I just could not resist. After writing the story about Charles Hoffmann yesterday, I found a connection to another Charles Hoffmann for today’s post. Then, I realized that I had already written a story highlighting this other Charles Hoffmann back in 2020. So, since I have plans for attending church this morning, and I also am spending time with all 6 of our grandchildren at a lake, I decided to take an easier approach to writing a story today.
It turns out that the connection I located to this other Charles Hoffmann is one that probably should not be included in our German Family Tree. Below you will see a portion of what our GFT includes about Charles and his marriage date.
It gives two dates as possibilities for his marriage. I will display evidence in this post why the July 6, 1842 date should not be included in our GFT. First, let me show a portion of the marriage record for Charles Hoffmann and Wilhelmine Martin that is found in the books of Trinity Lutheran Church in St. Louis.
This church record indicates that Charles and Wilhelmine were married on April 22, 1842. I believe that is the correct date for this event. However, when you find the St. Louis marriage record for this couple on either Ancestry.com or Family Search, it says the marriage took place on July 6th. Let me explain why. First, here is an image of the St. Louis record that was included in the attached post back in 2020. I have highlighted the words, “6 day of July”. Nowhere in this document do you see the date, April 22nd.
However, if you look at the larger context, you will see that it says, “Certified by me this 6 day of July”. That does not mean that this wedding took place on the 6th of July, but that it was certified on that day. Below is an image of all of the St. Louis marriage records on that page. It just so happens that all of these records were submitted by Rev. C.F.W. Walther, the pastor at Trinity. In other words, Pastor Walther went to the clerk’s office on a later date to do his duty of recording marriages that he had performed in the recent past. The date that he performed that duty was July 6, 1842. The marriages on this page, including the one for Charles and Wilhelmine Hoffmann, actually occurred on different dates.
I will also point out that in the attached blog post, I noted that on the previous day I had written another post that included yet another Carl (Charles) Hoffmann. That would have been the father of yesterday’s featured Charles Hoffmann. Today’s Charles Hoffmann spent his early life in St. Louis, but died in Collinsville, Illinois. Yesterday’s Charles Hoffmann spent his early life in New Wells, but died in St. Louis.
I shouldn’t speak too soon, but I doubt that I will locate yet another Charles Hoffmann for tomorrow’s July 7th story. And who knows? The grandkids may keep me so busy that I won’t be able to write a story tomorrow. We shall see.