LIST 13 - BAPTISMS - ST THOMAS PORT MACQUARIE

 
 
St Thomas  Port Macquarie was founded in 1824 becoming  the  12th Church of England 
parish established in the colony. There were 47 baptisms  performed  during the 
years 1824 to  1830,  although  4 refer to children born before 1821,   plus 
4 performed after 1830 for  children  born between the years 1821 and 1830.  On  
average there  was  about one baptism performed every ten weeks over  the decade.
 
The  information recorded for each child is exactly as  described for  the  pre 
1826 presentation of St Phillips Sydney in  List  3. Since all the places of 
birth were recorded as Port Macquarie and since  the numbers are small it was 
decided to continue with  the pre  1826  layout and list the known father's 
occupation  as  end notes for all post 1826 entries.
 
The  list is presented in chronological order by date of  baptism then 
alphabetically by father's surname. 
 
With  regard  to the fathers; the arrival details of  six  remain unknown whilst 
in four cases the ship of arrival remains  unknown (22%).
 
Twenty  were convicts or former convicts (38%), 20 were  soldiers or former 
soldiers (40%) and 5 came free  (10%).
 
With regard to the mothers; the names of 7 were not recorded  and the  arrival 
details of 9 remain unknown whilst in 2  cases   the ship of arrival remains 
unknown (22%).
 
Nine were convicts or former convicts (18%), 23 came free   (46%) and 9 were 
colonial born (18%).
 
Four (8%) of the births were illegitimate.
 
The  first baptism was performed on the 2nd May 1824 by  the  Rev Hassall.
 
The Rev Thomas Hassall was appointed as the first chaplain to the new  parish 
of St Thomas Port Macquarie in 1824 where  he  stayed until December 1827 when 
the Rev John Cross took over in February 1828. 
 
According to the historian of a centenary history of St  Thomas's published in 
1924, the church building is the third oldest in the country although it is not 
certain that this is true.
 
Unfortunately  the microfilm of the register for the  years  1824 and  1825  and  
not been found nor consulted  but  fortunately  a reasonable  approximation of 
the entries can be  recreated  from the  Kerrison  James Index. The only 
information in  this  period which would not be certain is the chaplain but most 
certainly was Rev Hassall in all cases.
 
When  the new standardized registers were introduced in 1826  the information 
recorded for each baptism was; date of baptism,  date of  birth, Christian name 
of child, Christian and family name  of father, Christian name of mother (family 
name only when the child was  illegitimate),  the  place  of  residence  of  the   
family, quality or profession of the father  and minister performing  the 
ceremony.
 
The  reference  number would direct the reader  to  the  relevant entry   in  
the  original  source  document.  Interestingly   the numbering system was 
re-initialized in 1828.
 
Entries on this list have the reference identifier "STPM" 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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