I think in the context Arthur was talking about the reference to Christening and Baptism is not the same as accepted today. I have extracted records from many parish registers and very few mention "Christening". Nearly all from the early 1500s to the late 1800s refer to baptism and few mention the birth date. The ones that do however indicate these baptisms usually took place within 6 weeks of birth except in the case of private baptisms where the child was sick and could die before a normal baptism could take place in which case I have one baptised a few days after his mother had died presumably at his birth. He died two weeks later but his sister did not get baptised probably due to events. In some parishes, Chatteris in Cambridgeshire is one, baptisms did not always take place soon after birth and in that case whole families would be baptised at once. Whether baptised within two weeks of birth or several years all were recorded as baptisms. If I saw a Christening on the IGI I would be checking the source of the information as many of these are not from the controlled extraction from the registers but from submissions made by other researchers. Arthur did not mention in his message that a large proportion of these parish registers are available on film from the LDS library. regards Chris Bartlett In a message dated 7/22/02 2:51:00 PM Pacific Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: Dear Arthur Thomas: You wrote: > >>available as the IGI, where for some reason, the baptisms are referred to > as christenings. The microfiches also use christening rather than baptism > in order that their contents can be identified by a single letter - CMB is > more positive than BMB<< In the IGI, if it says "Christening", it means "Christening" If there is a "Baptism", it says "Baptism",either by sprinkling or immersion. A Christening takes place soon after the child is born, usually on the first Sunday of the following month. Some churches call this "Blessing the child". A prayer is said for the child and he is given a name. Some churches sprinkle water on the head of a baby soon after birth and call it "Baptism". Some churches wait until the child is seven years old before baptizing it., either by sprinkling or immersion. Other churches wait until the child is eight years old and baptize by immerson. The churches that wait a few years before baptizing believe that: Baptizing is for remission of sins. Until a child is seven or eight years old they are free from sins. Virginia ==== FAMILY-ORIGINS-USERS Mailing List ==== FAMILY ORIGINS - Ordering, UPDATES, books, FAQ, FREE DEMO, Newsletter, etc. http://formalsoft.com For the 8.03 and 9.02 PATCHES and what they fix, go to: http://formalsoft.com/files.htm --- Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.375 / Virus Database: 210 - Release Date: 10/07/02 --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.375 / Virus Database: 210 - Release Date: 10/07/02