Church records for Catherine Amelia Gunther

I am back again with another record I found on Find My Past this past weekend. This is the Church record for the marriage of my great aunt, Catherine Amelia Gunther. She was a sister of my maternal grandmother.

"Philadelphia Roman Catholic Parish Marriages" Find My Past, (findmypast.com accessed 6 Aug 2017) St. Anthony of Padua record of marriage, pg 30, Kelly-Gunther, 2 Sep 1916

As has been the custom in the Catholic Church, some of this record is in Latin. I have not had Latin since freshman year in high school! But I was able to get through it. So glad for this record for many reasons! One we have a record that the marriage did take place and it happened 2 Sep 1916. This is important because the note on the Philadelphia Marriage License Application said that they "did not have the "return" or duplicate certificate with the application at the time of microfilming". The other item was the dates and places for the bride and groom's baptisms. Catherine's baptism was 6 Sep 1908 at St. Patrick's Church in Norristown, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Her mother's family was from Norristown but they lived in Philadelphia. I thought this a little strange since they were in St. Anthony's parish and I did find another record from St. Anthony's from 1911, the baptism of my great grandfather, Emil Gunther.

"Philadelphia Roman Catholic Parish Baptisms" Find My Past, (findmypast.com accessed 6 Aug 2017) St. Anthony of Padua record of baptisms, pg. 501, Emil Gunther, 19 Mar 1911

This record was a total surprise find and also great. Emil Gunther has been a puzzle to me. He came from Germany. My grandmother would talk about him saying he was from the Black Woods! When I did start finding records for him all they said was Germany. His death certificate did not have any more information including not have any names for his parents. So finding this church record of his baptism at 50 years old and it has the names of his parents, Fred. Gunther and Emily Hammerschmidt. I thought that his father's name was Frederick because on my grandmother's birth certificate it has the father's name as Frederick instead of Emil. Also I found that Emil and Catherine had a son that I knew nothing about. He died at 16 months and his name was Frederick.

So getting back to Catherine Amelia Gunther's baptism record. I looked up St. Patrick Church and called them on Monday morning. I explained what I was looking for. I was told they would see what they could find and call me back. Tuesday I received a call back from Maria saying she found the record and I asked if she could send it to me. She said she would get it out that day and today I received this!

Saint Patrick Catholic Church (Norristown, PA), Family Sacramental Certificates (privately held), Catherine Amelia Gunther Baptism Certificate (1908 Baptism), issued 2017, citing no book or page number

I was so excited to receive this today! But more Latin! I still have work to do on this record, like trying to figure out what the first name of the godfather could be. I see the last name of McCarron, my great-grandmother's name, yea! So as far as why the baptism took place in Norristown and not Philadelphia is most likely not an answer I will find very soon! But I am so happy to add this to my growing collection of family records!!!

I'll just keep looking!!!