Title

Birth and Baptism Certificate for Andereas Deller

Printer

Thomas Barton (active circa 1788-93)
Gottlob Jungmann (circa 1757-1833)

Preview

Scrivener

Friederich Speyer (active circa 1781-1803)

Decorator

Friederich Speyer (active circa 1781-1803)

Accession Number

PAG1998.152

Creation Date

8-5-1791

Description

Three-heart design with two mermaids at bottom, crown at top of large central heart, angels in top corners, two cameo portraits at lower corners.

Dimensions in Inches

12 1/8 x 15 13/16

Dimensions in Centimeters

31 x 40

Materials

Watercolor and Ink on Laid Paper

Technique

Drawn, Hand lettered

Print Shop Location

Reading, Pennsylvania

Associated Places

Heidelberg Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania

Category

Birth and baptismal certificate (Geburts-und-Taufschein)

Motifs

Mermaids, Crowns, Angels

Associated Names

Wilhelm Deller, Elisabetha Voltz, Anderea, Andereas, Andreas, Imanuel Schultz, Georg Ege, Elisabetha Ege

Rights

Please contact the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College for permissions which fall outside of educational fair use.

Source

Ursinus College Library Special Collections and the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art

Provenance

Pennsylvania Folklife Society

Script/Text

Fraktur lettering, German script

Language

German

Transcription

Diesen beyden Ehegatten, als Georg Ege Wilhelm Deller und seiner ehelichen Haus=/Frau Elisabetha eine gebohrne Überfeldin Voltzin ist ein Söhnlein zur welt/gebohren, als Anderen Deller ist zur welt gebohren im Jahr unsers HErrn JEsu/1789/den 9ten Tag Feberuariu[s] um 4 Uhr Morgens im Zeichen dem/Löw

GOTT gebe Gnad, Kraft und Starke, daß dieser Andereas Deller in der Furcht zum Lob und Preiß des HERRN möge aufwachsen und zunehmen in groser Begierde der/vernünftigen lautern Milch, daß ursprüngliche Heil der Seelen zu suchen, nach abgelegtem stassden Bekanntniß und Erkäntniß der Sünde durch wahre Reu und Buße, vor der Christlichen Gemeinde, zur/geistlichen Wiedergeburt der Heiligen Taufe befordert, und von Emanuel Shultz Prediger und Diener des Worts, nach Christi Besehl, Matthäi 28, v.19 getauft/und in den Gnaden=Bund Gottes ein verseldet worden. Dieses Andereas Deller ist, als ein Glied in die Gemeinschaft der Heiligen, durch das Bad der Wiedergeburt/Und Erneurung des Heiligen Geistes, wie St. Paulus lehret, Titum 3, v. 5.6.7. in der Lüderishen Kirchen ist auf=und angenommen worden, den 15 Tag Feberuarius/1789 und durch den wahren Glauben an unsern Erlöser JEsu Christo, des so theuer erworbenen Verdienstes, der himmlischen Freuden, und der ewigen Seligkeit Erben ein gesetzet. Mithin vergiß/nicht, wie der Apostel Paulus, Colosser I, v.12.14.die Pflicht beschreibet. Saget Dank dem Vater der uns tüchtig gemacht bat, zum Erbtheil der Heiligen im Licht, u.s.w.

Taufzeugen Georg Ege und seine Ehfrau Elisabetha/Dieser Andereas Deller ist gebohren und getauft in America, im Staat von/Pinsilvani in Bercks Caunty in Heidelberg Taunschip.

WAnn wir kaum geboren werden, ist vom ersten Lebenstritt bis ins Kühle Grab der Erden, Nur ein kurz gemessener Schritt./Ach mit jedem Augenblick! Gehet unsre Kraft zurück Und wir sind mit jedem Jahre,/ allzu reiff zur Todtenbahre; Und wer weiß in welcher Stunde, uns die lezte Stimme weckt:/Dann GOtt hat’s mit seinem Munde, Keinem Menschen noch endeckt./Wer sein Haus nun wohl bestellt geht mit Freuden aus der Welt./Da die Sicherheit hingegen; Ewigs sterben kan erregen.

