The Pennsylvania Dutch, actually German or Swiss, was the largest colonial minority. From them millions of Americans trace their roots.
Most Pennsylvania German children were born at home, generally with a midwife in attendance. While it was not customary for them to keep records of the births they assisted, there are a few exceptions. Pennsylvania state did not require the registration of births until 1906, which means finding earlier birth information necessitates a search in family and church records. Sometimes one finds lists of children entered in account books, family Bibles or on Fraktur Taufscheine (decorated birth and baptism certificates).
Babies were taken to the church for baptism, usually on the next Sunday after birth on which there was service. Baptisms were performed during service or right afterwards. Two or more Zeugen (witnesses, but more popularly known as godparents) actually held the child and in most situations provided their given names to the child. Only rarely were they relatives, so rarely that some clergy noted such a relationship. The sponsors or godparents were expected to raise the child in the event the parents died, and their ecclesiastical obligation was to see that the child was raised in the faith.
Church registers were usually kept in the church buildings, and as a result nearly all baptisms were recorded in it, except those of sick children who were baptized in extremis (in his last moments) by a parent or midwife. Lutherans made every effort to baptize each child.
Another custom of the Pennsylvania Dutch was the preparation of baptismal certificates (Taufscheine) for children. They are valuable because they often cite the mother's maiden name. While many Taufscheine were customarily buried with their owners, thousands were not and have survived.
Marriages among the Pennsylvania Germans usually occurred on a Tuesday or Thursday, and almost never in the church, but almost always at the hand of a clergyman. Many couples simply went to a clergyman's residence and asked him to perform the ceremony. Some arranged to meet at a tavern while some planned the wedding and festivities at a relative's or friend's house.
Death generally occurred at home, and someone was dispatched to notify the pastor and arrange for the tolling of the church bell. The older women washed and dressed the corpse. The burial was held first, and sometimes was the only service, although the entourage began at the deceased's home with prayers and hymns and concluded at the churchyard. If a service was held, it was in the church after the burial and the pastor read a biographical statement about the deceased. Sometimes this information was included in the church register. A meal for relatives and friends (and sometimes the poor were included) was usually held at the deceased's home.
Early churches did not keep cemetery records of burials. Folk custom included having a tombstone with an appropriate inscription, but it was not required.
The Family History Library has extensive collections of church records for the Lutheran and Reformed churches of Pennsylvania. It also has histories of many of the Pennsylvania churches. Addresses of various denominational archives and repositories can be found in Chapter 6 of "The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy,'' (revised edition, 1997) edited by Loretto Dennis Szucs and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking.
(c) 1998, Los Angeles Times Syndicate
Myra Vanderpool Gormley and Julie Case are co-editors of Missing Links, a free weekly genealogy e-zine. To subscribe, send your request to: Missing Links Newsletter
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