John Pape's 1851 Baptism Record from Germany

Back on October 15, 2021, I participated in the 2021 Genealogy Lock-In hosted by

the Genealogy Center of the Waco-McLennan County [Texas] Library, the Texas State Genealogical Society, the Genealogy Network of Texas, and the Central Texas Genealogical Society.  This all-day, one-day-only, all-virtual event featured eight pre-recorded sessions, including some by well-known genealogy speakers.

For me, though, the best session was "So, You’ve Found Your German Town of Origin, Now What?" by Teresa Steinkamp McMillin.  Given that I have birth dates and places for many of my German ancestors, this was of great interest to me.  Just having the indexed information wasn't enough - I really wanted to see the original records.  

Her session walked through using the online Meyer’s Gazetteer to verify the town name and identify religious and governmental jurisdictions that might have vital records.  For example, here is the entry for one of the two Bödefelds (note that you can click on all images in this post to view them in a larger size):

You can also view a historic map of the area. The one I've pictured is for the other Bödefeld, and has the toggle turned on to mark the Catholic parishes (yellow C marker).

Teresa then spoke about, and demonstrated, some of the records available online.  One that she spoke about that I had not heard of before was Matricula Online, which has "church registers (mostly books of birth, marriage and death) from various European countries (currently Austria, Germany, Poland, Serbia and Slovenia)."  And luckily for me, such books from the Archdiocese of Paderborn, where my relatives are from, have recently been added to the site.

You can use the Map or Search for Places functions on Matricula to enter your town of origin, and find the name of (and a link to) the Catholic parish records for it.

This will bring up the available registers.  There are 106 currently available for Sts. Kosmas und Damian parish in Bödefeld, so you can use a slider on the date range column to narrow down the field:

Teresa explained what some of the German words mean.  Taufen are baptisms, Trauungen are marriages, and Sterbefälle are deaths.  A Namenregister is an index.

So I used the Namenregister Taufen that covered 1826-1858 and found the page indexing the baptisms for surnames beginning with P.  Here is the relevant snip from that index page:

The first Johann Pape is an older brother to my John Pape, who was born in 1849 and died the following year.  My John Pape is the second Johann.  The 473 refers to the page number in the baptisms register covering 1826-1858, and the 45 indicates it was the 45th baptism in that year (1851).  Anton is the oldest (born 1854) of John's three younger brothers.

So next I went to the Taufen for 1826-1858 and navigated to page 473.  And there was my great-grandfather!  Here is the left half of the page, and the following image is the right half.

What got me especially excited, though, was the information that I've outline in red boxes.  I could see dates and names of John's first two wives, Elisabeth Dameris and Gertrud Kramer (who is my great-grandmother).  The latter was particularly thrilling, because prior to this, I had no information on when and where John and Gertrud married.  The family story was that John went back to Germany to find a bride after Elisabeth and their two daughters died in Chicago in 1886 and 1887.  All I knew was that John and Gertrud were back in the United States by August 1889, when their first child Clara Pape was born.

I posted these images on Facebook, and asked for translations of information in the red boxes.  Here is the translation for the image above, about Elisabeth Dameris:

"married since 27 Nov 1879 with Elisabeth Dameris from Schmall____ (possibly Schmallenberg: https://www.meyersgaz.org/place/20727066)

addition: Elisabeth Dameris was 'Lehrerin dahier' = teacher here."

Elisabeth was in fact from Schmallenberg, and I have now found her baptism record there.   I also found the marriage record for Elisabeth and John in the Sts. Kosmas und Damian parish registers in Bödefeld.

Here is the image of the right half of John Pape's baptism record:

And here is the translation of the information in the red box, about Gertrud Kramer:

"and has emigrated to America with his second wife, Gertrud Kramer, born in Wennemen (https://www.meyersgaz.org/place/21116023), Catholic church 9 Jan 1859 and married in Düsseldorf 9 Oct 1888 and then emigrated to America 13 Oct 1888.

Addition: Gertrud Kramer was also a 'Lehrerin von hier' = teacher from here."

Can you see why I was so excited?!  I knew Gertrude was baptized in nearby Calle (I've now found her baptism record), but I did not know she was actually born in Wennemen.  I now also have a date and place for John's and Gertrude's marriage.  Although the records for churches in Düsseldorf are not online, the incredibly helpful parish pastor did include a record of John's and Gertrude's marriage in the Sts. Kosmas und Damian parish registers in Bödefeld.

I've spent most of the past week doing additional searches for family members in Matricula Online, and filled more holes in my family tree!

© Amanda Pape - 2021 - e-mail me!

Those Places Thursday: Mom's 1953 Europe Road Trip - Austria

From Mom's Europe trip diary, in the "PLACES VISITED" section: 

September 18, Friday – Road between Munich, Germany and Landeck, Austria 

After breakfast went back to Henckels and bought a carving set and a spoon.*  Then crossed German border into Austria and drove to Innsbruck.  Ate lunch there and window-shopped, but didn't buy anything.  Left Innsbruck and drove through some beautiful country to Landreck where we spent night.**  The Austrian countryside (the Tyrol) is mountainous, with craggy mountains, fertile valleys, and picturesque towns. It has been different from anything I've seen on this trip.  No trouble through customs.

* According to the "PURCHASES" section of the trip diary, the carving set cost 34 marks and the spoon cost 4.8 marks.

** According to the "HOTELS STOPPED AT" section of the trip diary, my mother and her friends stayed at the Gasthaus Sonne in Landeck, Austria.

Here are some photos of some "craggy mountains, fertile valleys, and picturesque towns" that my mother may have seen along her route:

Markettown Telfs, Tyrol, Austria. Mieminger Range, Alps [30 May 2010] / Elżbieta Fazel (Own work) / CC-BY-SA-3.0

Landeck in Tyrol, Austria, 25 August 2005 / Pflatsch (Pflatsch) / GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0

This is the 42nd in a series of posts transcribing entries in my mother's 1953 Europe Trip journal.

© Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.

Mom's 1953 Europe Road Trip: Munich

From Mom's Europe trip diary, in the "PLACES VISITED" section: 

September 17, Thursday – Munich, Germany

After breakfast, took a bus tour of city which was quite unsatisfactory.  Met Sylvia back at hotel and went to eat at Ratskeller.  From there we went shopping & I bought cutlery and scissors for myself and Mother.*  Also bought a wood carved crucifix for myself.**  Ate supper and went to bed.  On the tour, saw badly-damaged buildings, the Führer's house, other beautiful buildings like the Glockenspiel on the Town Hall (clock with moving parts).

* According to the "PURCHASES" section of the trip diary, my mother bought two knives and miscellaneous cutlery at Henckels in Munich for a total of 94.3 marks.

** The crucifix was purchased for 25 marks at J. Chr. Dehm in Munich.

Although she doesn't mention it in her narrative, she also purchased a toy car at Teddy in Munich for 9.75 marks.

Here are some photos my mother took of some bomb-damaged buildings in Munich:

 World War II damage in Munich (a church?), 17 September 1953 / Geraldine Guokas Pape / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

World War II damage in Munich (a factory?), 17 September 1953 / Geraldine Guokas Pape / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Both the Ratskeller and the Glockenspiel are part of the Neues Rathaus (New Town Hall) on the Marienplatz in Munich.  Below is a photo of the Neues Rathaus from May 1960:

Bundesarchiv, B 145 Bild-F008211-0004 / Unterberg, Rolf / CC-BY-SA-3.0-de via German Federal Archives

Below is a photo of one of the entrances to the Ratskeller, which is in the basement of the Neues Rathaus.  The Ratskellar opened August 1, 1874:

Ratskellereingang Innenhof Neues Rathaus München [Ratskeller entrance, Neues Rathous courtyard, Munich,
17 June 2007] / User:Mattes (Own work) / Public domain

And here are a couple videos of the Glockenspiel in action (both by bonifazimarco, CC BY 4.0).  The first is of the top half of the Glockenspiel, which tells a story of the marriage of the local Duke Wilhelm V to Renata of Lorraine in Munich in 1568.  The celebration includes a joust between a Bavarian knight (in blue and white) and a knight from Lorraine (in red and white) - guess who wins?

This is followed by the lower half of the Glockenspiel, which tells a second story about Schäfflerstanz (the Coopers' Dance).  The traditional story is that local coopers (barrel makers) encouraged frightened residents back out into the streets at the end of a devastating 1517 plague with their twirling dance, reenacted every seven years during Fasching (the festival before Lent).



This is the 41st in a series of posts transcribing entries in my mother's 1953 Europe Trip journal.


© Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.

Travel Tuesday: Mom's 1953 Europe Road Trip - Germany

From Mom's Europe trip diary, in the "PLACES VISITED" section:

September 16, Wednesday – Road between Giessen and Munich, Germany

After breakfast went to bank and exchanged money.  Left Giessen and got back on autobahn.  Drove by Frankfurt, took a side trip to see the Rhine River, then ate lunch in Heidelburg.  Got back on highway and drove by Stuttgart, Ulm, and Dachau to Munich.  Had hotel rooms,* thank goodness.  Saw a huge convoy of American Army trucks on road, one wreck, and the Rhein-Main airfield.  Went through part of the Black Forest and also saw part of Bavaria.  The day was quite long.


