72. Jakob II Treuthardt, powder miller at a stamp mill

Jakob II was (almost certainly!) a powder miller.    A powder miller produced charcoal, and he added sulfur and saltpeter to make "powder," another name for gunpowder.    Although this theory has not been proven, my conjecture is that Jakob II was possibly powder miller at Echandens, where a powder mill was in operation.  

The powder mill at Echandens, Switzerland, used a stamping process to crush the powder.   The mining term "stamp mill" refers most recently to gold mining, but it was an ancient process which was primarily used from the 1500's to the 1900's.    According to Webster's definition in 1913, a stamp was a "kind of heavy hammer, or pestle, raised by water or steam power, for beating ores to powder;  anything like a pestle used for pounding or beating."   The origin of this term is from 1740-50;  but the process was in use long before that.

From one website, this is a description of a stamp mill, as follows:
[http://www.ritchiewiki.com/wiki/index.php/Stamp_Mill]

"The machines were known for their heavy, cumbersome awkwardness and difficulty to maintain.    Each stamp could weigh as much as 2,000 lbs. (907 kg).   They were also incredibly noisy and produced vibrations close to the area of installment and operation.   Some likened the noise produced by a stamp mill to that of a 'stampede of horses galloping across the land.' "  

The mill at Echandens had to close because it was in the way of the railroad which was being built.  [For further research -- The years that the railroad was built at Echandens, would indicate approximately when the mill closed.]   Sometime after Friedrich's birth in 1834, the family left Echandens.   Possibly they moved when the Echandens mill closed.     

References:
http://onlinedictionary.datasegment.com/word/stamp+mill
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/stamp-mill
http://www.ritchiewiki.com/wiki/index.php/Stamp_Mill