Hello Listers Could anyone help me with this please? I am trying to find the baptism records for Frederick Frank DUFFY born in Merton on 9th October 1914. I am interested to see if any father is named. Frederick Duffy's mother was Mary Elizabeth DUFFY and he was born at 21 Bathurst Avenue. His parents were not married and no father is named on his birth certificate. He was adopted to another family in late 1916 and changed his name. I looked in the LDS library catalogue under Merton and found 'Church of England, Parish church of Merton, Parish registers of Merton 1559-1923'. The file notes show that Baptism records are available 1903-1911 and they stop there!! I contacted the Surrey Family History Centre and they looked at the baptism records for St Mary's Merton without success. They suggested I try St John's which I did- the kind people there looked for me but again without success. The Surrey Family History Centre suggested that as Frederick Duffy's mother was a Catholic he may have been baptised in St John Fisher in Merton. I contacted them and their records only go back to 1945. They suggested I try the Sacred Heart Church at Edge Hill but the email address I was given (wimparish@jesuit.net) bounced. I contacted the Merton Heritage office and they searched their records but could find no evidence of 21 Bathurst St existing until 1915. Can anyone suggest anything else that I might try? Many thanks Nicky Marlow Perth, Western Australia

Hi Nicky Your persistence does you credit, and I can understand the reasons for it, but I think you may have to accept at some point that there is a very strong possibility that he was not baptised (or at least not as an infant). If Mary was a Catholic she was certainly not a particularly strict one, or she wouldn't have got herself into trouble in the first place. I'm not judging her, on the contrary, but the local parish priest might well have done so. The Catholic church at that time was inclined to take a very hard line on unmarried mothers. I frankly doubt that a father would be named in a baptism register. You do sometimes see this, but usually only in older registers and in rural parishes, where everyone knew who the father was already. It is odd that Merton Heritage Centre can't help you with the address. I think this angle may be worth pursuing, as it would be useful for you to find out more about where he was born and who else was living there. It's not really my "patch", but perhaps others will have some suggestions about other routes to more information. Best wishes Caroline > -----Original Message----- > From: eng-surrey-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:eng-surrey- > bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Nicky&Peter > Sent: 03 October 2009 06:39 > To: ENG-SURREY@rootsweb.com > Subject: [SRY] Baptism for Frederick Frank DUFFY in Merton in 1914 > > Hello Listers > > Could anyone help me with this please? > > I am trying to find the baptism records for Frederick Frank DUFFY born > in > Merton on 9th October 1914. I am interested to see if any father is > named. > Frederick Duffy's mother was Mary Elizabeth DUFFY and he was born at 21 > Bathurst Avenue. His parents were not married and no father is named > on > his birth certificate. He was adopted to another family in late 1916 > and > changed his name. > > > > I looked in the LDS library catalogue under Merton and found 'Church of > England, Parish church of Merton, Parish registers of Merton 1559- > 1923'. > The file notes show that Baptism records are available 1903-1911 and > they > stop there!! > > > > I contacted the Surrey Family History Centre and they looked at the > baptism > records for St Mary's Merton without success. > > They suggested I try St John's which I did- the kind people there > looked for > me but again without success. > > > > The Surrey Family History Centre suggested that as Frederick Duffy's > mother > was a Catholic he may have been baptised in St John Fisher in Merton. > I > contacted them and their records only go back to 1945. They suggested > I try > the Sacred Heart Church at Edge Hill but the email address I was given > (wimparish@jesuit.net) bounced. > > > > I contacted the Merton Heritage office and they searched their records > but > could find no evidence of 21 Bathurst St existing until 1915. > > > > Can anyone suggest anything else that I might try? > > > > Many thanks > > Nicky Marlow > > Perth, Western Australia > > > > *************************************** > Send your List messages using **PLAIN TEXT** and always **TRIM AWAY** > superfluous old messages in replies. > > List Admin can be contacted at: Eng-Surrey-admin@rootsweb.com. > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ENG-SURREY- > request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in > the subject and the body of the message