Help w/ few details of 1775 death record - Süderstapel

Robt_Nielsen

I was able to transcribe almost all of this record, but want clarification on the status of the children...

Dig. image on Archion.de:

http://www.archion.de/p/9f1db92669/

=== My Transcription ===

[died] 19 Sep [1775]; [buried] 23 Sep

Einwohner Hinrich [Grofe, Gräfe?], in Seeth. Verheir.[etet] 1770 d.[en] 12 May [?] sein? [?] Wieb=

ke, gebh. Jacobs. Hat mit ihr 2 Kinder gehabt, ein Sohn, des? [?] [todt?] [ist?], und ein? Tochter

Heincke, die auch? lebt, u. 1773. gebohren ist? [?] 36 Jahr.

=== My Translation ===

Hinrich Gräfe, resident of Seeth, died 19 Sep 1775 and was buried 23 Sep. Married Wiebcke neé Jacobs 12 May 1770. With her had 2 children, a son [deceased] and a [living] daughter Heincke born 1773. Age at death 36 years.

HinrichGrefe 1775.png

Ulrich Neitzel

@Robt_Nielsen

my editions/additions in bold:

[died] 19 Sep [1775]; [buried] 23 Sep

Einwohner Hinrich Gräfe, in Seeth. Verheir.[atet] 1770 d.[en] 17 May an seine ietzige Witwe Wieb=

ke, gebh. Jacobs. Hat mit ihr 2 Kinder gehabt, einen Sohn, der schon todt ist, und eine Tochter

Heincke, die noch lebt, u. 1773. gebohren ist. Aetat. 36 Jahr.

=== Translation ===

Hinrich Gräfe, resident of Seeth, died 19 Sep 1775 and was buried 23 Sep. Married Wiebcke neé Jacobs, now his widow, 17 May 1770. With her had 2 children, a son already deceased and a still living daughter Heincke born 1773. Age at death 36 years.

Note: Aetat. is Latin for "of the age".

Ulrich Neitzel

@Robt_Nielsen

Good question! Well, Martin Luther's request concerned mainly the language for the "common people" in the church service and of course in the Bible. In the academic world and to a certain degree in the official documents Latin kept its position for still quite some time. Doctoral theses were generally written in Latin until the mid of the 19th century. Church books were also a type of official document not meant for "ordinary people". However, whereas the entries in catholic parishes remained fully in Latin for a long time, in the protestant church books only certain key words were taken over, like Aetatis (age), Parentes, Patrini (baptismal sponsors), Copulatio (Marriage) etc. as foreign words in a basically German entry.

Robt_Nielsen

Did I mis-read the record for # of Kinder in Hinrich's 1775 record? I've since found death records for two children, both sons of a Hinrich of Seeth, who died young within a year of each other (Feb 1771 and Feb 1772). I am wondering whether both could be his children?

Robt_Nielsen

@Ulrich Neitzel ... Thank you!

Question: Do you know whether the use of Latin in these Protestant church records was simply a carryover from pre-Reformation Catholicism? Given Martin Luther's "put the Bible in the language of the people" attitude, I've always been surprised with the frequent use of Latin terms in these records that date a couple hundred years after the Reformation.

Robt_Nielsen

@Ulrich Neitzel ... Thanks for the insight.