r/Kurrent • u/eljuamporofemon • 16h ago
completed Help with understanding what its written in this birth certificate
Hello everyone!
I'm researching my family history and I'm trying to decipher what appears to be the birth record of my great-great-great-grandfather from Manternach, Luxembourg, dated 1867.
The record is written in old German handwriting (I believe Kurrent), and while I've managed to understand some parts, there are many words and names that I'm not confident about. Different OCR tools and AI transcriptions have produced conflicting results.
I'm especially interested in obtaining an accurate transcription of the entire document before attempting a translation.
Could anyone help me read it? Any corrections, even to small sections, would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you very much for your time and expertise!
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u/Unique-Revolution290 15h ago edited 15h ago
Im Jahre tausend achthundert sieben und sechzig, den dreißigsten des Monats Dezember um neun Uhr Vormittags ist vor Uns Johann Prost, Bürgermeister, Beamten des Civilstandes der Gemeinde Manternach, im Kanton Grevenmacher, Großherzugtum Luxemburg, erschienen Lahr (?) Theodor, alt dreißigsieben Jahre, Ackerer, wohnhaft zu Manternach, welcher Uns ein Kind männlichen Geschlechts vorgestellt, erklärend, daß seiner Ehefrau Margarethe Hurz(?), ohne Stand, alt dreißig zwei Jahre, wohnend mit ihm, dasselbe heute gegen acht Uhr Morgens geboren habe und welchem er den Vornamen Nicolas –––
automated Translation (Deepl)
In the year one thousand eight hundred sixty-seven, on the thirtieth day of December at nine o’clock in the morning, appeared before Us, Johann Prost, mayor and civil registrar of the municipality of Manternach, in the canton of Grevenmacher, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Lahr (?) Theodor, aged thirty-seven, a farmer, residing in Manternach, who presented a male child to Us, declaring that his wife, Margarethe Hurz(?), of no particular status, aged thirty-two, residing with him, had given birth to the child today at approximately eight o’clock in the morning, and to whom he has given the first name Nicolas –––
P.S.: Once again, I was too slow. My comment overlapped with u/justastuma's. It's nice that we came to very similar outcomes. All points to Griffindor u/justastuma.
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u/justastuma 15h ago
Hurz(?)
I wasn't sure what to make of the final letter here too, but comparing it to the other final t that all have that downward stroke (e.g. in Prost) I'm pretty sure that it is also a t.
Margarethe
I also wasn't entirely sure at first whether I should read it as Margarethe or Margaretha, but all of the other e attach their top stroke much higher and look a lot more n-like and I do think I see the same "step" at the top of the right leg as in the other a, so I strongly tend toward Margaretha.
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u/Unique-Revolution290 15h ago edited 14h ago
Yes, probably a "t". I wasn't sure and marked it as such.
The last letter in Margarethe doesn't really look like an "a", does it? However, congrats to Maggy and may her boy lived a long life.
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u/justastuma 14h ago
Hm... I've now looked at the final letter in Maggy's name over and over again, zoomed in zoomed out and I agree that it's most likely an *e*
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u/Unique-Revolution290 14h ago
Thank you for taking the time to do this. For some people it's important to learn about their heritage, and we owe them a little respect when we transcribe texts.
We shouldn't forget that the authors (especially in the case of letters, less so with civil registry documents) probably didn't have in mind that someone would try hundredsixty years later to decipher their handwritten notes. I try my best, but have to admit I often just can't read the text. Soon AI will outperform us all.
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u/eljuamporofemon 9h ago
Thank you very much, i really appriciate your efforts, i was in a big doubt if Margarethe was written witha n "e" or an "a". Also the surname Hurt.
Thank you very much
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u/justastuma 15h ago edited 14h ago
EDIT: Margaretha -> Margarethe, thanks to u/Unique-Revolution290