Heirat Hofmann & Noviock in Schweidnitz

[JaneAusten7]

My x3 great grandfather, Johann Christian Hofmann, was born 1792 in Prussia. He was a tailor by trade and moved to the USA sometime before 1821 when he married his wife Anna Maria Noviock 15 February 1821 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at St. Michael's and Zion Church.

Two things I'm hoping you can help me with:

1. Where is Prussia in the Germany forums? I wasn't sure where to post this.

2. I found the Marriage record, but cannot read all of it even though I have tried really hard with the Old Gothic German worksheets I have and I'm hoping someone can understand it better than I can.

This is what I'm seeing:

Johann Christian Hofman, geb Sthraidailg(?), und Ann Maria Noviock
B. L. N. Zeugen Mr. Fipsler?

I'm hoping the word after geb is the place he was born, so I have a better chance of finding him in Prussian records.

Thank you for your help

=================
urspr. Titel: Prussia?

[hhg]

there is no sub-forum Prussia, as the former kingdom covered areas that nowadays are part of various countries.

Intruiging to decipher Schweidnitz as birthplace or hometown of your ancestor, today Swidnica in Poland.

Conflict: The abbreviation b.l.St (for beide ledigen Standes) in second line inclines the starting letters were rather St.
Also the Sch that other words on that page obviously start with look very different.

On the other hand,ending ...weidnitz seems clear to read, and Sth totally off for any German word. Could it be the priest's misspelled?

Hopefully someone may be more helpful!

[Wolf]

It definitely is Schweidnitz - compare with Schleicher a bit further down.

Forum: if today in Polen, it would be Ehemalige Ostgebiete. Your question has been shifted there.

[JaneAusten7]

First, please accept my apologies for not thanking you both sooner. For some reason I am not receiving email saying there's been a new answer. So, until today I did not know anyone had answered me.

Second, thank you for the great answer and for putting this in the proper German place.

[JaneAusten7]

I'm so excited to find out about Schweidnitz! This is the first hint we (my 4th cousin and I) have had about his possible Heirat!

Where do I begin? This is my first time doing research in Germany/Prussia. Johann Christian Hofmann was a protestant. And I was wondering where might I find his birth/baptism records? Because Prussia doesn't exist any more, I am puzzled where the records might be kept?

[hhg]

If at all, relevant churchbooks might be kept at Friedenskirche in Schweidnitz. Not in stocks of FamilySearch. Archion (paysite of German Lutheran Church) has scans of earlier periods (https://www.archion.de/de/alle-archive/ ... chweidnitz).
A nespaper article (https://www.ekd.de/Kirchenbuch-kehrt-na ... -22005.htm) reports that it had come in unknown background to Germany, was purchased by Lutheran Central Archiv, and after being restored and filmed, given back to said Friedenskirche in 2017.

Below an excerpt of https://wiki.genealogy.net/Schweidnitz. It should be possible to find a way to contact the parish - maybe to enquire there in Polish language would trigger the staff's will to help. Good luck!


Verzeichnis der Kirchenbücher der Stadt Schweidnitz, neu aufgenommen im März 1930.
("Familiengeschichtliche Blättern", 30. Jahrgang, 1932, Heft 1/2, S. 39)

A. evangelische Friedenskirche:
1. Taufbücher von 1653 bis 1885 und fortlaufend, von 1653 bis 1726 ist Land und Stadt zusammen, ab 1726 getrennt geführt. Register dieser Jahrgänge sind vorhanden. In den Anhängen von 1655 bis 1760 fehlen z. T. die Vornamen, z. T. die Familiennamen der Getauften.
2. Traumatrikel von 1654 bis 1874 (ff.). Stadt und Land zusammen. Register von A bis Z geordnet.
3. Sterbematrikel; Stadt und Land, Totenbücher in 10 Bänden, Band Nr. 1 beginnend mit dem 1. Oktober 1652 ff. bis heute.
4. "Tauf- und Totenregister, betreffend die Taufen und Todesfälle der kath. Dissidenten, geführt bei der ev. Kirche zu Schweidnitz" a) Taufen ab 28. April 1845 bis 1. März 1847, b) Todesfälle, ab 14. Juli 1845 bis 23. April 1847, weitere Fälle sind in die offiziellen Register übernommen.

