Age at christening

[cg fan]

What would be an average age for a child to be christened. Is it at all possible, that a child born in 1796 might not be christened until 1802?

My 3x Great Grandmother, Rachel Waterhouse was born in Staveley in 1796. FamilySearch has a christening on March 7th, 1802 for Rachel Waterhouse, daughter of Edmund and Esther. This is the only one I found for Rachel. Edmund died on June 8th, 1801, would Rachel have been christened after her father's death?

Are Edmund and Esther, Rachel's parents?

cg.

[BonnieDownUnder]

Hi, I have personally found some of my ancestors not christened until their adulthood and that usually occurred as they were to be married in a Church and needed to be christened to do so. 
Or the parents didn't have the money to christen Rachel at the time of her birth, live near a church or a vicar wasn't available. 

[cg fan]

Thank you for your reply. I thought it might be possible that they were her parents, until recently, when another descendant put doubt in my mind.

cg.

[Derbysderek]

It was a very common practice..often several members of the family would be baptised on the same day..particularly in  village that did not have its own priest. Sometimes baptisms were "stored up" until it was that village's turn for a visit. I have met several instances of children being baptised alongside siblings with an age range of as much as fourteen years.
The trouble is that this practice, and baptism entries in PR's often give no indication of actual birthdate....people often assume that siblings baptised on the same day are twins or triplets..or more!..you have to beware, and try to find alternative sources..........which is easy if the baptisms took place from about 1825 onwards.........the children thus baptised will probably still be with their parents on the 1841 Census..giving an approximate age............again..early Censuses were not to be relied upon giving ages....the later ones are much more accurate.......hope this helps.

Derek.

[cg fan]

Thank you for your reply, it looks like I now have some more searching to do.

Thank you Derek and Bonnie for your help.
cg.

[sunflower]

Hi cg

Have you checked the Staveley one place study site?

http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~spire/staveley/index.htm

If you check other baptisms to Edmund (Edward) & Esther you will see there were two children baptised in 1802, but one was in March and the other in April, which is a bit strange.

Carol

[iluleah]

I have a family who baptised their 8 of their 10 children in the village church, all baptised within a few days/week of birth and all had their birth date written in too, however one was baptised at 4 years old and another not at all, well not in that church or locally who was born just after a sibling of the same name died/buried

This may help http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~spire/staveley/

[cg fan]

Hi Carol and iluleah,

I have been looking on the link that you both mentioned, and that is where my problem started. I assumed my Rachel b 1796 according to the census, (she died in 1866) was Edmund and Esther's daughter, christened in 1802. But it's been brought to my notice, that there was another Rachel Waterhouse born in Staveley. Both Rachel's married within 3 years of each other, both in Staveley.
One in 1821 to William Clayton and my Rachel in 1824 to William Siddall.

I can only find that one christening record for Rachel Waterhouse, and most people's trees seem to have the Rachel who married  William Clayton, as Edmund and Esther's daughter.

So then I tried to find alternate parents.
Another descendant thinks maybe, her parents were either William Waterhouse b 1741 who married Mary Jackson in Staveley in 1791, or his son William Waterhouse b 1766 and Mary Coup who married in Staveley in 1792.

Then the problem is two William's married to two Mary's. Both Mary's I was told were born in Bolsover. Mary Jackson abt 1762 and Mary Coup abt 1770.

Thank you both for your help, the search goes on.

cg.

[johnxyz]

My advice at this stage would be to take a big step back. It is unlikey there is a single magic bullet that solves the problem, it's more a question of looking at the overall picture. So gather all the data. I advocate putting it all one ( often large!) sheet of paper, as I find it helps to start linking associated elements.

Do not trust other's conclusions. I can quote many examples where a large number of trees go one way, but after detailed research I am convinced they are wrong. All the large number of trees means is that someone jumped to a conclusion, then others copied it.

I would also want to go back to the original data. There is an oddity in the baptisms. Edmund died June 1801. The March 1802 baptism does not list him as deceased, April does. Doubly odd if performed by and /or recorded by the same person.

It is noteworthy that Edward / Edmund and Esther have baptisms for Mary 1796 (buried 1797)  & 1799, and John 1797.

Ages from census are not always reliable. I would want to see each succesive census (41, 51, 61) and age at burial and how consistent they are. The general evidence is that people in later life may overstate their age, but rarely understate it. ( Remember 1841 may be rounded down to next lowest multiple of 5)   

I would also want to find the marriages for the 2 possible sets of parents. Then for each pair, their parents' names and all their children's names. Naming patterns are rarely definitive, but can help to build a picture. 

Also look at witnesses to the 1821 & 1824 marriages. Again not definitive, but again may shed some light.

I would also want to see all the children from the 1821 and 1824 marriages, and think about mother's age. Childbirth after about 45 is unlikely.

Is there any evidence either the 1821 or 1824 Rachel Waterhouse was a widow? It is an alternative explanation that needs to be eliminated.

Good luck

John