Reply To: District Heiligenbeil – History of Newspapers

[Ahnen-Forscher]

The parish registers of our circle

Heiligenbeil newspaper, Von Schulz – Rosenberg / 78

Undoubtedly the church books are among the most important sources of the Heimatgeschichte. It is due to the loving support of the clergy that I was allowed to study the church books of the churches, which are suitable for the study of the history of my ancestors. Only since the introduction of the Reformation are there church records in our province. One counts on it baptismal, marriage, dead or funeral books and confessional books. They were necessary to keep an eye on the followers of the New Teaching. The general introduction was arranged in 1573, however, the oldest surviving church book begins the baptismal record of Eisenberg until 1596. The older books are bound in pigskin, the font of the title page is often quite artful with the goose quill, which each scribe cut himself, in drawn in different colors. The writing of the entries is usually kept in Gothic letters. Considering that the rectory, the Widdem, was once as much a smokehouse as any farmhouse, and that Mr. Pastor also illuminated his “study table” with an oil lamp, a tallow candle, or a wax candle, the reader will easily realize that the books heavily smoked over the centuries. The leaves turned yellow and the writing became pale, so that in some places it can only be guessed by a sharp eye armed with a magnifying glass. As the scholarly language was once Latin, many expressions are Latin, so that anyone who does not speak Latin must first memorize all the terminology when studying the church books. He must also master the ecclesiastical calendar. Before the first entry in the new year is often a nice blessing. The dates and months are often beautifully painted in different colors, a sign that the writer may have had plenty of time. Before the first entry in 1756, with reference to the 7-year war that broke out at that time, there was almost everywhere the saying: “God give peace in your own land, happiness and salvation to every condition.”

In the earliest times, little consideration was given to the entries concerning the lineage of the person concerned. The main thing was to establish the number of baptized, the bride-to-be and the deceased, so that the entries were initially quite short. At times, the pastor did not register the child’s first name, the gap is there. In the case of a bride the name of the mother, the birthday of the child, and sometimes even the name of the father, are missing, if there was only one man in the place with the profession concerned. But since the godparents had to pay a gift to the pastor, the cantor and the bell ringer, they are listed exactly after first name and family name, state, free Kölmer, farmer, servant, Losmann and place of residence, often over 20 in number. The baptism took place at the latest on the third day after the birth, as the relatives often lived miles away in different quarters of the heavens, they were loaded by riding messengers.

The day of the baptism is indicated after the church calendar, eg Tuesday after the 1. Advent let the miller from the railroad mill mill a young son George. The godparents have been, etc … or Wednesday in the quiet week a Catholic guy from Schipperbahnau in Heiligenbeil had a son baptized, Johannes.

The illegitimate children were previously entered in the church books across or vice versa. If a child was born less than nine months after the marriage, it was usually noted. While some pastors entered the wedding ceremonies quite extensively, some shortened so much that the researcher did not know how to begin with such entries. The mothers of bride and groom are almost never mentioned, eg in Eichholz on 15.11.1677 is copulated Georg Schultz with Jfr Regina Tiedemann. More detailed is another entry: Bladiau on 11.November 1777 has been married Ludwig Böhm, köllmischer free and only son of Ludwig Böhm, Köllmer to Quilitten with Jr Charlotte Walterin, the owner George Walter in Bladiau only daughter. The groom 27 years, the bride 19 years old.

Explanation in the book Brides who had lived in dishonor were not married, but married together in the Widdem (rectory), in the sacristy (Betkammer) or under the bell towers in the hall. Meanwhile, the number of such bridal men was considerably less than today. In Eisenberg, in an appendix to the oldest Traubuche, all persons are listed who, because of transgression of the sixth commandment, publicly had to pay a fine by standing in a neck-iron on three Sundays. In Lindenau the Halseisen is seen high today at the tower, in Waltersdorf only the remains are present. Frederick the Great lifted this kind of punishment so as not to embitter the people. //