B. katholische Pfarrkirche zu Schweidnitz:
1. Taufbücher: 1598, 1604, 1606-1610, 1614-1619, 1620-1624, 1625-1631, 1633-1634, 1637-1643, 1679-1685, 1686-1696, 1698-1699, (1513-1518) unvollständig.
2. Traubücher: 1686-1709, 1732-1746, 1782-1821, 1833-1834, 1834 bis jetzt.
3. Totenbücher: 1834 bis jetzt
4. Militärbücher: Tauf-, Trau- und Totenbücher von 1834 bis jetzt. Register sind vorhanden.

[JaneAusten7]

Thank you so much for your help! I'll work on that.

[JaneAusten7]

I have another question that my Hofmann cousin (4th cousin) asked me: She has done DNA testing and it showed the place in Germany was Chemnitz, near Leipzig. She was wondering if the Priest maybe misspelled the heirat city and it was really Schweinitz which is very close to where her DNA geography indicated. If it were that city, during the time it was Prussia, where would I look for those records in today's Germany?

Thank you for your help!

[hhg]

Schweinitz - try GoogleMaps, and you'll find four name-sake locations, all more or less close to Chemnitz-Dresden-Leipzig ...

[JaneAusten7]

I'm sorry. That sounded silly when I re-read my own note. Forgive me.

Because doing genealogy in Germany and it's my first time doing Prussia research, I think what I was trying to ask is... When I'm looking for records do I simply "ignore" the fact that that part of Germany once belonged to different kingdoms and simply "concentrate" on where it is now? Hmmm, not sure that is saying it properly yet... Would I simply contact the Germany city and state that apply to the nearest area as it is today? Or are there special rules for getting records from a place formerly named Prussia. I hope I asked that correctly. Thank you for your help!

[hhg]

Prussia, like any other Empire, had periods of expansion, and of breaking apart. It depends totally on the period in focus and specific locations where to hunt for records. If for the original Schweidnitz, my first choice to enquire was said Friedenskirche in Poland. If for Schweinitz, one could try to ask the administrations of each of these four around Chemnitz-Dresden, keeping in mind that there may have been more name-sake minor villages that dissolved into neighboring cities. First step to indentify the Lutheran parishes in charge, check whether their churchbooks still exsist, and where they might be accessible.
Honestly, some DNA test pointing at Chemnitz seems a poor reason to me to take such effort ...

[JaneAusten7]

Prussia, like any other Empire, had periods of expansion, and of breaking apart. It depends totally on the period in focus and specific locations where to hunt for records. If for the original Schweidnitz, my first choice to enquire was said Friedenskirche in Poland.

Yes, I will be checking there and asking in the Polish language as you suggested.

If for Schweinitz, one could try to ask the administrations of each of these four around Chemnitz-Dresden, keeping in mind that there may have been more name-sake minor villages that dissolved into neighboring cities.

Yes, good point. I'd be looking for Johann Christian Hofmann's birth/baptism records in 1792, so I'd be needing to check a map from that timeframe to see what is there. The American marriage record was in 1821, so no map later than that, I would suppose?

First step to indentify the Lutheran parishes in charge, check whether their churchbooks still exsist, and where they might be accessible.

Yes, I will work on this.

Honestly, some DNA test pointing at Chemnitz seems a poor reason to me to take such effort ...

I'll be working on the Poland/Prussia one first, because that's the one most likely to be true. Only if I don't find anything there would I try the other location as a guess.

Thank you so much for your help! I'll keep you posted!