Amanuensis Monday: Marcel STROESSER’s birth certificate

Yes, I know I have already posted an Amanuensis Monday for my Luxembourg record project this week, but since it is such an enormous project, and since I already have another one ready... well, here it is.

Much as the situation described in the last post, the existence of Marcel STROESSER was first discovered in his father’s obituary, though the relationship was not explicitly stated and could only be surmised. His mother’s obituary strengthened the supposition, but the relationship was not proven until I discovered his birth certificate.

This image has been trimmed from the original at FamilySearch.

Transcription (the italicized parts were handwritten on the record):

Im Jahre tausend neun hundert und elf, den zwanzig zweiten

des Monats Januer um halbelf Uhr vor mittags ist vor Uns

Armand Spoo, Bürgermeister Beamten des Zivilstandes

der Gemeinde Esch , im Kanton Esch , Großher=

zogtum Luxemburg, erschienen Stroesser Baltasar, Wagner,

alt dreißig fünf Jahre vater des Kinder

wohnhaft zu Esch , welcher Uns ein Kind männlichen

Geschlechts vorgestellt hat, geboren zu Esch vorgestern

um fünf Uhr vor= mittags, im Hause Nr. 1 Norbert Metz platz Gasse,

erzeugt von den comparenten und dessen Ehefrau

Kayser Anna, alt dreissig jahre

und welchem er die Vornamen Marcelle Sébastian Peter

geben zu wollen erklärt hat.

Diese Erklärung und Vorstellung sind geschehen in Gegenwart des Michel

Kinnen , alt zwanzig sechs Jahre Wagner

wohnhaft zu Eschalzette und des Peter Reitz

alt zwanzig drei Jahre Wagner

wohnhaft zu Esch alzette und haben die Komparenten diese

Urkunde, nachdem sie ihnen vorgelesen worden, mit Uns unterschrieben.

Line by line Translation:

In the Year one thousand nine hundred and eleven, the twenty second

of the Month of January at ten thirty o'clock before noon is before Us

Armand Spoo, Burgermeister Officials of the Civil State

of the Commune of Esch , in the Canton Esch , Grand-

duchy of Luxembourg, appeared Stroesser Baltasar, Coach-builder

aged thirty five Years father of the Child

residing in Esch , which to us a child of the male

Gender has presented, born in Esch the day before yesterday

at five O’clock before- noon, in House No. 1 Norbert Metz place Street,

begat by the appearing party and his Wife

Kayser Anna, aged thirty years

and which he the First Name Marcelle Sebastian Peter

has declared to want to give.

This Statement and Presentation are done in the Presence of Michel

Kinnen , aged twenty six Years, Coach-builder

residing in Esch-sur-Alzette and Peter Reitz

aged twenty three Years Coach-builder

residing in Esch-sur-Alzette and the Appearing Parties have this

Deed, having been read to them, with us signed.

As you can see, this birth certificate explicitly identifies Marcel’s parents as Baltasar STROESSER and Anna KAYSER, as expected. It also gives the address of the family as 1 Norbert Metz Place, the same residence as given on Edy STROESSER’s (Marcel’s brother) birth certificate.

This certificate also gave me a bit of help on my translations. You may recall from my first post in this series that I had not found a direct translation for the word “Comparenten,” which appears often on these documents. However, in this case the word was written with a K, as “Komparenten,” which I had never before seen. That word, I discovered, still does not appear in my German-English dictionary, but it does appear on Google Translate, where it is translated as “appearing person,” “appearing persons,” “appearing parties,” “appearing party,” or “above appearing.” So it seems that my understanding of the word was accurate, though I had not come up with a convenient English phrase to replace it. However, in the future I will know what phrase to use.

Source:

Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg, birth certificate no. 31 (1911), Marcelle Sébastian Peter Stroesser; digital image #424 of 975, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, “Naissances 1908-1913,” FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 26 Oct 2014).