Inscription for that section of the bible:

Commit your way to the Lord, trust in Him, and he will surely act.
(confirmations, weddings etc.)

The next was written by Michael, but parenthetical remarks are by the author:

My parents' house was across from the rectory; thus from early youth on I spent much time on the church grounds, and I was  almost at home there as in my parents' house.  After this, I worked 1 and 1\2 years at the Gasthaus zur Rose (Guesthouse of the Rose) (and) I worked under Philipp Stumpf, after I was freed of  my obligation to serve in the military through Loos (lottery,  fate), around Christmas 1846 at the age of 21.  I entered the employ of Pastor Bender, for whom I tended the farm until 1850 and at the same time provided porter's service for him, along with my late wife who came into the rectory as a maid. (Not sure of the name of this wife, there was a Margaretha Rimler, born in 1849 likely from this union.) My subsequent wife had, in the years 1846 and 1848, previously worked in the Brüchhäuser Mill, after which she was at home for a time; then later she worked for 3\4 of a year for Pastor Gnose at Maingarten, later Heidelberg, and returned in 1857 to her old job with Pastor Bender.

I served from 1850 until 1852 in the Gasthaus zum Ochsen (Ox Inn).  On February 15, 1852 we were married (second marriage, and the bible pages we have copies of were given to them at this marriage) and lived for 4 years in the house of my brother-in-law Phillipp Madler until 1856.   After the death of Pastor Bender, who died on April 17, 1855, his successor, Kirchenrath (council member) from Langsdorff moved in  around the middle of June, 1855.  He allowed me and my family to inhabit the house adjacent to the rectory; I did this on Easter  1856 and have lived since then in the rectory, have taken care of  the grounds for Herr Kirchenrath and have performed several sorts  of services for his family.  On June 15, 1852 I became a sexton and received the Sextonship until April 23, 1869.  Also my wife, who during Pastor Bender's severe illness greatly aided with his care and in so doing proved herself capable of caring for the sick, received the status of and the obligations of a midwife on May 8, 1857. (This second wife was Magdalena, who received the midwife award.)  My three younger children were born in the rectory; all grew up there, and the church grounds became a home to them.

As the older children had grown up,  I came up with the plan to buy or build my own house; however Herr Kirchenrath, who did not want to do without me (without my  services) had always prevented me; therefore I had remained  living there past his death on April 4, 1873 and past the  installation of the new pastor on June 8, 1873; at the time I  began building my own house on the 37 rod plot (“rod” is a unit of length, not area, so something is assumed here, an English rod is about 16.5 feet, and a Prussian rod about 6 feet) already purchased  from the parish for 185 florins (Fl.), (The florin is about the same as a Gulden, and was equal to about 23.39 grams of silver, close to one ounce.  Today, January 2011, silver sells for about $30/ ounce, so that would compute to $5,000 to $6,000 for the lot.)  located at the lower end  of [Sengasse?]. (Probably a street name – translator couldn’t decipher.)  In the Autumn of 1873 I began the preparations and at the beginning of 1874 during the mild winter I began the excavation and provided a bank of earth for backfill.  At the beginning of Spring, the masonry work began and on April  18, 1874 the beaming and roof were put up.  On June 25th the  house was completed, and on Saturday June 27, 1874, I left the  rectory with the last of my personal effects, after I had served 4 years in that house with my (first) wife and subsequently had  lived there for 18 years with my family; I slept with mine (my family) for the first time under my new roof, and under that  roof, God, let me and mine live on in peace and protect me in  mercy from threat of fire and water.

For the construction of my house, my fellow citizens afforded me in toto 150 wagonloads of stone, sand, and wood for fire and helped me with the excavation of the cellar; I myself contributed in toto 158 wagonloads: 40 loads of earth for backfill, 90 loads  of sand, 12 loads of marl (lime?) from Rosebach, 2 loads of wood  and 4 of boards.  The whole time I, along with my wife and children, assisted with the construction.  For the construction I used:

(Note by fussy author, who has dabbled in estimating from time to time:  it does not add up quite to 1834, but close.  Not sure how the DM computes, it doesn’t seem to be added.  Certainly they used multiple currencies at that time.  For a total of 2066 Florins, that is would be about $60,000 at the price of silver of $30/oz.  Note that the beer for workers was about the same amount as glasswork, cabinet work, locksmithing.)

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