JACOB WORGUL'S TWELVE CHILDREN The following excerpts of correspondence between Mr. Martin Jend and myselfexplains how church baptismal records are to be interpreted in the old Ostpreussen area of Germany. It appeared from the information I had received earlier that there were four Jacob Worguls living in Sabielnen. It further appeared that two of the Jacobs married girls with the surname of Gulatz, and two of the Jacobs married girls with the surname of Fabritius!! This, obviously, was not very likely in a small village such as Sabielnen. Mr Jend wrote the following explanations in two separate letters which explained the situation very nicely

Letter of Dec. 3, 2003 It is not unusual that a man or a woman was married several times. But in that time in Sabielnen, there was only one Jacob Worgul, who was married twice. First marriage: Jacob Worgul to Leonore (Helene) Fabritius Children: 1. Samuel * 08.02.1847** 2. Johann * 21.05.1849, 3. Wilhelm * 06.02.1850 4. Marie * 09.08.1852, 5. Wilhelmine * 18.08.1853 6. Jacob * 10.03.1856 Second marriage: Jacob Worgul to Auguste (Justine, Juste) Gulatz Children: 7. Ludwig * 03.12.1858 8. Johann (II.) * 12.06.1861 (This is the Johann Worgul of this genealogy) 9. Auguste * 21.05.1863 10. Friedrich * 21.12.1864 11. Marie (II.) * 05.08.1866 12. Charlotte * 27.09.1869 When this girl died 20.11.1869 her father (Jacob Worgul) was allready dead. Sincerely, Martin Jend Note: In German the order is = day-month-year

Letter of Dec. 9, 2003 The names are a great problem in the region near the old border to Poland because the people spoke an old Polish dialect and they were not able to write. In the church registers, nicknames, or a Polish version of the christian name are often used for the same person instead of the christian name. For example: Samuel: Sam, Samsel Matthias: Mattis, Mattes, or Polish: Mack Georg: Gerge, Jorek, Grzesz Albrecht: Woytek Auguste: Juste, Justine Barbara: Barba, Bascha Katharina: Kascha, Kasia Leonore: Lenore, Helene, Lena Anna Dorothea: Anorthe Elisabeth: Elzbieta, Elza, Elsa Sincerely, Martin Jend Genealogische Arbeitsgemeinschaft Neidenburg/ Ortelsburg (GeAGNO) Bankverbindung: M. Jend für GeAGNO, Konto-Nr. 25008160 bei der Kreissparkasse Köln (BLZ 386 500 00)