Update on stolen Chaska Moravian Church Records

A few days ago I blogged about the volumes of records being stolen from an area church. Sometimes the media doesn't get the whole story. Then there is me who assumed the story was correct. I wasn't about to call the church and bug them when I know they are already being overwhelmed. Maybe I should have.

Another local TV station (KSTP) reports  "[Pastor] Eder says the Moravian Church is very much into their history. The stolen book, volume three, dates back to 1902. Two other volumes of records are stored in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania."

That answers some questions yet it still means one important volume was stolen. 

KARE 11 reports Chaska Moravian Church books stolen

It's been a tough news day here in my area. One horrific story has been the shooting and death of a suburban police officer. That has affected my thinking all afternoon. My heart aches for his family and fellow officers.

Then I checked the local news channels websites to see if the suspect had been found and so far that news is negative. I saw another story that caught my eye. Definitely not as horrific, but still sad. A local news channel (KARE) has reported that thieves broke into a Minnesota church and among other items stole the church record books. These books from the Chaska Moravian Church are a big part of the history of the church and the area in Carver County, Minnesota.

KARE11 reports "Sometime in the late evening hours of Monday, July 14th, Reverend Eder discovered thieves broke into the church office and took a locked safe containing $50, but even more valuable to the church were four handwritten ledgers containing birth, wedding and death records dating back to 1920. The leather bound books contained important genealogy information of members from the early years all the way to a baptism performed two weeks ago."

I just checked several catalogs including those of the Minnesota Historical Society and the Family History Library and didn't see any evidence that these record books were ever microfilmed. The Moravian Church Archives in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania does appear to have something from the first two record books. That means two of the stolen items are the only locations of the valuable information. Now I wonder if it is microfilm, photocopy, index, abstract, or what else? The inventory is not clear.

Read the full KARE story here plus the video of the newscast announcement.

Some record abstracts are posted on this website. Debbie Moe did an even greater service at the time by providing this information.

Update to police officer death: the suspect has been apprehended.

Is that genealogy record abstract correct?

I was recently in Salt Lake City where I researched at the Family History Library. One of the main tasks was to locate a baptismal record. I had the church-generated abstract on a pre-printed form with details presumably taken directly from the church record book. Yet I needed to verify the information.

The microfilmed church record book showed that there were no errors on the abstract but it left out much of what was on the page in the record book. What was missing? The entry directly above this one was for the infant’s sibling. Then there was the notation for the infant in question that the father of these two children had been killed just three days before and it mentioned he was the husband of the mother and where they had been married. I then located the death record for the father/husband  who had a common name. With that possible date I was able to find that the death was recorded in another county. 

Great results but we still need to be careful of what was found on the microfilm. Is it actually the original record book? Whether it is in “original” form, on microfilm, or a digitized image you need to look at it with a critical eye. In other words, is it the original or one that someone copied either for easier reading or to preserve a disintegrating volume? Check to see if there is a title page giving the date the volume was published. Are there event dates that precede that publication date? If there is no such title page, then look for other clues. Is the entire record book written in the same handwriting. Of course, it could span a brief number of years and could logically hold the same handwriting for all events.

The names in the event descriptions such as christenings should not be in alphabetical order. The church members did not show up in alpha order to get christened, married, or buried. Is the handwriting the same throughout the record book that spans from 1822-1910? It is unlikely that one pastor or church member entering the events was around for all that time period.

Read the church history booklet or a county history entry to help determine if a smaller congregation was a mission or satellite church of a larger one. When the smaller one grew and had its own pastor, were the records pertaining to its members hand copied from the larger church’s books? I found one church record book that stated “people baptized when they had no pastor.” Were all the pages in the record book typed? For those 1845 events, too? Typewriters did not come into common usage until the later 1870s.

Another comment found in a church record book is “perhaps the date is 1870 it is blurred in the original but comes 1st under the year 1871.” [That is a direct transcription, dates and all!)]

Think about the church records you have consulted – what idiosyncrasies have you found?

Churches Have Anniversaries, Too!

We seek out church records of our ancestors, either in the original format, online, or on microfilm. The records of a family member’s christening, marriage, burial, or the names of parents and witnesses help fill in blank spots on our family tree. For some religious denominations we may only find minutes of a church committee or ruling body. We wish for something more and there is one more resource in existence for many churches and synagogues.

Milestones
Churches often celebrate 50, 75, 100, 150 or more years in existence. A get-together might mark the occasion and a local newspaper might cover the event, complete with a short history of the congregation. Many churches also publish a separate anniversary booklet filled with important details.

The beginnings
Generally a history of the church congregation and buildings is included in such a booklet. The variety of details often include where the early services were held (maybe in your ancestor’s home?), when the first