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Working with 18th century church records, I found two confusing date entries that I have a hard time wrapping my head around:

enter image description here

The records are from the Untertürkheimer Kirchenbuch (1694-1800), which is available electronically at Ancestry.com (reel 10055947, frame 482).

I read the two record headers as 23d and 24th Sunday after Trinity Sunday, which I can count out from a calendar. These dates are one week apart. However, the dates in the margin are not.

  1. Why are there two dates recorded for each entry?
  2. Why do they differ in this case?
  3. Could the editorial comment ("cop[ulati] ... ob impregnationem") have anything to do with the discrepancies?
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    Are there dates in the margin for all the marriage entries? What is the page or section or digitized collection titled? Could these be records for reading of banns, and the marriage dates added supplementally? The marginal "extraordinarie" of the 1st image entry suggests the wedding was expedited because of pregnancy (and the date is in Advent). The 2nd entry's margin date is also in the the new church year, after Epiphany.
    – bgwiehle
    Feb 8, 2018 at 15:07
  • I got the collection from ancestry.com. It's the Kirchenbuecher of Untertuerkheim, microfiche reel 1055947 frames 462 onwards. The practice starts in 1703 and continues until at least 1730. (the two records I posted are from 1730, frame 482.) From 1694 (start of this book) to 1702 only a date was recorded. Thanks for the suggestion of the banns. I had not thought of that and will check.
    – user3697176
    Feb 8, 2018 at 16:54
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    Could you edit your question, please, and add this information about where the record came from? Thanks!
    – Jan Murphy ♦
    Feb 8, 2018 at 21:01
  • @bgwiehle After some more digging, I think you hit the nail on the head. I found four records all under the same heading, but with four different marriage dates in the margin, neatly one week apart. Please write your comment up as an answer, so I can accept it.
    – user3697176
    Feb 8, 2018 at 22:17

1 Answer 1

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"Marriage records" lump together a number of different documents that can be found in German church marriage registers.

Looking at the page or section headers* is important in order to identify what event initiated the record and what additional events may also be referenced. These may include engagement (Verlobung), marriage contract signing, reading of the banns (Aufgebot, usually 3 sequential Sundays) or the marriage rite (Heirat) itself (which usually includes the names of the witnesses). Later marriage records may reference the civil registration (Standesamt) of the marriage, as well details of the church ceremony.

In the records shown in the question, the dates in the right margin are identified as marriage dates ("cop."). The dates above each set of bride and groom are earlier, and must be some other event.

*Most of the FamilySearch microfilms that I've viewed include film content and description images that have been pretty accurate. Unfortunately, the digital films often skip these images.

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  • I believe the record collection to be complete. One image shows on the left (verso) page a few death and burial records from 1794, followed by a horizontal line and "finis hujus(!) tomi", and on the right the corresponding recto with only the remark "Angefangen anno 1694" --- 100 years earlier! There is no explanation, and the records themselves start on the next recto page. The first ten years of records only show a single date. Double dates noly start in 1704, as reported previously.
    – user3697176
    Feb 10, 2018 at 17:48

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