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This baptism record is from Creuzburg, in 1758. The bits in brackets are the bits I'm having trouble with.

enter image description here

20.† Anna Maria, [Vyl] Nicolaus Beckens, Ackermanns
     zu [Elmau] töchterlein ist den 11. Juli abends 9. uhr
     u. zwar 3. stundte vor ihres seel. (seelig) Vaters Todt geboh-
     ren, u. den 12. dito, daselbst getauft worden.
     Spond Fr. Anna Maria, Hans Georg Martins, Schalthei-
     sens zu Buchenau Ehefrau, [erhel…] des Kindes Groß-
     mutter.

Rough translation:

Anna Maria, [?] Nicolaus Beckens, Ackermanns of [?] young daughter is on July 11th at 9pm, although 3 [stopped in front of her ? father's death,] and ditto on the 12th, baptized there. Sponsors Ms. Anna Maria, [?] Georg Martins, [?] Zu [Buchenau] wife, [?] the child's grandmother.

Other issues:

  • There is a town named Elmau, but it is over 500 km from Creuzburg, and as far as I know, no connection.
  • There is a tiny town named Buchenau, but it is 63 km from Creuzburg, and again, no known connection.
  • For Johann Nicolaus Ackermann's own family I have documented him and his parents as having come from and lived in Creuzburg. Assuming he is the correct father, Anna Maria's grandparents would be named Henrich, Hermann, Magdelena, and Anna Martha.

Johann Nicolaus Ackermann and Anna Margaretha Schuchardt are who I thought were her parents, but this makes me wonder if that is incorrect.

BrianFreud
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  • ... vor ihres seel. [seelig, translates to deceased] ... Spond [not Sponsoren but likely Latin, likely means Godmother] ... Fr. Anna Maria, Hans Georg Martins, Schultheisens [probably a housename/farm] zu Buchenau ... Do you have a larger version of the image? Would make things easier but I cannot find any major transcription errors. Can't comment on the other issues but I don't think that you miss any relevant information. – nebulon42 Dec 07 '20 at 18:04
  • @PolyGeo, would it be helpful to put line breaks in the transcription in the same place as the line breaks in the image? – shoover Dec 07 '20 at 19:34
  • @shoover I think it would. – PolyGeo Dec 07 '20 at 19:36
  • Also, isn't that "abends 9" not "bends 9" -- i.e. 9pm not 9am? – shoover Dec 07 '20 at 19:37
  • I've uploaded the full image to https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kRLCcr27eX890qajEkyY6QcMmuih4wbr/view?usp=sharing – BrianFreud Dec 07 '20 at 20:30
  • I've updated based on the comments, as those corrections made sense. Indeed, I do see a Schultheiß family in Creuzburg. The area did at least sometimes use the "-en" female affix. My current rough translation thus looks like this - any disagreements?
    1. † Anna Maria, [Vyl] Nicolaus Beckens, Ackermanns of [Elmau] young daughter on July 11th in the evening at 9 p.m., 3 hours before her deceased father died, and the 12th ditto, was baptized there. Godmother: Ms. Anna Maria, Hans Georg Martins Schultheiß of Buchenau's wife, the child's grandmother.
     – BrianFreud Dec 07 '20 at 20:52
  • Just as a follow up, I've been informed by a distant cousin who lives in that area that 'Ackermann' in this case is an archaic local word along the lines of the other archaic German words 'Ackersmann' and 'Ackerer', meaning farmer, rather than meaning a surname. That makes this entry the entry for Anna Maria Beckens, Nicolaus Beck the farmer's daughter, rather than the Anna Maria Ackermann (born on the same day in the same small village) that I thought it was for. – BrianFreud Dec 08 '20 at 12:51
  • Ah, yes, I missed that. Yes, the surname is Beck and not Ackermann. I still think Ackermann is a housename but I'm not so familiar with the area. – nebulon42 Dec 08 '20 at 18:25
  • "wyl." is the abbreviation for "weyland" or "weiland". Both the same (now old fashioned) word for "former" meaning that this man was deceased at the time of writing. – Til Hund Dec 08 '20 at 21:13
  • I do not know what "spond." supposed to be but it does not mean "grandmother", which is "avia". From the context, at this position of the text, there would be the "testimonium", the witnesses of baptisms and, indeed, the child was named after her, which was common in some parts at certain times. This text is, however, weird as it does not state her mother's name nor other testimonies, usually two or up to three. – Til Hund Dec 08 '20 at 21:19
  • nebulon42, yes, there is an Ackermann family too, just not this specific Anna Maria's entry, which is why I was confused. :D – BrianFreud Dec 10 '20 at 03:03
  • Til, not so unusual. Few of the entries I've worked with from the area at that time mention the mother. – BrianFreud Dec 10 '20 at 03:04
  • @BrianFreud, ok. Did not know that. – Til Hund Dec 11 '20 at 15:50
  • Ackermann is almost certainly the profession. Almost every single church record I've come across lists the father's name and the profession along with the town. Yes, it is also used a surname, but just like Miller in English, a lot of surnames were derived from professions. – Peter Kühne Dec 14 '20 at 10:20
  • "3. stundte" -> "3 Stunde" = three hours. – shipr Jan 18 '22 at 04:53

1 Answers1

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I understand now, almost perfectly.

This says: "20.+ [i.e., twentieth entry, stillbirth] per the former Anna Maria:

The young daughter of the Elmau farmer Nicolaus Beckens, was born dead at 9pm on 11 July; approximately 3 hours later (about 12pm of the same day) her spiritual father baptized her nonetheless.

This news [Spond] comes from Anna Maria, wife of Hans Georg Martins, the "Schaltheisen" at Buchenau, the child's grandmother."

Schaltheisen is the only word I couldn't translate.

shipr
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  • It's "Schultheisens". A Schultheiß is an official, responsible for taxes, amongst other things (Schult, or more modern Schuld, means "debt"). – jadepx Jan 18 '22 at 07:48
  • Only slightly off topic, but I add this comment to see if someone with greater German knowledge can answer it definitively. "Sponde" literally means "spine." So my fuzzy memory tells me that Spondemutter or Spondevater, lit. "spine-mother" or "spine-father" because it is the person who supports a child and its parents. This is used figuratively, then, to mean "godmother" or "godfather". . . and, of course, the godparent is the one who DOES carry the report of a birth, esp. Catholic, to the authorities. Can anyone confirm or deny that? – shipr Jan 18 '22 at 09:06
  • Sorry, can't follow you there. Never heard of Spondemutter. As I know "Spond." stands for Latin "spondere" and means to promise. It simply means Godmother (as I have also indicated in my comment at the question). See https://www.britannica.com/topic/godparent. – nebulon42 Jan 21 '22 at 19:43