Help Locating Baptism Records in German-language Chicago Church (Lutheran?)
My great grandparents were both born in Germany, emigrated separately in the early 1860s, married in 1865 (where?), and had 8 children in Chicago: see KCR1-WGS and K4JF-YMB. I would like to find baptism records for at least some of the 8 children whose birth dates are documented in family records (1866 to 1884). City directories list 6 to 12 German-language congregations during this time period. Can anyone advise me on how to identify which church they might have attended and where the records might be found today? Any shortcuts? Online information? My great grandmother (Sophia Schaun) spoke almost no English and my great grandfather (Gustav Knecht) was baptized in Solingen, Germany.
Answers
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Some possibilities you might follow up. First St. Paul's in the heart of downtown Chicago (still existing) was one of the earliest Lutheran congregations. Their website has a good history: http://www.fspauls.org/history. The people of that congregation helped found St. Jacobi Kirche in North Chicago; and St. Jacobi's folks, in turn, helped found St. Luke's Lutheran Church father north in Lakeway Township. There also were numerous Lutheran churches in what we now would consider the western suburbs, such as Proviso Township and Elk Grove. So where your folks attended would have depended, almost certainly, on which church was nearby their home. To obtain information from church records, I would think that you'd have to contact individuals churches. Some cemetery records are available online. I'm not a professional genealogist--just someone whose German ancestors lived for a time in Chicago or surrounding townships. Good luck!
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