I have been spending some time on the marriages in Gemmingen, as recorded in their Kirchenbuch starting in 1694. This date seems to be soon after the French had left and the citizens were trying to pick up their lives again. Apparently Gemmingen was not a large community as the number of marriages each year was often very small. Starting in 1694, the numbers were 4, 6, 5, 10, 6, 6, 3, 5, 6, 4, 8, 8, 9, 5, 7, 11, 4, and 3 in 1717. (I missed some information for a few years so there are gaps in the numbers.) This would seem to indicate a population of a few hundred men. Together, men, women, and children added up to about 750 people. The very low numbers in 1716 and in 1717 may indicate unsettled times and further reasons to immigrate.
I was happy to see quite a bit of diffusion in the sense that many of the men seem to come from outside Gemmingen, mostly from nearby villages. Incidentally, a very useful tool to have as one is reading these records is a detailed map. When you encounter what seems like a geographical place, you can look at the nearby places so that you can see what the modern spelling is. And it helps to confirm that what you thought might be a place name really is a place name. Clues as to where the place names are apt to be found occur about three or four words after the name of the father, and are often prefixed with the prepositions "zu" or "von".
In the almost quarter century of marriage records at Gemmingen, there was a usually a standard form for the record. First comes the name of the groom, his marital status, his father's name, his father's citizenship, occupation, and place of residence. After this was completed, then the word undt (und or and) and the name of the bride, her marital status, her father's name, citizenship, occupation, and residence; and, finally, a few verbs to tie it all together. The date may be entered at the beginning or at the end. But there is no standard used by all scribes in all churches. Usually one man will be consistent with only minor variations.
Many times the writer, or someone who comes along later, will underline the names of the groom and the bride. If one is seeking only certain names, that is fairly easy to do. Then, to transcribe the whole record takes much more effort.
Since I had a rough record of the baptisms, I was often checking the names that I read in the marriage record with the names in the baptismal register. In more than half of the cases the couple does not seem to reappear at the church. This may mean the couple went to live somewhere else. It may also mean that people were not diligent about baptizing their children.
(25 Nov 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.