04 February 2012

Is That A Multiple Birth or a Multiple Baptism

Did your ancestors have three children christened at once? Don't immediately assume that it was a multiple birth. Even in denominations that practiced infant baptism, for one reason or another, children of different ages might be baptized on the same date. Look for other records to confirm that the children were in fact baptized on the same date. They may have been twins or triplets, but confirm with other records when possible.

My grandmother and two of her siblings were all baptized in 1915 in a church which practiced infant baptism. They were all single births and why they were baptized on the same date I am not certain. It could easily have been a new minister, a realization that "it needed to be done" or some other reason.

2 comments:

  1. I've been transcribing local church records and it is common to see all the children and sometimes even the parents' baptisms in the registers. Sometimes churches didn't even exist in communities and when one was formed, whole families had the ceremonies performed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am working on a Death Certificate indexing project. Sometimes it is difficult to know if I am dealing with deaths of multiples or if duplicate certificates were issued. In these cases differences in sex and age (sometimes listed in just hours)will make the determination easier.

    ReplyDelete