as the Counts of Virneburg had had before. Müllenbach's earliest population figure dates from 1563, when the Electoral-Trier Feuerbuch (“Firebook”) stated that there were 23 hearths (for this, read “households”; this corresponds to a population of roughly 130 to 150). A chapel in Müllenbach was mentioned in 1621. In 1657, it was reported that the chapel in Müllenbach was consecrated to Saint Hubert. Furthermore, it was the chaplain from Masburg who said Mass, for which he received 13 Gulden from the municipality, but he had to obtain the sacramental wine himself. In 1680, twenty families were living in Müllenbach, which works out to roughly the same population as in 1563 (130 to 150), which is somewhat remarkable, given that this was a time of wars – the Thirty Years' War had ended in 1648 – and Plague. In 1695, records from the Mayen-Monreal financial administration mention for the first time slate mining in Müllenbach as a business subject to levies (called the Deckleyenzehnt, or roughly “roofing stone tithe”). 18th century In 1703, 16 families from Müllenbach built up a fund of money and other tangible assets to establish a benefice in the village. On 17 March of the following year, the ecclesiastical authorities establish the first benefice in Saint Hubert's and Saint Anthony's honour in Müllenbach. The first curate was Father Jakob Heinrich Jäger, who was introduced to his Müllenbach office by the parish priest from Masburg. Father Jäger was the curate until 1718. In 1724, as the result of a new enfeoffment, H. Arendt from Müllenbach was assigned the slate mine in Hochpochten and was granted three tax-free years to offset the trouble and cost of putting the site in order. In 1725, the church books mentioned the Kaulenmühle (mill) for the first time when Nikolaus May from Müllenbach married his first wife Elisabeth Niederelz on 16 October 1725 in Masburg. In 1733, a new chapel was built to accommodate not only the village's growing population, but also worshippers who came from Laubach and Hochpochten to attend Mass. The new nave measured 21 × 21 (local, not British) feet, or about 7 × 7 m. However, it had no organ, no sacristy nor even a confessional. Another mill was first mentioned in 1741, the Kolfenmühle on the river Endert, along with its owner, Matthias Kolf. It was called the Zirwesmühle once Servatius Arenz took it over in 1750. It