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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Topic started by: AlexHoughton on Thursday 06 August 15 16:27 BST (UK)
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Good Afternoon :)
I have been researching my Gt Gt Grandfather and have hit a bit of difficulty tracking down his birth.
His name is James Bailey and he was born in Swettenham in Cheshire.
I am convinced I have tracked down his baptism record as 06/11/1847 in Swettenham.
However, I have not been able to find his birth record.
What interested me about his baptism record was that is matched the date his daughter had recorded as his birthday in her birthday book.
Does anyone know if it was common in this era for people to be baptised on the same day as their birth, or could it be that the family used this date as perhaps they had lost his birth record?
All suggestions are very welcome.
Many Thanks
Alex
:)
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I've seen quite a few baptised on the day they were born when I've been transcribing.
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Entirely possible if the parents thought the Child might not survive. Check BMD for alternative spellings: James Bayley 4Q 1847 Congleton Vol 19 P 71.
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Have you seen the James Bailey birth registered in Congleton (includes Swettenham) in the Dec quarter of 1847? Vol 19, page 60.
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Many thanks to all for the great advice.
Thanks Deirdre, I ordered the birth certificate for James Bailey born in 1847 (Vol 19, Page 60) and unfortunately it was not my relative.
Cheers Sc00p, I have now just ordered the Bayley certificate as I had not considered alternative spellings before. Fingers crossed! :)
I'm very grateful for all the help.
Alex
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Hi,
I've come across many baptised on the same day they were born.
The Parish Priest used to do his "rounds" visiting the sick etc. so I suppose if he was in the area "rural" (Scottish Island) then that was the thing :P
No need for the extravagance in those days as they had little :-[
Annie
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I suggest James had a twin - On the PR Hannah Bailey is baptised same day to same parents.
Again the birth is registered as Bayley - with a Hannah Bayley death in the same quarter.
Likely that the parents needed Hannah baptised quickly and the curate did them both at the same time.
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Cheers Sc00p, I have now just ordered the Bayley certificate as I had not considered alternative spellings before. Fingers crossed! :)
If you know his parents names from the baptism (or other means), did you order the birth certificate only if they were the names on the certificate? Takes longer but can save you money :)
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Hi Annie
Thank you for the really helpful formation.
I do find myself visualising a big family gathering type baptism, when of course you are quite right as this was probably unlikely at the time.
Thanks
Alex :)
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I suggest James had a twin - On the PR Hannah Bailey is baptised same day to same parents.
Again the birth is registered as Bayley - with a Hannah Bayley death in the same quarter.
Likely that the parents needed Hannah baptised quickly and the curate did them both at the same time.
Brilliant Sc00p, thank you for the excellent detective work. This all seems to fit very well and I'm looking forward to hopefully confirming everything when the birth certificate arrives! I really should have thought about alternative spellings!
Cheers
Alex
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Cheers Sc00p, I have now just ordered the Bayley certificate as I had not considered alternative spellings before. Fingers crossed! :)
If you know his parents names from the baptism (or other means), did you order the birth certificate only if they were the names on the certificate? Takes longer but can save you money :)
Thank you Deirdre that is a very good point. How would you go about confirming the parents names on the certificate before purchase? :)
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Does the baptism say private? I have one that was baptised the day after he was born and in the margin it says "Private at home" I presume that was because he wasn't expected to live. I believe that if they survived there would be a further public ceremony where they would be "Received into the Church."
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If you know his parents names from the baptism (or other means), did you order the birth certificate only if they were the names on the certificate? Takes longer but can save you money :)
Thank you Deirdre that is a very good point. How would you go about confirming the parents names on the certificate before purchase? :)
On the first page of the application you usually tick that the ref number is known,well don't!
You will then find on the second page you can put in son of XXX however if you put for example James and they have him down as Jim then they won't send it. So be a little imaginative to ensure they tie up the tight child with the right parents.
Carol
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Does the baptism say private? I have one that was baptised the day after he was born and in the margin it says "Private at home" I presume that was because he wasn't expected to live. I believe that if they survived there would be a further public ceremony where they would be "Received into the Church."
Thank you for the suggestion. Not in this case, although that is a good point and I will look out for that in the future.
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If you know his parents names from the baptism (or other means), did you order the birth certificate only if they were the names on the certificate? Takes longer but can save you money :)
Thank you Deirdre that is a very good point. How would you go about confirming the parents names on the certificate before purchase? :)
On the first page of the application you usually tick that the ref number is known,well don't!
You will then find on the second page you can put in son of XXX however if you put for example James and they have him down as Jim then they won't send it. So be a little imaginative to ensure they tie up the tight child with the right parents.
Carol
Thank you Carol that is a great tip. I did not realise you could fill in the application without the number. I will try this in the future!
All the best
Alex
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Sorry to keep posting on this topic, I just wanted to pass on my gratitude to all those who helped me with this enquiry. I have been researching my family history for about 10 years and this has been one of the trickiest relatives to track down.
I am pleased to confirm the mentioned Bayley has proven to be my gt. gt. grandfather and his certificate can be seen below.
Thanks again!
Alex :)
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I see the certificate has the time of birth as well, as that was usually only added for twins it confirms Scoops suggestion. It probably also explains why there was a quick baptism, probably carried out at home as they knew that at least one of the twins was likely to die.
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You can see from the GRO indexes that two Bayley babies were registered on the same day,with the same ref number. Twins !!! ;D
Births Dec 1847
BAYLEY Hannah Congleton 19 71
Bayley James Congleton 19 71