was it normal to get christened as an adult

[Guest]

I've been updating my tree and was surprised to find christening records for a couple of sisters who would have been 16 and 19 when christened on the same day
Why would they do it so late ????

[Uncle John]

Adult (believer's) baptism is not uncommon. It is the only form of baptism in the Baptist Church.

[Janet in Yorkshire]

Usually it's because they were missed out when babies, or no evidence of infant baptism could be found.

All sorts of reasons for adult baptisms - whole family were "converted"; they wanted to be confirmed.

In earlier times, being baptised could have been an employment requisite (especially if going into service in some households) working in a "faith" school or institution etc.

Jay

[Guest]

thanks Uncle John I wondered why the other chidlren weren't done too ?? or maybe they were and I cant find the records ???

[herky]

Hi Val,
I have a parish record with about 10 children all christened on the same day with some being adults. They appeared to have done the whole family as a job lot despite the fact that half were by the 1st marriage and the rest by the 2nd marriage when the 1st wife died.
it was a great find though as I only had to pay for one page on SP to get the whole lot.
Why they did this - I have no idea but I don't think it was for religious reasons in this case. I wonder if some religions, perhaps the baptist church, do adult baptisms???
Apologies for using the words "Christening" and " Baptism", I am never very sure about the difference.
One other thought - I remember somewhere someone mentioning that there was a rush on baptisms just prior to the introduction of statutory records. Do the dates coincide with that??

[Guest]

hi and thanks Herky its in 1904 just seems odd only these two were done .

[Margaret in Burton]

Val

Ae you sure they weren't baptised prior to marriage, perhaps into a different religion?

[Olde Crone Holden]

My late MIL and her sister were baptised aged 10 and 12. They were going into service and the lady was strict C of E (but that didn't stop her employing two underage girls in the 1920s, lol).

MIL's mother died after producing 13 children, father married a widow with about 8 children and they had a few more. Father couldn't remember if/where the two sisters had been christened, so they were done again to be on the safe side!

OC

[Guest]

hi Margaret I dont think so as they married into a family who followed no religion
Thats interesting OC I had not realised peope expected them to get churched as they say.

[Harrys mum]

My missing Agatha was baptised C of E two years after her marriage in a C of E church. Her brother in law was the minister at her marriage and she came from a long line of Baptists. She'd had two children baptised C of E between her marriage and her own baptism.

But that was Agatha, and nothing about her was normal....lol

[Penelope]

Redacted

[Anne in Carlisle]

I have several examples of whole families being baptised at one time. Often the PR says the ages of each of them - which can be very useful!

Sometimes (like OC) I seem to have some who were baptised twice - and, although I am aware that they could have been subsequent children, when the ages are given it doesn't seem so!

Anne

[Penelope]

Redacted

[Guest]

Thanks everyone
Penelope could it be they named the new child after the one that died ??? it happened a lot .

[Little Nell]

My gt x 3 grandmother Hannah was baptised the same day as her infant son, my gt x 2 grandfather Emmets Matthews. This is a puzzle as she had already married Emmets father and they had an elder son baptised 2 years earlier.

[maggie_4_7]

My grandmother's first son was baptised soon after he was born but my grandmother had the next 4 children baptised all at once in Jan 1918.

In ages they went 8 years old, 7 years old, (the one in between these two died at 18months) 3 years old and the baby 15 days old. As far as I am aware her next 5 children were never baptised.

She told me why, the first son because her mother nagged her to - constantly nagged about it every day after he was born so she got him baptised and he then went to live with his grandmother her mother for the rest of his formative years.

The rest because the vicar never stopped coming around the house and nagging her until eventually when one was born in Jan 1918 she gave up and took them all along to St Judes and had them done to shut him up! She told me that herself because when I was about seven and not allowed in some club or other because I hadn't been baptised I asked why.

She was not religious in any shape or form ever. But she said that's what they did in those days constantly harrassed people if they hadn't gone to the local church and had the children 'done' and that was 1918 so it must have been even worse the century before then.

Her thoughts were that it was a load of old tosh.

[sally]

I was christened twice.

Because there was some confusion following my birth (my mother died shortly after) when it came to my being confirmed in my early teens nobody could remember, or find any records pertaining to a christening. I was duly made to stoop over the font just to make sure.

However, shortly afterwards the evidence came to light that I had indeed been christened just after birth.

Sadly I have to report that a double dunking has had no beneficial effect on my religious beliefs!!

[Janet in Yorkshire]

Thats interesting OC I had not realised peope expected them to get churched as they say.

"Getting Churched" was nothing to do with baptism nor with being welcomed into the congregation.
"The churching of women" was a "cleansing" event, after having given birth. (It had its own little section in the Book of Common prayer.)

Long gone, now, thank goodness, but taken very seriously at one time.
A friend, now in her late 60's, told me that about 2/3 weeks after the birth of her first child, her own grandmother hadn't allowed her to enter the Gran's house because she hadn't "been churched". Apparently a couple of days later she had needed to speak to my mother about something and when my father had invited her into our house, friend had explained she couldn't come in because she hadn't yet been churched - Dad had taken her arm and dragged her in, having rather a lot to say about "mumbo jumbo" and he didn't "give two bl**dy hoots about such rubbish"!!!

I understand the "churching" was carried out in church, privately, with just the vicar and the mother.

Jay

[Olde Crone Holden]

Jay

I can echo that experience - a friend, now in her late 70s, tells (with fury!) how she was churched after the birth of her first baby. She had to prostrate herself before the altar and beg forgiveness for her sin.

Her own mother would not enter her house until this had happened.

OC

[Guest]

I'm glad things have moved on then