Handcross records

[Roy G]

Your Non Conformist births may be a bit late for this but Cuckfield and Bolney (just outside Handcross) were once centres for Quakerism.  Quaker records for the area were kept across the border in Capel, Surrey, but I think they were also like some other NC religions, and did not perform baptisms either.    Roy G

[mandyj51]

Hi Roy,

thanks for the post. I get so confused by all the different non conformist ways of registering/not registering births. Someone said in an earlier post that births had to be registered within 6 weeks, but I know that some of the Whiting births weren't recorded until 1837, some 9-18 years after the actual births. I think I'm right in thinking that many Non Conformist births weren't recorded until years later at the Dissenters library (Dr. Williams library?) and were registered just to provide evidence of the birth/ the individual's existence, just as we use our birth certificates for ID now. I know this was done by William's 2nd wife after his death, which could explain why there are no records at the dissenters library for the births of William's children from his first marriage to Hannah as she had died by 1819. (Was it more the mother's 'job' to visit the Dissenters Library?) As I cannot find any records in any transcribed registers other than in the Dissenters register for any of the births this suggests that maybe none of the births were recorded at the time? Or the registers they were recorded in simply weren't handed in despite the 1840 Non-Parochial Registers Act?

William's son by William and Hannah - also called William - registered his children's birth in a congregational chapel, so as hugatree suggested earlier, I think William Snr was most likely a congregationalist. As the chapel wasn't there when William's children with Hannah were born that could explain why I am not finding the births recorded. I think I now need to work along the lines of William being a congregationalist and look more into that. I'll try and locate the nearest congregationalist place of worship to Slaugham at that time to see if I can come up with anything. It's a new avenue to explore.

[sillgen]

Hi Mandy
You need to avoid the use of the word "registered" to describe church entries.  That may be what is confusing us all - and you!  We all tend to assume that registering births only happened after civil registration started in 1837 ie those entries held at the General Record Office with certificates issued as we have today.  Prior to that date only baptisms in a church give a record of a child.    Some non conformist churches do not do infant baptism - people are baptised as adults which is what seems to have happened in your case.
Andrea

[mandyj51]

Hi Andrea,

sorry. I don't mean to confuse anyone. I am still getting used to the terminology. Henceforth the word will not pass my lips again!

Kind regards,
Mandy

[sillgen]

Good girl!!  When I am next in Cuckfield Museum I will see what they have that might help.  I think Chichester will be a better bet for a visit though as they will have all the records - not just Cuckfield ones.
Andrea

[Roy G]

I know it is confusing, many of my family were Baptists.  You would think with a name like that, Baptists at least would baptise their kids at birth.  But no, most (except those who were sickly and thought to be unlikely to survive) were not baptised until they were in their teens or almost adults.   Roy G

[lizdb]

It is because it is not a case of "baptising their kids.."

Baptism in a Baptist Church takes place at the request of the person being baptised, therefore does not take place until someone is old enough to make their own decision about their own beliefs. It is often referred to as 'believer's baptism' - because someone chooses to be baptised because they have chosen to believe. it is not something done to them based on someone else's belief or tradition.

To family historians and genealogists this is a pain, I know, as we associate infant baptism as a useful record of a birth, or as near as we can get to it, and rely on the vicars' records for our sources.  These records were probably never intended for use in this way at the time! But they are invaluable to our reseach now.
But certainly when someone is baptised as a believer in a Baptist Church, the event has absolutely no connection with their birth, and we, the family history rersearchers, should not make the mistake of thinking that it is or should be.

[John915]

Good evening,

A little more for you,
1. I was wrong, the Zoar Baptist chapel does have some burials although I don't recall ever seeing any headstones. They are probably all fairly old so will ask Paster Bradstock if I see him.
2. The chapel that used to stand opposite was Wesleyan.
3. There was also at one time another place of worship beside the Baptist Chapel, Plymouth Bretheren.
4. The Roman Catholic Church in Staplefield may have been a chapel of some description before it became RC, will look into that one.
5. I incorrectly described the two parish churches as having graveyards, they don't. They have churchyards, apparently there is a legal difference all to do with ownership. Graveyards are public burial grounds not necessarily with a place of worship attached. This I found out when enquiring as to where non-conformists would normally be buried particularly at the time we are looking at.
So we may be looking at a possibility of the burials being some distance from Handcross at a public burial ground which was open at that time.
These days that usually means Worth crematorium.

John915

PS. Further to lizdb, in many Baptist chapels it means you have to become a member of the church, non-members may still attend services but can't take communion. You also have to be an adult usually over 16, and you have to stand and make a declaration of devotion to be accepted. OH is a Baptist and has been through all this.

[sillgen]

The cemetery at Cuckfield is actually a public one - albeit perceived by many as the church graveyard.  The burial registers from 1855 onwards have been put online by the parish council who run it.  There is a link from their website. 
I am getting confused as to what dates we are looking for but the deaths may show up in Cuckfield.
Andrea