Soufflenheim Birth Index

Soufflenheim Birth Index, 1792-1862
By Mark Drexler

Introduction and Instructions

Introduction and Instructions
A-B C-G H-J K-L M N-R S T-Z Mothers
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On the following pages you will find a list of births from the community of Soufflenheim, Alsace, for the years 1792 through 1862. The list contains over seven thousand records.

This index is the work of Mark Drexler, who spent many months compiling it from the civil records of Soufflenheim, completing the work in August, 2019. We believe this is a comprehensive list of every birth record available during that period. The data was converted into web pages by Brian J. Smith. Brian is also the author of this introduction and compiled the "Mothers Names" page.

If you find names here that are of interest you, we recommend that you look up the original records. For instructions on how to find those, please refer to the Online Archives of Bas-Rhin. In the original records you will find additional information not contained in this index, such as the birth date of the child and in most cases the age of one or both parents. The marriage record of the parents can also likely be found online. No doubt you may also discover some errors in our index, for which we apologize. The source documents were handwritten and sometimes difficult to read, so no doubt some errors crept in during transcription.

A few notes:

Sort Order: The data is arranged alphabetically by the surname of the child, which of course is also the father's surname in most cases. The last page contains a cross-reference sorted by mother's surname.
Diacritical Marks: In this index, diacritical marks in names are omitted. For example, if the surname is "Müller" in the original record, it is transcribed as "Muller" in this index; the name "Adélaïde" is transcribed as "Adelaide".
Standardized Spellings of Names: The spelling of names during this era was not as precise as we have today, and so the spelling of the a person's name often varied from one record to the next. For example, Philippe Babinger might be Phillipp Babbinger in another record and Filip Papinger in another. To prevent children from the same family being scattered all over this index, the "Child's Surname" column always uses a "standard" spelling, regardless of how that surname was actually spelled in the source record. For example, we have always used "Babinger", never "Babbinger" or "Papinger". To determine the "standard" spelling, we used the spelling most frequently found in the records.
- In each line, only the "Child's Surname" has been standardized. The names in the "Child's Given Name" and "Parents" columns use the original spelling as it appears in the source record. In some cases, we have added the standard spelling of a parent's surname in parentheses.
- On the final page, "Mothers' Names", all names use the standard spelling.
Column Descriptions: Here is a description of each column. Please note in particular that the "Record Date" is not necessarily the date of birth.
- Child's Surname: The surname (last name) of the child, using the standarized spelling. See the note above about standardized spellings. Diacritical marks omitted.
- Child's Given Name: The given name (first name and, if any, middle names) of the child. Diacritical marks omitted.
- Record Date: Not necessarily the birth date. This is the date of the record, which is sometimes the birth date, sometimes the day after, and occasionally two or more days after. For the actual birth date, please view the original record online.
  - In many records we provide two dates. For example, "23 Jun 1802; 04 Mess FR:10". The second date, with the "FR" annotation, uses the French Republican Calendar, which France adopted from 1794 through 1805. For your convenience we have converted those dates to the regular calendar.
- Parents: The names of the father and mother, using the spelling found in the source record. Diacritical marks omitted.
  - The standard spelling of the mother's surname follows in parentheses, if it differs from the spelling found in the source record.
- Notes: Additional information of possible interest.
  - A note without square brackets is from the original source document.
  - A note enclosed in square brackets is additional information provided by the transcriber (usually Mark, sometimes Brian) from other records.
- Page #: The page number (or image number) in the online source volume where this record is located. For example, "9/28" is page number 9 in a volume of 28 pages.
Sample Source Record: For a sample of an actual birth record and its translation, take a look at the "Birth Record of Joseph Voegele - February 15, 1823."

For questions and comments about this index, you are welcome to contact Brian J. Smith. If you have information to add, we would be glad to receive it.

The e-mail address for Brian J. Smith is

See Also: