Comments about the Ott family birth records by Amy Spohr Chidester

My mom sent me an e-mail where she brought up some good points and questions about the birth certificates that I posted the other day for Anna Rosina Ott and Franz Josef Ott:

"I didn't think anything of the different formats of the birth certificates the Spohr family had for Anna Rosina Ott and Franz Josef Ott (my own children's birth certificates are different formats for the ones born in different states). But then we went to the Czech Republic, and found the birth records for Anna Rosina and Franz Josef in the same book, just eleven pages apart (that may sound like a lot, but there were something like 7 or 8 entries per page, and they were only born 3 years apart). It is very interesting that the format of the birth certificate for Franz Josef is very close to that of the birth record in the Zettlitz Parish book, with columns for birthdate, baptism date, name, father, mother, religion, legitimate or illegitimate, etc. He was legitimate and both the column on the birth certificate and the column in the Zettlitz birth record book state he was legitimate. Anna Rosina's birth certificate is a completely different format. It is more in the format of a letter (that reads top to bottom) than the column format of Franz Josef's birth certificate and both of their birth records in the parish book. On her birth certificate, there is no spot that asks if the child was legitimate or not. I believe this is why the two birth certificates look so different. The two certificates were both issued on the same date by the same person, Dad pointed.

I was thinking that there was a likely chance that Anna Marie really was Anna Rosina, as you stated in your post, but there is another piece of information we have (beside the fact that Anna Marie told Beverly Spohr that she was a twin and had twins). In the census records from the U.S., Anna Strunz Ott states she has five children, three living. We have no record of Anna Marie in the parish record, but we did not find any other children born to Anna Strunz and Josef Ott. Now it is not just a mystery about Anna Marie, where are the two missing birth records?

The godmother of Anna Rosina was Rosina Behm, wife of the worker (paid by the day) Franz Behm. The godparents of Franz Josef were Franz and Rosina Böhm. I believe these were the same people. Both children had the same name as the godparents. Were they named after the godparents? Were the godparents close relatives? Is it possible that Rosina Böhm was Anna Strunz's married sister? The thing that makes me wonder that is a letter our family has that Anna received when she was in the U.S. I thought before it was a letter to Anna Marie Ott, and it says "...my greatest joy would be if you would come and see us...your sister Rosa would enjoy that." I thought possibly it referred to Anna Marie Ott Spohr, and 'your sister Rosa' was Anna Rosina Ott. But later in the letter it says "We had written to your daughter Anna once, but we had never heard from her." We know Anna Marie Ott did not have a daughter Anna, so it all fits together that this letter is written to Anna Strunz Ott, her daughter referred to in the letter is Anna Marie Ott Spohr (my great grandmother), and Anna Strunz Ott has a sister named Rosa. I am thinking it is a great possibility that this is Rosina Böhm. I am going to follow that lead.

Do you think it is a mistranslation, or do you think that Rosina and Franz Böhm were both godparents of Franz Josef Ott, but only Rosina Böhm was godmother to Anna Rosina Ott? Maybe a mistranslation, or could it have anything to do with the illegitimate birth?

One last item, at least for now. Do you think the dates on the Ott birth certificates are a clue to when they came to the U.S.? I thought perhaps they got the documentation for immigration, and to prove identity once in the U.S. I am puzzled because the date written in at the bottom of both birth certificates is 14 April 1890, but near the top left of both documents there is one stamp or seal on Anna Rosina's and two stamps or seals on Franz Josef's that say '25 kr' in the center and then 1888 at the bottom of the stamp/seal. (According to Wikipedia, the kreuzer/kreutzer, abbreviated kr “was a silver coin and unit of currency existing in the Southern German states prior to the unification of Germany, and in Austria”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kreuzer#Austria-Hungary_1857-1892). If it is a stamp, why would it be two years earlier than the dates at the bottom when the documents were 'given of the Minister's Office from Lettlitz (this should be Zettlitz) on 14 April 1890' (translation from Franz Josef's birth certificate) and 'given by the priest of Zettlitz on 14 April 1890' (translation from Anna Rosina's birth certificate)? Here’s Dad’s [Steven Chidester] thoughts: In 1888, the price for the birth certificate was established at 50 kr for the first and 25 kr for the second (or vice versa) and the stamps were issued with the 1888 date when price was established. The price was still the same when they requested birth certificates in 1890. When you requested a birth certificate and paid for it, the stamp was affixed to show it had been paid for. Is there any way we can have the stamp/seal translated, the purple seal at the bottom translated, the tiny writing at the bottom of Anna Rosina's and on the far right hand side of Franz Josef's birth certificates translated? There is a signature (I think, or maybe it is just some note) to the right of each of the purple seals that looks like Czech writing to me. It has what looks like a tiny backward 'c' above the middle of the word and an accent mark above the end of the word. It looks very much like the markings in Czech writing. How could that be? Maybe I am wrong. Or maybe they were in a town that spoke Czech and German then. Do you have any thoughts on this? Dad and I looked more at the writing next to the purple seal. We are pretty sure it is the signature of the chaplain that issued the certificates in 1890, with his title “kaplan” written underneath. This appears to be the same word translated as chaplain on Anna Rosina’s birth certificate. We cannot read his name, but we both think it looks like Czech writing because of the accent marks."