Interpreting England Baptism Record Information

[rculver101]

I'm hoping someone will be able to help interpret some information on a church baptism record.
I'm trying to figure out who the birth parents are of my 2nd great-grandfather, Charles Culver, and I'm not sure if he was illegitimate, or something else was going on here.
On the baptism record, it states his parents names as "John & Lydia", but John was married to a different woman (Sarah) at that time. Lydia was also married at that time to James Miles.  On review of the 1841 census records, that took place just 4 months after the baptism, I determined that Lydia and her husband lived very close to John and Sarah (possibly neighbours.. hard to say for certain as they are rural addresses... their were no other "Lydias" listed in the county that census).  Also on the same baptism record page, Lydia and her husband James baptized their twin sons less than a week prior... so Lydia couldn't have given birth to Charles. 
Then on the 1851 census, Charles Culver is listed as the grandson of John and Sarah.
I've attached a copy of that section of the page from the baptism book. 
So, why would the grandfather, and the neighbours wife be listed as the parents? Any insights into what might be going on here would be helpful. 

[Andy J2022]

The baptism register was not written up at the time of the christening. The vicar would probably have written the details on a piece of paper at the time, then transferred them to the register later, possibly several days or a week later. During that time other baptismal details might have been written on the same piece of paper so that when he came to transcribe the names, things got a little muddled up. Or worse still, he didn't write things down in the church and relied on his memory!

[trish1120]

I agree there may be a mistake in the writing up of the bapt records.

1841 Charles is with John/Sarah and in 1851 are down as his Grandparents as you know.


Closest Birth Reg I can see;
COLVER, CHARLES mmn PHILLIPS 
GRO Reference: 1841  M Quarter in HERTFORD UNION  Volume 06  Page 519


Sarah PHILLIPPS
John CALVERT married 29 Jul 1815 All Saints, Little Munden
(FreeREG)

John/Sarah bapt;
Use soundex as surname is Calvert or Culver

Mary Ann 25 Feb 1816 LM
Eliza 07 Sep 1817 LM
Martha 06 Dec 1818 LM
Elizabeth 03 Dec 1820
James 15 Sep 1822 W
Ann 06 Jun 1824 LM 6th child, Mother late Philips spinster
George 18 Dec 1825 LM, Mother Philips
William 28 Oct 1827 W Father only named
Emma 05 Jul 1829 W
Joseph 10 Apr 1831 W
Sarah 26 May 1833 W
Sonja 07 Jan 1838 W *** likely Louisa Colvert reg Dec 1837

LM Little Munden, W Walkern

WILLIAM HENRY Culver bapt 04 Apr 1841 Walkern, Mother ELIZA, spinster

All above on FreeREG

So in 1851 William is down as John/Sarahs son but is their grandson, so is Charles noted incorrectly and should be their Son****.
I definitely think so.

Birth Cert reg seems to fit that scenario.


Trish

EDIT;
I did notice that 1851 has g son for Charles but enumerator has put Grand Daug/Son in Law for the next family (using capital letters).

[trish1120]

Welcome to Rootschat rculver101

[Andy J2022]

Interesting to see the confirmation date added in the margin of the register. I've never seen that before in an Anglican register although it's quite common with Roman Catholic registers.

[rculver101]

Thanks to you both for your help... very useful information.  I suspected that it might be an error by the vicar as well... I'm not sure what's going on with the 1851 census either...I did notice that issue with William as well... was he the illegitimate son of their eldest daughter, but just said he was their son on the census.?  Or another mistake in the records.  It's all kind of a confusing mess... that just happens to be on my paternal name line.
I've only been at this for a few months, so I'm still learning my way around.  I've never used the FreeREG site before, but I'll definitely be using it more going forward.

[trish1120]

Yes 1851 Census is confusing but as I posted;

WILLIAM HENRY Culver bapt 04 Apr 1841 Walkern, Mother ELIZA, spinster

So looks like William was Elizas son and Charles the son of John/Sarah.

Trish