Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 10:31 am
Post subject:
Dave (et al), I am not an expert on these matters, but I am gaining experience as I go along. Finding the three records for my great-aunt and uncles (all siblings) seemed to establish that my great-grandmother's maiden name was "Murga". That led to the question of what the letters following the surname were. Rather than a suffix, I wondered if they were a Latin abbreviation. We've gone back and forth on that, but with @sirdan's suggestion, I am now returning to that theory.
Concerning the suggestion that the abbreviation was "conj." for "conjugum", I would like to make a few observations. The first letter could be easily established as a 'c'. It's quite similar to how that letter was formed in other words where the use of that letter can be confirmed. The second letter could also be established as an 'o'. This priest (as is often the case with any writer) was not entirely consistent in the formation of his letters. For example, he did not always close the letter 'o' as can be seen in the name "Josephi" a few lines above. Let's skip the next letter for a moment. The last letter could certainly be a 'j' as @sirdan proposed because in fact this priest dotted his letters in an offset manner. Obviously, the period (full stop) following the word adds to the probability that this is an abbreviation. If these other letters can be established as "co-j.", what would the logical choice be for the unidentified letter? The letter 'n' would be a logical choice, and I disagree that it is styled much differently than other examples in the document. First, as already mentioned, his styling is not totally consistent. In particular, the letters standing on each side will influence his style. Further, the pen strokes are not uniform. Some are longer than others, and in this case, it could be seen as a longer stroke. In terms of general style, however, look at the abbreviation just below: "obst. n ex". The disconnected letter there appears to be an 'n' and has a very similar style to the proposed abbreviation. In fact, it almost has the same pen stroke length. However, the same style for this letter can be seen in other words (e.g., "natae") but with a shorter pen stroke.
Concerning the the placement of this abbreviation, in the examples I've seen, the word "conjugum" seems to follow the name of a married couple whose marriage was recognized by the Catholic Church. I admit that my sample space has been quite small, but I have not seen it used when the mother was named in a separate column as is the case with this particular baptismal certificate. I cannot account for why the word seems to have followed the paternal grandparents and not the maternal grandparents apart from the possibility that they were not Catholic and that this was somehow known by the priest (e.g., marriage records that existed at the time).
All of this considered together seems to point to the strong possibility that this is what accounts for the letters following the names of the paternal grandparents on this record. Our previous analysis was based on our best reading/transcription of the record. With these new records, including the original recording of the birth and baptism of the same person, new light was shed, and so other explanations were required. This does not diminish either your and Elzbieta's previous analysis; it just points out how dependent we are on having a clear idea of what exactly was written.
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dnowickiPO Top Contributor
Joined: 28 Dec 2011
Replies: 2953
Location: Michigan City, IndianaBack to top |
Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 2:21 pm
Post subject:
Karol,
By obtaining a copy of the record from the parish baptismal register you have resolved the question of the maiden name being Murga to the point that you should have moral certitude about the name and in the process of doing so you have removed the certificate from being important to the question and have relegated it to the level of nothing more than a very secondary footnote. The reason I say this is as follows.
To determine a critical reading of baptismal, marriage or death records the same procedure should be used as is used to determine a critical reading of the text of any manuscript, be it the New Testament Gospel of John or Cicero's First Oration Against Cataline, or the Magna Charta or James of Vitry's Historia Occidentalis. The various copies of these and other manuscripts do not agree in all aspects of their text. The first step in reconciling conflicting readings is to determine the importance of a given manuscript. Then the various manuscript copies are compared and using a critical apparatus the more likely reading is determined. Obviously, not all manuscripts have the same value. For example, in determining the text of the Gospel According to John as well as other books of the N.T. the manuscript which is given precedence is the Codex Vaticanus. In the case of the records you posted the manuscripts of primary importance are the copies of the parish baptismal register. They are to be considered the primary source of information.
In order to understand the relative value of the documents you posted it is necessary to consider their origin. They all originated in the Austrian Partition of Poland but that does not make them all equal. Vital records were recorded in the Austrian Partition by the parish priests submitting to the civil authorities copies of the parish registers. Because the copy of the parish register you received was made at one of the Polish National Archives, it is most probably a copy of the parish register submitted by the parish priest soon after the year 1893 ended. In this case, although it is a copy of the original which would be housed either in the parish or in the diocesan archives, it is sufficiently close to the original register to be considered a primary source. The only primary source which could carry more value would be the register made for parish use. The moral certitude about the maiden name is derived from the agreement of two or three entries which are photostatic copies of the registers housed in the National Archives.
There are a number of reasons to relegate the baptismal certificate to the value of a minor footnote. It is not an original record but is a transcription of data found in a birth and baptism register. It was not created anytime near when the events recorded took place since it was created 19 years after the events took place. It was not created by a person who was a primary player in the event. When it was the only documentary source of information about the event it was important. However, now that you have a more primary source of information, it no longer has anything of import to contribute to the question of the maiden name.
The whole question of the letters, handwriting, etc. in the certificate are no longer important except as a matter of curiosity. As to the speculation about the letters on the certificate, that is also a non-starter since they clearly are not found in the copy from the archives and therefore must originate from the mind of the priest who filled out the certificate in 1912. Just as a final side note there are a number of ways that the marital status of a couple was noted, sometimes in full words and other times with abbreviations such as Conjug. or Conj. or C.L. or CCL or the letters appearing in various orders.
Best of success in your quest.
Dave
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Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 2:47 pm
Post subject:
Dave, yes the question of the correct maiden name (for my great-great-grandmother in this case) has basically been answered. I have some understanding of textual criticism, but it is limited. You make some good points along those lines, but I am/was also interested in understanding some of the nuances of records like this baptismal certificate (including handwriting analysis, use of Latin abbreviations, etc.). The experience gained will help me with my continued endeavors. However, it might be time to retire this thread (at least for now). Thanks for your assistance throughout this process.
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