St. Boniface, Tipton KS Baptismal Register 01

Baptism Register 01

The earliest baptismal register of St. Boniface Catholic church in Tipton KS is titled "Baptismorum Registrum Tipton, Kans 1884-1929" on the spine only . The register has been rebound, for the spine and covers exhibit only light shelf wear. The text, however, shows greater wear, discoloration and fragility at the edges of all pages; the ink on some pages has become quite faded. The binding is tight, and the page format allows no gutter. Thus, the remarks column on even pages and the name column on odd pages are sometimes difficult to read completely. In recognition of the fragile paper, my photography did not force the page spreads open.

The inside title page provides a generic title for the line of prnted books: "Batismorum Registrum, ad mentum patrum Concilii Provincialis Baltimorensis X. Concinnatum; et ab IIImo ac Revmo Baltimorensi Metropolitano probatum." (Baptismal Register to remember families ...) Publication data includes, in English tranlation, "Tenth and further edition. Baltimore. Published by John Murphy, Printer for his holiness archbishop of Baltimore." The colophon page provides additional Imprimatur statements and an example entry. A handwritten note reads, "St. Boniface Congregation was organized as a parish (quasi-parroesia) in 1880. The first resident pastor was the Rev. Clemens Niemann. The Tipton territory was first settled by Catholics in 1872. The Reinert family came that year in 1873 and in 1874 the Boden and Gasper families." The note is neither signed nor dated.

Index

The printed Index pages (two letters per double-page spread) have entries, although checking their reliability has not been done yet. However, no index page refers to pages after about 175, so the index is certainly incomplete for baptisms after about 1907. The last two index pages, which do not include printed letters, contain several handwritten notes. The notes record baptisms that might have been performed during the pastoral residence of Rev. Robert Loehrer and before Rev. Frederick Schalk. I presume the notations are actually transcripts of baptisms performed elsewhere.

• Theresia Pollard baptism 1901.05.21
• John Newman (Hake) 1900.10.16
• Joseph Hatfield 1899.05.22
• Joseph Zern 1900.01.06
•  Dalia Kelly 1900.04.21
• Marie Gerard 1901.05.03
• Katie Lafferty 1899.11.14
• These entries are summarized with "Orphan children in this congregation Dec. 31.1903 Rev. T Walleser"
• John Peter Thille baptism 1880.08.22
• Edmund John Fischer 1884.05.10

Register Entries

The pages are pre-printed for four entries per page. The column titles read, in translation from the Latin, "Family," "Year-day-month," "Register of baptism," and "Remarks." The pre-printed text for the register reads, in translation from the Latin, "I the undersigned baptized," "born," "of [parent]," "from the location," "and [parent]," "from the location," "Sponsors were," [officiant's signature]. As in the example, the origins of the parents are not always provided. Relatively few entries have further remarks, which typically would include the date of confirmation and the marriage date, location, and spouse.

Register Period

Page 1 contains the first entry, dated 1884.05.24. Page 376 contains the last entry, dated 1929.08.18; a loose "Notification of Marriage" sheet is dated 1958.07.26 in reference to the last baptism entry. About 30 various notation sheets have been inserted; some of them have been bound into the spine. Priests who officiated:

• Frederick J. Schalk (1884.05.24 through 1886.06.13)
• Francis X. Schalk (1886.08.15 through 1888.06.10)
• And. Kunkler (1888.05.31 through 1889.09.08)
• A.J. Abel (1889.11.22 through 1893.10.26)
• M. Heitz (1893.09.11) 
• W. Wenzel (1893.11.12 through 1896.01.04) 
• Leonard  Epps (1896.01.10 through 1898.05.24)
• Robert Loehrer (1898.06.10 through 1901.08.25)
• Gregory Neumayer (1900.07.22 through 1900.07.29)
• John E. Walleser (1901.09.14 through 1907.05.24)
• Marian Fiege, OMCap (1902.12.08 through 1903.02.21)
• G. Lecuter (?) (1904.04.10) 
• P.A. Krier SJ (1904.03.12)
• Henry Regensberger (1907.06.26 through 1907.12.08) 
• Raymond Drees (1907.12.15 through 1910.03.08)
• Henry Baumstimler (1908.02.17, 1908.07.09, 1909.02.11)
• Aug.Teahan (1909.09.06)
• Francis G. Riedel (1912.04.22, 1912.04.23, 1923.04.16, 1927.10.19, 1928.09.18)
• Richard Fox (1911.04.23 to 1911.05.14) 
• Charles Menig (1910.04.20 through 1929.08.18)
• Lambert Burton (1915.08.22) 
• Felix Nolte (1922.08.14) 
• Edgar Schmerdeler (between 1921.05.21 and 1921.06.02)
• Edward "Taylor by Menig" (1928.06.24, 1929.08.07 and 1929.08.15)

Handwriting issues: Some spelling is difficult to decipher without much surrounding context of other writing in the same hand, because the writing inside the printed form is limited to names, places, and dates. Perhaps the least legible handwriting is from Fr. Menig. Also problematic are the entries by Fr. Regensberger, which was written with a less permanent ink, finer pen nib, or weaker stroke.

Missing Material

Special notes: My agreement with the pastor of St. Boniface (Fr. Damian Richards) was to photograph only those spreads that presented information for the Kohn, Ohnsat, Reinert, Gradig, Steichen, Schandler, Streit, Gasper, Gillen, Schwinden, Simeon, Ottley, Deneke, Ottley, and Riedel families—the in-law families of each of my uncles, aunts, granduncles, and grandaunts. My photo session consisted of reading the two-page spread and deciding to photograph or not. If any of the family names appeared, even as a sponsor, I photographed the spread. This left several gaps in the photographed record: specifically, pages

• 16-17, 20-21, 23, 27, 34-35, 38-39, 46-47 (24% of the first 50 pages)
• 62-63, 64-65, 70-71, 94-95, 96-97 (20% of pages 51-100)
• 110-111, 124-124a, 136-137 (12%)
• 198-199 (4%)
• 205, 216, 218-219, 220-221, 244-245 (16%)
• 254, 266-267, 288-289, 292-293, 298-299 (18%)
• 300-301, 304-305, 306-307, 312-313, 318-319, 322-323, 327, 330-331, 334-335, 347, 348-349 (40%)
• 351, 352, 354-355, 362-363, 372-373 (16%)

Looking back now, I regret the agreement and wish I had negotiated away from such restrictions for records before 1930.