And the wool for the stockings came from our own sheep. It

f

was always the youngest child who had to guard the sheep.

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Simon - Dax
 
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©   Kurt Müller 2022

Kaspar Heinrich Simon

born 13. May 1818 in Hoff
died  11. February 1884 in Harscheid

Elisabeth Dax

born 28. October 1814 in Harscheid
died  17. February 1885 in Harscheid

Simon

Dax

UnterschriftDaxElisabethInv
UnterschriftSimonKasparHeinrichInvkl
Eklein.FamHist
* Wilhelm was the son of Kaspar Heinrich Simon and Elisabeth Dax
 and the brother of
Amalie Simon
.
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Domestic life largely took place in the spacious hall- way ("Eren"), ca. 5 by 6 m in size, with a floor con- sisting of tamped loam or slabs. In the open fireplace during the whole day a fire was kept burning. Its smoke escaped first through a flue ending up in the loft and from there through a triangular hole in the gable. Above the fireplace a pothook was mounted which carried a cauldron.
 
The hallway offered access to the parlour, the bed- chamber, the cellar, and the stable. In the cellar big stone barrels were stored

and some centners of potatoes.


 
Wooden stairs led to the low bedchamber where a

f

large bed was girdled by a curtain. A plain straw sack was used as a mattress, duvet and pillows were filled with oat chaff ("Kaaf").
 
B

etween hallway and parlour, a cast iron

fireback

("Takenplatte") was recessed into the wall so that by this means the parlour was heated from the hallway, as well.
 
In the parlour, the dominant piece of furniture was a massive oak table with large drawers where cutlery, bread and butter were kept; behind it stood a long bench and in front of it some chairs. The wall cabi- nets housed various tableware, food and sewing kit, whereas freestanding cupboards were uncommon.
 

Through the small windows with leaded panes only small portions of daylight got through into the house; consequently the upper half of the horizontally split entry door stayed open most of the time while the closed lower half kept the free-roaming pigs out in the yard.


 
During long winter evenings small lamps, fed by rape oil, and short-living splinters from arrowwood and oak produced a sparse illumination; the splinters were up to 80 cm long and burned for about a quarter of an hour.

ErenSehrKlein.jpg

A typical house and  domestic life in Harscheid  at the beginning of the 19th century

(text excerpts taken from Karl Schmitz's book "Chronik von Harscheid" / Chronicle of Harscheid) :

"Eren" with fireplace (right) and crockery board (left)

Below: Traditional

oil lamp


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Above:

paraffin (kerosene) lamp

Petroleumlampe

It was very homely when our big room was lighted from that little lamp and the women sat at the spinning wheels and somebody told unearthly tales about ghosts. The success was that all the children were afraid of darkness and at last only my father stayed courageous enough to go outside into the dark on his own. But what we did together, as well, was singing many of the old folk songs, what especially delighted my father. The women span linen, flax, hemp and the wool. My sisters wove the linen on their own looms.

Heimweben.400

I have already mentioned that my parents were very economical. The exercise book which we children needed for school was manufactured by my father himself. During winter time we caught birds with loops made from horse hair and in summer time we caught the young birds and bred them.

Schnauzenlampe

Two years after the fire I was born. As a rather delicate child, I was quite the contrary of my brothers and sisters. It was when the first

sewing machine

and the first

paraffin light

were imported in Harscheid. Before that time we only had a tin lamp used with rapeoil. The paraffin

(kerosene, German: Petroleum)

was called stone oil, and my mother was among the first to buy a paraffin lamp.

written by Wilhelm Simon in 1927

Chronicle of the Simon family (5)

Left: Homework at the loom and the spinning wheel in the 19th century. Since the 16th century flax  and  hemp had been grown. By the beginning of the 19th century nearly every house had a spinning bee where yarn was spun and linnen was woven.