My reading goes like this... "1786 Christenings at Gawsworth ... <October> "22'nd Hannah Dr of George & Elizabeth Whittakers born <New Line> "Decem'r 18 1786 Recd(?) the Duty to first Octo'r last <New Line> "Mary Houghton" I do not believe that the December 18th line has anything to do with Hannah's line above. I suspect the reference to Duty is to the Stamp Act of 1783 (repealed 1794), which "granted to the Crown a stamp duty of threepence per entry in parish registers, 10% being allowed to the minister who collected the duty" (quote from Chester RO somewhere). So maybe, on 18 Dec 1786, the minister received his 10% for the 12m up to 1 October. That means Hannah's date refers only to her birth, nothing about a baptism. And there is a similar entry on the next page referring to the Duty. This time with Sarah Houghton but referring in some fashion to "for M Houghton". Similar phrasing on the previous page with Mary Houghton. Given that the name is at the right hand side, my suspicion is that Mary and Sarah Houghton were acting as parish clerk / church warden / treasurer / whatever. Adrian B

Many thanks Adrian and Joy. That makes more sense. The only puzzle left is the "born ___" . Because other entries have the born date written after the baptism I suspect the date for Hannah is the baptism date and for some reason the born date was omitted. Perhaps it faded although I can't see any marks suggesting that. Anyway, that is a matter of relatively small importance. And I received your second email Adrian agreeing with what I concluded above, just as I was about to send this, thanks. Thanks again Christine