In the 16 century, Haunreit was confirmed as a "free court", that is as a hereditary fief. It was freed from all taxes and feudal labor, but did have to maintain an "equipped horse". There is a lovely headstone from a Haunreiter at the entrance to the church tower of the parish church in Stammham. It has a picture of an equipped knight on a steed, and in each upper corners a ferry and a rudder with anchors, respectively, the symbols of a ferryman. Underneath is the following inscription: (Translator's note: Best guess as the text is either archaic and/or misspelled) "Here lies Philip Haunreiter of Haunreit and Margret Mittermaierin of Lengtal his wife". Since the dates of death are missing, one assumes that the headstone was made while the couple from Haunreit were still alive. It is estimated that to be from about 1600.
Another legend from the time of the Plague, which comes from the common language into low Bavarian. It is in connection with a crossing: The ferry man on Haunreit picked up on a stormy night a strange fellow from the other shore. He was huddled in an average blue coat and had the look of death. During the crossing the raft threatened to sink under the unusual load. When the two reached the other shore, the stranger asked about the fare and said, "If you ask nothing of me, I will ask nothing of you." He then have the ferry man a gold ball with the tip to always carry it and so always be protected from the plague. The stranger went to Zeilarn and Tann. There as many would die as there are days of the year. The ferry man was protected from the plague. In Tann and Zeilarn the plague outbreak took more than 365 people.
The Haunreiter estate still numbered about 150 day laborers at the beginning of the past century. The building complex consisted of a half-walled and room-partitioned residence, a completely partitioned barn, wagon and straw outbuildings, a partitioned pig sty, a walled calf stall, a half-walled and partitioned cow stall and a saw mill with saw equipment. Belonging to this estate also was the overseer's house (today Bachstrasse 11) with an ancient right-of-way. On the outer rafter of the the house until a few decades ago, a red-colored decoration and a little ship with passengers in it could be seen.
Not far from the Haunreiter farm stands a votive chapel. In it is a memorial table. This was in remembrance of ship accident in the year 1823. The ship passengers wanted to go to Niedergottsau to the Brotherhood of the Cape festival. The ship sank and all drowned except for seven. In memory of that time a wooden chapel was built, which was replaced a few decades ago with a walled new construction.
The last owner of the Haunreiter estate, Josef Haunreiter, had an enormous debt, which ruined him. His son Franz Haunreiter, on 1 April 1851 allowed his parents to sign away the ferryman's house and the right to carry out ferrying. On 3 April 1851 his father Josef Haunreiter died aged 58. After his death the Haunreiter estate became derelict.
The ferry operator Franz Haunreiter made an application on Feb. 15, 1868 at the royal district office for operating a ferry along a spanned cable: " I am the owner of a current ferry license across the Inn river from Haunreit to Niedergottsau. I am operating this without a rope. I intend to erect a permanent structure with a spanned cable to make the crossing easier and more safe. This structure I would erect on the place currently used for the crossing." On April 20, 1868 the ferry operator Franz Haunreiter received the permission from the royal government of Bavaria to stretch a rope across the Inn river in order to increase the safety.
In 1876 Franz Haunreiter sold his ferry business to Johann Edmeier, a farmer in Vordorf, district Haiming. A few years later this one again sold the housing structure but kept the ferry license. He sold this on June 5, 1878 to the farmer Michael Ober of Niedergottsau (today Austrasse 5). Thus the ferry was shifted from Haunreit to Stammham.
People lodged a complaint against the ferrier Michael Ober with the district office, claiming he was not dependable with the ferry crossing. The royal district office at Altötting asked the parish of Piesing their opinion about the charges brought against the ferryman. The parish gave him a good report with the following explanation: “The ferrier Michael Ober has an excellent reputation, he is 47 years old, married and the father of 7 children most of whom are adults. He owns a small peasant farm in Niedergottsau worth about 8500 Mark. The cable for the ferry is in good condition, however, the ferry-boat is in bad repair and a new one should be ordered.” The schoolteacher from Niedergottsau complained to the royal district office in Altotting in the spring of 1887 as well. “He claimed that the fact remained that the crossing situation at this spot was abnormal. The ferry connects Niedergottsau-Stammham directly to the right side of the shore with the much visited towns of Tann and Simbach. It is at the same time the closest connection from Niedergottsau to the train station, market and the bay. Traffic is quite heavy. It is all the more regrettable that the ferry is in such unreliable hands. On some days, it isn't possible to cross at all, onother days, you have to wait for hours, as the ferryman is sitting in one of the Stammham inns and passes his time by drinking "Schnaps" (Note = hard liquor) and beer.
Waiting for the ferry is all the more painful if you need to catch a train, or in real bad weather, be it summer or winter, as there is absolutely no shelter against storm, rain or wind to be found. If one has succeeded to remind the ferryman of his duty, he is often in a state that makes travelling on the water less desirable because of great danger, especially when the water level is high or when there is ice. People generally prophesy to this ferryman that he is not going to die in his bed, and it is a true miracle that he has not drowned by now as it has not only happened once, but several times that he has fallen into the Inn (River) from his ship. People have threatened to report him quite frequently. This usually helps for maybe only three to four days, then everything is back to "normal". The police station says they are not competent to report him, even though they have often been inconvenienced themselves; that the problem has to be solved urgently and that the regional population would be more than grateful to His Majesty's district administration (to help solve it). Respectfully, Karrer, teacher in Niedergottsau". Several months later, the Head of the Marktl police sent a report to His Majesty's District Office that said, "I am hereby officially reporting to His Majestry's district office that I have received complaints about the ferryman Michael Ober at the ferry across the River Inn between Stammham and Niedergottsau more than once; that he is not meeting/fulfilling his responsibilities adequately, instead drinking for hours in the inns of Stammham, thus making passengers wait at the ferry for a long time.”
From here [on out] since the 13th of the month, I've made sure that since I am about a half hour waiting on the ferry and not seeing Ober on board.The preliminary searches have shown that occasionally Herr Ober caroused in Stammham. The same person often was seen at the ferry in such an extreme state of drunkenness that it was dangerous for the passengers. Stefan Elsbeth, commander of the station in Marktl. On the 21st of April 1888 captain Michael Ober of the royal district was heavily fined. He delivered over the command to Friedrich Baumgartner, then the current [head miller] in Niedergottsau.
The ramp to the ferry, on which stand both the Deichstetter children; on the right the father Johann Deichstetter, on the ferry the old Jakob Deichstetter; in the background the captain's house. The photo comes from around 1940.
In 1900 Michael Ober sold the ferry to the grocer Engelbert Satziner of Niedergottsau (today the address of Dorfstraße 4). On May 16, 1904 was established "in the name of his majesty the King of Bavaria" a new duty for the crossing: "Persons over 14 years pay 10 Pfennig, under 14 5 Pfennig, children carried in the arms are taken free of charge. A small domestic animal costs 6 Pfennig, a large animal costs 30 Pfennig. Packages under 25 kg 5 Pfennig, over 25 kg 10 Pfennig."
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