Hi I’m in need of help . I am unable to read the birth certificate . I’m looking for information on what year he was born and are there details on his parents perhaps ?

by Individual-Win9278

8 comments

  1. I’m not so experienced in reading these old documents, but what i can read doesn’t look like a birth certificate.
    For me it looks more like a military or some sort of travel document.

  2. That doesn’t seem to be a birth certificate. It’s more like a criminal record, or rather, stating that the person does not have a criminal record and is free to travel.

  4. It’s a passport, not a birth certificate. There is no birthdate or parental information in it.

  5. Your sure thats a birthcertificat? The text suggests eather a Passport or some kind of travel document.
    (Cant be certained those parts are not readable, at least for me)

    The age ist stated in the right part on the first page were special apearences are writen down (like haircolor scars etc.) the Date is next to the seal on the Backside but unfortiunatly unreadeble in this Pic. Mai 16th 18– i would say

  6. The document is a permit for traveling to New York. A one way trip. I can’t read most of the hand written parts, but that’s what I got.

    The traveler‘s name looks like Meikel Schaeffer, today you’d write it Michal Schäfer, and he was born in Berlin. The document was signed in Berlin in the year 1800 and asks all officials to let him pass freely during his one way trip from (?) through Nuremberg(?) to New York. It confirms he got no criminal record. There’s also a discripton of his facial and body features in the center right block. The age and height are blurry but I think I am reading it as 20 years old, so born in 1779 or 1780, and 5‘9 tall, black hair, ordinary face and statue.

  7. Hello, I’m actually from Germany and can read the writing, learned a little from my grandparents. It’s a old writing style called Sütterlin script.

    What you have there has been issued by the ministry of interior and is a very old form of a passport, allowing the person described in the document to freely travel around.

    The document must be very old as there is no picture of the person, so it must be very old before it was common to place a picture into the passport. There is a very detailed description of the appearance of the person given.

    If I see it right, the document is from 1800.

    I found a similar document here at this auction site:
    https://www.mehlis.eu/de/catalogs/8918/item/1861/

    It is described as a Passport from Preußen, or Prussia as it is called in English:
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prussia

    It was a former state / country and today the area is mainly German or Polish territory.

    His last name is for sure “von Schaeffer”.

    That what it’s written on it in German:
    (Just copied from mehlis auction page to save some time, but I can verify and I’m absolutely sure that this is what’s also on the pictures of your document):

    Wir Friedrich Wilhelm von Gottes Gnaden König von Preußen etc. – Ersuchen hiermit, unter dem Versprechen einer vollkommenen Erwiederung, alle Militair- und Civil-Behörden auswärtiger Staaten, Unsern sämmtlichen Militair- und Civil-Behörden aber befehlen Wir ausdrücklich, auf Vorzeigung dieses: den [Berufsbezeichnung] [Vor- und Nachname] gebürtig aus [place of birth], wohnhaft in [Wohnort], welcher zum [reason of travel] von hier [von Berlin] über [cities passing by] reiset, und durch hiesiges Polizei-Stattut als unverdächtig legitimiert ist, frei und ungehindert reisen, und von dort hierher zurückreisen, auch nöthigen Falls ihm Schutz und Beistand angedeihen zu lassen. Der gegenwärtige Paß muß von der Polizei-Behörde eines jeden Orts, an welchem der Inhaber länger, als Vier und zwanzig Stunden sich aufhält, visirt werden”, Unterschrift des Innenministers,

    Translated into English (using Google translate as I’m lazy):
    We, Friedrich Wilhelm, by the grace of God, King of Prussia, etc. – hereby request, under the promise of a complete reciprocation, all military and civil authorities of foreign states, but we expressly order all our military and civil authorities to show this: the [Profession] [Full Name], born in [place of birth], living in [City/Village], who travels from here [from Berlin] via [Cities passing by] to [Destination] for [reason of travel], and is legitimized by the local police statute as not being suspicious, can travel freely and unhindered, and travel back here from there to provide him with protection and assistance even if necessary. The current passport must be checked by the police department of every place where the holder stays for longer than four and twenty hours,” signature of the Minister of the Interior,

    For me it’s very hard to read the hand writings of your document. If you like I can ask a friend if mine who can read handwritten Sütterlin Script to give you some more information.

    If you have any additional questions about it feel free to reach out to me, also via private message (also if you like that I ask a friend of mine to read the handwriting).

    Best regards
    M

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