I put up a link to a version of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, 1662 (BCP 1662). Not sure how exact this transcript is but it does have some useful information in it. Explanations about the requirement for godparents in a baptism, for example. Julie, normally the BCP required a week’s notification before the baptism. Usual practice for Anglicans seems to have been the first or second Sunday after the birth, so if the birth fell too close to the first Sunday, then likely would be done on the following one. But to make it clear, that’s the “normal” practice. If a child was very ill as a new born infant, then the baptism could be done at home (if the child appeared to be in danger of dying). Alternatively, it might be delayed until the child was better. Other reasons could alter the normal practice, but a ‘working assumption’ would be that the birth happened a week or two before the date of the baptism. Children baptized over the age of 12 could be labelled as ‘adults’. Have you looked at the original parish register entry itself? Sometimes there are notes added that won’t have been copied out in later transcriptions. Burials would normally be within a short period of time after death (days and not weeks), with exceptions of course. Often, in this early period, the burial date is the only reference to the time of death that you’re going to find (unless the death generated other records or the date of death was noted in the original register entry itself). Anyone else with thoughts on this?
Question of timing of burials and baptisms (Church of England, 17th century)
April 20th, 2011 · 2 Comments
Tags: Parish Records
2 responses ↓
1 Kristina // Apr 21, 2011 at 8:02 pm
I can’t speak to early American research, but in terms of England, I think early Parish Records can supply a great deal more lateral information than Civil Registration certificates, even if birth date (and specific family address) remains obscure. Baptisms can be particularly revealing in terms of suggeting economic status. It’s useful to keep an eye out for how often a family is choosing to baptise and marry at Christmas or on another feast day — it can seem romantic to us, but points to the bread-winner not being able to afford to take a day off work; a holiday meant no pay in any event, so would be a case of husbanding resources. The earlier one goes, the fewer stats were entered — it’s really in the 17th century that one starts to see father’s profession and mother’s given name regularly recorded — but in the 16th it’s also useful to keep an eye out for multiple baptisms. Not all of these will be the result of multiple births, but can signal parents waiting — sometimes even until they believe their families to be complete — to minimise the dues payable. One can’t safely assume a birth year, let alone, date, from a baptism, but I absolutely agree one is looking at a period of only days before a burial. My lot were C of E, and later New Connexion Methodists, and where I have been able to establish a date of death, seem to have had the custom of burying their dead on the third day, but this may well not have been standard. A final useful practice is to cast one’s eye over surrounding pages in the death register, to get a sene of whether there’s an epidemic in play. Burials took place pretty sharpish at those times!
2 admin // May 2, 2011 at 12:42 am
Excellent insight. Sometimes we get so focussed on the ‘pedigree’ information in these records that we miss all that they really have to tell us.
Sorry for the silence on here, but have been busy tying up loose ends before we head for the UK. Have lists of medieval and Tudor sites to visit, but will try to post from there as the days go by.
Kristina, I tried to send you your p/w but for some reason it bounced, can you email me directly again at some point?
take care all!
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