The Marriage

It seems I have a similar story with every one of these sites that I set up. While gathering the information and double-checking everything, I find another avenue of research that leads me to new info. Well, this site is no different. While looking over the passenger lists, one thing led to another and I ended up finding the marriage record of Johann Wilhelm Gottlieb LAST and his wife Hanne Charlotte Regine STRASSMAN. You can read a more in-depth version of the story on the main site.

According to the record, Johann and Charlotte were married in what was then called Plathe, but today is called Płoty. They were married on September 21, 1849. It lists Johann’s residence as a town to the south called Minten. Minten is now called Miętno.

Underneath Charlotte’s name, it says, “Deflor” which translates in latin to “deflorata” or “deflowered.” I’m hoping it means she was previously married since “deflorata” roughly translates into English as “ravished” which, to put it bluntly, means “raped.”  According to some research, the term “Deflor” may not be used in negative connotation, but just noting that this husband was not her first “partner.” A few pages back in the records, there is a listing for the birth of a daughter of Charlotte named “Ulrike Auguste Amalie” but no father, just a location “Heydebreck.” I’m not sure if she was born illegitimately or if the father had died. It makes me wonder if this daughter is “Augusta”, the first daughter listed for Johann and Charlotte in the passenger lists and also the census records since she would’ve only been 4 months old at the time of their marriage.

It also lists Charlotte’s father, whom is named Michael Strassman. I already had this info, but no source for it, so I now I have a source. There isn’t much else from there, but it does give me more avenues of research to look for birth records, etc. No luck, yet.