Father absent at Baptism??

[Stewart R]

Although he is named on an ancestors Baptism record I have strong evidence to suggest that my 2 x great grandfather was not actually present at the time. Was this scenario possible or would he have had to have been their at the time. The year was 1857, if of any significance.

Regards

Stewart
 

[aghadowey]

Don't thinks there's any reason for father to have been at child's baptism- he could have been away from home, working, etc.
I do know of a baptism around the same time where the minister wrote a note that the grandfather brought his three grandchildren to be baptised.

[Stewart R]

Thanks aghadowey

Just checking that i hadn't found a proverbial banana skin in my research.

My GG Grandfather had been posted to Plymouth with the Cheshire Militia, and....err, never came back. I'm a descendent of his bigamous marriage, thereafter.

Regards

Stewart

[LizzieL]

The baptism record would just show who were ( or stated to be) the parents of the child - neither need to be actually present at the baptism. One of OH's ancestors was orphaned when he was very young and baptised when he was about 20, the year before married. The baptism record shows his parents' names even though they were long dead, and makes no mention that they were deceased.     

[Stewart R]

Thanks LizzieL

Your comment regarding the ancestor who was baptized aged 20 is also of interest, as it's given me food for thought regarding another puzzle concerning my GG Grandfather, because i believe he may also have been orphaned. I've been unable to find any info ref his birth or baptism, but had only narrowed my search for over 2-3 years or so, from the year i believe he was born. Maybe i should broaden my search

Regards

Stewart

[Jebber]

You should be able to find a birth Registration, is it possible he was illegitimate and registered under his mother's maiden name. Could there have been misspelling of the surname, have you done wild card searches? I have two births registered under a false surname name.

 When it come to baptism, there a many reasons you may not find one. If the parents happened to be Baptists then  they are Baptised as adults. Also not everyone is Baptised, once registration became law there was no longer the need for it as evidence of identification. I have a couple of baptisms which took place after the person was married, so you need broaden you search more than you might expect.

[Stewart R]

Thank you for your insight Jebber.

As an orphan, do you think it possible he didn't know his real age? All, the info I'd collected, census returns, marriage certificates (all 3 of them) pointed to him being born in 1828. However i found a "British Civil service evidence of age" document, filled out in his own hand, declaring that as he'd been orphaned he had no evidence of his birth & that it was his Auntie who had informed him that his actual birth date was 24th March 1831. I believe he needed this document as he was entering into the prison service, at Dartmoor, no less. I'm sort of guessing that this Aunt, may have been his, mothers sister.

My original enquiry was just helping me determine if he was actually the father of a child, who appeared to have been born shortly after he had been sent from Macclesfield to Plymouth with the Militia. But his own origins are just as much a mystery

Regards

Stewart

[Jebber]

I’m sorry, I missed the the 1857 date you mentioned in your original post, I would have responded differently.

Now you say the dates you are considering are c1828 and 1831, of course there will be no registration as that didn’t begin until 1st July 1837. You have quite a problem to solve. Even then quite a number of births went unregistered.

 It is entirely likely he didn’t know his true age, not just because he was an orphan. Many people at that time only had a vague idea of when or where they were born, birthdays were not celebrated in the way they are today. Even parents sometimes confused the birth years of their children when filling in the census returns.

You mention his aunt, do you know if she was from his maternal or paternal side and have you located the family on the 1841 and 1851 census? That at least would give you an idea of an area to search for a possible baptism.

[Stewart R]

Thanks again Jebber

I'm not sure on which side his aunt was, as the mention in the document i found was the first i knew of her existence. I had assumed his illegitimacy, as his father isn't named on either of his first 2 marriage certificates, in Macclesfield. His third, bigamous, marriage in Plymouth does name a father, but i reckon he fabricated this name. The absence of a named father, & thus no female sibling would leave me to assume the aunt was on his maternal side.

I have long assumed that I've reached a dead end here, but think it always worth the occasional stab in the dark, in case something new comes to light.

Regards

Stewart