The River Running
"Immigrants: we get the job done" -- Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton
Catharina Elisabetha Weilbrenner
I found two somewhat unusual records in Freinsheim concerning women named Catharina Elisabetha Weilbrenner. Given the record dates, it's entirely possible that they both refer to the same woman and that this woman was the daughter of Maria Catharina and Georg Daniel Weilbrenner christened in Freinsheim 04 Aug 1748.
The first record is for Susanna Christina Weilbrenner, daughter of Catharina Elisabetha Weilbrenner, born in Freinsheim 11 Jun 1778. There is no father's name and more unusually, no christening date.
The second record is for Susanna Christina Bruns, daughter of Catharina Elisabetha Weilbrenner and Georg Daniel Bruns, christened in Freinsheim 08 Jun 1784. What's unusual about this record is that christening records in Freinsheim in the 18th century generally includes the mother's last name only if there was no father. Why was Catharina Elisabetha's last name included here?
I was unable to find further records concerning Susanna Christina Weilbrenner, Susanna Christina Bruns or Catharina Elisabetha Weilbrenner. I was unable to find any other records for Georg Daniel Bruns at all, including a birth record.
Are the two Susanna Christinas the same person? Did Catharina Elisabetha hold off on getting her daughter christened until she could get the girl's father to acknowledge her? This seems unlikely. Given the high rates of child mortality and the religious significance of baptism in the Reformed Church, it would be unusual for a mother to wait six years to have her child christened, gambling that the child would not die in the meantime. It's more likely that the first Susanna Christina could not be christened because she was stillborn.