Where might records be found
Answers
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The record shows the couple's son, Johannes Louis August, as being born in Hildesheim. I quickly checked, and birth records don't appear to be available for Hildesheim in 1897 (they end in 1896!). I would look for a marriage record for the couple in Hildesheim to figure out if these are the same people.
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Apparently I wasn't looking close enough - the family was Protestant, not Catholic! I was under the impression that they were Catholic :)
I would check to make sure that the family was Protestant. It appears that, at this time, Hildesheim had many Protestants and Catholics. So, switching is certainly possible, but just be aware of that as you research :)
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It's probably easier to ask questions on the comment boards rather than individual messaging. It also allows others to help out as well :)
Matricula does Catholic records, while Archion does Protestant (Lutheran) records.
When you have a FamilySearch record, it's best to look at the title of the collection. For example, when the title of the collection says something like "Germany, Lutheran Baptisms", you know that you are dealing with Protestant records. If the title mentions things like "Catholic" or "Diocese", you're probably dealing with Catholic records.
When searching images on the FamilySearch catalog (Explore FamilySearch Catalog of Resources — FamilySearch.org), the authors of the image collections will tell you the denomination involved.
On this search for church records for Berlin, the author information tells you what is involved. "Evangelisch-Lutherische" and "Evangelische" are Protestant churches. "Katholische" is a Catholic church.
Churches with "Reformierte" in the name are also Protestant denominations. However, a family that is in a Reformed church would likely go to another Reformed church if they moved, rather than an Evangelical church (although it did happen).
Below are some examples of Reformed churches in Berlin (French Reformed and Evangelical Reformed, respectively):
Looking at the records from your family, it looks to me like the family really did switch from Catholic to Protestant (as demonstrated by the move of records from Matricula to Lutheran parishes), but I would double-check everything just to make sure everything lines up.
Good luck with your research!
Cody Bailey
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Bailey, thank you for your catholic-protestant record explanation. My impression is that my german family was or at least became protestant however, as I previously mentioned all the records I have found were through matricula so not sure where you saw indications of persons I was looking for as being protestant. Anyway one of those things I may figure out in time. Thanks again. Deniese
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@Deniese Drake, I'm guessing one of the Catholic records listed them as Protestant; sometimes there's an entire column dedicated to the religion, even though it's in a parish of a specific denomination. Do you have links to the images you've found? I don't see them in this thread, so I'm guessing you or Cody messaged them to each other.
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Charlotte, thank you for your reply. I had asked, a couple days ago, about where I might find a person on fits that has limited info other than hildesheim, and no sourcesso just shooting in the dark. Cody responded he had made a quick search but didn't find anything. In short he suggested I check in hildesheim. I asked where he had looked and that is where the catholic or protestant confusion came in. At this point I have moved on but will get back to it later. Thank you. Deniese
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