Help with word on birth record from 1848 “ Uncleanness”

[stanmapstone]

The Churching of Women in the Christian Church was the common name for the Thanksgiving of Women After Child-Birth and nothing to do with 'uncleaness'
See https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=308733.msg1900123#msg1900123
This site gives a comprehensive explanation of 'Churching'  http://users.ox.ac.uk/~mikef/church.html#intro

In Jewish Law the 'uncleaness' came from the bleeding, not from the birth. The period of uncleaness after the birth of a baby boy, 40 days, was half the period of for a girl, 80 days. After 40 days(or 80days) the time of purification was completed, and the woman went to the priest with a sacrificial offering after which she was ceremonially clean from her flow of blood.

Stan

[Skoosh]

Apparently used in the Church of England & the RC Church. What evidence is there that this was practiced in the Church of Scotland where marriage is not a sacrament in any case?

Skoosh.

[ryan37]

Very interesting info folks

Thanks

[majm]

Apparently used in the Church of England & the RC Church. What evidence is there that this was practiced in the Church of Scotland where marriage is not a sacrament in any case?

Skoosh.

I can confirm that in New South Wales, Australia in the 19th Century, that some of my female ancestors were 'Churched' several weeks after giving birth.  Some of those ceremonies were conducted by Reverends associated with
Rev Samuel LEIGH http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/leigh-samuel-2348  - Wesleyan (Methodist)
Rev John Dumore LANG    http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/lang-john-dunmore-2326 - Church of Scotland (Presbyterian)

I am currently involved in a volunteer project transcribing NSW parish registers that include Churchings of Women.   

Here is a live link (freely available, you do not need to sign in or pay fees etc) to the Government Gazette announcing a Government regulation about reporting of various ceremonies to the then Governor, Lachlan Macquarie.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/628150  22 December 1810.

HIS EXCELLENCY at the same time enjoins the said Principal and Assistant Chaplains, as an Act of reciprocal benefit to all Classes of the Society, to keep or cause to be kept exact Registers of all Marriages, Christenings, Churching of Women, and Funerals which they may in future perform, and make a correct Return thereof once in every Quarter, to the Secretary's Office at Sydney; and said Registers are required to contain the Marriages, Christenings, Churchings, and Funerals, as well of all Convicts and Prisoners as of Free Persons.

As an aside, not all clergy obeyed these orders, afterall, these were civil orders, but these orders were part of the process and the extant registers are significant primary sources for family history buffs interested in NSW as a penal colony.   


If for example you find an entry for a woman being Churched, then you should go back looking for a birth to that lass. 

Sometimes perhaps you may only find a burial for a baby   

Sometimes not even that  but not all registers have survived.   

Lachlan Macquarie, a Scotsman  http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/macquarie-lachlan-2419

JM

[hurworth]

The brother of one of my ancestors also had a daughter born 'in uncleaness' in Peterhead in 1846.  I think this was how the Minister at the time liked to record the baptisms of children whose parents weren't married. 

[ryan37]

Very interesting facts folks greatly appreciated


Ryan

[Rosinish]

Ryan,

A bit off topic re your question but have you located Elizabeth Redwood later in life i.e. census'/marriage/death?

It would be interesting to see who she names as her father on her marriage if she married?

Annie

[Guy Etchells]

Apparently used in the Church of England & the RC Church. What evidence is there that this was practiced in the Church of Scotland where marriage is not a sacrament in any case?

Skoosh.

Depends what you mean by the Church of Scotland, the Presbyterian Church which is the official Church of Scotland or do you mean the Episcopal Church in Scotland?
Cheers
Guy

[ryan37]

She married John Park in Peterhead 1875 , her father is listed as James Samuel Sea man (deceased)

I have a topic running in common room with the details of her

She moved to Canada then USA and died in 1928

Ryan

Ryan,

A bit off topic re your question but have you located Elizabeth Redwood later in life i.e. census'/marriage/death?

It would be interesting to see who she names as her father on her marriage if she married?

Annie