Rosalind Davies' Family History
© Rosalind Davies 2001
Permission granted to reprint research for non-profit use only

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Correspondence between Moll farmers and the land owning knights
in Kalsow, Meckelnburg/Scherwin
in 1751
(All the Molls mentioned are from my family.)

Up until 1918, a duke and several knights ruled Mecklenburg.  The knights ruled their properties without government restrictions.  Farmers rented properties from the knights.

There were no Molls living in Kalsow in 1751 but by 1753 there were three families with this name. As there were only seven families living in the area, it would appear that they arrived together from another district.  By 1819, one of our ancestors was mayor of the village.  Even in 1873 of the three families left, two had the surname Moll.

In 1790 the knight, Von Both, intended to disown the farmers to enlarge his own property. He chased them off their land and pulled down their houses. He declared the land as his own and employed the farmers as day labourers. The farmers protested. They wrote to the duke and asked him for help. Here is a synopsis of a 19 pages sent to the duke.
v   Petition to the duke from the remaining farmers; Friedrich Moll, Christian Gaeveke and Jochim Heinrich Moll with the description that four from the seven original farmers were cheated by the landowner Von Both in 1790, the cattle were sold and the barns demolished.
v      In a new petition to the duke in 1797 the farmers requested that they get their jobs back. They were:- Jochim Hinrich Moll Senior, Peter Gevcke, Adolph Kroeger, Hartig Wendler, Christian Gevcke, Friedrich Moll Junior, Jochim Hinrich Moll Junior. v      A renewed request from the farmers to re-establish the jobs as farmers and indicating that the landowner Von Both, had put them through a long and expensive trial which bankrupted the farmers.
v     
Finally the duke who up to now only referred them to the government bodies wrote a letter to Von Both telling him that he has no right to reduce the size of Kalsow and ordered him to preserve the last three farmers for the government.
v      In 1796, a renewed petition to the duke from the farmers requesting a reduction of the rent of the farm as the requested price is not possible to raise from these 'worst fields'.
v      In 1798 Von Both wrote to the duke requesting for additional permission to sack four farmers from Kalsow and not to re-instate their jobs as he had already built a new farm.
Obviously the farmers were allowed to stay.

by Ros Davies