Dear Norm, what a wonderful story this is! Thank you so much for sharing it! I noticed you said the records from 1840-1844 are at Tulane University. I believe that this may be where the information I am seeking may be "buried." I am seeking a marriage record of Susanna Born (born 1824 in Alzey, Hesse-Darmstadt) to Sjaabe Tiden Lottman[n] (born about 1800 purportedly in Hannover) probably in 1841, which is an estimate based on the fact that their 1st child was born in New Orleans in May of 1842. I have sources who can translate the German Script. But how do I get to the data? Many thanks in advance, Kathy Cochran San Andreas, California -----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 oldestGerman-Protestant congregation in downtown New Orleans, and the second oldestin the city. (The church that is now known as First Trinity Evangelical UnitedChurch of Christ is the oldest, having been formed in 1828.) For information onFirst Trinity and the other churches of New Orleans, both Protestant andCatholic, 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 familyhave been married there. My maternal grandfather, the Rev. Gottfried J. Wegenerserved as a pastor from 1887 to his death in 1946. (A brief autobiographywritten by my grandfather sparked my interest in genealogy and I’ve been at itfor over 50 years.) My mother was born in and grew up in the adjacent parsonage.I was baptized and confi! rmed there. Huge numbers of Protestant Germanimmigrants in downtown New Orleans were associated with this church. I wasbaptized in 1944 and am baptism number 10,087, and there were many baptismsbefore the numbering system started in 1856. St. Paul Lutheran Church, located still after150+ years at the corner of Port and Burgundy Streets, is fortunately on high ground nearthe river. Because of this, hurricane Katrina did not affect the originalrecords. (The records had been microfilmed years earlier by the LDS church whenmy father served as church archivist.) In May 2006, the original records of thechurch were transported by my wife and me to St. Louis, Missouri, forsafekeeping. The fragile old records (1844-1947) are now safe from hurricanes, floods,and indiscriminate use. The oldest records, from 1840 to 1844, are at TulaneUniversity. In the past, someone would have to use the microfilms tofind a record. A cousin and I had the microfilms digitized and in March 2008, Iplaced! the records of the church online. Tulane graciously allowed m! e to put transcriptions of the earliest records online as well. My website is now theplace to search these records. I believe that the most important records are the oldestmarriage records, most of which include the place of origin of many of theseGerman immigrants, right down to the smallest community. This is how I learnedthe “home towns” in Germany of several of my ancestors, which I otherwise wouldnot have learned. The bulk of the records are in old German script and aredifficult to decipher. (It gets better in 1887 when my grandfather startedkeeping the records.) If I live long enough, I hope to create an index, but in themeantime, you must find someone who can read it for you. With practice, mostanyone can do it. (I regret that I do not have the time to search these recordsat 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 itmight 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 PMSubject: 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 WELLSSent: Tuesday, June 12, 2012 10:04 PMTo: laorlean@rootsweb.comSubject: Re: [LAORLEAN] GREAT SITE FOR LUTHERAN GERMANS IN NEW ORLEANS Do an internet search and you will find it easilythe page come up with a picture of the churchbaptism, confirmations, marriages and death recordsBettyIt 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 ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2012.0.2180 / Virus Database: 2433/5067 - Release Date: 06/13/12