Help with translation of year 1783 baptism record from Retschow, Mecklenburg-Schwerin

Debra Palmer01

I need a bit of help translating the baptism record for Hans Jürgen Range (entry 3). I included the title page of the book for reference and the previous page to the entry because it shows the year of the baptism. There are no column headings so I assumed the first column is the baptism date, the second column is the name of the father, mother and child, and the third column are the names of the godparents/baptismal sponsors.

Thank you! Debra

[entry] 3

Date of baptism: the 8th of March [in the year 1783] [What is the meaning of the symbol after 8?]

Place of birth and baptism: Retschow [There are different places in the entries on the page. I think that Retschow means the birth place? The baptism place is also Retschow because the record is from the Church Baptism Register in Retschow?]

[entry] 1699

V. [father] Heiner Range [V. is the abbreviation for Vater?]

M. [mother] Anna Mary Tamsen [M. is the abbreviation for Mutter? Tamsen is the female form of the surname Tams?]

Inf. [infant] Hans Jürgen [Inf. is the abbreviation for infant?]

1. Hans Tams L. [L. is the abbreviation for levans=godparent/baptismal sponsor?]
2. Jürgen Tams L. [same]
3. Christ [abbreviation is for Christiane?] Doroth [abbreviation is for Dorothea?] Heini?

Ulrich Neitzel

Hello Debra,

You did very well with the reading and translation. I have only few comments, see below in bold

[entry] 3

Date of baptism: the 8th (I read 6th) of March [in the year 1783] [What is the meaning of the symbol after 8? it means -ten, similar to -th in English]

Place of birth and baptism: Retschow [There are different places in the entries on the page. I think that Retschow means the birth place? The baptism place is also Retschow because the record is from the Church Baptism Register in Retschow? I agree]

[entry] 1699

V. [father] Heiner Range [V. is the abbreviation for Vater? yes]

M. [mother] Anna Mary Tamsen [M. is the abbreviation for Mutter? yes Tamsen is the female form of the surname Tams? yes]

Inf. [infant] Hans Jürgen [Inf. is the abbreviation for infant? actually: infans (Latin)]

1. Hans Tams L. [L. is the abbreviation for levans=godparent/baptismal sponsor? not sure what it means; there is no such letter for the other entries. It could also be an abbreviation for the residence of the sponsor ]
2. Jürgen Tams L. [same]
3. Christ [abbreviation is for Christiane? yes] Doroth [abbreviation is for Dorothea? yes] Heini? Heinicken

Debra Palmer01

@Ulrich Neitzel,

I can see that the 6 has an extra loop and there are no other entries with the abbreviation of L. The scribe uses several different abbreviations in the entry so I think that your suggestion that L. could be an abbreviation for the residence of the sponsor is very possible. Thank you for your help and answers!

Debra