Help reading names in an 1820 marriage record

[scenography]

What is the first name of these three men? I don't recognize it, but it must be a common name.




Also, what is the maiden name of this woman? Something starting with an H?


If more context would help, see the first two full records on this page from the parish of St. Jakobus, in Herolz, in the Fulda diocese.

[BobGreiner]

It seems to me that the first three names in question were the pastor's way of abbreviating the name "Johannes". It looks like "Jo" then "es", with a squiggle above the name to indicate an abbreviation. Two of them seem to have a dot above the third letter, so perhaps he meant "Johannis" in those cases.

I came to this conclusion by looking backwards a few pages in the marriage records. He seems to have various abbreviations for Johannes, including "Joanes", with a line above the "n" to indicate a double letter. But I see several instances of the "Joes" on the preceding pages. Male names beginning with just the initial "J." are most likely meant to be "Johann" as a first given name.

Margretha's surname is definitely "Heil". If you proceed forward just two pages, the next pastor's handwriting is much neater. You can also search the baptism records starting in 1821 or 1822 to find baptism records for these couples, or perhaps marriage records for other children of Johannes and Margretha (Heil) Muller.

[scenography]

Thanks, Bob. You must be right. Johann is the common name that matches, when someone writes it in Latin and leaves out the middle letters.