RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => Topic started by: globetrotter66 on Tuesday 27 August 13 16:13 BST (UK)
-
Would a married woman be baptized under her maiden name in the Church of England? Or would this happen only if she is widowed? Year is 1837, parish is St. Pancras, Middlesex.
-
is there any reference to her married name or that it is an adult baptism? I've seen baptisms of married women in their maiden name, noting her parents' names and that it was an adult baptism, some of them noted as conditional, so person concerned probably didn't know if she had been baptised as a child or not. The ones I've seen were from Cornwall and 1900 - 1910 or so..
-
Thank you for your reply. No, there is no reference to her married name nor that this is an adult baptism (unless you do the math yourself, since it does include her date of birth). The record does, however, list her parents' names (as is typical). Two more things that may be worth noting: (1) she is baptized along with her unmarried (but also adult) sisters, and (2) all three come from a prominent Baptist family in London (the curate would certainly have known this), and this appears to be their first entry into the Church of England.
-
You often find people being baptised as adults just before marrying,if they find out there never were baptised as children.
-
I've seen that, too. The odd thing here is that this woman had been married for a while, and her husband died around this time. I would have expected to see her baptized under his last name, even if a widow. But then, I'm not so sure what the rules are. Or, better, I'm not sure what the practice tended to be. I'm wondering the fact that she baptizes under her maiden name suggests that she is widowed by this time (she never remarries, and in fact dies two years later herself). I have never seen anything quite like this, so am groping in the dark.
-
The baptism register page is set out like this:
Child's Christian Name Parent's Name
Christian Surname
Mary Anne John Smith
& Elizabeth
So there is no place to enter the surname of the person baptised, only that of their parents. (In the actual ceremony, only the Christian name is used) .
-
My ancestor was also a Baptist. She was baptised as an adult after her marriage and at the same time as 3 of her own children.
Carol
-
Thanks, Galium. You're absolutely right, and that explains it. I wasn't reading the baptism register closely enough! Sigh.
-
One thing to bear in mind is that a Christening consists of the baptism and then their admission into a particular denomination of the Church. A change of denomination may be noted in the baptism register but only for their admission into that Church, and not an actual baptism. I suspect that many block baptisms are simply attending a different Church. Try checking for the entry stating specifically that they were baptised.
Regards,
Colin