Age at Baptism

[willow154]

Hi again,
Could have been the God Sibs.
I'll tell you more in a few minutes, just have to do a few replies, sorry.
Paulene

[willow154]

Ok back - if anyone is still there
We recently has gentleman who came to do a talk at our family history group.  He was a lecturer at one of the universities, and his research was all on births and baptism, and birthing. He was very interesting and very entertaining. Fortunately someone typed up all the notes and I have them here in front of me.
Trouble is it could keep us going all night!
God sib - their job was to make sure all was done correctly as it says in the Bible
Talk was called Birth and Baptism in the 1800s by the way.
Paulene

[willow154]

Apparently as soon as the baby was born it was taken from the mother and midwife and given to certain ladies who had good-standing in the village. These were known as the Siblings of God... God Sibs.
It was their job to make sure the mother experienced pain/sorrow.
They were sympathetic, and brought news of village life to the confined mother, they told her about the happenings of the past few weeks. They gossiped.
If the chidld was illegitimate, the gossips(God Sibs) had to try to find out the name of the father. They also had to sex the child. There was often uncertainty about which sex the newborn is. If it could not be decided by the time of baptism the child was often given a name which would suit both sexeseg. Asa or Martha/Matthew
The gossips often suggested names for the child.
Let me know if you want any more.
Paulene

[Tricia_2]

Mum told me that, when she first took me to see my paternal grandmother, she wouldn't let us in ~ because she said that I hadn't been 'churched'.

Mum told her that a priest had come to the hospital to bless all the new babies, so all was well and I could visit the family. 

[willow154]

Hi Tricia,
How long ago would that have been?
Paulene

[Tricia_2]

1956 ~ it would have been an RC priest.

[willow154]

Not long ago, then.
just been reading a bit more - actually the God Sibs didn't take the baby to church.
The Gossips examined, washed and wiped the baby before handing it back to its mother. If the baby had an easily identifiable abnormality it was drowned. They did not have 'monsters' in Victorian times.
Horrible isn't it!
The bit about the midwifes is even worse.
Paulene

[barrowboy]

The bit about the midwifes is even worse.

Paulene

Fascinating, dont leave us in suspense,

Barrowboy

[willow154]

Morning Elaine,
This is the bit you'll be interested in:
The mother wanted to be present at her child's Baptism. As she was not allowed out for 4 weeks, often the Baptism is 5 weeks after birth.
If the child is not expected to for 4 weeks, then it received a private Baptism. This was usually carried out by the midwife not the priest.
A child was not baptised twice. It would be brought to church to be publicly shown to the congregation and received in to the church.

Going round in circles a bit, I'm afraid. Like I said my husbnd's ancestors (Nonconformists) were baptised by the ministers - all fairly soon afterwards, and the church members lived all around Nottingham, so they were pretty mobile. I'm going to dig out some of my rellies (Cof E, and Methodists) to see what happened in their cases.
Sorry if I'm confusing you 
Kind regards,
Paulene