One or Two Men with the Same Name but with Different Parents?

Cynthia Jacobson

This discussion is in reference to the April post about the same man having two different sets of parents and the reply that it might be that there were two men with the same name.

Please see the May 4 comment about the fact that the record of Ludwig Spurgat's second marriage to Karolina Lehmann in 1902 also includes information about the recent death of his first wife Maria geb. Kaptein so it is the same Ludwig Spurgat who married both women. However, on his first marriage record he is listed as the son of Andrzej Spurgat and Karolina geb. Wallat and on his second marriage records he is listed as the son of Henrich Spurgat and Eufrosina/Rosalie Duve!

Also, in 1941 his son Alexander reported his father’s name as Ludwig and even provided the exact date of his birth in an era when other family members did not know the birthplaces or birthdates of either of their parents.

What explanation can be given?

Thank you.

IgorYa

Hello,

I can't read Polish so hard to comment on first documents, but in Russian ones it definitely says "the son of" for both of them. In first doc Andrzej is "deceased" and Karolina is "находящейся в [undecipherable]" which can mean "living" but as in "residing in" or just located somewhere. Henrich and Rosalie are clearly referred to as deceased in the second doc. My assumption is that Henrich and Rosalie are biological parents and Andrzej + Karolina are relatives who adopted Ludwig. Completely my speculation but at the time of his first marriage he may have been unaware that he's adopted, but later in life started putting his biological parents into the documents.

The baptism record with Andrzej as father doesn't help this theory much, but Rosalie may have died at birth and Henrich while she was pregnant. Do you have any documents on when they died?

Another theory is that either of them are godparents and were important enough that he's listed them as parents at marriage.

thanks,

Igor.

Cynthia Jacobson

Thank you for your reply and for carefully examining the records.

I will consider your two theories.

No, there are no death records of any of the four parents. I base this on the fact that over 60,000 records from this immediate area have been recently indexed and are online. I never found them on microfilm either.