Booklet

[knuttle]

I hope that by understanding what I have it will aid me in my
research of this family.

I received a small booklet about 2.5 inches by 4 inches. It is
believed to have been bound in a card board type of cover. Inside
the cover were 4 pieces of paper which were bound to the cover
creating a booklet of 8 pages. The string that bound the pages is
still with the booklet. Because of the way it is bound it does not
appear to be part of a large book, so that may rule out pages from a
family bible, but the content is similar to what would be found in a
bible.

In 1802, the parents were married in Broome County New York and
lived there for the next two decades.

On the first three of pages, the family is listed starting with
information (Dates, location, etc.) on the birth and marriage of the
parents. The booklet also records the date the parents were
baptized and united with the Baptist Church (1817). This
information is followed by a list of the birth dates of all of their
children. The next section appears to be in the same handwriting as
the first, but in a different pen, and contains a memorial for his
wife who died in 1826 with I believe a bible verse. It is followed
by a memorial to the daughter who died later the same month.

The rest of the pages are filled with memorials to the deaths of the
rest of the children over the next 60 years. Some of the rest of
the entries for 8 children may be in the same handwriting, but
others are obviously different.

My question: Has any one came across a similar document and if so
what was its purpose?

I had thought that it may have been created at the time of the
parents joined the church, or in some way connected with the
funerals of the wife and daughter.

I hope someone can help with this little family mystery.

knuttle <keith_...@sbcglobal.net>

[cecilia]

> [...]

> I received a small booklet about 2.5 inches by 4 inches. It is
> believed to have been bound in a card board type of cover. Inside
> the cover were 4 pieces of paper which were bound to the cover
> creating a booklet of 8 pages. The string that bound the pages is
> still with the booklet. Because of the way it is bound it does not
> appear to be part of a large book, so that may rule out pages from a
> family bible, but the content is similar to what would be found in a
> bible.

> [...]

> My question: Has any one came across a similar document and if so
> what was its purpose?

> [...]
>
> knuttle


It seems to resemble descriptions of the French "livret de famille"
- I've never seen one except in the distance when one was given to a
couple at their (civil) marriage with, it was explained, enough
pages for 8 children - the couple were told that they could ask for
further pages if/when the need arose.

See http://www.aquadesign.be/actu/article-2787.php (those that don't
read French can probably get the gist using Google Translate) which
says the custom was started in France in 1875 in the prefecture of
the Seine, following a fire that caused damage in the archives - the
sort of event that might well cause a feeling that it would be
sensible for each family to keep a copy of its own records.

Whether the (local?) Baptist Church in 1817 also felt that to be
sensible, I don't know.

my...@ic24.net (cecilia)

[Keith Nuttle]

Thank you That help

Since the booklet became a government type document in 1874 it is
about 70 years to late. However because it is a government type
document that may mean it may have been in common use in country for
years before that. So and now the long jump; since I have evidence
the family may have been German, then the family may be from the
areas of Germany near the French border.

Keith Nuttle <Keith_...@sbcglobal.net>

[Wes Groleau]

> since I have evidence the family may have been German,
>

> Keith Nuttle


Does that mean you don't have evidence that they were something
else?


--
Wes Groleau

Items of dialect heard …
http://Ideas.Lang-Learn.us/barrett?itemid=1522

Wes Groleau <Grolea...@FreeShell.org>

[cecilia]

>> > [...]
>> > I received a small booklet about 2.5 inches by 4 inches. [...]

>> > Because of the way it is bound it does not

>> > appear to be part of a large book [...]

>> > the content is similar to what would be found in a bible.
>> > [...]

>> It seems to resemble descriptions of the French "livret de famille"

>> [...]

>[...] So and now the long jump; since I have evidence

>the family may have been German, then the family may be from the
>areas of Germany near the French border.
>
> Keith Nuttle <Keith_...@sbcglobal.net>

That's a very long jump. (Though I've taken jumps as long myself,
when having no other information, they have rarely turned out to
land me anywhere useful.)

I gather similar books exist in Spain - though I don't know from
how far back.

I would think it likely that it is an idea that has occurred in
different places in different times and look into tracking down
others from the Baptist Church concerned.

my...@ic24.net (cecilia)

[Keith Nuttle]

> > since I have evidence the family may have been German,
> >
> > Keith Nuttle
>
> Does that mean you don't have evidence that they were something
> else?
>

> Wes Groleau


That means they were something else, managing to hid their
identities and avoid the official records.

The first documentation I have for this family is in Broome Co NY, a
dozen years after white settlers started moving into the area and
two lines in an old family document that they may have been in Kent
England.

Keith Nuttle <Keith_...@sbcglobal.net>

[Lesley Robertson]

>>> > [...]
>>> > I received a small booklet about 2.5 inches by 4 inches. [...]
>>> > Because of the way it is bound it does not
>>> > appear to be part of a large book [...]
>>> > the content is similar to what would be found in a bible.
>>> > [...]
>
>>> It seems to resemble descriptions of the French "livret de famille"
>>> [...]
>
>>[...] So and now the long jump; since I have evidence
>>the family may have been German, then the family may be from the
>>areas of Germany near the French border.
>>
>> Keith Nuttle <Keith_...@sbcglobal.net>
>
> That's a very long jump. (Though I've taken jumps as long myself,
> when having no other information, they have rarely turned out to
> land me anywhere useful.)
>

> "cecilia" <my...@ic24.net>


Agreed. These booklets are still in use in some parts of Europe
today. Also, don't forget that the national borders all moved
around quite a lot - depending on your time period, some countries
were bigger/smaller, and others didn't even exist!

Lesley Robertson

"Lesley Robertson" <l.a.ro...@tnw.tudelft.nl>

[Wes Groleau]

On 01-08-2012 17:40, Keith Nuttle wrote:
>>> since I have evidence the family may have been German,
>>

>> Does that mean you don't have evidence that they were something
>> else?
>

> That means they were something else, managing to hid their
> identities and avoid the official records.

Again, you know they were something else? You said "may"

> The first documentation I have for this family is in Broome Co NY, a
> dozen years after white settlers started moving into the area and
> two lines in an old family document that they may have been in Kent
> England.

There's that word again. I don't quite know what it means to have
evidence that something _may_ have happened. To me, that is the
opposite of having evidence that it did not happen.


--
Wes Groleau

“Statistics are like bikinis.
What they reveal is suggestive,
but what they conceal is vital.”
— Aaron Levenstein

Wes Groleau <Grolea...@FreeShell.org>