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Baptising all children at once in 1822?

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  • Baptising all children at once in 1822?

    Does anyone know how common was it to baptise all your children at once in 1822? Looking through baptism parish registers for records of my ancestors, I came across a page filled with the children of two of my ancestors I had been searching for. It would appear that they had 5 of their children all baptised on the same date and I'm pretty sure that they were all different ages. I thought that the beliefs of that time were that you should baptise your children as soon as possible, due to the infant mortality rate? Is it possible that if somebody moved parishes they would baptise all their children again in the new parish?

    Thanks in advance!

    Alice

  • #2
    Hello Alice,

    welcome to the forum, I have lots of instances of multiple baptisms for family members, the parish registers you are looking at, are they transcripts or the original images? the reason I ask is that usually [but not always] you can have the minister recording the actual date of birth as well as the baptism date in the register.
    Julie
    They're coming to take me away haha hee hee..........

    .......I find dead people

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    • #3
      Hi,

      I'm looking at the original images (via ancestry), but unfortunately there are no dates of birth on there. Do you know why they sometimes used to baptise multiple times, was it kind of like a renewal of vows after a wedding?

      Thanks for replying,

      Alice

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      • #4
        All kinds of reasons for multiple baptisms - to give a few:
        no resident vicar for several years, parents didn't like the vicar, new vicar inducted at the parish and did a round up of children not already featuring in the bp register, new family moving into the parish so vicar baptises the lot, change of denomination from chapel to church or vice versa.

        Jay
        Janet in Yorkshire



        Genealogists never die - they just swap places in the family tree

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        • #5
          Thanks so much, that definitely answers my question

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          • #6
            Other prompts for baptism could be one child dying, or a new employer insisting the whole family was baptised.

            I have one family, a bit earlier than that, about 1800 I think, who baptised their children in every parish they went to, in order to establish right of settlement. The church does not allow or recognise repeat baptism, so they were wasting their time really.

            OC

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            • #7
              1822 was significant in that legislation to validate marriages was changed by 4 Acts of Parliament in the first half of 1823.
              Whenever such changes are in prospect people act to ensure they can take advantage of any changes that occur.
              Cheers
              Guy
              Guy passed away October 2022

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              • #8
                Originally posted by Guy View Post
                1822 was significant in that legislation to validate marriages was changed by 4 Acts of Parliament in the first half of 1823.
                Whenever such changes are in prospect people act to ensure they can take advantage of any changes that occur.
                Cheers
                Guy
                Guy,

                so they could be baptising their children en masse to validate their marriage? am confused could you explain a little more please
                Julie
                They're coming to take me away haha hee hee..........

                .......I find dead people

                Comment


                • #9
                  My gg/gmothers children were baptized collectively in 1848 when they were aged 8,5 and 3. The presumption is that their father was terminally

                  ill and probably the family couldn't attend church. They were baptized after mother remarried, children placed in a poor house then mother disappeared

                  to pastures unknown with new husband.
                  Whoever said Seek and Ye shall find was not a genealogist.

                  David

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                  • #10
                    I have several-great-grandparents who were a) non-conformists (at least she was raised that way), and unmarried (he had a previous marriage, and #1 wife was still living). They took their first-born to church shortly after his birth. The next four were baptized in a batch when the eldest of the group was about 10. Then a daughter was baptized out of order (sick?). And finally two boys were baptized at once (the girl's birth order between them) when the youngest boy was a year or so old.

                    Wish I knew why. Wish the group of four had had their birth dates recorded.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      When new legislation is envisaged people are not sure what it will entail. As today they heard the buzz that things are going to change and react as a precaution.
                      In 1822 the buzz was that marriages were to be validated, some people would react by ensuring their children were baptised (in case they lost their settlement rights, proclaimed bastards, etc.). The fact that the forthcoming legislation would have little or no effect on most was not important people took steps to make sure they would not lose out.

                      Do not forget in those days being recorded on the parish register was one of the few forms of id or record of existence available at the time.
                      A similar situation took place in 1836 prior to civil registration in 1837 and in various earlier years.
                      Cheers
                      Guy
                      Last edited by Guy; 17-06-12, 07:48.
                      Guy passed away October 2022

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                      • #12
                        thank you all so much for your helpful replies!

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