I've been trawling through the parish registers of Harwich and have found the baptisms of the following children: Sarah daughter of Henry and Sarah Deane baptised November 5 1764 Sarah Maria daughter of Henry and Sarah Deane baptised December 3 1766 There is no burial record for the first Sarah and the family didn't move away from Harwich. Also there was only one set of parents called Henry and Sarah at the time. The question is, how likely is it that parents would have two living children, one called Sarah and one called Sarah Maria? Thanks Diane

Diane, Although it is rare, I have seen it before with the name Elizabeth used for two daughters with a double name for one of them. I'm sorry - that doesn't help much. Margo -----Original Message----- From: essex-uk-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:essex-uk-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Diane wynne Sent: Friday, August 08, 2008 8:43 AM To: Essex Subject: [Ess] Children's names I've been trawling through the parish registers of Harwich and have found the baptisms of the following children: Sarah daughter of Henry and Sarah Deane baptised November 5 1764 Sarah Maria daughter of Henry and Sarah Deane baptised December 3 1766 There is no burial record for the first Sarah and the family didn't move away from Harwich. Also there was only one set of parents called Henry and Sarah at the time. The question is, how likely is it that parents would have two living children, one called Sarah and one called Sarah Maria? Thanks Diane ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Any problems, please contact the List Admin: Essex-UK-admin@rootsweb.com ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ESSEX-UK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

Although the suggestion from Brad and Firebird is the most likely, there's also a small chance that the older sarah did die and was either buried in another church or the burial records for Harwich may not be complete. T Diane wynne wrote: > I've been trawling through the parish registers of Harwich and have found > the baptisms of the following children: > > Sarah daughter of Henry and Sarah Deane baptised November 5 1764 > Sarah Maria daughter of Henry and Sarah Deane baptised December 3 1766 > > There is no burial record for the first Sarah and the family didn't move > away from Harwich. > Also there was only one set of parents called Henry and Sarah at the time. > > The question is, how likely is it that parents would have two living > children, one called Sarah and one called Sarah Maria? > > Thanks > Diane > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Any problems, please contact the List Admin: Essex-UK-admin@rootsweb.com > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ESSEX-UK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > >

My thanks to everyone for their comments on this question. Tony suggested another parish and I did check Dovercourt. The parish records for Harwich are awful for many years. Obviously completed ages after the event as, at best, not in chronological order and both baptisms and marriages with a gap where the surname should be. The worst is a comment by a vicar in the late 1600s who noted that many years of burials had never been entered. Another example are years where there are many births and deaths but in other close years, only a few, which appears to indicate entries were not included. Having said that the registers for the years in question are not too badly kept. Jo suggested two burials of Sarahs and I had checked both but the parents were different and anyway both these burials were after the second Sarah was born. I think I'll go along with the majority suggestion that they simply named two daughters the same, for whatever reason. This family appeared to follow a naming pattern; first son after the father, second son after a grandfather, first daughter after the mother and second daughter after a grandmother. So the first Sarah named after the mother and the second Sarah named after both grandmothers - Sarah and Mary. Thanks again Diane