I would like to know if it was common in Carlow (around the late 1700's to early 1800's) for newborns to be baptised right after birth...or was it common to wait for a period of time? In America, it often happened that newborns had to await their baptism (sometimes for years) because of no church or official to do the baptismal. Thank you for any comments. Linda

Linda,In my research (looking at RC records), the baptismal records of the era that you mention - late 1700s-early 1800s - indicate neither the age nor the actual date of birth of the child being baptised; however, from about the 1860s onward the records often do provide age or date of birth at time of baptism; from that later period it is clear that baptism generally took place asap after birth.My guess is that the baptismal traditions of the 1860s and onward were simply a continuation of earlier practice...No one wanted to tempt fate by delaying baptism unnecessarily in an era of high infant mortality rates.Karen. > From: leshipman1@att.net > To: irl-carlow@rootsweb.com > Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2010 10:12:20 -0700 > Subject: [IRL-CARLOW] General question about baptisms > > I would like to know if it was common in Carlow (around the late 1700's to early 1800's) for newborns to be baptised right after birth...or was it common to wait for a period of time? In America, it often happened that newborns had to await their baptism (sometimes for years) because of no church or official to do the baptismal. > > Thank you for any comments. > Linda > ======================================= > Before you post a message to the IRL-CARLOW mailing list you must subscribe to the List. Its FREE! > --------------------------------------- > To subscribe to the IRL-Carlow mailing list, send an email to IRL-CARLOW-request@rootsweb.com with the word "subscribe" (without the quotes) in the Subject box. No additional text is required. > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to IRL-CARLOW-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message _________________________________________________________________ IM on the go with Messenger on your phone http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9712960