“Meierbriefe” were lease agreements for real estate. These agreements were issued by landowners for tenants (tenants = “Meier”)

The “Meierbrief” was a pre-printed blank that managed the terms of lease:

• Rent in cash and natural products

• Descent in case of death of the tenant

• Further contracting of the rented land under other circumstances (e.g. no inheritor)

• Responsibilities of the tenant

If the tenant buys himself out of the contract, the land is now property of the former tenant.
A Genealogist can get following information from a lease agreement and its attachments
• Names of tenants in succession upon death
• Location of the property
• Date of the contract
• Names of wives
• Remarriage of the tenant or his widow
• Children
• Precise location of the property

Gisela Eberhard’s collected data, contains following evaluated sources:
• Lease agreements and locations of the leased land (“Meierstelle”) (secondary school)
• Lease agreements and locations of the leased land (Bremen Saint Peters cathedral)
• Lease agreements and locations of the leased land (Bremen, Burg)
• Lease agreements and locations of the leased land (Bremen, Vegesack)
• Lease agreements and locations of the leased land (administration Stade)
• Minutes and contracts regarding the lease agreements