John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes

Note 1769

The work continues on the Gemmingen baptismal list.  By now, many of the surnames are immediately(?) recognizable to me.  Here are some of the more common ones:

I have worked on the next two years and several new surnames names show up in that time.  So far, the names that have interested me the most are:

1. Christopher ?ulew and his frau Anna Maria,
   
2. Plus the possible variation(s) of Michael
   Blankenbaker that I have mentioned.

I have not completed the sponsors for the first ten years, though I have made good progress.  They take a lot more time than just doing the names of the parents, the kid, and the date.

Toward 1704, new writers start keeping the register.  They have an entirely different handwriting, one that is more legible in general, though I have problems with some of their letters.  Their ideas about the spelling of names is also different.  One person writes " Müller " and the other writes " Miller ".  In general, though, the new writers help to clarify the names.  For example, the first writer wrote the name " Backh " in such a way that I could not tell whether the name was " Beckh " or " Backh ".  It now appears that it should be " Beckh ".

One writer consistently uses the " h " after " k " as in " Beckh ".  Another writer hardly ever uses the (redundant) " h ".  One writer spells the name " Fridrich " while another one is consistently " Friderich ".

I continue to be amazed at the variety of given names.  I have now had a Stephanus , Martinus , Aronymus , Albertina , and Rudolphus .  I have had about four pairs of twins and the writer has always indicated they were twins by some technique.  Most often, he writes " Gemini ".

There are several Reformed people in the basically Lutheran church.  They seem always to indicate it if someone is Reformed by using " Calv ." or " Ref .".  I am wondering about Catholics.  Some people are indicated as " Pont ." and could this indicate they were Catholics?
(02 Oct 03)