A Remembrance of the Past; Building for the Future." ~ Eve Eckert Koehler
Remembering Our Danube Swabian Ancestors
The Pastor’s Living Quarters and the First
Pastor Salaries
by Dr. Viktor Pratscher Translated by Brad Schwebler
The first
parsonage was constructed in 1860 from the massive school and teachers'
apartment built three years before. The whole alteration depended on the
room being promptly boarded up and the school hall would later be divided into
two rooms. This school also had three windows facing the yard. One
had to be fixed since the teacher Karl Burg shot a robber who fled through an
exit in the parsonage yard. In the apartment there was a front room, an open
kitchen which soon had to be covered, a second room and two spaces which were
built from the school hall. A wide corridor ran along the whole building and
three steps led up to it. The street front of the building was always
whitewashed and had eight windows which stood very high. The church
building sacrificed the first room as a substitute for a kitchen on the yard
side of the corridor. From the space of the first kitchen there was the
pastor's chancellery which had been paneled a decade ago and now the supported
ceiling made a wretched impression. Yet amazingly everyone
moved neglected-looking old house and after more sweat and several more days
work the walls were demolished. No fewer than 40,000 useable bricks could
be borrowed.
The new parsonage already should have
been built by 1915, unfortunately this decision was not carried out because of
the outbreak of the war. However due to war loans and devaluation the
capital that existed for this purpose was lost. The parsonage and the
school existed under one roof until the church was large enough.
So in 1927 the congregation was
brought together a second time to build a parsonage from their own strengths and
money although there were many difficult relationships as before the war.
In the Spring of 1927 the congregation accepted the plan of the local building
contractor Johann Schwebler. The plan was produced according to the wishes
and instructions of the local pastors. The work details could be assigned.
The masonry work was done by Jakob Morell, Johann Müller, Peter Ortag, Johann
Schwebler Peter Staudt, and Karl Stroh - for 73, 821 Dinars. The cabinetry
work was done by Peter Freitag, Friedrich Peter, and Philipp Wagner for about
46,000 Dinars. Together with the executive committee of the church elders,
church treasurer, and three old gentlemen who were entrusted as the building
commission, all of the construction workers were independently managed and
supervised. The elders were therefore relieved of the responsibility.
The bricks were acquired
for the community and paid for by Jakob Gutwein at 630 Dinars per thousand, 500
Dinars per thousand was paid for roof tiles. The lumber was supplied by
Philipp Schwebler's lumberyard. During the construction of the parsonage
the pastor's
The Evangelical
Parsonage family lived in the beautiful hospitable home of WW. Anton Scherer.
1,000 Dinars was paid for it with warmest thanks.
The parsonage is separated from the
church building by a 6 meter long iron bar with an entrance door. There
are 4 windows on its 18 meter long street front, of which two are three-winged
windows and all have wooden blinds. The building, 12 meters wide, has four
living rooms, a kitchen, a dining room, a bathroom, a veranda, and a cellar
besides the chancellery. It is provided with electric lighting and a water
main. The whole building required a total sum of 204,000 Dinars from the
community. However many thousands of useable bricks from the old building
were used for it. It was 6 fathoms across the yard to the neighboring
building.
At the end of September 1927 the
parsonage was completely finished and the pastor's family could quietly move
into it. The local pastor reported on the completed building as follows:
"Now we have reached our goal with God's help and we are so thankful for the
gentlemen who were gracious enough to help us through it! The willing
sacrifices that this little community made is praiseworthy.
The First Pastors' Salary
From 1819 to 1835 the Evangelicals of
Feketitsch received pastoral services from the pastor of neighboring Sekitsch.
And so Rev. Samuel August Weinrich served until 1827 and from 1827 on Rev.
Josef Skultethy served. The church invoice from 1827 signed Skultethy as
Evangelical Lutheran pastor of Sekitsch and Feketitsch. Whatever salary
the pastor was paid at the time was not decided, but it was acquired, also
according to the same sort of signature as above, as it was in Sekitsch because
most of the Evangelicals came from there.
In 1835 the community concluded a
contract, as branch community, with Rev. Josef Skultethy of Sekitsch in the
presence of the executive notary Johann Skultethy from Vrbas. According to
this agreement each couple paid 2 Guilders. Besides that each farmer paid
½ Pester Metzen of fruit and just as much oats and small homeowners and property
owners paid 1/3 Pester Metazen of fruit and just as much oats. (Stolarien?)
as in the parent community. If the branch community should receive a half
session or a whole session of field, the clergy should receive enjoyment from
half of it and the school teachers should receive enjoyment from the other half
and the farmers as well as the small homeowners would only have to pay as much
as they could afford. Rev. Josef Skultethy offered to hold the church
services in the early hours for the next two Sundays but on the third Sunday,
for his recovery, he did not show up. For the church services he came on
his own horse, to all other functions he had a load to carry.
Rev. Ferdinand Hamel's salary was the
following: an apartment consisting of two rooms, a kitchen, a dining room,
a cellar, a stall, and yard space. Twice a year, besides the necessary
repairs, it was whitewashed. From each couple 1 Guilder in Austrian
currency (Stolarien?): 1 Guilder for wedding ceremonies, 1 Guilder for corpses,
50 Kreuzer for small corpses, 50 Kreuzer for baptisms, and 50 Kreuzer for
confirmation instructions. The farm couple has to pay ½ Pester Metzen of
fruit and just as much oats. Out of the container which held the
children's fortune, they paid half just as the couples did. For over 60
years each member has been free of the pastor's fee. Every year two
fathoms of straw, 1 fathom of oats, and 3 fathoms of firewood (in addition it is
noticed that in 1882 there were 4 fathoms of firewood which were fetched from
Karaboga in which the wood cost 37 Guilders and the delivery fee was 39
Guilders.) Marriage, as much as its use was necessary. In case the
community, by regulation, received the estates of the pastor's field the payment
for the marriage was 3 fathoms of straw. If the pastor only receives the (Hutweide)
meadow jurisdiction, the above payment remained. The pastor set up in each
case the payment of all the taxes for which he had enclosed estates. All
official loads such as the 12 (Vorspann?) credit loads yearly for private use in
the surroundings of the executives. These achievements are only reported
from the Feketehegy occupants and not from those who have their house and field
here, but don't live here. Feketitsch, on the 13th of November 1859."
It stayed at this salary unless the meadow was divided. Then the pastor
received 6 chains of agricultural land as meadow jurisdiction. Straw and (Vorspann)
were later removed for 60 Guilders.
