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Box 431, Belleville, Illinois 62222-0431. • You may not network the product or otherwise use it on more than one computer at the same time. • You may not copy the files or contents of this product to the Internet, nor may you reproduce the contents in any public forum. **************************************** Optical character recognition (OCR) used on some e-books is not perfect. SCCGS recommends using the surname index at the end of the book. **************************************** St. Peter’s Cathedral Census 1888–1895 Belleville, Illinois St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church Census 1888–1895 Diane Renner Walsh This parish census as a whole provides some measure of Catholic families within St. Peter’s parish boundaries, and helps fill the genealogical void created for the burned 1890 federal census. The 895 families included in St. Peter’s census numbered about 4050 parishioners, and named many other deceased or non-Catholic spouses. One of the most startling pieces of genealogical information in this parish census was the inclusion of the parental surname for the majority of the 45 adopted or “quasi-adopted” children. The rarity of this information goes without saying. In a few cases the given name of the birth parent was also provided. Dates and places mentioned in this record should be further verified in baptismal, marriage, and death registers of St. Peter’s Catholic Church, or other churches and civil offices as indicated in this census. Resources for further research follow this introduction. St. Peter’s was the first parish established within the confines of Belleville in 1842.1 The Roman Catholic Diocese of Belleville was created in January 1887 from the Alton Diocese, at which time Belleville was designated as the See of the Bishop. St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church became the Cathedral on 25 April 1888.2 In the broadest sense, a church census determined the obligation or annual tribute due a bishop.3 The parish census was to be compiled every three years,4 and this first ledger seems to include two, if not three, censuses taken circa 1888–1895. This ledger contains no 1896 dates.5 The editor does not know if other parishes throughout the diocese were obligated to conduct a census, or if any other such censuses might still be extant today. LATIN Most of the text was written in Latin,6 but many given names were in English. All information was transcribed exactly as it appeared. Abbreviated words and rough translations of Latin phrases follow this introduction. 1 As early as 1836, Masses were held on the Stauder farm in Shiloh. See David Darin, “History and Tour Guide of the Cathedral of St. Peter,” (Belleville, Ill.: the parish, 1989), 2. 2 Diocese of Belleville, Betty Burnett, editor, A Time of Favor: The Story of the Catholic Family of Southern Illinois, (St. Louis: Patrice Press, 1987), 33. 3 New Advent, The Catholic Encyclopedia, “Census” <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03533a.htm>. 4 Front matter and instructions of the original census book, 10 x 15.5 inches, 196 inscribed pages. 5 One February birth in 1897 was recorded—the very last ledger entry. A subsequent volume beginning 1897 may be transcribed in the future. 6 Cassell’s New Latin-English English-Latin Dictionary by D.P. Simpson, was the principal source used to translate some Remarks for this publication, with special assistance from Rev. Msgr. Jerome D. Hartlein, Mascoutah. See also “Genealogical Word List: Latin,” (Salt Lake City, Ut.: Intellectual Reserve, Inc., 2003). This Word List may be downloaded for free on the FHL Web site http://www.familysearch.org/sg/ WLLatin.html. From the Home Page click the Search Tab, then Research Helps. On the left, change to Sorted by Subject, then click L for Latin. Scroll down to Language and Languages and click “Latin Genealogical Word List.” Each letter of the alphabet there provides a list of commonly used Latin words in genealogical documents, mainly found in church registers. ©2007 St. Clair County [Illinois] Genealogical Society i St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church Census 1888–1895 COLUMN TITLES Households were grouped together and the information written across two leaves of the open book. Some original column titles were changed at the time the census was taken, apparently by the first person taking down the information, e.g., Both Names of the Fathers of the Parents—Grandparents was altered to Names of Children. Likewise, the column for Occupations was replaced with Birth Date. The column for Last Place of Residence was replaced with Date and Place of Marriage. The Age, and Householder or Renter columns were blank. PAGE AND FAMILY NUMBERS Three to four sets of numbers are associated with each family group. The first two numbers are the most reliable, representing the original, stamped, page number found in the upper right-hand corner, and the earliest, sequential number assigned to a family unit. A “revised” census was probably taken about 1890–1892, based on a study of the handwriting and entries, and is represented by the third number in the sequence. However, only 235 families are counted and the numbering ceased on page 94, so it is incomplete at best. A checkmark rather than a number seems to continue for families still in the parish, but appears only pages 100–109, then ceases. A third census, presumably taken three years later (1893–1895), begins with the Aloysius Schaefer family on page 61. However, this numbering sequence was also discontinued. Of course some families moved, or belonged to a different parish during the course of these censuses.7 Without a key to the numbering, it is difficult at best to form any definite conclusions except for the page and first family number, but all are included in this publication for further study and analysis by the reader. In sum, the numbers 65/347/197/18 represent 65: original page of the entry 347: family number assigned at the first census 197: family number assigned at the second census 18: family number assigned at the third census NAMES Each parishioner’s Christian and surname were transcribed exactly: husband, and wife with maiden name; their children; followed by the Christian and surname of relatives, servants and other Catholics in the household. Relationships to the head of household were transcribed, if provided. Vide or vid was added by the priest if the individual was widowed. The name of a non-Catholic spouse was written in the Remarks column by the priest. Surnames might be spelled phonetically. Most Christian names were given in Latin. Belleville was heavily German in the late 19th century, and this influence is reflected in the names. Joannes, the Latin word for John, is Johannes in German 7 St. Luke parish (St. Lucae) was separated from St. Peter’s in 1883; St. Mary parish formed in 1893 and encompassed the western part of Belleville, then called West Belleville. ©2007 St. Clair County [Illinois] Genealogical Society ii St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church Census 1888–1895 (commonly shortened to Johann). Latin word endings are very important. For example, Joannis is not a misspelling for Joannes, rather, Joannis means of John. Most English equivalents of Latin given names are easily recognizable. Generally the male gender ending –us, -ius is dropped. The female gender ending is designated by adding –a. Some names are seldom, if ever, used today, e.g. Anathalia, Crescentia, Cunigunda and Walburga. Examples of some of the more unusual Latin, German and English given names are LATIN GERMAN ENGLISH Antonius Anton Anthony Carolus Karl Carl, Charles Georgius Georg George Guilelmus Wilhelm William Henricus Heinrich Henry Jacobus Jacob James, Jacob Ludovicus Ludwig Louis Mathias Matthias Matthew In many cases, research in contemporary documents (census, obituaries, civil marriages) will help determine the name by which an individual was commonly called. NAMES OF CHILDREN Names of children from prior and current marriages, adopted, and quasi adopted children were inscribed in this column. Remarkably, the adopted child’s birth family was often identified in Remarks. RESIDENCE The residence generally appeared only once per family. The Ward number was not transcribed. Some adult relatives and school-age children actually lived in other households, as indicated by the Latin word apud. Street names changed in 1918 from those shown here. See St. Clair County Genealogical Society Quarterly 25: 3, 2002 for these changes.8 DATE, PLACE OF MARRIAGE Self explanatory DATE, COUNTRY OF BIRTH Locations are transcribed verbatim; some German town names are given but these may be spelled phonetically, misspelled or extinct. A gazetteer and map of the area may help determine the town name for that period. The majority of town names are—or were— in St. Clair County or Illinois. MARRIED OR SINGLE The “m” (married) abbreviation was not recorded on the original for most married couples, probably because husband and wife were written sequentially in the 8 A plat map of Belleville shows street names, see Marissa Historical and Genealogical Society, 1874 and 1901 Combined Atlases for St.