Hi Judith, The worst sin was for a baby to die unbaptised, so if the babe was sickly and not expected to live either the midwife or the summoned vicar would perform a baptism at the place of birth. (Usually noted as private or privately baptised in the register). Part of the baptism service is for a child to be received into the congregation of the church and this obviously couldn't happen in this case. Later, if the child survived, this second baptism occured at the church to ensure the child was received into the congregation. In my experience, this was usually 2-3 months after the original baptism. Sometimes, although it doesn't apply in your case, parents forgot that a child had already been baptised and some years later you may find another baptism, usually with a group of siblings, where the parents had several children of varying ages baptised at the same time. Hope this helps Sandra ----- Original Message ----- From: "Judith" <jbyrne1260@hotmail.com> To: <eng-buckinghamshire@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2007 2:10 PM Subject: [ENG-Buck] Duplicate Baptism query > My first foray into Parish registers has left me scratching my head and > I'm hoping someone may have an idea about the following. > snip

Hi Sandra and Firebird, Many thanks for the information and you have also answered another question I had regarding what the 'private' meant next to an entry. In Williams case there was no such note but your explanations make perfect sense. It would appear he well and truely improved in strength as went on to marry and have 10 children. Many thanks for the help Judith ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sandra J Smith" <sandra.s@ntlworld.com> To: <eng-buckinghamshire@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2007 3:19 PM Subject: Re: [ENG-Buck] Duplicate Baptism query > Hi Judith, > > The worst sin was for a baby to die unbaptised, so if the babe was sickly > and not expected to live either the midwife or the summoned vicar would > perform a baptism at the place of birth. (Usually noted as private or > privately baptised in the register). > > Part of the baptism service is for a child to be received into the > congregation of the church and this obviously couldn't happen in this > case. > Later, if the child survived, this second baptism occured at the church to > ensure the child was received into the congregation. In my experience, > this > was usually 2-3 months after the original baptism. > > Sometimes, although it doesn't apply in your case, parents forgot that a > child had already been baptised and some years later you may find another > baptism, usually with a group of siblings, where the parents had several > children of varying ages baptised at the same time. > > Hope this helps > Sandra > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Judith" <jbyrne1260@hotmail.com> > To: <eng-buckinghamshire@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2007 2:10 PM > Subject: [ENG-Buck] Duplicate Baptism query > > >> My first foray into Parish registers has left me scratching my head and >> I'm hoping someone may have an idea about the following. >> > snip > > _____________________________________________ > > Have you considered adding "postems" to "your" events on > www.freebmd.org.uk , giving your contact details? Other researchers will > then be able to make contact. Click on the info button to add your postem. > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ENG-BUCKINGHAMSHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >