655 Pennsylvania German Marriages, Marriages and Marriage Evidence

Description

Pennsylvania German Marriages, Marriages, and Marriage Evidence in Pennsylvania German Churches, with Index, by Donna R. Irish.  Published in 1984. This is the most essential collection of Pennsylvania-German source materials to appear since the publication of Strassburger and Hinke’s Pennsylvania German Pioneers over fifty years ago. Primarily a compilation of Reformed Church marriage records (including some records from Lutheran and Union churches), it documents 50,000 persons of German origin or descent. Based on records in the collection formed by Dr. William J Hinke–records of approximately 100 churches in eastern Pennsylvania–the compiler has developed a list of marriages and a genealogical record of the Pennsylvania Germans. The records of actual marriages, which form the basis of the work, generally give the names of the bride and groom, the date of marriage, names of parents, place of residence, and sometimes place of origin, date of birth, and previous marital status; while records of marriage deriving from baptismal entries, burial records, etc., variously give names of parents (usually the maiden name of the mother), names of grandparents and sponsors, place and date of birth and/or baptism, names of children, and date of death. Many records transcribed here are capsule pedigrees, some identifying three or more generations in a direct line of descent. There is, besides, an abundance of out-of-the-way and unexpected information.  Paperback.  834 pages.