Found Documents: Confirmation Certificates
Sometimes pieces of family history literally fall onto your lap. Sometimes you decide to publish them online so they may end up contributing to genealogical research and find their way back to the family it belongs to.
This was the case for Katharine of KKA Genealogy LLC this week when she browsed her favorite local antique store. As a collector of pre-1930 German texts, she was immediately intrigued by discovering a Gefangbuch (hymnal), but what happened when she paged through the 1897 text caused her to immediately buy it: two confirmation certificates fell out of the old pages.
Confirmation Certificate for Luise Hermann. Dated 16 April 1899.
Confirmation Certificate for Friederike Hermann. Dated 14 April 1901.
Along with the confirmation certificates, Katharine also discovered a rose illustration between pages 206 and 207; and on pages 286-287, along with the bound in bookmark, was a calling card for “Karl Funk” of Stuttgart.
Illustration of a rose found on pages 206 and 207.
Bound-in bookmark and calling card of Karl Funk found between pages 286 and 287
The hymnal itself is titled in full: Gefangbuch für die evangelische Kirche in Würrtemberg: Amtlich genehmigte Ausgabe (English: “Hymnal for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Württemberg: Official Approved Edition”). It was published in 1897 in Stuttgart. It includes a brief history of the Lutheran Church in Würrtemberg in the first few pages.
As for the two girls who were confirmed in the certificates and Karl Funk, whose calling card was found within the book, nothing is known. What is known is that this book somehow ended up in a local Chicago antiques store in 2022 and was bought for $5.00 by Katharine.
If you happen to know anything about Luise Hermann, Friederike Hermann, Karl Funk, or this book–please reach out to us at KKA Genealogy LLC. Let’s get this book back home!
