22 September 2013

Church Record Sunday: Wilhelmine Fredrich Birth Register

This record is for Wilhelmine Fredrich, daughter of Christoph Fredrich and Susanna Koenig.  She was baptized 30 September 1832.  I received this record from one of Wilhelmine's descendants, Michael.  Michael lives in Germany and we have written back and forth a few times and shared information.  I wrote about our connection here and here.

Michael and I share a common ancestor, Susanna Koenig, mentioned above.  My great grandfather, J. August Fredrich, and Wilhelmine Fredrich were brother and sister, making Wilhelmine my great grandaunt.

I posted the above record at the German Genealogy Facebook page and asked for help transcribing it.  The information I received was that it is an excerpt from the birth registers of the Protestant Parish of Schubin.  Parents were Christoph Fredrich of Baerenbruch and Susanna born Koenig. Wilhelmine's birthplace was listed as Baerenbruch, Kreis Schubin.  The date the excerpt was made was 5 February 1938. I wish I could read German.  I would love a full translation of it.

Wilhelmine was born 18 September 1832 and my great grandfather, J. August was born 8 January 1845.  Since I don't have the place of birth for my great grandfather, I wonder what the chances are that he was born or baptised at the same place as his sister.  Does anyone have any thoughts on that? This is on my to-do list to research.

J. August Fredrich immigrated to Manistee County, Michigan, but his sister, Wilhelmine stayed in Germany.  She was one of the few family members who didn't emigrate.  Her mother, Susanna, and three of her sisters, Henriette, Amalia, and Ottilie came to Manistee County after J. August did. There were two other siblings, Auguste and Wilhelm, that I believe stayed in Germany.  More research is needed on them.

One never knows what kind of information an ancestor's sibling's record will give you.  This one gave me clues to my research and I look forward to finding out more.

Updated January 2014:  A very generous person, Rafael, sent me the below translation for the above record.  I appreciate it so much.  Thank you Rafael.

Extract
from the Birth Register of the Protestant Congregation of _Schubin_
Year 1832, Number 101
Given name and surname:
Wilhelmine Fredrich, Protestant1
Name, Profession and Place of Residence of Father:
Christoph Fredrich, _____2, Baerenbruch, Protestant1
Of Mother:
Susanna née Koenig, Protestant1
Year, Month and Day of Birth
1832 (Eighteen Hundred Thirty-Two
(in letters and numbers):
The 18th Eighteenth of September
Place of Birth:
Baerenbruch, Schubin District3
Date of Christening:
The 30th of September 1832
The accuracy of the above extract is certified by a stamp bearing the church seal.
Schubin, the 5th of February, 1938
Parish Office of the Protestant Church
[Illegible signature]
[Text of inked stamp on either side of document, in Polish: “Board of the Protestant Church in Szubin”]

[Text of revenue stamp, bottom right, in Polish: “1 Złoty Revenue Stamp”]

1. I’m 90% certain that the handwritten abbreviation that comes at the end of each family member’s entry is evang., which means ‘Protestant’ and makes perfect sense in context.
2. The handwritten entry for the father’s profession is unclear. The first half of the word may well be ‘Firms-’ (meaning ‘company,’ in the sense of a commercial enterprise or business), so the father could have been involved with a business of some kind.

3. I’ve translated the German word Kreis as ‘district’ here, but it can also be translated as ‘county,’ since either word can signify an administrative subdivision of a province or state. 

2 comments:

  1. Hello from Germany!

    As the profession of the father I read: "Einsasser".

    Rafael translated the German word "Stand" as profession, which is correct. It is in the sense of occupation. It also could be translated as status in the sense of civil status.

    To my knowledge 'Einsasse', also referred to as 'Einsitzer', is an old German legal term. Nonetheless, it is not as definite in its meaning.
    It is an inhabitant of a certain place, village, house, farmstead, county...
    Or it is a farmer (by profession), which is better to be viewed in the regional context. In certain regions the 'Einsasse' would be the father of the farmer family still living on the compound of the farm which he had already transferred to the son who is obliged to take care of his parent(s).

    I also read "evang.", abbreveation for 'evangelisch'.

    Do you already know these links to the 'Small Genealogical Dictionaries - German/English, English/German' summoned up by Wolfgang Bielski on his website? I find them quite helpful and therefore like to share them. He also has some good historical maps:

    http://www.bielski.de/html/woertb_d.html
    http://www.bielski.de/html/woertb_e.html
    http://www.bielski.de/html/karten.html

    Many greetings,
    Susanna Rosalie

    ReplyDelete
  2. Susanna, thank you for your comment, information and links to more resources. I will have to bookmark them and remember to use them in my German research. Thank you for sharing.

    ReplyDelete