Christening practice question
In many of the christening records for Alswede parish, I see that the witnesses are referred to as the son or daughter of their father. From earlier answers, I understand that these witnesses need to be confirmed members of the church.
I have always thought that the practice of being a sponsor or godparent in a christening was saying that you would watch out for or take care of the child being christened if anything happened to the parents.
So I'm wondering why the son or daughter of a man would be put in this position, especially if they were in their teens? Or is this not the case -- the son or daughter would be old enough to do so but is not yet married and so giving the name of their father was a way of identifying that "Johan Scheper" from his cousin "Johan Scheper"?
Examples highlighted in yellow, attached.
Beste Antwort
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I agree with your interpretation. Specifying a sponsor as "a son of" usually means that this man is still unmarried and has no own family.
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Antworten
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Danke!
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