Help with deciphering occupation and conflicting baptism records please.

[erica236]

Can anyone decipher this occupation on a baptism record please.  I know the person was actually a bricklayer so am not sure what this says!

Also, I am confused! There were actually three baptisms for this child (Thomas Greaves). One on 2nd August 1863, Leeds St Peter, birth given as 4th June 1863. Father Bricklayer.

A second on the same day at Leeds St. Saviour with the unreadable occupation - no birth date.

A third on 26th May 1863, Leeds St Saviour with a P at the side (private baptism?) Father Bricklayer. so this was actually before the birth date according to the St Peter baptism.

All three give the same address and parents but why have three seperate baptisms?

Was it possible to have a baptism before the birth if it was unlikely that the child would survive or could it have just been a mistaken birth entry?

Thank you for your help,
Heather.

[ShaunJ]

overlooker

[erica236]

I have confusingly found three baptisms for the same child - Thomas Greaves born in 1863 to William and Jane Ann Greaves, Elam Street, Leeds. Father's occupation bricklayer.

The first was on 26th May 1863, Leeds St Saviour with a P at the side (private baptism?)
 
The second was on 2nd August 1863, Leeds St Peter. The birth date was shown as 4th June 1863 which was after the date of the first baptism.

The third was on the same day (2nd August) but at Leeds St. Saviour. Father's occupation was given as overlooker, rather than bricklayer, and no birth date was given but the address and parents were the same. The same curate performed both the baptisms at St. Saviour's.

The birth index gives his birth as April/May/June.

Even if the birth date given by St. Peter's is incorrect, why would a child have three baptisms?

Thank you for your help,
Heather.

[erica236]

Thank you,

Would he have "overlooked" the building work if he was a bricklayer?

I have reposted the rest of this post in the common room in the hope of making sense of the baptisms.

Heather.

[CaroleW]

For background info only

Marriages Sept 1862   
Benson    Jane Ann        Leeds    9b   353    
Greaves    William         Leeds    9b   353

Thomas Greaves was born June qtr 1863 Leeds mmn Benson

[Pennines]

I agree with Shaun that the occupation is Overlooker.

However I have never heard of a private baptism BEFORE a child was born. Usually a very sickly child, not expected to survive was baptised very quickly after birth, at home -- but then, if they survived they were accepted into the church later.

I notice that there is a whole batch of Private baptisms entered with the one for Thomas Greaves --- maybe the minister had simply collected them all together and inserted them in the Register all at the same time -- maybe?

As regards the birth date -- do you have the actual birth certificate? That is the only way I think you will know whether the birth date shown in the register was incorrect.

Just why there were 2 separate church baptisms, I don't know unless one church was a chapel of ease for the other - and they were entered in both (doesn't explain the different dates though).

Possibly the parents changed their place of worship and wanted the child baptised in their new church.

[Jebber]

You need the birth certificate to see if the June birth date is correct or an error


I suspect St. Peter was the mother church and St. Saviour a Chapelry, double entries would not be unusual if that is the case.

Amendment.

Google reveals St. Saviour is a Chapelry.

[Maiden Stone]

1st baptism on 26th May marked P was a private baptism. It was probably carried out at home. Likely reason would be fear that baby might not live long.

The two August baptism entries were probably 2 records for a later baptism in church, if you're certain it was the same child. This baptism would likely be a conditional baptism, i.e. in case of any doubts about 1st one in May. There would have been godparents and extra bits to ceremony not used at the emergency baptism. One of the churches would have been the parish church, the other a church in the same parish. The curate or clerk would send copies of register entries to the parish church. Look into the history of the 2 churches to find out which was the parish church.
Were they Church of England?

Reasons for discrepancy in d.o.b. might be that a) exact date had been forgotten so they made one up/mis-calculated; or b) birth date had been registered as 4th June so parents decided to stick to that date.
 

[JenB]

Duplicate thread

topics merged