Separate registers for Baptists?

[greenvalley]

I have been looking for registers for the Anderson family of Elgin for years and only today did I spot that they were Baptists, well at least one of them was - he appears in a directory as a member of the Baptist church.

Would that mean that they may not appear in the traditional parish records?

Greenvalley

[GR2]

From 1855, civil registration includes all denominations. Before that Church of Scotland parish registers contain baptisms, marriages and sometimes burials for its members and their families. In some places these parish registers occasionally include details of people of other denominations. The registers of other denominations (where they survive) might be held locally or centrally by the church or local council archives. The on-line catalogue of the National Archives of Scotland will tell you if they now hold them.

Have you discovered when the Baptist Church came to Moray? The Libindx site is often useful for this area.

[DORAN54]

also i think baptists dont have baby baptisms only adults?

[Forfarian]

What date was this directory?

[behindthefrogs]

What was recorded in which register depends very much on the dates that you are searching for and which event is involved.  For example there was much closer control on where marriages could take place than on baptisms or burials.  You need to also understand the practices of the denomination involved.

In a baptist church any baptism will be an adult baptism, but many churches kept a register of births.
 

[greenvalley]

The register was the Scottish Post Office Register of 1852 - it mentions Lewis Anderson as a merchant and member of the Baptist Church.

However, I just realised that my Lewis died in 1849, so it can't be him. I also have a baptism record for his son Eric in 1818 - so it must be another Lewis Anderson being a merchant in Elgin.

I never knew that Baptists weren't baptized as children. I guess I was just hoping to find the elusive Andersons. All I know is that Lewis Anderson was the 4th son of James sometime farmer in Kinnedar and grandson of Leonard, late farmer in Kinnedar. This information is on a gravestone and I have asked about them before on Rootschat. I just hoped that the Baptist thing would be a new lead, seems I was wrong.

Thank for the help though

Greenvalley

PS I just noted that the entry doesn't mention a baptism: it reads Lewis Anderson merchant in Elgin and his spouse Jane Sutherland had a child born called Erick Godfather Erick Sutherland, godmother Mrs Kelly

So could this still be a Baptist registration?

[behindthefrogs]

PS I just noted that the entry doesn't mention a baptism: it reads Lewis Anderson merchant in Elgin and his spouse Jane Sutherland had a child born called Erick Godfather Erick Sutherland, godmother Mrs Kelly

So could this still be a Baptist registration?

The mention of a godmother and godfather means that this was a baptism.  Further than that you won't find godmothers and godfathers in the baptist church or many of the other non-conformist churches.  So this definitely wasn't a baptist registration.

[greenvalley]

It is just that the other 6 entries on the same page and in the same handwriting read

had a child born (date) baptized called (name)............ witnesses............

the only one different is the one of Eric Anderson, where the word baptized is missing and the word witnesses is replaced by godfather and godmother

[Forfarian]

I am not convinced that there was a Baptist church in Elgin at that time.

Besides the Church of Scotland the Statistical Account of Elgin (1790s) mentions Seceders, Episcopalians, Roman Catholics and Methodists.

The New Statistical Account of Elgin (1830s)  mentions the United Associate Synod of the Secession Church, The Associate Synod of Original Seceders, Congregational Union, Episcopalian, and Catholic.

LIBINDX http://libindx.moray.gov.uk/mainmenu.asp has subject headings for Congregational, Episcopal, Evangelical Union, Free Church, Latter Day Saints, Mission Churches, Plymouth Brethren, Presbyterian, Secession, United Free Church of Scotland, United Presbyterian, Church of the Young and Independent.

Lachlan Shaw's History of the Province of Moray, as updated in 1883 by J S Gordon, lists the Protestant ministers of the Church of Scotland, Free Church, United Presbyterian Church, and Episcopal Church.

None of these mentions a Baptist congregation, minister/pastor or chapel in Elgin.