Record Examples

Death Cards

Death cards were typically circulated at the time of death, usually at the funeral. On one side the image of a saint or some other religious figure was printed with some information on the deceased and then a prayer for the deceased was printed on the reverse. The information contained on such cards in modern times is usually only name, birth date, death date. The card shown is quite informative, however, with exact place of birth in Germany given. Unfortunately, the parish churches kept no record of such death cards. They were printedly privately by the family and if they exist today they exist only in private collections.

Baptismal Certificate

Baptismal certificates such as this one were typically prepared by a Catholic parish for purposes of documentation. They are not an exact copy of the original record but were filled out using the original source. Sometimes the original record is more informative than the certificate and should be consulted when doing genealogical research if possible.