I spent more time yesterday examining the question of whether the baptismal sponsors were related to the parents in the church at Gemmingen. I have some test cases where we know something about the husbands, wives, and children, thanks to Cerny and Zimmerman. I had to read the sponsors from the microfilm.
I conclude, in the church at Gemmingen, that the sponsors were probably not allowed to be relatives of the parents. More likely, they were chosen because of occupational similarity or social status.
We had two brothers who left in 1717, Michael Schmidt, who had married Anna Margaretha Sauter; and his brother Matthaus Schmidt, who had married Regina Catharina Schloesser. The closest I came to relatives is that Matthaus and Regina had two Sauter sponsors. Leonhardt Sauther was a sponsor once. He was a brother to the wife of Michael Schmidt. Or, Leonhardt was a brother to Matthaus’ sister-in-law.
Some of the same people were asked to be sponsors over and over for a given couple, but I am not aware of any relationship. An extreme case of this was for Lorentz Beckh and his wife Anna Martha Hirn. For the six children of Lorentz and Anna Martha, Gorg Grust was a sponsor five times. Three times his wife joined him.
For the three children of Michael and Anna Margaretha Schmidt, Michael Blingeburger was a sponsor twice and his wife Eva Dorothea was a sponsor once. Then for the two children of Michäel Blingelmajer and his wife Eva Dorothea, Michael was a sponsor once and Anna Margaretha was a sponsor once.
I think that Michael Blingelmajer and Michael Blingeburger are the same person. There is too much that is the same for the two men for them not to be the same man. Incidentally, this shows that spelling in Germany was not always the best. For a while, I was wondering if Michael Blingeburger and Michael Schmidt were related. Probably not if I am correct about the relationships of the sponsors and the parents in the Gemmingen church. I am still suspicious that Michael Blingeburger is from the Blankenbühler clan and that the joint appearance of the Blankenbühlers and the Schmidts in the 1717 party is not a coincidence, but the result of shared knowledge.
Michael Schmidt is described as a vine-dresser once. So is Michael Blingelmajer, though he is also described as a day laborer. Perhaps he worked by the day in someone else’s vineyard.
The question is whether the parents and the sponsors are related is most likely a function of the Church. One needs to "test the waters" with known cases before concluding one way or the other.
(03 Oct 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.