Thank you so much, Norm! I never knew about this site and I am anxiously looking forward to researching it! And I think I speak for all of us when I say we appreciate the history that you added along with this post. All of it was history that I was unaware of. Thank you and I appreciate your response! Shelia KRAEMER SALOMONE -----Original Message----- From: laorlean-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:laorlean-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Norm Hellmers Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2012 3:32 PM To: laorlean@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [LAORLEAN] GREAT SITE FOR LUTHERAN GERMANS IN NEW ORLEANS Cate et al, Thanks, Cate. Here’s the story. St. Paul Lutheran Church, founded in 1840, is the oldest German-Protestant congregation in downtown New Orleans, and the second oldest in the city. (The church that is now known as First Trinity Evangelical United Church of Christ is the oldest, having been formed in 1828.) For information on First Trinity and the other churches of New Orleans, both Protestant and Catholic, that served Germans, see my website: http://freepages.religions.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~neworleans/ My family has been connected with St. Paul Lutheran Church (it’s had many names over the years) since 1846. Six generations of my family have been married there. My maternal grandfather, the Rev. Gottfried J. Wegener served as a pastor from 1887 to his death in 1946. (A brief autobiography written by my grandfather sparked my interest in genealogy and I’ve been at it for over 50 years.) My mother was born in and grew up in the adjacent parsonage. I was baptized and confirmed there. Huge numbers of Protestant German immigrants in downtown New Orleans were associated with this church. I was baptized in 1944 and am baptism number 10,087, and there were many baptisms before the numbering system started in 1856. St. Paul Lutheran Church, located still after 150+ years at the corner of Port and Burgundy Streets, is fortunately on 150+ high ground near the river. Because of this, hurricane Katrina did not affect the original records. (The records had been microfilmed years earlier by the LDS church when my father served as church archivist.) In May 2006, the original records of the church were transported by my wife and me to St. Louis, Missouri, for safekeeping. The fragile old records (1844-1947) are now safe from hurricanes, floods, and indiscriminate use. The oldest records, from 1840 to 1844, are at Tulane University. In the past, someone would have to use the microfilms to find a record. A cousin and I had the microfilms digitized and in March 2008, I placed the records of the church online. Tulane graciously allowed me to put transcriptions of the earliest records online as well. My website is now the place to search these records. I believe that the most important records are the oldest marriage records, most of which include the place of origin of many of these German immigrants, right down to the smallest community. This is how I learned the “home towns” in Germany of several of my ancestors, which I otherwise would not have learned. The bulk of the records are in old German script and are difficult to decipher. (It gets better in 1887 when my grandfather started keeping the records.) If I live long enough, I hope to create an index, but in the meantime, you must find someone who can read it for you. With practice, most anyone can do it. (I regret that I do not have the time to search these records at the present time.) The URL is: http://freepages.religions.rootsweb.com/~neworleans/st_paul_records/ I know this is more than Cate asked for, but I thought it might be of interest to the List. Norm ________________________________ From: Cate Schweitzer-Toepfer <voiceofshe@hotmail.com> To: laorlean@rootsweb.com Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2012 3:05 PM Subject: Re: [LAORLEAN] GREAT SITE FOR LUTHERAN GERMANS IN NEW ORLEANS That site was created by our own wonderful Norm Hellmers. Please give the group an update, Norm, on how your site came to be. Cate ;-} -----Original Message----- From: Arnold & Betty Sheets/ECONOMY WATER WELLS Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2012 10:04 PM To: laorlean@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [LAORLEAN] GREAT SITE FOR LUTHERAN GERMANS IN NEW ORLEANS Do an internet search and you will find it easily the page come up with a picture of the church baptism, confirmations, marriages and death records Betty It has helped me so much ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to LAORLEAN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message