Record Conventions: Parish and Rentkammer

Parish records conventions and adminstrative Rentkammer conventions can make it look like there are two men with the same name when in fact one and the same person moving between legal statuses and places.

In late-18th / early-19th-century Schaumburg-Lippe, three different “places” could legitimately coexist for the same man:

  1. Wohnort der Familie – where his household was registered in the church book – where wife and children lived and were baptized

  2. Einlieger residence – where he personally lodged for work – often in another village, sometimes even another parish

  3. Administrative designation – how the Rentkammer or Amt identified him at the moment of petition – often by occupation + current lodging place, not by family home

Church registers privilege (1). Rentkammer files privilege (2) and (3).

2. What the church records are actually telling you (and what they are not)

We have solid evidence that:

  • Jobst Heinrich Krückeberg

    • married in 1790, residence No. 10 Berenbusch

    • children baptized 1790–1806, Wohnort consistently No. 10 Berenbusch

    • Stand evolves:

      • Schuster

      • Hausherr (1803)

      • Schuster Amtsmeister (1806)

This tells us:

✔ He maintained a household at No. 10 Berenbusch ✔ His family was stably resident there ✔ He had advanced occupational standing by 1806

What it does not tell us:

✘ that he personally slept there every night ✘ that he was not simultaneously an Einlieger elsewhere

Church registers track household identity, not daily labor geography.

3. What the Rentkammer file is telling us — and why it uses Evesen

Now look closely at the Rentkammer language:

a) Designatio Actorum

From: nla:146:doc1.adoc

„Vorstellung von Schneider Krückeberg im Evesen“

This is a file-heading shorthand, not a biographical statement.

It means:

“Petition by the tailor Krückeberg, currently in Evesen”

Not:

  • born in Evesen

  • domiciled with family in Evesen

  • owning property in Evesen

b) The petition itself (this is decisive)

The critical sentence

„Ich habe bisher als Einlieger beÿ Wilharm No 11 in Evesen gewohnt.“

Tremoves all doubt.

It means, literally:

"`Up to now I have lived as a lodger with Wilharm No. 11 in Evesen.`"

Key points:

  • als Einlieger → personal lodging status

  • beÿ Wilharm No. 11 → employer/host household

  • in Evesen → place of work-based residence

This is self-testimony by Jobst Heinrich himself.

4. Why he can be BOTH:

  • Hausherr / Schusteramtsmeister in Berenbusch

  • Einlieger / Schneider in Evesen

a) Occupational duality is normal

  • Schuster and Schneider are not mutually exclusive in records

  • Chancery usage is loose:

    • church books preserve guild title

    • Rentkammer reduces to craft label

You are seeing register-specific terminology, not two men.

b) Why he worked as an Einlieger in Evesen

This fits the timeline perfectly:

  • He holds No. 10 Berenbusch (household base)

  • But wants to establish a new Stätte

  • Before 1808, he:

    • does wage or piece work

    • lives as an Einlieger near employment

    • saves capital / seeks opportunity

Hence his petition argument:

  • land is uneven

  • needs earth-moving

  • asks for favorable price

That is the voice of a non-landholding craftsman trying to become a Kolon.

5. Why this is not evidence of two Jobst Heinrichs

Let us test the “two men” hypothesis strictly:

Criterion Would require two men What we actually see

Same full name

possible

yes

Same generation

unlikely

exact

Same wife

impossible

same

Same children

impossible

same

Same occupational progression

unlikely

coherent

Self-testimony linking Einlieger status

fatal

explicit

The petition sentence proves identity.

There is one Jobst Heinrich Krückeberg, not two.

6. What is really happening (one-sentence synthesis)

Jobst Heinrich Krückeberg maintained his family household at No. 10 Berenbusch while personally living and working as an Einlieger with Wilharm No. 11 in Evesen; the church registers record household affiliation, while the Rentkammer file records his legal-economic status at the moment of petition.

That is the reconciliation.

7. Why this actually strengthens your reconstruction

Instead of a contradiction, you now have:

  • a credible pre-colonate life course

  • an explanation for why he sought new land in 1808

  • a coherent social ascent:

    • Einlieger → Hausherr → Kolon → Amtsmeister

This is exactly what a successful Schaumburg-Lippe craftsman-colonist looks like.

Final answer (unambiguous)

No — there are not two Jobst Heinrich Krückebergs. There is one man, recorded differently because:

  • church books track households

  • Rentkammer tracks economic/legal status

  • Einlieger residence and family residence can differ

Your sources are not contradicting each other — they are describing different aspects of the same life.