The issue of Beyond Germanna that is going in the mail tomorrow discusses a case that is pertinent to the recent discussion about baptisms. This is a matter of finding the surname of the wife of Conrad Künzle whom we know only from the baptismal records as Rahel (Rachel). None of the records explicitly say that her maiden name was Barlow, but the baptismal records make it clear that she was a Barlow.
The church is the German Lutheran Church in Culpeper Co., VA (now Madison Co.), in the Robinson River Valley. I am not aware of any other records, either civil or church, than these baptismal records, that pertain to Conrad Künzle. If you look for records, be advised that the spelling variants are many, including Genssle.
The sponsors that Conrad and Rachel Künzle chose are John Smith, Elizabeth Smith, Henry Barlow (x2), George Christler (x2), Anna Christler, Jemima Barlow (x2), Dieterich Hoffman, Lea Barlow (translated as Breil), and Susanna Aylor. The most prominent name is this list is Barlow, which is a tipoff that she might have been a Barlow, but this is not a rule to be trusted alone.
John Michael Smith, Jr. gave land to his sons and sons-in-law, one of whom was Adam Barlow. Adam’s wife is shown in the church records to be Mary. Mary had a brother Zachariah and a brother John who was married to Elizabeth. Mary also had a sister, Anna Magdalena, married to John George Christler. As the daughter of Mary, Rachel was the niece of Zachariah, John, and Anna Magdalena. She was the sister of Lea and Jemima Barlow and a cousin of Henry Barlow.
Choosing uncles and aunts as sponsors was a rare event, but it did occur. Consider the circumstances. Conrad Künzle appears not to have had any relatives in the community, so the choices had to be from Rachel’s relatives. She was about the oldest Barlow of her generation which, when coupled with an early marriage for her, left her with few choices for sponsors. Her brothers, sisters, and cousins were young. Under these conditions, she could hardly do anything else than have aunts and uncles as sponsors.
The name Lea Breil (as translated) was a mistake by the translator. It was detected because Lea Breil did not make sense (nor could she be found in any family). The mistake was confirmed as such by consulting the microfilm of the baptismal record. It was not easy to read, which is probably why the mistake was made in translation, but, knowing that it was much more likely to be Berler (the spelling used at the church for Barlow), it was possible to trace out the letters. Some of the time, one will need to consult the original records and not rely on translations alone.
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