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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