Did you notice how the
children were named? Sometimes the same name was used several
times in the same family. Usually that meant the first child
had died young and since, for whatever reason, that name was
important to the family it was used again. Different nationalities
had different ways of naming their children. Frequently in the
English communities of Massachusetts the first son was named
for his father and the first daughter for her mother.
GERMAN NAMING PATTERNS at
baptism, if two given names were given to the child, the first
given name was a spiritual, saint's name, originally developed
from Roman Catholic tradition. The second given name was the
secular or call name, which is the name the person was
known by, both within the family and to the rest of the world.
The spiritual name, usually to honor a favorite saint, was usually
repeatedly given to all the children of that family of the same
sex. In the Petry family the sons were Johan Adam, Johan
John, Johan Heinrick, Johan Jacob, Jr. (sometimes spelled Johannes).
For some unknown reason this family did not extend the same
pattern to the daughters.