The entry from the church records of the Bethany United Church of Christ in Tioga, Hancock County, Illinois, are pretty clear: Sophia Elisabeth Trautfetter[sic] was born on 29 September 1808 in “Helmashausen Sachsen Wesmar.” Of course the information was made as a part of the church register for her death in 1888. Where the information was obtained for the death register is impossible to say. The information was likely provided by one of her surviving children and could have been taken from a family bible or other family records.
The information on Sophia’s stone in the adjacent church cemetery appears to agree in part with the information in the church register, although the stone was weathered when this picture was taken in 2010.
It really looks like the stone says she was born on 21 September 1808.
The stone does not include the place of birth, but it’s agreement with the information in the register (at least as far as the month and year are concerned) does not make the information any more likely to be correct. It simply agrees (for the most part) and that’s probably because the same informant provided the information. That really does not explain why the month and year are the same and the precise date is different.
The record of Sophia’s birth appears on page 92 of the baptisms in the church in Helmershausen–the intention when Helmashausen was written in the church register at the Tioga church. That entry (number 14 from 1807) indicated that Sophie Elisabethe Derlin, daughter of Johann Heinrich Derle and Regine Dreißgackerin, was born at 4 o’clock in the afternoon of 21 September 1807.
Given that the birth and baptismal entry for Sophia in Helmershausen was written relatively close to her birth, that’s the date I’m sticking with as the actual date. The other records will be transcribed in my database as they are written. My analysis of all three records will indicate that I’m inclined to use the Helmershausen record as it was recorded relatively close to Sophia’s actual birth.
In the large scheme of things the differences are not significant. What really matters is that I have the correct person. I am as sure as I can be that I do as this same Sophia is listed as marrying Johann George Trautvetter in later records, has six children with him, including five who survive to immigrate with the Trautvetter family to the United States in 1853.
Dates do not always agree. They should be relatively consistent. It is the other identifying details that have to match up to confirm identity. In this case they do.
A Spieles says:
Might this be another case of obfuscation of marriage date vs. date of birth for first baby? It is easy to forget today how embarrassing such information in their society would have been – how people would have forever had “that look” on their faces when talking about this couple who didn’t achieve model behavior.
mjnrootdig says:
Sometimes that’s the case. Here it’s not an issue as the couple was married in July of 1806.
Ellen says:
Could someone have subtracted her age from the current year without taking into account that she had not had her birthday yet?
mjnrootdig says:
That’s a reasonable possibility. I’m thinking that it was a simple error–perhaps copying it down wrong from a family Bible or not even writing it down at all. It could be that someone looked for it in the Bible and thought that they’d remember the date correctly to tell the minister or the stonecutter.
Betty Dees says:
Is it possible that 1807 child died and an 1808 child was given the name as well?
mjnrootdig says:
Possible, but not in this instance. The 1807 baptism is referenced when Sophia later marries.
Kristy Gravlin says:
I am always finding “wrong years of birth” and they are “always” caused by the person who was transcribing the census records. I’m not ready to give a “how to fix that” but I do say Be Careful. I’ve found these when entering family members for whom I have a specific date of birth rather than just a year based on ‘the child is now 3.’ I haven’t decided on any real solution for determining year of birth when I don’t already know. Is there one?