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This note was hidden in a set of books I recently bought (Kosmos by Alexander von Humboldt, 1st edition 1845). I recognise dates (April 1839, 1840) and sums, so this might be some note about costs or accounting. But I can't make out most of the text. Can anyone help?

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  • If the answer below solved your query satisfactorily, please mark it as "accepted" (the green checkmark right beside the beginning of the answer). This way, everybody knows that it was solved
    – marquinho
    Mar 8 at 10:03

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I had some fun with it.

No guarantees, and I didn't get everything. Thanks to @ccprog and @marquinho for their additions.

Nota von Zimmermeist[er] ???d Fuhr
für Mauermeist[er] Bell(?) in Kehmel über
gefertigte Arbeit an dem Herrn Gasthalter
Lang dahier seynen Saalbau.
1837 Juni 5t. habe ich die hintere Grund Mauer=
  werk gestreckt mit zwey Hebgescher  
  und fünf Mann[,] betr[agend]      6 Th 
"    "    6t. habe ich dito das Gübelmauer=
  werk gestreckt mit einem Gescher  3 Th 30
                                    ------
              S.[umma] s.[ummarum]  9 Th 30
    
L.[angen] Schwalbach den 27ten April 1839   
bezahlt d. 5ten Feb 1840 mit 3 Th 30
weil es strittig wahr

The village "Kehmel" is now written Kemel. A "Gasthalter" is an innkeeper. The name of the "Maurermeister" could be Bell, Boll or Bull, not sure.

There are some grammatical incongruencies, I just left them how I read them, as well as the spelling.

I also don't really know what "Mauerwerk mit einem Hebgescher strecken" means. I understand that a Hebgescher is what would be written Hebgeschirr today, which means 'lifting gear', but I have no knowledge about this craft.

One could speculate about what the purpose of this "nota" (note) was, could be a receipt if Bell ordered these works. "Th" probably means Thaler, see the comment about the "Kronenthaler".

They did pay late in those days already...

Edit: more speculation: maybe this Andreas Fuhr or his son?

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    @ccprog A letter "u" in Haug would need a Kringel above the letter. I'm not sure about the H. Definitely not "weiß gestreicht", which doesn't fit the letters at all imo and also wouldn't make sense for a "Zimmermann".
    – HalvarF
    Mar 1 at 23:27
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    Identifying the Gasthof won't be easy: "Die Straßenanlagen Kemels brachten es mit sich, dass es weiterhin eine bekannten Raststätte blieb... 1788 waren am Ort neun Gasthöfe vorhanden..."
    – ccprog
    Mar 1 at 23:35
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    @HalvarF Exactly: There is little doubt that both those lines read "werk gestreckt", and in both cases the previous line ends with "Mauer=", giving "Mauerwerk". The "H"s in the sums actually read "th", which ought to stand for "Thaler".
    – marquinho
    Mar 1 at 23:36
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    The words up to "betr.", right before the first payable sum, I interpret as follows: "und fünf Mann[,] betr[ägt] 6 th."
    – marquinho
    Mar 1 at 23:41
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    Now I have it: L. Schwalbach is the neighbouring town to Heidenrod, today Bad Schwalbach, but at the time called Langenschwalbach.
    – ccprog
    Mar 2 at 0:03

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