Cross (x) on an Anglican Baptismal Record

[M_ONeill]

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on what the 'x' next to this Church of England baptismal entry from the village of Rock, Worcestershire on 12th Feb 1775 might mean.

My first thought was obviously illegitimacy, but thought that the way the parents' names were written ('Edward & Mary Munk') made it seem more likely they were a married couple. Looking through other records written by the same hand, I then found that they use the term 'base' to refer to illegitimate children anyway.

I have found other entries so marked, but they seem quite rare. Prior to this Munk family entry, the first entry I can find with a similar ink cross is the baptism of Robert, son of George and Mary Allen, 7th February 1768.

If anyone has any ideas as to what this might mean, I would love to hear them!

[rosie99]

Maybe just the mark of the Clergy to indicate where he has reached with transcriptions to BT’s

[maddys52]

I agree with Rosie, perhaps just a place marker.

[Spelk]

If you look at the thickness of the lines of the X mark and the lettering of the baptisms details it shows that it was done by different pens or hands. So just added later as a marker as said; or maybe by some genealogist marking members of his/her family.
Whoever did it should have their wrist slapped. If they did need to mark the record they should have done it with pencil.

[LizzieL]

Not very obvious for a place marker, but a random date in mid-Feb?. I have usually seen a line drawn across and a clear statement underneath saying that the above records have been copied and signed by vicar and another official such as parish clerk or church warden. As was suggested it could be a genealogist putting a mark by a record they wanted to highlight. The parish records would remain stored at the church until the county records offices were established which I think weren't until well into the 20th century. I suppose it would depend on the vicar how much access he gave the general public access to records in his care. I doubt he would allow unsupervised access.
Or maybe William at a later date needed a record of his baptism (proof of age, proof of residence?) To get this he would have contacted the then incumbent of Rock and asked him to write out a baptism certificate. The vicar would search the register for the correct record, maybe mark it with a cross so he could find it easily later, then go and get his quill pen, sharpen it, mix up his, find a sheet of paper (or pre-printed forms if they existed) and write out the required certificate.
Some time ago I was researching some families in Essex and took out a sub to SEAX. When the registers were scanned by ERO, they also included some extraneous documents which were with the registers. Several of these were letters to vicars asking if they could search their registers for baptisms of children who would be adults at the time the search was requested.

[M_ONeill]

Thanks for the replies everyone! I hadn't considered transcription or other related marks, they make a lot of sense!

[LizzieL]

deleted, my earlier post seemed to post itself again
Maybe I hit quote when I was trying to read reply. The heat's making my fingers sticky !