LIST 4 - BAPTISMS - ST JOHNS PARRAMATTA

 
 
There were 910 baptisms performed at St Johns Parramatta during the decade, 
although 84 refer to children born before 1821 and 1 possible adult baptism, 
plus 48 performed after 1830 for children born between the years 1821 and 
1830. On average there were about two baptisms performed per week over the 
decade.
 
The information recorded for each baptism includes: 
 
 date of baptism 
 date of birth
 Christian name
  father's family name 
 father's Christian name 
 mother's maiden name
 mother's Christian name
 parent's civil status at the time of the child's birth
 parent's marital status at the time of the child's birth
 parent's year & country/church of marriage where applicable 
 child's place of birth
 father's arrival status/occupation
 officiating minister
 reference number
 
The list is presented in chronological order by date of baptism then 
alphabetically by father's surname. 
 
Because there were so many different officiating ministers it was decided to 
add this column to the list but in order to make room for this extra column, 
it meant omitting the arrival details of the parents which are available in 
List 1 in any case.
 
At St Johns, prior to 1826, the place of birth was recorded in most instances 
so it was decided to include this information in a separate column. The 
occupation of the father on the other hand was not recorded until 1826 so 
for the years 1821 to 1825 the arrival status of the father has been retained 
and transferred to this column.
 
With regard to the fathers; the names of three were not recorded and the arrival 
details of a further 80 remain unknown whilst in 59 cases the ship of arrival 
remains unknown (15%).
 
Four hundred and ninety nine were convicts or former convicts (55%), 50 
were soldiers or former soldiers (5%), 174 came free  (19%) and 149 were colonial 
born (16%).
 
With regard to the mothers; the names of 62 (7%) were not recorded and 
the arrival details of 210 remain unknown whilst in 34 cases the ship of arrival 
remains unknown (27%).
 
Three hundred and nine were convicts or former convicts (35%), 208 came free 
(23%) and 343 were colonial born (37%).
 
One hundred and ninety two (21%) of the births were illegitimate.
 
There were ten duplicate entries.
 
The Rev Samuel Marsden continued as resident chaplain throughout the decade. 
In fact he remained at St Johns until his death in 1838.
 
Being the senior chaplain of the colony Rev Marsden no doubt had many 
responsibilities both in the colony as well as his missionary work 
in New Zealand, thus during the decade he was assisted by several other 
chaplains; Joseph Kenyon, Richard Hill, Thomas Hassall, Robert Cartwright, 
Henry Willliams, Frederick Wilkinson, William Garrard, John Espie Keane, 
William Cowper, William Williams, William Yates, James Norman, Charles 
P N Wilton, Elijah Smith, John Vincent, Alfred N Brown, Charles Dickinson, 
Robert Forest and even on many occasions by Archdeacon Thomas Scott. In fact 
of the 910 baptisms performed during the decade, Marsden is definitely known 
to have performed only 342 (or 38%). Although it should be noted that whenever 
the baptism of a child of a high ranking government official or military 
officer or some other person of renown, it was invariable Marsden who performed 
the ceremony.
 
The information recorded for each baptism in the original church register was: 
the Christian name of the child, Christian names of parents and surname of the 
father, abode, date of birth, date of baptism, occasionally comments and who 
performed the ceremony. The maiden name of the mother was only ever recorded 
where the parents were not married.
 
When the new preprinted forms were issued in 1826 the "profession or quality" 
of the father was also recorded but any comments were omitted. The parish clerk 
filled in the form which was then signed by the chaplain but on quite a few 
occasions the chaplain "forgot" to sign and it is not known for certain who 
performed the ceremony.
 
This was also the occasion to re-initialize the reference numbers.
 
There were no less than three Robert Lethbridges in the register and all were 
married to a wife names Mary !
 
Where the father's surname has a second name separated by a slash '/', the surname 
after the slash is how the name was spelt in the original document or if second 
name is substantially different it refers to an alias. Where the mother's surname 
has a second name separated by a slash, the surname after the slash is her 
married name at the time of the recording being made if she was married more 
than once. 
 
The reference number would direct the reader to the relevant entry in the 
original source document. Entries 2036 (March 1824), 7187 (October 1825) & 1022 
(December 1825) are very strange and entry number B063 was omitted.
 
Entries on this list have the reference identifier "SJP" on List 1. To locate 
an entry on this list; firstly an alphabetical search on the name would be 
made on List 1 from which the date of baptism would be retrieved, secondly using 
the appropriate date, the baptism would be located on this list and finally 
an alphabetical search on the name would be made on the baptismal date if 
there should be more than one entry for that date. 

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