiede and watched the horses being shoed. The coke furnace was fanned manually with the Blasebalg. The waggon wheeles needed to be greased and re-rimmed (or do you say re-ringed?) The Schmidt also repaired our bicycles when needed.
The Landwirtschaft before 1945 was universally cash-poor,and payment in kind (deputat) like grain, potatoes, Rüben, fire wood was the means of payment of the day. The Gutsbesitzers all had the memories of the great depression on their mind with the estate foreclosures rampant in Prussia. I was told that my father bought Powarben and Eichmedien in 1930-1931 because the banks had forclosed and trusted that he could take the Güter off their hands and books without going bankrupt himself. By this time most of the Rittergüter in Prussia no longer were owned by Adels families who had not been immune to the hardships of inflation in the early 1920s and deflation/depression following.
Niekammer's Güteradressbuch (Estate Directory) contains information on the larger estates from the 1932 edition: 1 ha = 2.5 acres
Rittergut Adlig Powarben, Kreis Königsberg:
Einheitswert (tax value): 535400 RM,
476 ha; of which 333 ha Acker,
30 ha Wiesen, 90 ha Weiden, 14 ha Holzungen and 9 ha Unland.
Viehbestand (Lifestock): 54 Pferde, 200 Rinder, davon 75 Kühe,
55 Schweine.
Rittergut Eichmedien, Kreis Sensburg mit den Vorwerken:
Einheitswert (tax value): 589000 RM,
880 ha; of which 500 ha
Ackerland, 80 ha Wiesen, 90 ha Weiden, 200 ha Holzungen, 5 ha Unland,
5 ha Wasser.
Viehbestand (Lifestock): 90 Pferde, 240 Rinder, davon 100 Kühe,
400 Schafe, 300 Schweine.