From German Girls Genealogy (Teresa Steinkamp McMillin & Debra A. Hoffman):
On a recent trip to the Haupstaatsarchiv in Stuttgart, we found some interesting military-related documents. One of them was a volume of payments made to military personnel in 1804. At the front of the book were Assentscheine [recruitment certificates].
Assentschein
An Assentschein was created for each person who entered the military. It contains some great information about the person. The samples we reviewed have the name and birth place of the soldier, his height, age, marital status, religion, and occupation.[1]
Height was measured in Fuß [feet], Zoll [inches], and Strich [parts of an inch]. A Strich is 1/12 of an inch and is a measurement no longer used. Matheus Lindenmeier was recruited 3 March 1804 into the Chur Prinz Batallion.
The translation follows:
Nro. 212
Recruitment Certificate
Neu-Würtembergische Lande. Oberamt Giengen.
Recruit Matheus Lindenmeier born in
Giengen height 5. feet, 9. inches, 1. Strich [1/12 of an inch]
18 years old, unmarried Status, Lutheran. Reli-
gion, by Profession a beer brewer, admitted by Joh. Georg Reute von Giengen. Is fit for military service
T. tenZ Regl. Chirurg. Nick dte[?]
The same is provisioned ___________ until 3. Merz. and is enlisted for 6 years with a surety of, 50. florin, und 450 fl. Enlistment bonus into the Bataill. Chur Prinz.
Payment Register
The second half of this document contains a register of payments made to the military personnel for the months of March and April 1804. Presumably the payments were in Florin and Kreuzer, though it does not say. The military personnel were listed in order of rank, with the Gemeine [privates] last.[2]
Here is a translation of Matheus’s entry.
| Nro. | Name and Birth place | Wages, Salary and small monthly allowance | Bread portions | Additions and Departures and other observations | ||||
| Pro März | Pro April | Pro März | Pro April | |||||
| 109 | Private Matheus Lindenmeyer Giengen | 2 | 42 | 3 | 27 | 30 | ||
Matheus didn’t get paid for the full month of March, since he didn’t get recruited until the third. Those privates who had been present for the full month of March were paid 3 Florin. They apparently did not factor in how many days were in the month, as the payment was the same for March and April.
It is interesting to see what the privates were paid versus other personnel. For example, a cadet was paid 8 Florin per month. A Hauptmann [captain] was paid 75 Florin.
[1] “Bataillon Chur Printz Zahlungsliste pro Martio et Aprile 1804, » nr. 1014, fol. 644, Assentschein no. 212, Matheus Lindenmeier ; Haupstaastarchiv Stuttgart, A32-Bd 63.
[2] “Bataillon Chur Printz Zahlungsliste pro Martio et Aprile 1804, » nr. 1014, fol. 644, Zahlungsliste, p. 33, no. 109, Matheus Lindenmeier ; Haupstaastarchiv Stuttgart, A32-Bd 63.
Lind Street Research 