This time, I want to explain with an example why it's important to pay attention to godparents in baptismal records. Godparents can provide a crucial clue in genealogical research.
In Lutheran baptismal records, you'll find not only information about the parents but also the names of several godparents (German: Pathen or Taufzeugen). The number of godparents varies—sometimes there are only two, but in some regions, you can find more than ten godparents listed.
Relatives were often the first choice for godparents—brothers or sisters of the baptized child's parents. However, godparents could also be other well-known and respected people in the parents' lives—members of the same household, neighbors, or more distant relatives. There are instances where important estate officials or nobles served as godparents to prominent manor workers' children.
Below, I will describe how information about a godmother helped me find a clue in the search for earlier ancestors.
My “research subject” was a locksmith, Dāvids Vidiņš, who married Līze Plēve in 1890 at the Riga St. Martin's Lutheran Parish. The marriage record indicated that Dāvids was born in Kurzeme (Courland), but no exact birthplace was provided.
Where should I look for information on Dāvids’ birthplace?
One option was to search for his death record, as birthplaces are often mentioned there as well. However, I did not know Dāvids’ year of death.
Among the godparents of Dāvids’ children was a certain Lizete Vidiņš. I assumed she might be Dāvids’ sister and tried to find additional information about Lizete.
Riga residents have the advantage that their marriages, baptisms, or funerals were often announced in newspapers. So, I searched for information about Lizete in historical newspapers on periodika.lv.
Here, it’s important to note that searches must be done using historical orthography. In this case, I searched for "Lisette Widdiņ" and discovered that in 1895 at St. Martin's Church, Otto Wilhelm Ulrich, a commercial clerk, was announced to marry Lizete Vidiņš.
I could now search for the marriage record in St. Martin's church books. I found it and read that Lizete Vidiņa, daughter of Ansis, was born in 1860 in Lielsvēte.
Dāvids’ father was also named Ansis, and Svēte is located in Kurzeme (specifically, in the Russian Empire's Courland Governorate). So far, everything matched.
In Dāvids’ marriage record, his mother's name was also mentioned—Jūle, but in Lizete’s marriage record, the mother was not listed. The next step was to find Lizete’s baptismal record to confirm that her mother’s name was also Jūle.
But to which parish did the people of Svēte belong? The answer can be found on Ciltskoki.lv in the section “Palīgs” > “Baznīcu grāmatām un dvēseļu revīzijām”> Luterāņi /Pagasti> Draudzes ( “Helper” > “Church Books and Revision Lists” > Lutherans / Parishes > Congregations).
It indicated that the people of Svēte Parish could be found in the rural Latvian congregation of Jelgava St. Anna’s or the rural German congregation of Jelgava Holy Trinity.
The Vidiņš family was Latvian, so I searched in the rural Latvian congregation of St. Anna’s Church. The record confirmed that Lizete was indeed Dāvids’ sister, as her parents were also Ansis and Jūle. Her birthplace was Munteņi farm of Lielsvēte Estate.
Although to be completely certain, I would need to find Dāvids’ baptismal record, this is currently impossible, as the church books for the relevant years are missing. However, thanks to the small investigation into Dāvids’ child’s godmother, Lizete, I was able to determine from which part of Kurzeme the locksmith Dāvids Vidiņš had come to Riga. With this information, I can now search for even earlier ancestors.
Pay attention to godparents—they might be the clue you need for further research!
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