Here it is, nearing the last week of April and it's hard to believe that I've only published three blog posts this month! You'd think with all the “extra” time I have now since I'm not traveling I'd get more accomplished. But that hasn't been the case. I have however, finally gotten to watch the entire Harry Potter series! I had never seen any of them. Now I understand why Elyse is all ga-ga over Mr. Potter! Last night I watched the first of the “Lord of the Rings” Trilogy, which I had also never seen. The books were read many, many years ago but amazingly I remembered some of what took place. So you see, I have accomplished something these past few weeks...
I've had several interesting “conversations” the last few weeks with a couple of Hoffman researchers. Some tend to agree with my theory and others say no, there were two men named Michael Hoffman who married women named Maria. But no one can come up with any concrete documentation either way, not even me – yet! It is going to take “on site” research to uncover documents that aren't online to help resolve that issue. The truth is, we may never know for sure. But I haven't given up...
Last Wednesday (April 18th) I finally broke down and purchased a new laptop with Windows 7, a 750gb hard drive, and 6gb of memory. An amazing little machine that only weighs a little more than 4 pounds. Considerably heavier than the netbook I've been using but Oh, so much faster at everything! Yes, I am aware that Windows 8 will be coming out later this summer or early this fall, but the netbook was getting painful to use as a “full-time” computer. It's little hard drive was nearly full and it's 1gb of memory was terribly slow. It has served me well these last 2 ½ years and will most likely still be used on research trips - after everything except genealogy stuff is removed.
Of course, getting the new laptop ready for use has been a time-consuming process, as well as more than a little frustrating at times. But I have finally gotten the basic software that I use installed and updated to Windows 7 and they all seem to be functioning properly.
All of my data files have been transferred too. I was totally amazed by the speed at which that was done! Of course, there was an issue with the program used for the backups, which took more than four hours to resolve, but it's working and backups now take a fraction of the time they took with the netbook.
Everything considered, I am very happy with the new laptop. I just have to get used to using a larger keyboard again - some really strange looking sentences have been typed in the last few days!
Next Saturday I'll be attending the Indiana Genealogical Society Conference in Fort Wayne. I'm looking forward to meeting other Genea-bloggers who will be attending. And maybe learning a few new research tips and ideas as well.
For now... I'm back to reviewing and analyzing documents gathered during my recent visits to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. It's been going slower than anticipated, partially held up by additional research on the Hoffman family but the time spent on that “project” was well worth it...
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Sunday, April 22, 2012
Friday, April 13, 2012
Baptism Records :: Four Children of Michael Hoffman
These Baptisms are a part of the ancestry.com record set Montgomery > New Hanover > New Hanover Evangelical Lutheran. As always, double-click on the images for a larger version.
Portion of Image 64. First page listing Hofman baptisms (the second page did not include any baptisms of children for Michael Hoffman). It should be noted that the transcription above has an error regarding the sponsors for Joh: Dietrich Hofmann - they were actually Dietrich Schädler and wife.
Of the five children underlined above, only Joh. Dietrich was mentioned in the estate records for Michael Hoffman who died on January 6, 1777. It is presumed that the four other children were deceased prior to Michael's estate entering probate and that they had no living children. The baptism record for Dietrich was posted yesterday, below are the other four.
Johannes would be the son of Michael Hoffman and his [probable] first wife Anna Maria. No death record has yet been found for Anna Maria (the first wife) but my theory is that she could have died from complications resulting from the birth of Johannes. Baptism records for their first four known children have not been found yet either. They may have been living in a different area of what was then Philadelphia county. (The New Hanover area would not become a part of Montgomery County until 1784.) Michael purchased his land in what would become Alsace Township, Berks County in February 1748.
It is my presumption that Michael married a second wife, Anna Maria Engel Schedler on July 2, 1750. (See the post Questioning the Status Quo :: Oh, Maria!)
Published under a Creative Commons License.
Becky Wiseman, "Baptism Records :: Four Children of Michael Hoffman," Kinexxions, posted April 13, 2012 (http://kinexxions.blogspot.com/2012/04/baptism-records-four-children-of.html : accessed [access date])
Portion of Image 64. First page listing Hofman baptisms (the second page did not include any baptisms of children for Michael Hoffman). It should be noted that the transcription above has an error regarding the sponsors for Joh: Dietrich Hofmann - they were actually Dietrich Schädler and wife.
Of the five children underlined above, only Joh. Dietrich was mentioned in the estate records for Michael Hoffman who died on January 6, 1777. It is presumed that the four other children were deceased prior to Michael's estate entering probate and that they had no living children. The baptism record for Dietrich was posted yesterday, below are the other four.
Baptism record from the New Hanover Evangelical Lutheran congregation.
Portion of Image 303. Anno 1749 written at top of page.
parents: Michael Hofmann and Anna Maria
child: Johannes
born: 14 November [1748]
baptized: 21 May [1749]
sponsors: Joh: Conrad Lutz and wife
Johannes would be the son of Michael Hoffman and his [probable] first wife Anna Maria. No death record has yet been found for Anna Maria (the first wife) but my theory is that she could have died from complications resulting from the birth of Johannes. Baptism records for their first four known children have not been found yet either. They may have been living in a different area of what was then Philadelphia county. (The New Hanover area would not become a part of Montgomery County until 1784.) Michael purchased his land in what would become Alsace Township, Berks County in February 1748.
It is my presumption that Michael married a second wife, Anna Maria Engel Schedler on July 2, 1750. (See the post Questioning the Status Quo :: Oh, Maria!)
Baptism record from the New Hanover Evangelical Lutheran congregation.
Portion of Image 313. The year 1752 is written at the top of the page.
parents: Michael Hofmann and Anna Maria
child: Anna Maria
born: May 18
baptized: July 19
sponsors: Hans Jorg Schädler and wife
Baptism record from the New Hanover Evangelical Lutheran congregation.
Portion of Image 316. The year 1753 is written at the top of the page.
parents: Michael Hofmann and Maria Engel
child: Johann Michael
born: 23 May
baptized: 11 June 11
sponsors: Johann Michael Kurtz and wife
Baptism record from the New Hanover Evangelical Lutheran congregation.
Portion of Image 360. The year 1761 is written at the top of the page.
parents: Michael Hofman and Anna Maria
child: Hofman, Eva
born: 27 Sept
baptized: 22 Nov
sponsors: George Schaedler and wife
Published under a Creative Commons License.
Becky Wiseman, "Baptism Records :: Four Children of Michael Hoffman," Kinexxions, posted April 13, 2012 (http://kinexxions.blogspot.com/2012/04/baptism-records-four-children-of.html : accessed [access date])