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  1. #1
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    Default Birth and Baptism

    I've been trawling through the records of The Irish Family History Foundation for 7 children - born from 1879 to 1890. The birth records often also quote a baptism date a few days or weeks after the birth but there is often a later (by several years) baptism record.

    It seems that the first child was baptised shortly after birth. The second child was born 1882 but not baptised until 1890. The following four children were born 1883 - 1888 and baptised shortly after their birth but there is a second, additional baptism record for each of the younger five in 1890 when they were baptised with the youngest of the brood.

    Would a child be baptised twice - was this usual?

    I'm imagining a scenario where each child was born and baptised fairly quickly. Then, the 'last' one was born and they all trooped off together to do it all again, together.

    Audrey

  2. #2
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    It would not be normal to baptise a child twice. What is more likely is that the first child died and the family re-used the name on a later birth. That was very common in the 19th century and earlier. It was important to keep a family name alive, literally.

    To test that in this case, I’d search for a death of the first child between the two dates.
    ELWYN

  3. #3
    NicoUK
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    Also worth mentioning perhaps is that two baptisms sometimes took place because parents were of different religions and the child was baptised in both religions, either soon after birth or after conversion of one parent at a later date.

  4. #4
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    I know the children baptised 'twice' did not die so I think the matter of parents being of different religions may be the case here. Mother was Roman Catholic but I'm pretty sure father wasn't. Roman Catholic is mentioned on some of the records and not on others. As grown-ups the children sometimes referred to themselves (on forms etc.) as Roman Catholic but other times as Church of England.

  5. #5
    NicoUK
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    I found mine at:

    https://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/

    which is a free resource covering Carlow, Cork & Ross, Dublin and Kerry and sometimes has images of the register page

  6. #6
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    I have now noticed that the children baptised a few weeks after their birth do not have Roman Catholic mentioned specifically in the record. The youngest child was born in January 1890 and died in August 1890. In December 1890 the older children were baptised 'en masse' and Roman Catholic is specifically mentioned. I'm guessing this was some sort of 'reaction' to the loss of the youngest child and, perhaps, the need of their mother (a Roman Catholic, I think) to formalise and confirm the children into her faith?

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