In speaking of baptisms, the terms, Sponsors, Witnesses, Godfather or Godmother, are often used incorrectly.
In the Lutheran Church, the people present at the baptism besides the parents and the infant are the Sponsors . They are responsible for seeing that the child is brought up in the church, especially if something should happen to the parents. In some churches they speak for the infant. The sponsors have a spiritual kinship to the infant, and it would not be too far afield to say that they are a Godparent, either Godfather or Godmother, though those terms are usually not used to describe sponsors.
Witnesses are just what the name implies. If anyone asks, they could testify that they observed the infant baptized. Other than that, they have no responsibility. In the Reformed Churches, Witnesses are used. Again, they may be called Godparents, but this would seem to be a misnomer, since a witness assumes no responsibility for the spiritual development of the infant.
In the Reformed Churches the witnesses were to be, "Chosen persons who have confessed the pure doctrine of the Gospel and whose lives are blameless." They do not have to be of the Reformed faith. The parents, or at least one of them, generally had to be members of the Reformed Church, since they were promising to raise or assume the responsibility for the spiritual development of the child.
When the children of John and Mary Sabina Huffman were baptized, they had three Witnesses or Sponsors. This is more typical of the Lutherans than the Reformed Church members. Since John was Reformed, and Mary was Lutheran, it is not clear whose rites were being used, though there is little difference in the heart of the rite, while there is a difference in the interpretation. The Reformed leaders generally frowned on baptisms by lay people, whereas the Lutherans would allow it.
Reformed ministers generally recorded in the Church register the name of the infant, the names of both parents, the dates of birth and baptism, and the names of the witnesses. Some Eighteenth Century ministers in America would embellish these records with the names of the German villages from which the parents came, but this was a personal matter of the minister. Though the format of the written records for Lutheran and Reformed people were similar, the interpretation of the baptism was quite different.
Of all the Reformed Churches, the Dutch Reformed Church kept the best records and followed a prescribed pattern, which was dictated by the laws of Holland where the Reformed Church had became the State Church. There is a special problem in using the Dutch records, but I have run out of space here. (Perhaps you would like to comment on this problem, which I am sure several of you have encountered.)
(17 Jul 03)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.