GENEAL-FORUM

I am looking for the parents of my ancestors Martin Metzger who was born about 1663. He married Margaretha Leupert. There are many Metzger in the Bartenschlager, but there are no parents listed for Martin. When looking through all the Metzger, it becomes quite confusing. According to the record, it looks like several of the Metzger men had multiple wives at one time. I have never heard of this happening in Germany/Switzerland. Can anyone explain? Here is an example:

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-D1PY-KJ

In this case the wives names are listed next to the children so you can see they are still alive. Births of children alternate between the different women I am confused if the record makers didn't know how to divide the families up, or if something else was going on.

Thanks,
Andrea

Dear Andrea,

Johann Friedrich Bartenschlager’s (1692-1773) genealogical register (created around 1744) is a bit confusing. In many cases, the date of death is missing. Causing the perception e.g. that one man had been married to several women, which is not the case. I would recommend having a look at the church records of Schaffhausen, which are online at ‘familysearch.org’ too.

Regards

Viktor

Thank you so much for this note! I will definitely do that as the death records add explanatory information!

In this case, the names of the mother is listed next to the children. You can see they are having children at the same time and are interspersed. There are a couple families like this.

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-D1PY-KJ
Die Metzger, pag.7

Jacob Metzger, born 01 May 1578

Marriages:
1) 25 Feb 1600 Anna Wachter von Engen
2) 30 Oct 1603 Maria Schwaninger von Guntmadingen
3) 03 Jan 1616 Maria Walter von Merishausen
4) 14 Jan 1616 (Maria deleted) Barbel Meyer von Opfershofen
5) 15 Feb 1629 Ursula Burkhart von Thayngen

Children (re-arranged by dob, mother's name added in different script):
10 Jun 1602 Catharina (Wachter)
03 Mar 1608 Hs. Ulrich (Schwaninger)
11 Jan 1610 Hs. Ulrich (Schwaninger)
24 Nov 1611 Hs. Jacob (Schwaninger)
06 Jan 1614 Magdalena (Schwaninger)
29 Jun 1616 Caspar (Schwaninger)
02 Mar 1617 Hs. Georg (Meyer)
15 Feb 1618 Hans Martin (added later / Schwaninger)
29 Nov 1618 Anna (Meyer)
08 Oct 1619 Maria (Meyer)
07 Nov 1619 Hans (Walter)
08 Oct 1620 Hans (Walter)
09 Sep 1621 Michael (Walter)
27 Oct 1622 Hans (Walter)
18 May 1623 Maria (Schwaninger)
18 Oct 1623 Hs. Conrad (Walter)
08 Oct 1624 Maria (Schwaninger)
14 Nov 1624 Hs. Martin (Walter)
06 Dec 1629 Hans (Burkhard)
23 Dec 1632 Maria (Burkhard)
06 Jul 1634 Hs. Jacob (Burkhard)
14 Aug 1636 Maria (Burkhard)

This is indeed "confusing". Attached is a graphical presentation of child births. As it was definitively impossible to be married legally to different women at the same time, my only explanation is, that this list mixes up at least three different Jacob Metzger, the husbands of Maria Schwaninger, Maria Walter and Barbel Meyer. Whether any of them was first married to Anna Wachter and finally to Ursula Burkhart ... or these Jacobs are even other individuals, is impossible to deduct from the above list.

Thank you so much for making this analysis and transcribing the names! It is helpful to see the child births in a grid. That is good to know there was a law against more than one wife. That does make it much more likely the families are mixed up. I will used Viktor's method and see if I can find more than one death record for a Jacob Metzger in the area.

Thank you!!

Can anyone tell me what the following phrase means: "führman im statt stahl." If I read the German letters correctly, this is listed as the profession of one of my ancestors in Schaffhausen. I assume it is some sort of job working with Steel, but not sure. A big thanks to kind people who participate in this forum and help out folks such as myself.

No, he was a coachman in the municipal stable or vehicle fleet. The spelling is indeed very special ... Today, we would write "Fuhrmann im Stadt-Stall".

Peter

Peter - Thank you so much! I would never have figured that out. Grateful. -Andrea