Baptisms in Rastrick

[Holmemoss]

I have a Samuel Mitchell, born 1800/1 in Rastrick, and a John Mitchell, born 1798/9 in Rastrick.

They are in different families and I am trying to find out if they are related.

I have the CD for St Mary's in Elland but there are no baptisms for either Samuel or John. There is nothing on the IGI either.

Any suggestions anyone?

Thank you.

[Marmaduke 123]

Sounds like non-conformists to me! I also have a family without traceable baptisms born Rastrick in the same time period. They have a much more unusual name, so I've been able to reconstitute them one way and onother. The final piece fell into place through the National Probate calendar!

The earlier ones of my family were baptised at the Rastrick chapelry, then one at Bridgend Independent in Brighouse in 1797. Another was baptised at the Wesleyan Chapel Brighouse (same place?) in 1804. There are almost certainly three other children - c. 1800. c. 1795, c. 1806.

I found this while looking for them:

Source: J. Horsfall Turner - Independency at Brighouse

This book  records that the minister of Bridgend Chapel from 1790 to 1800 failed to keep the records properly and lost a lot of the congregation. His successor was equally unpopular "preached to half a dozen people" and the congregation dispersed to prayer meetings and Sunday schools in people's houses.

I know my family was associated with this chapel, so I think my missing baptisms are probably accounted for. Maybe yours too?

Anne

[Holmemoss]

Thank you, Anne. I think you may very well be right.

John Mitchell married Ann Flather at Halifax on 25 Sep 1824. Ann was baptised at Congregational Or Independent, Northowram.

John and Ann's first child, Emma, was baptised at Sr Mary's Church in Rastrick but their second chold, Martha Grace, was baptised at Bethel Methodist New Connexion, Brighouse.

Their third child, Ann, is my GG Grandmother but the family had moved to the Holmfirth area by this time as she was baptised at Holmfirth and the family were living at Magnum in the 1841 census.

My reason for think John may be related to Samuel is that he was also born in Rastrick but married Ellen Brook at Kirkburton on 26 Dec 1831 and they were also living at Magnum in 1841.

[dave the tyke]

Some (or maybe all?) non-conformist chapels seem to have had their registers grouped together in what was know as a 'circuit'. I don't know how the data was presented to IGI or if indeed it was given to them, but I believe that the registers for some chapels are not with the chapel where they were originally made. This might also apply to bishops transcripts. This is another area where I am going to have to do a bit of research - one of these days.
The Northowram General Baptist Meeting House was used for registration of some of the baptisms in that area and the entries in the register take the form of certificates - well worth paying for if you find them in the Non-parochial indexes.

[Holmemoss]

Thank you, Dave.

May I please ask you to explain more about the Northowram General Baptist Meeting House and where the records are kept. I have not heard of it before.

[dave the tyke]

The meeting house was in Queensbury I'm not sure if the chapel or the school next door was the actual location for registration. My ancestors were baptised according to IGI at Queenshead General Baptist and the records that I obtained from  http://www.bmdregisters.co.uk/
refer to Northowram General Baptist Meeting House as the location for the information being collected.
Queensbury sits on the border between Halifax and Bradford so the central library at either location could hold the records.

[Holmemoss]

Thank you, Dave.

I have steered clear of bmdregisters as a 'simple' search yields too many possibilities and a charge is made for an 'advanced' search to try and eliminate some of the answers.

Also, it is almost £100 to subscribe through the genealogist web site which is too much for me given the use I should make of it.

[dave the tyke]

a charge is made for an 'advanced' search

It was just a matter of registering with the site to use the advanced search. I must admit I have not used it for some time now and things might have changed.
The fee for a download was about £3:50 and the ones that I accessed allowed me to download a few pages either side of the one I wanted enabling me to get a couple of 'extras'.

[Holmemoss]

Dave, the advanced search now costs 1 credit.