Old Documents

Documents that prove our family history

Photo collage

The records, certificates and documents I inherited from grandpa Böldicke have all held up remarkably well. I even found an old handwritten résumé of his; a fellow Böldicke researcher sent me a linguistic report on the name, and I've received some very old photos from my family.
A reader once even sent me my grandparents' handwritten wedding newspaper. There are plenty of kind researchers online who are happy to help wherever they can — such contacts have already let me extend my family chart further.

Below is a photographed excerpt from a parish register. I got it from a researcher who is also searching for Böldickes. It isn't always easy to read these records, though — names were often simply written down as they sounded. That's how the name Böldicke sometimes became Bölken or Böllike. This also explains the various spellings of the name (Böldicke – Böldike, Rönnefahrt – Rennefahrt, and so on). Still, it's fun putting this puzzle together. Is Christ. Bölcken's son Paul the very Paul I'm looking for?

illegible parish register entry

What handwriting! But I won't be discouraged — in the end, I can always decipher it! Here, though, my search has stalled for now.
The original wording of this baptismal entry reads:

1743 "born on the 2nd of Jan. / on the 8th of Jan. Christ. Bölcken's son Paul was baptized. Godparents: Paul Krempe, Christ. Manike, Cathar: Lis: Roshows."


Photo Gallery

A few of the documents, photos and finds from our family history to click through.

"Every generation smiles at its fathers, laughs at its grandfathers, and admires its great-grandfathers."
(William Somerset Maugham)