Registry Office documentation goes back to about 1870; for earlier dates, church archives
must be consulted. This leaves much room for uncertainy.
The earliest church records were established somewhere between 1550 and 1650, partly due
to the self-initiave of pastors or abbots, partly in accordance with official edict. Often
only weddings ("Copulations") were initially recorded; later baptisms and deaths
were recorded in separate books. Because of fires, mischance and negligence, many old
books have been destroyed, but there are thousands still in existence. Many handwritten
and even some printed books have been published.
The earliest records are very brief descriptions and were rather more "work
protocols". Thus, at baptisms the date of birth or mother's name were omitted,
birthdates and often birthplaces are missing in the descriptions of weddings, and in
cases of death only name and age were noted.
Starting around 1700 and depending upon the pastor, entries become a bit more detailed. By
about 1820, entire family histories can be read in the death records of church archives.
It is obvious that entries were made several days after the festivities, and that the
pastor wrote from memory or from notes. Often given names got confused. Thus, the names
were mistakenly altered:
1) Anna Maria Elisabeth suddenly became "Anna Cathrina", then later "Anna
Margaretha",
2) Catharina Dorothea first became "Catharina Margaretha", and then
"Margaretha Dorothea",
3) Nicolaus became "Franz Nicolaus" (that was the father's name),
4) Jochim Daniel became "Jochim", later, occasionally "Matthias
Jochim",
5) Hinrich became "Hans Hinrich",
5) Claus Hermann became confused with "Hans Hermann", etc., etc.
If wives' maiden names were not recorded, irrefutable classification was often simply not
possible.
Even surnames sometimes just "happened". Thus, with the births of her children
or at the deaths of her relatives, one woman could be named alternately as:
1) Jarms, Jerben, Jarben, Jarp, Jarpen or Farben, another as
2) Matz, Marx and Martens, and
3) Hinrich, Henrich, Henrichsen, Hanssen, Johanssen (!) .
It is especially bad when, in addition to confused surnames, the given names are
incorrect..
In cases of death, information was given by the deceased's relatives. Therefore the
mother's maiden name is unknown, the age of the deceased is incorrect, the spouse's and/or
children's ages are incorrect, etc.
For example:
1765 is the year of death for Anna Griem, maiden name Dörling. Her age is entered as 85, but
because of insufficient church records, this cannot be verified. She is supposed to be
Hans Griem's widow since 1744.
In 1744 one Hans Griem is indeed buried, the problem being that there is no other
information about him, indicating that this can only have been a very young child. Another
Hans Griem died in 1754, 68 years old, with profession and residency appropriate to Anna
Griem's husband. Is this our man??
Nicknames or dialectical versions of names are also entered as official given names:
Trin, Elske, Claas, Hinrich, Niclas, Grete, Dorthe, Malen, Elsabe.
Therefore it is necessary to simply forget the modern precision of record entry and know
that the following names are identical:
Cathrin = Cathrina = Catharina
Balster = Balthasar
Malen Dorthe = Magdalena Dorothea
Stoffer = Christoffer = Christopher
Elsbe = Elske ? = Elsabe = Elisabeth
Hinrich = Heinrich
Trine = Catharina
Matthies = Matthias, etc.
In instances of several given names (sometimes up to 4), the sequence is not always
correct. The name by which a person was known was most certainly not always his first
name. For example, the first and third names were the names by which one particular man
was known.
Surnames were recorded by pastors from hearing. Standardized spelling did not exist, or
was not important.
The following surnames are identical :
Dörling = Döhrling = Dürling = Dürrling
Bartells = Bartels
Dollberg = Dullberg
Nuß = Nuss = Nuhs (at that time ß - "sz"- today "ss" - was also
written as "hs")
Hinrich = Henrichs = Henrichsen
Fabian = Fobrian = Vogeljahn (!)
Noer. = Nöhren
Voigt = Vagt
Willhöftt = Wilhöft = Willhöft
Women's names often received an extra letter on the end : Kösters, Niemeyers,
Schneidern, Webern.
When searching for the name Dö(h)rling, the names Döring, Düring and Dölling were not
considered, and Dührling did not exist at all.
Address books as sources of information: Hamburg's city archives
contain address books from long before 1700 up to modernity in an almost unbroken series.
In old books, first the church principals and governing persons are listed, then the
actual population.The descriptions are not very exact. People are named in other documents
who are missing in the address books.At other times, the renaming of a street effected the
double entry of a single person. Children are of course not named at all, and at a
person's death, his name was not necessarily deleted immediately. Given names are
constantly shortened. In exchange for these shortcomings, these books offer us
descriptions professions and addresses, which in church records are mainly not recorded.
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