24 February 2008

Research update

I spent four hours at the LDS in Oakdale. I reviewed two films for St. Martin's church in Riga, Latvia. It was the second time I had reviewed them because the first time all of the good viewing machines were occupied and my camera didn't seem to be working.

Here are my results: I have taken pictures of the records and thereby confirmed a new family name in the tree: Bitte. It was the maiden name of Anna Margarethe Ahrens. I found her death record, but not her birth record. Her birth record is from a time before St. Martins church was founded. I also have, of course, the name of her husband: Friedrich Ottomar Ahrens. I have neither a birth date nor death date for him. I also don't have a marriage date for either of them. I did see that a number of death records often listed two other churches in Riga for where the people who had died were born or baptised: St. Johannes and St. Gertrude. I am sure that I will review their records sometime, though no later than this summer. In Anna M. Ahrens death record, it lists here place of birth or baptism (not sure which it is) as Pinkenhof. That translates to Pinki in Latvian and is located near the present day port city of Liepaja, though in the 1800s and earlier it was called Libau.

The records still haven't arrived for Trusinski.

UPDATE...on the update.

In doing some online research at the Latvian government records website, I found that 'Pinki" is in more than one location in Latvia. It is also a specific area around Riga.

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