I very recently re-joined the group after being away about 15 years.
Three of my grandparents were born and raised in West Prussia in the
latter half of the 19th century and then came to the United
States. All
my information about the family has been obtained from microfilmed
Lutheran church records for Lessen, Niederzehren, Neudorfchen, and
Bromberg. Last month I discovered by greatgrandmother's baptism in the
records of the Lessen Catholic church. Her parents were married in the
Catholic church, even though I earlier found her father's Lutheran
baptism record. I would like to know if it was very common for
Lutherans and Catholics to marry in West Prussia in the 1830s.
Dear David
Here are some observations based on the churchbooks in Kreis Schlochau, Tuchel, Flatow and Wirsitz.
From 1714 to 1772, the Lutheran church was officially outlawed in West Prussia and so ancestors appearing before 1772 would usually be in the Catholic Churchbooks often with the notation acatholic (not catholic). So a marriage with both being Lutheran was shown in Catholic records and did not mean they were catholics. This ban was not consistently enforced so you will find a few Lutheran records too during this period particularly in places like Danzig and Konitz.
After the partitions, the Lutheran churches were gradually opened in West Prussia. So in the transition from 1772 your ancestors still may have had only the catholic option.
By 1830, the Lutheran and Catholic churches seemed to be widespread. But our ancestors still might appear in either church book since the Catholic church might be a lot closer than the Lutheran church or for other similar reasons. And the baptism of either church was preferable to having an unbaptized child die.
Starting in the 1830's I begin to note marriages between people with German names and people with Polish names. By 1850 this is pretty common. So in such a mixed marriage the baptism records could appear in either church book.
So in my case I always check both. With the Remus family name, Lutheran records are about three times as frequent as Catholic records during the 1800's (Kreis Schlochau, Tuchel, Flatow and Wirsitz)
Regards Bill Remus