The Annweiler Ev. Church Records on microfilm at FHL are undoubtedly the most confusing set of records I’ve yet come across. Even the switching of pages in Lengerich was less of a puzzle than these. So it is no wonder that the archivist in Speyer who looked up family for Myra Ratay made errors. This is specifically true on the ancestry of Johann Jakob Becker who married Katharina Engel in 1838.

The baptism of J. Jakob Becker lists Phillipp Jakob Becker, citizen of Gräfenhausen and his wife Katharina, né Hauck as the parents. He is born 2 September 1813. The archives listed Johann Jakob’s father as Phillipp Jakob Becker, b. 19 January 1766 in Gräfenhausen, d. 25 February 1838 at Gräfenhausen. Both of these facts are found to be true when the actual microfilm of the records is inspected. The baptismal record lists Joh. Adam Becker and Maria Catherina as his parents. His death record lists him as the widower of Katherina Hauck, aged 72 years of Gräfenhausen. This age coincides with his birth and also verifies that we have the correct married couple for our J. Jakob Becker.

The archive goes on to list 27 June 1813 as the marriage date of Phillipp Jakob Becker and Katharina Hauck. The actual microfilm of the records shows that this Phillipp Jakob Becker was marrying Susanna Elisabetha Hauck. When located, the true marriage date of Phillipp and Katharina was 15 March 1792 and Johann Jakob was the last child this couple had, not the first.

The second error in information from the archive was with Johann Jakob Becker’s mother. Her baptism has her mother as Katharina Hauck. The archive listed Katharina’s birth as 12 January 1761 at Gräfenhausen. If this were true she would have been 52 when she had Johann Jakob - highly unlikely in the 1700s. Finding the correct marriage showed that Katharina was daughter of Peter Hauck of Gräfenhausen. The Katharina Hauck born in 1761 was the daughter of Adam Hauck. The correct baptismal record has Katharina baptized as Maria Katharina Hauck, daughter of Georg Peter Hauck, b. 14 June 1774 - a much more reasonable birthdate to be having Johann Jakob in 1813 (at age 39). A second proof to this birthdate is Katharina’s death which the archive listed as 4 October 1830, but this was also incorrect. When the correct death was found it listed Katharina Hauck, wife of Phillipp Jakob Becker, died 29 November 1829 at age 55.
©2015 Nancy Ratay

Familienforschung - Family Records, Klingen, Gräfenhausen and Heuchelheim, XIII b Zentralarchiv 142/05 R., 109-180, Evangelische Kirche Der Pfalz, Landeskirchenrat, research sent to Myra Ratay from Landeskirchenrat, Postfach 1720, 6720 Speyer/Rhein.
This record was incorrectly researched by the Archive. It gave a marriage date of 27 June 1813 for the marriage of Phillipp Becker and Katherina Hauck. Upon looking at the actual records it was clear that the marriage listed by the Archive is for a younger Phillipp Becker and Susanna Hauck. That Phillipp was born 27 June 1790 Georg Adam Becker.

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