Was it common for people to be baptized BEFORE they were born ? ;)

[Sinann]

Temporarily free transcribed Irish baptism records, they are permanently free on http://registers.nli.ie/
Just in case anyone happens on this thread who doesn't know.

[kob3203]

Temporarily free transcribed Irish baptism records, they are permanently free on http://registers.nli.ie/
Just in case anyone happens on this thread who doesn't know.

Yes indeed - I should've been more specific  .
The transcriptions, which I'm not usually keen on as mentioned in an earlier post, make the search process much easier. Manually searching the NLI scans when you're not sure of month or parish isn't my favourite pastime !

[kob3203]

Temporary free access to Ancestry's transcribed RC parish records just expired.

I've been busy making the most of it, and found that most of the baptism records of my Irsih ancestors were dated earlier than their official birth. So it does seem to be a rather common practice.

On a sidenote there was one 1865 baptism for which I couldn't find a matching civil birth.The curious thing was that I noticed there was a '+' at the start and end of the entry in the RC baptism register, and I'd read that '+' was an abbreviation for Latin defuncti, i.e.deceased...

More here "Does a + against a child's name in a baptism register indicate the child died ?" - http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=765684.0

[dathai]

see last paragraph ''Other information'' near bottom of page
http://www.understandingyourancestors.com/ar/parishbirth.aspx

[conahy calling]

Interesting link - thank you Dathai

[kob3203]

Thanks - nice to see confirmation that it's really a possibility (i.e. the + against the entry indicating that the child died shortly after baptism).

[iolaus]

I've come across this a couple of times. E.g:

Bridget Brown, baptised 23 May 1869, born 24 Jun 1869 (birth registered on 5 Aug 1869)
- Civil birth record: https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/details-civil/8457154262994 (the second entry)
- Baptism record: http://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000632227#page/101/mode/1up (halfway down right hand page)

What's the most likely explanation ?

In your case - there are 42 days between claimed date of birth and the date of registration - the maximum you can have without a fine.

I suspect the mother lied to avoid it (my own great, great grandmother did - but confessed to her son in his 20s why his birth certificate was wrong compared to the date he celebrated on) - but didn't lie to the priest

[Rosinish]

1) If I already have a civil birth record I don't look for a baptism record before the date of birth.
2) If I already have a baptism record I don't look for a birth record after the date of baptism.

Unless this is just a case of drunken father Jack Crotty of Craggy Island Powerstown getting the dates wrong in the register, then I need to rethink those assumptions.

I think the Priest either had too much wine or was dyslexic & forgot which column was for which event     

Annie

[Redroger]

I know of a case in my own family whether the father of the child was so excited he registered the wrong date which was later. The mother registered vthe next sibling and no doubt reminded him of his error for the next 30 years!! Like Last of the summer wine sometimes!