What information can I get from a Christening please?

[John-Nihon]

Two Christenings I'm interested in, as follows:

1) Frederika Rosa Margarethe Reinhardt, christened on 28 Feb 1884 in Horton, near Bradford. Mother Mary Reinhardt.

and

2) Rose Elsa L Reinhardt, christened 30 Nov 1887 in Dewsbury. Mother Mary Reinhardt.

Could anyone help me to obtain any further information on top of what I already have above please? :D

[Raven]

John here is Fredericka's birth ref

Bradford 1884 1st Qtr Vol 9b Pg 88

[John-Nihon]

Hi Raven,

Sorry, I should have mentioned that I already have Fredericka's birth cert. I have run out of avenues to check on that. I was hoping that I may get more/other information from a christening.

Thanks very much for looking though, much appreciated! :D:D

[Elizabeth Herts]

It depends how chatty the Vicar was feeling! Sometimes they put little notes to the effect that the child was born out of wedlock, or a comment on the parents. However, this is the exception rather than the rule.

Are you trying to find the father here?

[John-Nihon]

It appears that Frederika was christened in Horton, near Bradford. I have found references to Little Horton and Great Horton when googling. I think (actually guessing) she may have been christened in Little Horton as I've been told that this is nearer to the address (Leeds Road) in Bradford where she was born. I have no idea as to which church she was christened in.

[John-Nihon]

Hi Elizabeth,

If I have the correct Frederika then I am pretty confident that she was born out of wedlock. Her birth certificate states 'Father unknown'.

I would love to know who the father is but failing that any other information that may be useful like attendees names, church name, etc.

[KiteRunner]

John, would they have been christened at a C of E church, a Catholic church, or some other denomination? If it was C of E then I doubt if you will get any more info than is on the birth cert, but if Catholic then you might.

[Janet]

Baptismal certs often give sponsors/godparents and these names might be family, so MAY give you more information, but the names of the sponsors/godparents is the only extra information you will get.

Janet

[John-Nihon]

Hi KiteRunner, I don't know! I do know that she lived opposite a Catholic church later on in her life but unfortunately that doesn't prove anything.

Hi Janet, If sponsors/godparents are mentioned by name then that could prove useful.

Thank you both very much for your replies. :D

Thank you too Elizabeth. :D

[KiteRunner]

I think the sponsors / godparents thing will only be in the register if they were Catholics.

[Margaret in Burton]

Catholic baptisms mostly give godparents or sponsors.

C of E very rarely. You may find the father named, depends if the mother named him.

You may find the vicar has been very nasty and written that the mother was a whore, happens rarely, it will probably say bastard or base born or child of single mother.

There is no set rule.

Even if you have a certificate of the baptism with godparents on, that info is not in the church register. I have seen the parish registers with christenings of my own children on. Just gives their names and the date they were christened, plus daughter of (and our names and address)

[Phoenix]

The spellings suggest that the mother was not English. Do you know where she originated from and how long she had been in this country? That might provide a clue to her religion. New communities settling here often formed their own churches too and she may have used that church - which would not necessarily be the nearest one to where she lived.

[John-Nihon]

Hi Margaret,

As the father wasn't named on Frederika's birth certificate I have doubts about him being named at her christening. It would be great if he was though!

Would it be at all likely that a single mother of that time (1884 and 1887) could have taken her children to be baptised by herself? Would the church have turned their nose up at such a thing? The fact that she was a single mother, would that have been exceptable to the church or was it a common thing in those days?

I've never seen the parish registers for my christening. Must have a look next time I visit England.

Hi Phoenix,

Correct, the mother was (if I'm tracking the correct person that is) a naturalised British Subject, from Germany. The earliest record I think I have of her was in 1881, when she was a servant for a family in Dewsbury. She was 19 at the time.

[Christine in Herts]

I once had the privilege of looking through the parish registers for Fincham in Norfolk. There were occasional batches of entries which suggested a scenario of the Rector having persuaded the local lady-of-the-night that she ought to protect the souls of her children by having them (all) baptised.

So "Would the church have turned their nose up at such a thing?" - the clergyman might have done (hence some of those unpleasant descriptions which appear occasionally), but he'd still baptise the children.

Christine

[Margaret in Burton]

Christine has answered the question John.

I don't think they refused to baptise a child just made the mother feel very uncomfortable.

[Mary from Italy]

No, I've looked at lots of baptism registers, and numerous illegitimate children were baptised. If you're very lucky, the putative father might be named, but it's unusual.

[Janet]

Maybe it is a Catholic "thing" about sponsors/godparents at baptism, but certainly all my Irish baptisms have given me clues as to who the people were, and most were family from 1798 up to 1900. My own RC baptismal cert gave my godparent's name, just one. You will have to obtain Baptismal Cert from church where baptised, so worth trying the church opposite where they lived. I obtained a Cof E baptismal cert for 1912 from a church near Egham and I think that gave godparents' names, but I wil need to check that out. Baptism in a Catholic church was much more important than whether or not the mother was single or married, as long as the baby was "saved", that was most important.

Janet

[Olde Crone Holden]

Can I ask where you got the information from, about these baptisms? If it was from the IGI, you can usually work out which church it was.

OC

[Mary from Italy]

Janet, I've never seen godparents mentioned in a C of E baptism register. The only place I've seen sponsors named is in Irish RC registers.

[Tom Tom]

I see single mothers having their children christened all the time in the baptism records I look through. Very few mention the father's name.

The only time I have ever seen godparents in a C of E baptism register is for my grandad who was christened in 1929. None of the other I have seen have this, not even ones after 1929.