Amount of time between a birth and christening?

[~Rachel~]

I have an ancestor, Wallace Nash, who was born abt. 1858.

I found a Wallace Nask on www.familysearch.org who was christened in 1863. The place looks right, as do the names of his paretns. The only thing putting me off is that amount of time between the two dates.

Does anyone have any thoughts?

Also, if I have breached the copyright thing can someone let me exactly what it is I have done wrong and what I need to do? 

Thanks!

[Shaztoni]

It is very possible that these are one and the same it was quite common for children not to be baptised until they were a few years old. I have quite a few of them on my tree. To confirm it though you will have to get Wallace's birth cert which will name his parents.

Sharon

[Tati]

Hi Rachel,

Sometimes parents would christen several of their children at once so 1863 can be a match. However, I see the christening you have found is a member-submitted record and not an extracted christening from parish records, so I'd advise you not to take it for granted.

Not sure this helps  

Tanja    

[~Rachel~]

Thanks very much for the advice both of you - I can't get the birth certificate yet as I haven't yet been able to find it, I got his rough birth date from the census but I'll persevere with it!

When I started doing my family history I didn't realise how expensive it would all get! 

[Shaztoni]

Just checked the igi batch numbers for St. James ,Bristol but they don't have them for the 18th and 19th centuries yet so you might have to ask someone on the Bristol board for a look up.

Sharon

[~Rachel~]

Thanks Sharon, sorry if this is a silly question but what exactly are the batch numbers?

[Shaztoni]

Not a silly question, the batch numbers are the indexes numbers to transcribed parish records. At the bottom of the IGI search page there is a box to place them so you can search just a single parishs records. There is one for ever parish that has been transcribed.
 
Here is the index to the batch numbers for England.
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~hughwallis/IGIBatchNumbers/CountryEngland.htm

[~Rachel~]

I think I understood that, cheers! I'll have a play around with it.

[Nick Carver]

I made a breakthrough when I found a baptism for my ancestor taking place when she was 18 years old. I have also heard of people getting baptised in their 20s. I know it's not unusual now, with some free churches going in for adult baptism, but in the 18th and 19th centuries it was not the norm. Golden rule of genealogy - whenever you have enough evidence to suggest that you have found a pattern that obeys a rule, you can guarantee that the first time you need to apply the rule, it will not hold true.