The Legacy Family Tree Webinar’s presentation, given by Ute Brandenburg, titled The Emperor’s New Code was about the implementation of civil records in some of the western parts of Germany that came under Napoleon's rule, beginning in the 1790s. Previously, most vital records were kept by the priests in the Catholic or Lutheran churches. After Napoleon’s fall in 1814, many parts of Germany returned to the churches recording vital records, but other parts retained the civil registration.
My husband’s paternal ancestors were from Kusel in the Pfalz. There is a gap in church records found on FamilySearch that coincides with Napoleon’s rule. Sure enough, I found civil registrations of marriages and deaths for several Wollenweber and Emerick families.
But They are in French
I do not know how I found some records many years ago. I
don’t have access to my notes. I took photographs of the microfilm, locating
the records probably by looking page by page for the two surnames. However, I am unable to read French.
I tried uploading one of the images to ChatGPT, explaining it was a civil record in French and that I wanted a translation. What it provided looked good, but some spot checking revealed that it was way off. The dates were wrong and the people mentioned weren’t right.
If one truly wants a good translation, then it’s best to hire a translator, which I did. She did a great job, especially with the photographed shots of the microfilm. I still can’t create a good citation because I can’t locate the digital image yet. I’m hoping that seeing her transcription and translation will help me locate the right images.
Transcription First
Below is the transcription of the French.
[transcription: comments and questions in square brackets; preprinted sections in bold.]
N.o 28 PUBLICATION
DE MARIAGE
L’an mil
huit cent sept le vingt six dimanche du mois de Juillet nous Maire
faisant les fonctions d’officier de l’état civil de la Maire de Cousel Canton de
Cousel
Département de la Sarre, après nous être transporté devant la principale
porte d’entrée de la maison commune, à Dix heures du matin avons
annoncé et
publié pour la seconde fois, qu’il y a promesse de mariage entre Jean Jacques
Charles [Wolleuweber?] [garcon?] âgé
de vingt quatre ans,
profession de Drapier domicilié à Diedelkopf fils mineur de feu Jean
Frederic [Wolleuweber?] profession
de Prevôt domicilié à Diedelkopf
et de Anne
Marguerite Dubhorn sa veuve profession de ----
domiciliée à Diedelkopf et entre Dorrothé Caroline [Emmerich?]
âgée de vingt deux ans,
profession de ---- domiciliée à
Cousel
fille majeure de feu Philippe Emmerich
profession de Aubergiste domicilié à Cousel et de Marie Elisabethe
Welsch
sa veuve profession de Aubergiste domiciliée à Cousel
laquelle publication, lue à haute et intelligible voix, a été de suite
affichée à la porte de la
maison commune. De quoi nous avons dressé acte, que nous avons signé.
Fait à Cousel les jour, mois et an que dessus. Le Maire de Cousel
[signature]
Translation
This is the
translation of the above transcription. She made notes as footnotes (see the
endnotes).
[translation: comments and
questions in square brackets; preprinted sections in bold.]
N.o 28 PUBLICATION
OF MARRIAGE
The year one thousand eight hundred seven the twenty-sixth[,]
Sunday[,] of the month of July we Mayor
functioning as registrar of
the Town of Cousel Canton of
Cousel Department de la Sarre,
after having arrived before the main
entry door of the town hall,
at ten in the morning have
announced and
published for the second time, that there is promise of marriage between
Jean Jacques
Charles
[Wolleuweber?][1]
[boy][2]
aged twenty-four,
profession of Draper residing in Diedelkopf minor son of the
late Jean
Frederic
[Wolleuweber?][3]
profession of Provost resident of Diedelkopf
and Anne Marguerite Dubhorn his widow profession of –
residing in Diedelkopf and between Dorrothé Caroline
[Emmerich?][4]
aged
twenty-two, profession of – resident of
Cousel of age daughter of the
late Philippe Emmerich
profession of Innkeeper resident of Cousel and Marie
Elisabethe
Welsch his widow profession
of Innkeeper resident of Cousel
which publication, read out loud,
had been immediately attached to the door of the
town hall. Of which we have
made record, that we signed.
Made at Cousel the day, month and year above. The Mayor of
Cousel
[signature]
This record was a form that was filled out by the mayor. The form text is in bold and the filled-out portion is in non-bold. It turns out that this document is not a marriage record but one of the three announcements before the marriage. However, it still is a nice document. It supplies the names of the parties, their parents’ names, their father’s occupations, and their residences. That is more than I knew before. I need now to find the actual record of their marriage.
I couldn’t understand why I found multiple documents with the same names of the groom and bride. This was the second announcement of marriage. See, it is important to have proper translations.
If interested in having French documents translated, I used Bryna O’Sullivan of Charter Oak Genealogy, https://charteroakgenealogy.com. Her fee was reasonable and I received the translations in a timely manner.
Ute’s handout gives the dates of civil registration in various German States. Some states continued civil registration after the French occupation and then we might find both civil and church records. They often give some different information and are worth
#WebinarWednesday
This is a new series where I further investigate a topic after attending a
webinar. This way, I am applying what I learned.
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