This past weekend, I went to the Spring Conference of the Palatines to America , Pennsylvania Chapter. It was a delight to me to meet two individuals whom I had known already. The Master of Ceremonies was James Beidler, the First Vice President of the Chapter. I have mentioned him here several times in connection with his work as a columnist for the German Life magazine where he writes a page in each issue on a German genealogical question. I have used several of his columns as material in the Notes here.
There was one speaker, John T. Humphrey, who gave three talks. John is the current president of the Mid-Atlantic Germanic Society , a vice President of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvani a, and a past vice president of the Pennsylvania Chapter of Palatines to America . He has also served in many other capacities to promote genealogy. He published a sixteen-volume set of Pennsylvania Births listing more than 200,000 births in eastern Pennsylvania counties before 1825. John is also the author of " Understanding and Using Baptismal Records ", from which I have used material for several Notes. Besides genealogy, his hobby is classical music. He has heard, in concert, every major orchestra from around the world.
His three talks for the day were " German Research: Using Under-Utilized and Unknown Resources ", " Documentation: It is Essential ", and " German and American Church Records ".
I asked James and John whether they found the sponsors for Christenings in Germany to be related to the parents. The general answer is that it is not universal. In some areas it is common, but in the majority of the areas the rule seems to be "social". Sponsors in these regions seem to be chosen to connect the family to a "higher" social class, say the Lord, the mayor, or the school teacher. Sometimes they are chosen as an equivalent occupational level. In my reading of the Gemmingen church records, I found that many sponsors were chosen from the same occupational level. In Nassau-Siegen, there was a mixture of related and social individuals.
I also asked John about the proper method of citation for records. For instance, the emigrant Blankenbuehlers lived in an area belonging to the Bishops of Speyer, which later fell into Baden and eventually into Baden-Wuerttemberg. John’s answer was the citation should emphasize where the record is to be found that is used. If I use an LDS microfilm, I should give the number of the film and the identity of the Church. It is less important to say that a marriage took place in Baden then it is to give where I found the record and where someone else could find the record.
(26 Apr 06)
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.