Genealogy Chat

I've found with a few of my families they seem to be born in one town/village and when I find them in IGI they were christened in another village a few miles away. It just seems a little strange as to why they would travel when presumably they would have a church on their doorstep. Has anyone else found this? Carole

Some of my family had all their children in one church, but there was another on their doorstep. They did this because of the religion. The church on their doorstep was CofE, but the one the children were born into was Baptist.

Carole It's to do with Parish's I have rellies born Broughton which is in Northamptonshire but closer to Kettering (northamptonshire) Sometimes they are listed as Kettering, Sometimes Broughton........ Something else to make our lives difficult! Elly

In Yorkshire (for example) the parishes used to be VERY large. The village where they lived may only have had a 'chapel of ease' and all the parishioners had to go to the parish church (which may have been in a neighbouring village) for baptism, marriages and burials. An example of this is Silkstone, W Yorks. We think of it today as a medium sized village. However at the beginning of the 19th C the parish of Silkstone covered many of the surrounding villages AND large parts of Barnsley as well! I found it very confusing at first!! Anne

Thanks for the replies everyone. I've also found in some families 2 or 3 children being christened at the same time, a job lot so to speak. A few of them have even been 8 or 9 years old! which has been confusing as I wondered if I had the right person. Carole

If it was in the 18th century and they were non-conformists, they might have travelled to have their children baptised in the chapel of their choice. Non-conformists were forbidden from worshipping within so many miles of large towns and set up their places of worship in rural spots. I have three ancestors who were born in Whitechapel, London but were baptised in a South Essex village. Fortunately, their father was the preacher and made meticulous notes in the parish register, including their time of birth.

Yes, Carol this is quite common too. I think they got a bit lax and then the vicar came and chased them up. Perhaps he gave a discount for a 'job lot'! Anne

We have found that sometimes a couple would take their child to be baptised at the wife's previous parish, which was often where the couple had married too. My Forest of Dean relatives were born in Gloucestershire but the children were baptised just down the hill at the nearest church in walking distance. It just happened to be over the county boundary and in Herefordshire. It was only when visited and we walked there ourselves, that it all made sense.

If you have relatives with common names (John Smith! etc) then it is possible you have the wrong entry. But its also possible that people had the child christened in a parish where they had other relatives (lots of women returned to their mums to have first baby, etc) or maybe where they had friends who were godparents. Or they may have just taken a dislike to the local vicar and vice versa. Or perhaps the date of the baptism coincided with another family/friends get together. Remember 'a few miles away' to us, was probably a regular walking trip for them. nell