Item Info

Scripts/Text: Fraktur; German script
Language: German
Weiser Number: 490
Physical Description: Leaf
Material: Wove paper; watercolor; ink
Transcription:

Geburts= und Tauf=Schein. \ Diesen beyden Ehegatten, als: \ Johans Wider und seiner E und seiner ehelichen \ Hausfrau Catarina eine gebohrne Meyerin \ ist eine Tochter zur Welt gebohren, den 2 Tag \ Tag Dezember im Jahr unsers Herrn, 1826 \ Diese Tochter ist gebohren in Cocalico Taunschip \ und in Lancaster Caunty, im \ Staate Pinselvania und in Nord=America; \ und erhielt durch die Heilige Taufe den Namen Elisabeth \ Getauft August den 13 Tag \ im Jahr 1827 von dem Ehrw. Hrn Trumbauer \ Die Tauf=Zeugen waren: Elisabeth Wider

[in upper left]
Wann wir kaum gebohren werden, \ Ist vom ersten Lebenstritt \ Bis zum kühlen Grab der Erden, \ Nur ein kurz gemß’ner Schritt. \ Ach! mit jedem Augenblick \ Gehet unsere Kraft zurück; \ Und wir sind mit jedem Jahre, \ Alle reif zur Todten=Bahre.

[in upper right]
O, wer weis, in welcher Stunde, \ Uns die letzte Stimme weckt, \ Denn Gott hat’s mit seinem Munde \ Keinem Menschen noch entdeckt. \ Wer sein Haus nun wohl bestellt, \ Geht mit Freuden aus der Welt: \ Da die Sicherheit hingegen, \ Ewiges Sterben kann erregen.

[in lower left]
Ich bin getauft, ich steh’ im Bunde, \ Durch meine Tauf, mit meinem Gott! \ So sprech ich stets mit frohem Munde, \ in Kreuz, in Trübsal Angst und Noth. \ Ich bin getauft, des freu ich mich, \ Die Freude bleibt mir ewiglich.

[in lower right]
Ich bin getauft, ob ich gleich sterbe, \ Was schadet mir das kühle Grab? \ Ich weiß mein Vaterland und Erbe, \ Das ich bey Gott im Himmel hab: \ Nach meinem Tod ist mir bereit, \ Des Himmels Freud und Feyer=Kleid.

[in lower center]
Ich bin getauft in deinem Namen \ Gott Vater, Sohn und heiliger Geist! \ Ich bin gezählt zu deinem Saamen, \ Zum Volk das Dir geheiligt heißt. \ O! welch ein Glück ward dadurch mein, \ Herr, laß mich dessen würdig seyn.

Reading, gedruckt und zu haben bey \ Heinrich B. Sage.

Translation:

Birth and Baptismal certificate
To these two married people, namely Johans Wider and his lawful wife Catarina, a born Meyerin, a daughter was born into the world, the 2 day December in the year of our Lord 1826. This daughter was born in Cocalico Township, and in Lancaster County, in the state of Pennsylvania and in North America, and received through the Holy Baptism the name Elisabeth. Baptized in August, the 13 day, in the year 1827, from the honorable Mr. Trumbauer. The sponsors were: Elisabeth Wider. 

[in upper left]
Scarcely born into the world, it is only a short measured pace from the first step to the cool grave in the earth. O with every moment! Our strength diminishes, and with every year we grow more ripe for the bier.

[in upper right]
And who knows in what hour the final voice will awaken us, because God has not revealed this to anybody yet. Who tends to his house will depart from the world with joy. Because surety, in contrast, can provoke eternal death.

[lower left]
I am baptized, I stand united with my God through my baptism. I therefore always speak joyfully in hardship, sadness, fear and need. I am baptized, that’s a joy for me. The joy lasts eternally.

[lower right]
I am baptized, and when I die, how can the cool grave hurt me? I know my fatherland and legacy that I will have with God in Heaven. After death, Heaven’s garment of joy and celebration is prepared for me.

[lower center]
I am baptized in your name, God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. I am counted as one of your seeds, to a people that you blessed. O! What fortune for me! Lord, let me be worthy of it!

Reading, printed and to be had from Heinrich B. Sage.

Category: Birth and Baptismal Certificate (Geburts und Taufschein)
Media Type: Letterpress Prints
Source: Rare Book Department
Notes:

Hand-colored; hand-lettered; printed form. The central text in Fraktur with blanks infilled in German script is within a frame in the center of the document. Two verses within rectangular frames are in the upper corners. Two verses within frames are on the lower sides, and one verse within a frame is in the lower center. The main text is flanked by two large angels with lyres, one holding flowers and the other a bird. A framed image of Jesus’s baptism is in the upper center. The image depicts Jesus standing in the river Jordan. To his left are trees and other plants on the banks of the river, and to his right is John the Baptist, standing on land and pouring water on Jesus. In each of the lower corners of the document is a bird perched on a leafy and thorny branch. In the lower center is an image of a female statue under a colonnaded dome. The entire document is framed by a decorative border.
The scrivener mistakenly wrote, and then crossed out, several words that were already printed on the form.
 

Associated Names: Wider, Johans
Provenance: Henry S. Borneman

Bibliography:

Klaus Stopp, The Printed Birth and Baptismal Certificates of the German Americans (East Berlin, Pa.: Russell D. Earnest Associates, 1998) vol. 4, p. 268.

Secondary Place Town/Township: Geographic Coverage State/Province:Pennsylvania
Geographic Coverage City/Town/Township:Cocalico Township
Geographic Coverage Note:Based on location of birth
Geographic Coverage Region/County:Lancaster

Creation Place Town/Township: Creation Place Note:Based on location of printshop
Region/County:Berks
City/Town/Township:Reading
State/Province:Pennsylvania

Creation Year (Single Year or Range Begin): ca. 1826
Image Dimensions Width: 40.5 cm
ShelfMark: FLP 146
Creator Name: Anonymous - Decorator
Anonymous - Scrivener
Heinrich B. Sage (active c. 1811-c. 1826) - Printer/Publisher