Reading:/Gedruckt von Barton und Jungmann,/den 5ten August,/1791.

Ich bin getauft, ich steh im Bunde/Durch meine Tauf mit meinem Gott/So sprech’ ich stets mit frohem Munde/In Creutz, in Trübsal, Angst und Noth,/Ich bin getauft, des’ freu/ich mich, Die Freude/bleibet ewig=/lich.

Ich bin getauft, ob ich gleich sterbe,/Was schadet mir das kühle Grab?/Ich weiß mein Vaterland und Erbe,/Daß ich bey Gott im Himmel hab,/Nach meinem Tod, ist mir/bereit, Des Himmels/Freud, das Feuer=/Kleid.

Translation

To both of these spouses, Georg Ege Wilhelm Deller and his legal wife Elisabetha a born Überfeldin Volkin, is a little son to the world born. Andereas Deller is to the world born in the year of our Lord Jesus 1789 the 9th day of February at 4 o’clock in the morning in the sign of the Lion [Leo].

God give mercy, might, and strength, that this Andereas Deller in the fear of [and] to the honor and praise of the Lord, may grow and increase in great desire for the enlightening purifying milk, [may] seek the original healing of the soul, after the established (?) knowledge and recognition of sin through true regret and repentance before the Christian community, [was] carried to the spiritual rebirth of the holy Baptism, and by Emmanuel Schultz pastor and servant of the word, after Christ’s vision, Matthew 28: verse 19, baptized; and incorporated into the merciful union of God. This Andereas Deller is as a member in the community of the holy through the bath of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Ghost, as St. Paul teaches, Titus 3, verse 5,6,7 in the Lutheran church was taken up and in on the 15th day of February 1789 and through the true belief in our Savior Jesus Christ, is made an heir of that costly acquired merit of the heavenly joy and of the eternal blessedness. Therefore do not forget, how the Apostle Paul, Colossians I, v. 12, 14 described [our] duty. Say thanks to the Father who made us capable of [receiving] the inheritance of the holy in the light, and so on.

Baptismal sponsors Georg Ege and his legal wife Elisabetha. This Andereas Deller was born and baptized in America, in the State of Pennsylvania in Berks County in Heidelberg Township.

When we are just born…

Reading: Printed by Barton and Jungmann the 5th of August 1791.

I was baptized, I stand in the union…

I was baptized, if I die immediately…

Comment

Barton and Jungmann produced the only known Taufscheine on which the exact date of printing is included. They did this for two dates, August 4, 1790 and August 5, 1791. Speyer decorated another fraktur of this edition in a very similar manner, complete with mermaids, crown, portraits, and flowers. Friedrich Speyer was one of the most prolific fraktur artists. Little is known of his personal life other than that he was a schoolmaster at a Lutheran church in Lancaster county in 1780. Speyer embellished printed fraktur, employing a wide range of motifs including mermaids, lions, crowns, angels, and birds. In this example he included two unusual portraits, possibly of Frederick the Great of Prussia and his wife. Frederick was popular among Pennsylvania Germans for his early recognition of the United States as a sovereign nation following the American Revolution. Speyer is noted as being one of the more careless artists. In this piece, he mistakenly put the sponsor’s name in for the father’s name, then crossed it out and wrote the correct name beside it. George Ege, the sponsor, was the iron master at Charming Forge in the 1780s near Womelsdorf, in Berks County. Emmanuel Schultz, the pastor for the baptism, was the son-in-law of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg.

Condition

Good

Bibliographical Reference

Stopp #620

Published

Stopp, Klaus. The Printed Birth and Baptismal Certificates of the German Americans. 6 vols. (Mainz, Germany, and East Berlin, Pa.: privately published, 1997–99). vol. 4, pp. 86-89 illustrated.

File Format

.jpeg

Type

image