German words in old records · card T

Taufschein

A Taufschein is a baptismal certificate; among Pennsylvania Germans it was often a decorated fraktur Geburts- und Taufschein, a birth and baptism certificate.

In Germany a Taufschein was simply a certificate of baptism issued by the parish.

In Pennsylvania German families the certificate became folk art. Most fraktur was made between 1740 and 1860, in ink and watercolor, with birds, hearts and tulips, and later examples used more and more printed text. A Taufschein kept by a family names the child and the parents, so transcribe it in full and compare it with the church book entry.

As seen in a recordPrinted fraktur birth and baptism certificate, Pennsylvania, 1810s
Geburts- und Taufschein. Diesen beyden Ehegatten, als Johannes Wendling und seiner Ehefrau Catharina, eine geborne Stauch, ist ein Sohn zur Welt geboren
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How to cite this page

Daily Ancestor. "Taufschein." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/german/taufschein. Last checked 2026-10-28.

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