Base born daughter 1774 ?

[colin taylor]

I have extracts for the Wood family in Lyme Regis and in the baptisms I have 29 April 1774 Sarah the base born daughter of Sarah Wood....I have only the one Sarah Wood and she married Charles Haydon on 15 Jan 1774....
Can anyone offer an explanation for the baptism notation...?
Cheers
Colin

[Mary from Italy]

The child was probably born before Sarah and Charles got married.

[colin taylor]

so that would mean that Charles Haydon would not have been the father I was thinking that it had something to do with the years starting in March or April..but thought that it was earlier in the century,...

[Phoenix]

Do you have anything that gives daughter Sarah's age? If her birth was close to the marriage, then she probably was Charles'.

There may be bastardy bonds for the period that give a clue to the father.

Alternatively, are you looking at actual parish registers, or info from bts?

I don't know how they carried on in Dorset, but in Norfolk they ran from Easter to Easter (usually!) so each sheet would cover the period roughly of the old year before the calendar change. A careless transcriber might not note the change of year. And it is sometimes difficult to tell exactly which year a document relates to.

[Glen in Tinsel Knickers]

The date of baptism could have been months (or years) after the birth of the child.

As for parentage, it could be the husband to be, or then again it might be someone else.........

[colin taylor]

Thank you Phoenix ...but I am not sure what BTS are....I have a list of Baptisms etc taken at Dorchester Records Office and is a transcription of Lyme Regis Baptismal Register ..Woods start in 1718-19 and the transcript is up to 1810.
Sarah Wood the mother was born 7 Nov 1751 and baptised 20 Oct 1752
There is no dob for her daughter

[Pippa Doll]

Hang on. Is this not looking odd due to the change in calendar or was that before?

[Mary from Italy]

That was earlier.

The new year used to start on March 25th, but the calendar was changed in 1752, and from then on it started on 1st January.

[Mary from Italy]

I am not sure what BTS are....

Bishop's Transcripts.

[Pippa Doll]

That was earlier.

The new year used to start on March 25th, but the calendar was changed in 1752, and from then on it started on 1st January.

I knew it started with 17!:D