* According to the "HOTELS STOPPED AT" section of the trip diary, my mother and her friends stayed at the Wolff Hotel in Munich, Germany.


This was a long day of travel!  I had to split the map to make the towns visible.  This was also the day where Mom visited some places that I visited 29 years later, on my trip to Germany in April 1982.  Thus, I'm going to use some of my photographs as illustrations in this post.

Below is the famous eastern side of the Römerberg (a plaza) in the Altstadt (old town) of Frankfurt.  The buildings are the Alt-Limpurg house, the Römer, which is the city hall, and the Haus Löwenstein.  These medieval buildings were heavily damaged by bombing in World War II but were rebuilt.  I wasn't sure if the reconstruction was completed by 1953 (it definitely was by 1955), but I did find a reference to the "return ... of the registry office ... in the fall of 1953" that indicates it might have looked like this by then:

Alt Limpurg, Römer, and Haus Löwenstein, Frankfurt, Germany, 5 April 1982 / Amanda Pape / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Heidelberg, looking towards the Neckar River, 16 April 1982 / Amanda Pape / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Above is a picture of Heidelberg, looking towards the Neckar River, with the Karl-Theodor-Brücke (Karl-Theodor Bridge), better known as the Alte Brücke (Old Bridge), to the right.

At left is a photo (by Amanda Pape, 16 April 1982 / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) of the Brückentor (bridge towers) on the Alte Brücke. The towers (without the caps) were originally constructed in the 15th century as part of the town's walls.  The Alte Brücke was damaged in World War II, but was quickly repaired (by 1947).

Mom mentioned that she "went through part of the Black Forest."  It's likely that the route from Heidelberg to Stuttgart took her through Pforzheim, a major city at the northern end of this region.  Below is a photo of a house built in the style of a traditional Schwarzwälder (Black Forest) farmhouse. 

Traditional Schwarzwälder-style farmhouse, Black Forest,  Germany, 15 April 1982 / Amanda Pape / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Mom also said she "saw part of Bavaria."  Munich and Dachau are of course a part of that area, but she probably also went through Augsburg.  An interesting feature there is the Fuggerei. This is the world's oldest social housing complex still in use, founded in 1516 by Jakob Fugger the Younger (aka "Jakob Fugger the Rich").  The photo at right (by Amanda Pape, 13 April 1982 / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) is of the Seiteneingang (side entrance).  Much of the Fuggerei was heavily damaged in World War II bombing, but it was quickly rebuilt.

This is the 40th in a series of posts transcribing entries in my mother's 1953 Europe Trip journal.


© Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.

Mappy Monday: Mom's 1953 Europe Road Trip: The Autobahn

From Mom's Europe trip diary, in the "PLACES VISITED" section:

September 15, Tuesday – Road between Soltau and Giessen, Germany

Drove through Hanover to where we caught an autobahn.  At one time we were within 5 miles of the Russian occupation zone.  Left the British zone and entered the American zone.  It was heavenly to see Americans and realize that if we got into difficulty someone would be able to understand us.  Drove over autobahn until we left it at Giessen to spend the night. Had a gay time flirting with G.I.s on the highway.  Turned on radio in car and actually heard an American voice! Wonderful feeling.  Spent night in a hotel operated by a W. Pape.* 


I haven't posted any maps for a while, so it's time to catch up.  The map at left, from Lillehammer, Norway, to Kungsbacka, Sweden, covers the travels for September 9 and 10.

The map below, from Kungsbacka, Sweden, to Kolding, Denmark, covers September 11, 12, and 13.

The map at left here, from Kolding, Denmark, to Soltau, Germany, covers the travel on September 14.  This day was spent entirely in the post-war British Zone of Occupation.

The map at the bottom of this post, from Soltau to Giessen, Germany, covers today's (September 15) travel.  After picking up the autobahn (probably A7) at Hanover, they would have continued in the British Zone of Occupation until just before Kassel - and that's also about where they would have passed within 5 miles of the Russian (Soviet) zone - before entering the American Zone of Occupation.


* According to the "HOTELS STOPPED AT" section of the trip diary, my mother and her friends stayed at the Hotel Hindenburg in Giessen, Germany. Her comment that it was operated by a W. Pape is interesting.  She was dating my father, Fred Pape, at the time.  The operator of the Hotel Hindenburg could very well have been related.  My great-grandfather John Pape emigrated from Bödefeld, a small village which I've marked on the map.


This is the 39th in a series of posts transcribing entries in my mother's 1953 Europe Trip journal.

© Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.

