Need help with translation

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

I've come across a baptismal certificate of my great-grandfather, who was born in Hanover Germany in 1857. In the list of witnesses to the baptism are some terms that I don't understand and can't translate. Could anyone here help?

The terms are "Vollmeier" and "Halbkoestler", with the "oe" meaning an umlaut over the o (don't know how to type that out).

Here's the context:

Johann Schmidt Vollmeier zu Hamburg

Friederich Zimmer Halbkoestler zu Hamburg

Thanks for your help! I'm hoping this will help me find out the names of my great-grandfather's grandparents. I know this should be in the genealogy group, but the number of Germans there is a bit limited, and really I'm just seeking translation that Babelfish won't do. Vielen Dank!

[NMDemDist2]

1. in context they appear to be either a neighborhood designator in Hamburg or

a profession

[elleng]

2. Sound like family names, to me.

John Smith Vollmeier of Hamburg

Fred Zimmer Halbkoestler of Hamburg

[Bavorskoami]

3. Archaic farming terminology

These terms refer to the status of a farmer or the amount of land they owned or leased and/or the amount of tax they were required to pay.

Here is a link to a page in German that is meant as help to genealogists. Some of these terms are really archaic and difficult to figure out. "Vollmeier" is listed. I am wondering if "Halbköstler" is an alternate spelling of "Kötter" as in "Kleinkötter" found at the linked page. It would take me a while to make sense of most of these terms.
http://www.nhv-ahnenforschung.de/Quellen/status.htm

Viel Glück!

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

7. Wunderbar!

This is exactly what I needed to know. The family has had the certificate out and had our German relatives look at it and they didn't have a clue! (By German relatives, I mean my brother's in-laws). Of course, since they were modern urbanites, they wouldn't know about these terms.

The gentleman who was a Halbkoestler was, I think, the mother's father, as their surnames were the same (surnames were not the same as in the example, and were much less common than Zimmer). Her father fought in the Napoleonic wars on the German side at The Battle of the Sunken Road. I was wondering if the term might have meant pensioner because of this.

[JVS]

4. I'd go with the post above mine

[baldguy]

5. Here's what I found.

"Bauer" is a farmer with leasing rights to his land
"By definition, a Bauer or Voll-Bauer (full-farmer) was able to maintain a team of draft animals and was a citizen with a voice in the village Gemeinde, eligible to hold local office."
http://homepage.mac.com/msb/163x/faqs/peasants.html

Vollbauer, Vollmeier - full-farmer
Halbbauer, Halbmeier - half-farmer
Viertelbauer - quarter-farmer
Koetter - cotter
Brinksitzer - farmer on communal land
Einwohner, Einlieger, Heuerling - hireling or hired hand
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/GEN-DE/2002-03/1016593410

http://1632.org/1632tech/faqs/17centuryfarm.html

I can't find anything regarding "Halbkoestler" but "koestler" seems to be related to "koster"
http://genealogy.familyeducation.com/surname-origin/koestler

Koster

1. Dutch and North German: status name for a sexton, Middle Dutch coster(e).
2. North German (Köster): occupational nickname or status name for a day laborer who owned no land, from Middle Low German koster, from kossater ‘cottager’.
3. South German: occupational name for a wine taster, from kosten ‘to taste’.
4. Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a grocer or provisioner, from German Koster ‘provisions’, ‘foodstuffs’ + the agent suffix -er.
http://genealogy.familyeducation.com/surname-origin/koster

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

8. Thank you so very much for this!

It is very interesting. The gentleman who was a "Halbkoestler" may well have been the mother's father, who was a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars. I was wondering if it might have meant he was a veteran on half pay or something like that.

It is very interesting that the people were listed as farmers. The father became a railroad engineer when he came to the States; his son whose certificate I'm translating was apprenticed to a cigar maker while they were still living in Germany, and he continued his profession in the states, closing his cigar factory in 1935.

[OneGrassRoot]

6. This is from gentleman born in German, in the 20's:

I copied your post here into an email. :)

"I do.

I was also born in Hannover (one "n" is bad form) in 1927

The words you present are the last names of two people,

No translation needed - how would you translate Smith?"

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

9. Thanks for the spelling correction

I knew the surnames were surnames, and used generic ones in the example. It was the terms for occupations that I was interested in. Apparently others have found that the terms are for different types of farmers, which is interesting, as when the family came to the US the father became a railroad engineer (not a hand, but an engineer) and his son made cigars, something he learned to do in Germany.

Please thank your friend and tell him that the town where my great grandfather was born was so small there was only one dirt road to it!

[JVS]

12. That's what I thought at first, but Zimmer and Schmitt are unlikely middle names

It would be like having the middle names Chambers or Smith in English.

[salguine]

10. "Halbköstler" means "half-price", "Halbköstler zu Hamburg" would mean

"Half-price to Hamburg", like the cost of a ticket to Hamburg. "Vollmeier" is a little trickier. "Voll" means "full", but the "-meier" part is throwing me. Given the context it could mean "full-price ticket", as opposed to "Halbköslter", but I'm not familiar with "Vollmeier". Ach du lieber.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

11. Hmm... let me give you some background

I didn't use the actual names or locations that are on the baptismal certificate. But the "Habldoestler" fellow may well have been a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars--if so, could this mean he was on half pay--a benefit of a veteran perhaps?

Thank you for your help. My German is very rusty.

[JVS]

13. Meier means free farmer. You're not owned like a serf, but you also aren't an office holder.