Baptism of 2 children 3 months apart, wondering why?

[guest259648]

Seeking to understand a mother's plan here.
The mother has 2 sons. The first to be baptised is born in an unknown year (nothing visible stated); the other is definitely born 1813 (says the register).

She baptises one son in early Jan 1820 on a Sunday.
Then she baptises the other child (aged nearly 7) three months later, in March 1820 on a Sunday in the same church.

Why didn't she baptise them together?

The son baptised second was Born At Sea, so perhaps she chose to (or had to) wait till she was back in England to baptise him, aged nearly 7.

But why the two church visits?

Please help me understand, many thanks.

[Guy Etchells]

First I take it you mean 1820 not 2020 (I have made similar errors).

You mention the son was born at sea, is it possible she had to wait for the ship to return to port to check if he had been baptised at sea (in most faiths a child may only be baptised once)?
Cheers
Guy

[guest259648]

First I take it you mean 1820 not 2020 (I have made similar errors).

You mention the son was born at sea, is it possible she had to wait for the ship to return to port to check if he had been baptised at sea (in most faiths a child may only be baptised once)?
Cheers
Guy

haha
senior moment! xx
1820, yes indeed.

She may have had to wait to return to land to baptise both the children, however I can't fathom the 3-month gap in the church visits, I feel sure it's important to my understanding of this much-travelled family.
 D

[mona lisa]

maybe a family emergency.. or..maybe she or the babe were too ill.  I am unable to find my Aunt's
baptism still.  (Even tho some of my uncles were baptized in batches ) My reasoning was my
Granny's dear Mother had died a few months prior... Too many deaths.

[guest259648]

maybe a family emergency.. or..maybe she or the babe were too ill.  I am unable to find my Aunt's
baptism still.  (Even tho some of my uncles were baptized in batches ) My reasoning was my
Granny's dear Mother had died a few months prior... Too many deaths.

Thank you for your thoughts...
It does sound like some kind of emergency measure, doesn't it, it's an unusual thing to do.

However the young-ish mother seemed OK and she went on to have 4 more children; and the son born 1813 definitely survived another 40 years, and I'm almost certain the other son was OK too, if only I could find news of him...

Did they have to pay for baptisms in the early 19th century? (I've never known.)  Both of the baptisms were on a Sunday, so would that be as part of a regular church service?
D

[heywood]

You say she went ‘on to have 4 more children…’
Did all the children have the same father?

If they did have the same father, there might have been doubt about the first child’s baptism. (Birth at sea ..)

There could have been a mission at church which prompted mum to reconsider.

Perhaps a change of school, church etc.

In my church, baptisms were/are usually on Sunday but not within the main service.
In recent years, this does happen sometimes but I don’t know other traditions.

[guest259648]

You say she went ‘on to have 4 more children…’
Did all the children have the same father?

If they did have the same father, there might have been doubt about the first child’s baptism. (Birth at sea ..)

There could have been a mission at church which prompted mum to reconsider.

Perhaps a change of school, church etc.

heywood, thank you

No, the next 4 children were with a different father, whom she married about 12 months later.
No idea yet what happened to the father of the first 2 (the same man's name was given as the father for both of these earlier sons), but there's every possibility he was working as a Servant for someone in a fighting unit (army). But it doesn't say 'father deceased' on the baptism register... and if he hadn't been around in early 1820, surely it would? or maybe not?

Both baptisms were at exactly the same church, same ministers etc.
But 3 months apart.

While you're here, what exactly would a "Servant" be, in an army context? (Possibly a Scottish regiment?)

D

[heywood]

I don’t know about the army but one could imagine there would be ‘servants’ of some sort.
With regard to the baptisms, unfortunately it is all speculation.
The two baptisms seem strange to us but we don’t know her reasons.
The information on the baptism record was only what was offered to the minister.
It might just remain a puzzle. 

[Skaife]

Maybe it’s a simple reason in that having one child baptised (in January) prompted them to wonder about the one who had been born at sea and whether that child had been baptised ‘officially’.         I’ve noticed in baptism registers that there are children who were baptised when they were toddlers or young children rather than as a baby. I have a 10 year old where this was the case  in one of my trees but later found out that he went to a school which was linked with the church so maybe proof of baptism was needed.