Search German-American Birth and Baptismal Certificates, 1700-1900

Each record includes a transcript and original image of the birth announcement. The records can include a combination of the following:

• Name
• Year
• Baptism date
• Place
• State
• Father’s name
• Mother’s name

The German-American Birth and Baptismal Certificates, 1700-1900 were collected by Professor Klaus Stopp, a bibliographer, and authority on printed fraktur.

Fraktur is a calligraphic hand of the Latin alphabet and any of several blackletter typefaces derived from this hand, it was used for European languages beginning in the 12th century.

Used to publicise births and baptisms in the Pennsylvania Dutch community, the certificates were created with templates and then filled out and painted based on a purchaser’s request. Drawing on the illuminated manuscript tradition, early certificates feature hand-painted woodcut borders, displaying songbirds, tulips, and crowns, while later 19th-century certificates mimic gravestones, commemorative plaques, and lithographic posters. The names and dates were however added by hand.