LIST 3 - BAPTISMS - ST PHILLIPS SYDNEY

 
 
There were 1,665 baptisms recorded at St Phillips during this decade, 
meaning on average there were three baptisms per week. Of this number 
158 baptisms refer to children born prior to 1811. 
 
The information recorded for each child includes: 
 date of baptism 
 date of birth
 Christian name
 father's Christian name 
 father's family 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 Christian name
 mother's maiden name
 mother's year of arrival in the colony
 mother's ship of arrival in the colony
 mother's status upon 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 
 reference number
 
The list is presented in chronological order by date of baptism then 
alphabetically by father's surname. 
 
With regard to the fathers, identities of 83% have been found. The 
names of ten fathers were not recorded and the arrival details 
of a further 296 remain unknown.
 
With regard to the mothers, identities of 80% have been found. The 
names of 219 mothers were not recorded and the arrival details 
of a further 121 remain unknown.
 
Seventy three baptisms took place after 1820 when older children came 
to baptism, the latest being Sarah Jane Fielder in 1830 at the age 
of eleven. 
 
There were 66 duplicate entries on the register during the period 
under study reducing the total of individual baptisms to 1,672.
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.
 
When the Reverend William Cowper arrived to take up the 
incumbency of the parish in 1809 he restarted the sequential 
numbering system of baptisms. This new series is designated on the 
list with the letter "B". 
 
Not only this, Cowper divided his baptisms into legitimate and 
illegitimate categories, giving the latter another new numbering 
system. Thus Thomas, the son of Thomas Everstaff & Mary Reed, who as 
baptized on the 17th September 1809, became number one in the list 
of illegitimate births. This illegitimate series is designated 
on the list with the letter "C". This list is helpful to the 
genealogist because it establishes for a fact that at the time of 
the baptism, the parents were not married (and conversely, 
it provides evidence that parents on list B were married). 
 
For some reason in 1812, Cowper started his numbering system again, 
thus James Lane is recorded twice in the register, firstly as the last 
of the old series - number B274 and then again as the first of the 
new series - number D001. Unfortunately in October 1814 Cowper made 
an error in his sequential numbering system and went from baptism 
D356 to D257 instead of D357, this error has not been repeated in 
the list presented here.
 
Also in the St Phillip's register can be found a "Memorandum of 
Private Baptisms" which presumably means that certain baptisms took 
place in peoples private homes rather than in the church itself. 
This list is also of great benefit to the historian because in 
all likelihood, the wealthier people in society at the time were able 
to avail themselves of this service. This list is identified with 
reference numbers starting with the letter "E". 
This practice led to many duplicate entries in the register because 
quite often (66 times in this list) Cowper copied the information 
from his private register to his regular register but not always !
 
In May 1814 Cowper introduced another change in his recording 
practices when he recorded the place of birth as well. This is most 
useful information to the genealogist. As expected the vast majority 
were born in Sydney but Sarah Clarkson was born at Kingsbury in 
Warwickshire, Margaret Freight on Norfolk Island, William Rose at 
the Hawkesbury, Charles Warby at Prospect, George Miller & John Dight 
at Parramatta.
 
Cowper started yet another new register in 1819. This series is 
designated with the letter "F". The last of the old D series was the 
baptism of Catherine Crick on the 27th December 1818. Mary Ann Faney 
was the first of the "F" series on the 3rd January 1819. Series 
F was used until the end of 1825.
 
Interestingly Cowper still kept the old series going for 
illegitimate births, in spite of his new register.
 
Cowper obtained a brand new properly printed church register in 1826, 
where the occupation of the father was now added to the data 
collected and not unreasonably he started yet another numbering 
series.
 
It should be noted that this list contains considerably more 
information than will be found in the original church register, being 
the result of decades of research, principally associated with the 
Pioneer Register Project. Many entries in the church register list 
just the date of baptism and parents names, sometimes only the 
mother's name if the birth was illegitimate.
 
Value added fields in this list include:
 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 Christian name
 mother's year of arrival in the colony
 mother's ship of arrival in the colony
 mother's status upon 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 
 
Richard & Mary Ann Kerkham have the strange annotation that they were 
baptized as Wesleyans at Port Dalrymple in Van Diemens Land!
 
Entries on this list have the reference identifier "SPS" 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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