LIST 10 - BAPTISMS - ST MARYS SYDNEY

 
 
There  were 2,096 baptisms performed at St Mary's Sydney  during the  decade, 
although 177 refer to children born before 1821  and 134  refer  to adult baptisms, 
plus 73 performed after  1830  for children  born between the years 1821 and 
1830. On average  there were about four baptisms performed per week over the 
decade.
 
The information recorded for each baptism prior to 1826 includes: 
 
          date of baptism 
          date of birth
          Christian name
          father's family name 
          father's Christian name 
          father's year of arrival in the colony 
          father's ship of arrival in the colony 
          father's status upon arrival in the colony 
          mother's maiden name
          mother's Christian name
          mother's year of arrival in the colony
          mother's ship of arrival in the colony
          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
          reference number
 
When  Father Therry arrived he had no church building as such  in which to conduct 
his ministry. As he travelled around the  colony he  took his register with him, 
so in a way his  registers  where his  'church'.  The  place of birth details  
giving  a  veritable itinerary  of his travels. This is why it was most  important  
to include this information in the list.
 
The  mother's 'status upon arrival in the colony' column has  had to  be removed 
to make room for the child's place of  birth.  The information  in the deleted 
column is available in any case  from List 1.
 
Various miscellaneous remarks in the register have been  recorded as 'end-notes' 
at the bottom of the list.
 
The  list is presented in chronological order by date of  baptism then 
alphabetically by father's surname. 
 
The information recorded for each baptism after 1826 includes: 
 
          date of baptism 
          date of birth
          Christian name
          father's family name 
          father's Christian name 
          father's year of arrival in the colony 
          father's ship of arrival in the colony 
          mother's maiden name
          mother's Christian name
          mother's year of arrival in the colony
          mother's ship of arrival in the colony
          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 occupation
          reference number
 
After  1826 the 'quality of profession of the father' started  to be  recorded  
in  about half the  cases.  This  necessitated  the father's 'status upon arrival 
in the colony' column being removed to make room for the father's occupation. 
The information in  the deleted column is available in any case from List 1.
 
The  list is presented in chronological order by date of  baptism then 
alphabetically by father's surname. 
 
With regard to the fathers; the names of 19 were not recorded and the arrival 
details of a further 229 remain unknown whilst in  29 cases the ship of arrival 
remains unknown (12%).
 
Nine  hundred  and ninety one were convicts  or  former  convicts (47%),  349 
were soldiers or former soldiers (16%), 74 came  free  (4%) and 95 were colonial 
born (5%). 
 
With regard to the mothers; the names of 27 were not recorded and the arrival 
details of 208 remain unknown whilst in 57 cases  the ship of arrival remains 
unknown (12%).
 
Five  hundred  and  forty six were convicts  or  former  convicts (26%), 537 
came free  (25%) and 334 were colonial born (16%).
 
Five hundred and seventeen (25%) of the births were illegitimate.
 
There  were  102  duplicate entries, which  gives  a  very  clear indication  
of  the  sectarian  divide  between  Protestants  and Catholics  which  existed  
in the colony at  the  time.  Catholic parents  were obviously keen to have their  
children  re-baptized once  a  Catholic priest arrived in the colony.  Many  were  
also duplicates  of  entries in St Mary's  registers,  reflecting  the general 
state of confusion of the record keeping.
 
The  reference  number would direct the reader  to  the  relevant entry  in the 
original source document. For some  reason  numbers 443  to  456  have been 
duplicated. On  the  other  hand  sixteen numbers have been left blank: 
899,900,901,911,912,913,922,927,930,
943,946,956,965,993,1018.
 
There  are  four  series of baptisms in  the  St  Mary's  Archive microfilm  at  
the National Library in Canberra (125,  126,  127, 128)  but  it  is  difficult 
to determine which  if  any  is  the original  and  which  is a transcription. 
The  details  are  very similar but not identical.
 
For  the purpose of this work series "125" has been taken as  the baseline and 
entries from the other three series not appearing in it  have been added with 
the letters "B", "C" & "D"  prefixed  to the  consecutive reference number. 
Although it must be said  that Series  "125" appears least likely to be the 
original because  it has  the  most transcription errors,  most  worryingly  
confusing sponsors with  mothers and occasionally fathers.
 
Series "125" on the microfilm is a list in eight columns:
 
          When baptized
          When born 
          Child's Christian name
          Parent's names 
          Abode
          Quality or profession of father 
          By whom ceremony performed 
          Sponsors 
          
The "When born" column was only recorded after 1826, before  that year,  the  
birth year is assumed to be the same as  the  baptism year  and is indicated 
by double asterices (**) however there  is every chance that this may not be 
correct.
 
Unlike  the  Anglican registers the mothers maiden name  is  also invariably  
recorded but it is not stated if the parents were  in fact  married  or  not.  
 
Up to 1826 only regiments serving in the colony are mentioned  in the "Quality 
or profession of father" column and even after  1826 rarely is this information 
recorded.
 
Sponsors are not reproduced in this list.
 
To add to the confusion and difficulty of trying to decipher  the register,  it  
was  not uncommon for more than one  child  to  be recorded in a single entry, 
making it hard to sort out as to  who was the child, father, mother or sponsors.
 
The swapping of the parents surnames was not uncommon as well  as confusion with 
the Christian names of the child and parents.
 
Unfortunately  often there are no details at all of  the  baptism other than 
the child's name and the date it occurred. Perhaps the original  list  has been 
lost and only  a  partial  transcription survives.
 
After  Father Conolly departed in March 1821, Father  Therry  was the  only 
officiating minister for the whole of the period  under review  but  in  1827 
Father  Daniel  Powers  performed  numerous baptisms. 
 
The  second  list is Series "127" and is  narrative  rather  than columnar.
 
The  large  number  of  adult baptisms is  indicative  of  active proselytizing  
by  the  Catholic  priests.  These  were  normally identified by a lack of sponsors 
and parental details.
 
Theologically speaking it is not possible to be baptized twice so many   of  the  
adult  "baptisms"  in  this  series,  which   are conspicuously absent from the 
first "125" series, are referred to as  being  "received  into  the church"  and  
they  do  not  have sponsors.
 
The third list is Series "128" and is also narrative rather  than columnar and 
is very similar to Series "127".
 
Entries on this list have the reference identifier "SMS" 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. 
 
As explained in Volume 3 Father Conolly performed 31 baptisms  in Sydney  in 
1821 before departing for Hobart in March  and  taking his  church register with 
him. Since all births were  assumed  to have taken place before 1821 they have 
not been repeated in  this volume.


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