The shortest are originally the entries in the funerary or mortuary books. Not the day of death but the funeral day is indicated. Usually it was noted for taking, whether the dead person was buried quietly, with reading or a funeral sermon. Here, too, can not do much with an entry like the following: On Friday after Easter 1695, the old village shirt was buried for free, sometimes the entry is quite detailed and honorary for the dormant, although he, as the files in the archives prove it Eisenberg 1725: On the 3rd of December, the old George Schulz was divorced from this world in Eisenberg in the 84th year of his old age, having been strengthened 2 days earlier at his prayers with the Holy Supper and on the 7. buried with a funeral sermon. In Balga, the deaths that occurred as a result of an accident, are listed in an annex. Separately listed are those who were injured, drowned or burned as a result of judicial judgment. Balga was once the seat of the highest administrative and judicial authority of the Office Balga, to which the largest part of the circle belonged. Noble people were buried in the church until about 1750.

What do we learn from the church books? Our district was once much thinner than today. In Kirchberg Eisenberg around 1600 not many more than 10 children were baptized each year. Before the outbreak of the war, it must have been well over 100. At that time the sovereigns had trouble finding peasants for the desolate farms. Two hundred years ago, our ancestors were very poor. One knew only the names Michael, Johann, Jakob, Christoph, Christian, George, Peter, Jacob, Regina, Anna, Elisabeth, Dorothea, Gertrud and Johanna. Other names were a rarity. Eigenkätner were settled only after 1700 on the village green. 200 years ago, people did not grow older than today. The child mortality was quite large. Married was usually up to the age of 25 years. Widows and widows remarried when they were not very old, and the property regularly received a child from the second marriage. Illegitimate births were relatively rarer today. Cousins ​​and Base can hardly be trusted. Nevertheless, there are not two people among the settled population of the circle who do not have common ancestors, who are therefore related when their ancestors are explored as well as the church books go back, no matter what their status.

When one family seems to die out in a parish, it spreads all the more in the other. Warlike events are rarely reflected here, but infectious diseases, most often as a result of wars and famine occurred. In 1758, on February 11, the pastor christened a child in his house, as the Cossacks had just entered the village of Bladiau.

In the book the plague seems to have claimed many victims only 1709 in a village of the parish Bladiau and in Einsiedel, parish Grunau. Grunau, the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th of August: The persons following in the Einsiedel 22 died very quickly of the plague and were immediately buried there without coffin in the earth, namely from three houses, which afterwards in Fire been plugged. 1. Witten’s house, with the husband, the wife and six children, a servant and poor soldiers. 2. Harder’s house, after his wife had been buried on the 12th of August and, with a funeral sermon, ignorant of the plague, had died two plaintive sons, a single wife, a Marjell, who died of the plague Man alone has recovered from the plague. 3. Rabbit’s house: the man, his wife, the children, a single wife, the maid as her sister, a servant.

The church books are rarely complete, missing individual years, which have been lost. The oldest baptismal, marriage and death books begin according to the consistory:

Parish baptism books, marriage books, death books

Balga * 1715, oo1715, +1715 without gaps

Bladiau * 1705 (1736), oo1705, + 1705 without gaps

Eichholz * 1668, oo 1668, + 1772

Eisenberg * 1595, oo 1684, + 1675

Grunau u Alt Passarge * 1637, oo 1637, + 1681

Heiligenbeil * 1602, oo 1602, + 1706

Hermsdorf – Pellen * 1694, oo 1720, + 1720

Hohenfürst * 1676, oo 1676, + 1676 without gaps

Lindenau * 1646, oo 1693, + 2669

Pörschken * 1665, oo 1662, + 1758

Dt. Thierau * 1676 (1751), oo 1676 (1751), + 1676 (1751) without gaps

Tiefensee * 1739, oo 1742, + 1742 without gaps

Waltersdorf * 1664, oo 1664, + 1664

Zinten * 1664, oo 1716, + 1716

In the confessional books the sacrament guests are registered. Faithful Christians used to go to the Lord’s table every six weeks. The clergyman once, when the number of souls of the churches was considerably smaller, could keep an eye on the church members on the basis of the confessional books.

A fisherman from Follendorf was quietly buried in 1737 because he had not been to the Lord’s Supper for a year. His name is not mentioned.