stood on the other side of the Müllenbach, where that stream empties into the Endert. In 1749, Müllenbach's curate was Heinrich Esch, born in Prüm, who held the post until 1769, when Bartholomäus Gilles, born in Müllenbach, succeeded him. Father Gilles was known for – rather hamfistedly – fighting for his congregation's “rights”. He held the post until 1786, but the records also mention another curate, Johann Peter Rhein, born in Metternich (today a Stadtteil of Koblenz), in the years 1771 and 1772. In 1770, after Head Forester Michels had caught the Müllenbach swineherd unlawfully grazing his swine in Hochpochten for the third time, he was set on, despite threatening to shoot, by six or seven men from Müllenbach – among them the mayor – and beaten so badly “that only one man from Laubach who put himself between them saved his life”. Head Forester Michels's troubles, however, were not over. In 1774, Father Gilles accused him of luring the clergyman into a house, where the forester threatened and insulted him, and then waylaid him in the forest in such a way that the pastor feared for his life. Head Forester Michels, for his part, claimed that he had demanded that Father Gilles hand over the money that Michels had had to pay at the Dingtag (the local moot) for some stolen brushwood. At this, Father Gilles had apparently become physically abusive and driven Michels out of the house, swearing at him by calling him such unchurchmanlike things as Hundspfott (“dog dropping”) and Scheisskerl (something akin to “bastard” in the colloquial sense, but literally meaning “shit-fellow”). From 1781 to 1783, the rights to mine the slate deposit in Müllenbach were held by the Cologne merchant Paffrath. He commissioned Karl Rido (or Rideaux) from Fumay in France to do the mining. Rideaux brought many of his kin along with him from Fumay. The French slate miners brought to Müllenbach valuable knowledge and saw to an upswing in the slate mining industry in the region. Since then, many French names have cropped up in the Müllenbach church register: Lefevre, Allard, Bourgeoise, Dardenne, Doudoux, Goffart, Pasfort, Regnier and Sarde, to name a few. In 1784, there were 66 family heads living in 65 houses in Müllenbach, suggesting a population of just under 400. In 1785, a Visitation protocol from the parish of Masburg mentions that Müllenbach freeman Niclas Stoll was a Sendschöffe (a