Sentimental Sunday: Mom's 1953 Europe Road Trip - Back Into Germany

From Mom's Europe trip diary, in the "PLACES VISITED" section:

September 14, Monday – Road  between Kolding, Denmark, and Soltau, Germany

After breakfast of ham & eggs, left for border.  Had to make 2 detours (Danish word Omkørsel*) before border.  No trouble through customs except that I caused quite a stir in German customs because I was left-handed.  They were quite amused about it.  Ate lunch in a Ratskeller in Neumünster (very good lunch for about $3 for all of us).  Drove through Hamburg with no difficulty and on to Soltau where we found hotel rooms.**  Room was so cold forced to go to bed.

* Omkørsel actually translates to "diversion."

** According to the "HOTELS STOPPED AT" section of the trip diary, my mother and her friends stayed at the Meyn Hotel in Soltau, Germany this night.

Vierländer Brunnen (1953) in Hamburg / eigene Arbeit [own work], Ernst Hanssen
 / GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0

Hamburg - Vierländer Brunnen [30 June 2009] / Dietmut Teijgeman-Hansen / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

At left is something my mother might have seen in Hamburg-Altstadt (old town) - the Vierländerin Brunnen (Four Countries Fountain).  It was constructed at this site in 1878 on the Meßberg Marktplatz.  In 1922-1924, the Chilehaus (behind the fountain) and Meßberghof (to the right) were built, part of the Kontorhausviertel. This area of reinforced concrete buildings with brick facades and Expressionist architecture details suffered some damage in World War II bombings, and the fountain and Meßberghof had recently been restored when this photo was taken in 1953.  The photo below shows more detail of the fountain, moved to another site in 1978.

......This is the 38th in a series of posts transcribing entries in my mother's 1953 Europe Trip journal.

© Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.

Mom's 1953 Europe Road Trip: Vejle, Denmark

From Mom's Europe trip diary, in the "PLACES VISITED" section:

September 3, Thursday – Road between  Steinburg, Germany, and Vejle, Denmark

A strong gale started during morning hours.  Arrived at border around 1 p.m.  At German, couldn't get anyone to answer.  Finally got through both with no difficulty whatever, again.  Ate in Tønder--some youngsters all came over and got our autographs--felt like a celebrity.  Drove on to Vejle where we found nice rooms* at very inexpensive price.  Things are looking up.  Rained almost all the way here, but country is still beautiful and looks very neat.  Decided to go on to Norway and Sweden.

* According to the "HOTELS STOPPED AT" section of the trip diary, my mother and her friends spent this night at the Hotel Royal in Velje, Denmark.

Here is a picture of the hotel in 1955, to the right of the Velje Town Hall:

Vejle Rådhus og Rådhustorvet [Vejle Town Hall and Town Hall Square], 1955, Vejle Stadsarkiv B-701128, Historisk Atlas - the Hotel Royal is on the right. During World War II, there was a bunker in the center of the square.

This is the 27th in a series of posts transcribing entries in my mother's 1953 Europe Trip journal.


© Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.

Travel Tuesday: Mom's 1953 Europe Road Trip - Into Germany

From Mom's Europe trip diary, in the "PLACES VISITED" section:

September 2, Wednesday – Road between Zwolle [Netherlands] and Steinburg, Germany

Left the Netherlands around 12 noo after using up all my guilders buying candy.  Dutch customs o.k. but I did not like German customs, especially when I went in to see about car.  Joye got sick at German customs, but we drove on to Bremen and then Hamburg.  In both cities we saw a lot of the war damage from 1944 and 1945.  Left Hamburg going north, had difficulty finding a place to stay--finally found one in town* called Steinburg where we all went to sleep around 8:30.

* According to the "HOTELS STOPPED AT" section of the trip diary, my mother spent this night at the Hotel Zur Steinburg in Steinburg, Germany.

Here's a map of her travels over the last few days, from Belgium through the Netherlands into Germany:

This is the 26th in a series of posts transcribing entries in my mother's 1953 Europe Trip journal.

© Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.

Friday's Faces from the Past: Karfreitag Holzratschen, Harth, Germany, 1982

During my visit to Germany in April 1982, my German Pape relatives took me sightseeing to nearby towns on Good Friday (April 9 that year).  One area we drove through was Harth, in the southernmost part of the Büren district.  I heard an awful noise and took this picture of the noisemakers, who happily posed for the camera.

My Tanta Lucia and Unkle Karl-Heinz told me that on Good Friday (Karfreitag) in Germany, bells are not rung because Jesus has died.  Before each Mass, children swing the Holzratschen, wooden rattles that make a terrible racket.  This is an old custom of the Catholic Church, to call people to Mass.  

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.