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Count Karl Heinrich Ludwig von Bassewitz-Levetzow

1855–1921

Born
3 Mar 1855, Schwerin
Country of birth
Germany
Died
21 Feb 1921, Bristow
facts
6
sources
1
images and files
0

Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

A life in time

  1. Born · Schwerin

    Birth, Schwerin

  2. Child born: Countess Ina Marie von Bassewitz

    Birth, Schorssow

  3. Died · Bristow

    Death, Bristow

What was it like?

The world around Schwerin, 1855: who ruled, who else was alive, how people lived. This is general history, not a record about the family, and every item shows where it comes from.

Count was born the same year as Ferdinand Tönnies, Infanta Maria Theresa of Portugal, and Ernest Chausson.

Born the same year

  • Ferdinand Tönnies

    German sociologist, economist and philosopher (1855–1936)

  • Infanta Maria Theresa of Portugal

    Austrian and Portuguese royal (1855–1944)

  • Ernest Chausson

    French composer (1855–1899)

  • Emile Verhaeren

    Belgian poet (1855-1916)

  • Percival Lowell

    American astronomer (1855-1916)

  • Paul Deschanel

    11th President of the French Republic (1855–1922)

Fashion

Children's Footwear in Rural Areas

While better-off families could afford varied clothes, children of the impoverished often went barefoot over stone and stubble during the summer months.

Creative Sewing to Save Fabric

To save money on expensive fabrics, rural women often sewed a piece of linen into the hidden parts of their dresses that were covered by an apron, a practice known as Magsachte.

Music

Music and dance at public festivals

Popular festivities like shooting festivals and local fairs were central to social life, while the educated classes attended balls, concerts, and theater performances.

Rise of male choirs and music festivals

The 19th century saw a massive surge in male choirs, known as Liedertafel, which moved from private social gatherings to public music festivals.

Getting around

Limitations of mail-coach travel

Before railways became dominant, mail-coaches reached speeds of 8 to 12.7 km/h, but their daily range was limited to around 100 kilometers due to frequent stops, meals, and border controls.

Around 1840–1849

Railways revolutionized travel speeds

The emergence of railways in the 1840s revolutionized travel, drastically reducing journey times compared to stagecoaches. For instance, the Cologne-Minden route, which previously took over 60 hours by coach, could be covered in 9 hours by train by 1847.

Daily life

Compulsory schooling and kindergarten costs

Children were required to attend school from ages six to fourteen, often carrying books in long tin satchels. In model kindergartens, families could pay fees between sixpence and three shillings a month for care and meals.

Around 1825–1849

Child labor and rudimentary schooling conditions

Children in rural areas were often tasked with labor, such as preparing and binding daily bundles of fuel for the household fire, a chore that frequently left their hands bleeding. Schooling was frequently held in the teacher's house, where the teacher was often a poorly paid local craftsman.

Food

Alcohol as a Daily Staple

Schnapps, distilled cheaply from potatoes, became a daily staple for the poor alongside sugar-sweetened coffee. Beer was also consumed, and by the later part of the period, the invention of bottled beer with swing stoppers made it more accessible.

Potatoes and Bread as Staples

Working-class families relied heavily on potatoes and rye bread as their staple diet, often eating potatoes two or three times a day. Eggs and butter were considered expensive luxuries, with some workers rarely, if ever, having access to an egg.

Prices and wages
Around 1852–1853

Survival budget for a rural family

In the early 1850s, a rural worker's family of five needed approximately 76 Thalers annually for basic survival. A typical male day laborer could earn about 8 Mariengroschen per day during peak harvest months.

Around 1860–1860

Wages and shoes for farm servants

Farm servants received low cash wages, often supplemented by essential goods. A farm maid earned 18–24 Thalers annually and might receive a pair of shoes as part of her compensation.

Work

A monotonous and unappealing diet

While working as a brickyard finisher, one laborer reported that his daily meal consisted of nothing but peas, which caused him to feel queasy even years later.

Grueling 18-hour workdays on Prussian farms

In eastern Prussia, a standard summer workday for farm laborers often stretched from 3 a.m. to 9 p.m. or later, totaling 18 to 19 hours including short rest breaks.

News and letters
Around 1832–1849

Informal letter delivery and optical telegraphy

To send letters, people often relied on informal opportunities like acquaintances traveling to save money, as official postage was expensive and based on distance. For urgent official business, Prussia operated an optical semaphore telegraph line between Berlin and the Rhine from 1832 to 1849, which could transmit a signal across the entire line in minutes.

Around 1865–1874

Pneumatic tube mail in Berlin

Starting in 1865, Berlin introduced a pneumatic tube system where metal canisters carrying messages were shot through underground pipes at 40 to 50 km/h, aiming for delivery within one hour.

During their lifetime

  1. 1862

    Homestead Act Signed in 1862

    The Homestead Act allowed individuals to claim 160 acres of free land if they lived on and improved it for five years.

  2. 1871

    The German Empire is proclaimed

    The German Empire was proclaimed in 1871, uniting various states under Kaiser Wilhelm I.

  3. 1873

    Economic crash triggers long crisis

    The Panic of 1873 began with a stock market crash, triggering a period of economic hardship known as the Great Depression.

  4. 1876

    Telephone Invented in 1876

    Alexander Graham Bell exhibited the telephone, a device that would eventually quicken social and economic life for millions.

  5. 1877

    Great Railroad Strike Occurs in 1877

    The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 marked the beginning of major industrial labor confrontations over wages and working rules.

  6. 1882

    Chinese Exclusion Act Passed in 1882

    The Chinese Exclusion Act suspended immigration of Chinese laborers under penalty of imprisonment and deportation.

Family

Spouses

Children

Ancestors and children

Open the full tree

Four generations back to the right, the children to the left. The number beside a child counts the generations of descendants known after them.