Printed baptismal certificate filled in and signed in Hebrew and Yiddish by Martin Wetzler, a Jewish scrivener in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on November 10, 1844. The certificate features a stylized drawing of Solomon's Temple and incorporates freehand coloring. This item is significant due to Wetzler's unique status as a Jewish scrivener in the Lehigh Valley at the time, where he was known as the "Jewish Dindamann" (penman).
Subject: Judaism in Pennsylvania
No additional authority information available for Judaism in Pennsylvania.
Filled-in and signed baptismal certificate, dated April 28, 1869. The certificate is printed on a form and features watercolor additions. It was printed in Allentown, Pennsylvania by Leifenring in 1865. The certificate is notable for being filled out by Martin Wetzler, one of only two known Jewish scriveners in the Lehigh Valley at that time. Wetzler, who was known as the "Jewish Dindamann" (penman) by Pennsylvania Germans, wrote in cursive Yiddish and included a Star of David. He was proficient in Hebrew, German, and English and sometimes added a Star of David and signed in Hebrew to Christian certificates. This was apparently not objectionable to his clients. (See "Papers for Birth Dayes", Vol. II by Russell & Corinne Earnest)
Leather-bound Pennsylvania German daily prayer book, published in Philadelphia by Mentz und Sohn in 1834. Includes a fraktur bookplate and four pages of family records in the hand of Martin Wetzler, a Jewish fraktur scrivener, dated June 1859. Additional birth records in another hand are present, dated in the 1860s. The book also contains a letter written in Hebrew characters.