i.e. mayors, officers or priests.

Of course it is wrong to imagine life as being very pleasant or comfortable in those times. There was a lot of work and every member of the family, old or young, had to help. The chronicle of Weinsberg clearly shows us the good years and the poor years. The same chronicle tells us about the distress and trouble in the times of war.

Our family had a good share of that too. In 1607 the butcher Balthas Haeberlin (II,1) and five of his eleven children died. In the Thirty Years' War Weinsberg suffered badly because of concentration of troops, plundering and other acts of violence. For years people were struck by hunger and plague. In 1635 there were 646 dead, among them the 45 year old wife of Balthas Haeberlen (11,14), who died two years later, 50 years old. The city of Weinsberg was not burnt down then, as many other cities were, but the f ields and vineyards went to waste and it took a long time and much work to make them fertile again. The church bells had been stolen by soldiers