My Great-Uncle Jacob Meinzen's Birthday

Since we're celebrating Jacob Increase Meinzen's birth today, I thought it would be good to show you his birth record from Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Steubenville, Ohio. Looking at it again, though, perhaps it's as much a baptismal record as a birth record, since it records both.

The record indicates that Uncle Jacob was born on December 15, 1893, and baptized on September 15, 1896.


Can you read old German? The historian at the church, which is now Zion United Church of Christ, sent a page with a translation, for which I was very grateful. Since other records were also sent, some without translations, I did search out some German handwriting helps and some genealogical words translated from German to English.

Jacob's application for a marriage license confirms the birth date and indicates that he was born in Island Creek Township, Jefferson County, Ohio.

I have not been able to obtain a copy of his county birth record. It differs slightly from other information. His name is listed as "Jake Carl Mincine" and the date of birth is listed as December 21, 1893. I always wonder about the early county records. From what I understand, there was no time limit for filing the information, so parents could go the next day, or a year and two days later, or whenever they were in town, and complete the information. Accuracy in that circumstance depends solely on the memory of the giver of the information.

So, I'm going with 2 records out of 3: December 15 is Jacob Increase Meinzen's birthday.

You can read most of the rest of Uncle Jacob's life story here.

Happy birthday, Uncle Jacob! I'm remembering you today.