Martin Luther Lutheran Church Records
Submitted by Gary B. Ruppert
Please remember that these records as all posted on this web site are for personal use
only and are not to be used in any way for profit.

 

Introduction

Martin Luther Lutheran Church in Baltimore was founded in approximately 1890 and was located at 401 North Patterson
Park Avenue. The congregation closed its doors about 1994. The remaining members of Martin Luther joined with those
of Bethany Lutheran and Trinity Lutheran to form a new congregation known as Amazing Grace Evangelical Lutheran
Church which is located in the former Trinity campus on McElderry Street.

Trinity Lutheran (Baltimore City) records have been previously microfilmed and partially indexed beginning with the 1853
volume. This collection is available a the Maryland State Archives as Special Collections SC4543 microcopy number M
1461. Unfortunately, the location of prior volumes from this congregation, which was established in 1839, is unknown. The
original extant records of Trinity Lutheran are now housed at the Lutheran Seminary in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The
whereabouts of all records from the former Bethany Lutheran congregation, last located on Madison Street near North
Lakewood Avenue, are unknown at this time. Reference to this congregation’s records was not made in Kanely’s 1987
Directory of Maryland Church Records, presumably because the church was organized after 1910.

The surviving church records from the Martin Luther congregation appear to be complete, consisting of eight volumes
dating from 1890 to the late 1980s. Volumes one through seven have been microfilmed by the Maryland State Archives in
Annapolis and are available on microfilm for review. The entirety of the original records were returned to Amazing Grace
Evangelical Lutheran congregation in December 1998 and subsequently archived at the Lutheran Seminary in Gettysburg.

Baptismal Records

Volume one is in fairly poor condition overall. It appears to have been in a fire and also clearly has extensive water
damage. The spine has deteriorated although all of the pages appear to be in proper order. The pages were not originally
numbered nor was there an existing index. Entries were made generally chronologically by date of christening.

Data included in the baptismal records from volume one are not as extensive as in many Lutheran church records of this era
but include surname and given names of the baptized individual, parents given names, date of birth and date of baptism.
Only in rare instance is a baptismal sponsor(s) named. The comments column is mostly empty, however there are rare
notations such as “adopted,” “colored,” or residence if outside of Baltimore City.

There are 1,674 entries transcribed here. By far and away the majority of these are for children born between the years
1891 and 1917, however there are a handful of adult baptisms. The oldest baptized adult was born in 1837.

I have copied the information in the entries just as it appears in the original record even when there were obvious errors.
The most common errors include spelling variations and mistakes with regard to year entries. There are a number of birth
dates that occur after the baptismal date. There are many misspelled given names and a variety of spellings of the same
surnames.

In the rare instance where data are missing due to chipping and damage of the pates or if the entry was not legible, I have
used three dots (...) to indicate this problem. If there was no information provided in the original record for any given field, I
have left the entry blank.

I would strongly suggest that the original record (more precisely the microfilmed record) be reviewed in all instances where
useful information has been found in this index. This will ensure that the record was transcribed accurately or not and will
provide whatever extra data may have been entered by the pastor.

The list provided here is arranged alphabetically by the surname of the person baptized. This arrangement, although very
convenient for searching may eliminate potential genealogical clues garnered by the original proximity of the entries.
Researchers are again encouraged to review the original microfilm copies available a the Maryland State Archives under
Special Collections (Martin Luther Lutheran Church) MSA SC 503, microcopy numbers M11826 and M11827.

Gary B. Ruppert, MD
May 1999