It just kills me not to participate in the ongoing discussion on St. Stephen's (C of E) parish in Earleville, Cecil Co., MD because all of my notes and documents on this subject were taken by Katrina last year, but the Summer 2006 issue of the Maryland Genealogical Society Bulletin, which arrived today, contains an article by me and Susan E. Croyle entitled "The Craddocks of Old Bohemia" that has the relevant information as I recall it. Ref 17 in this article says that the St. Stephen's parish registers for 1694-1817 in LDS Film No. 441,446 contain only a few baptisms for the period 1692-1702 (pp. 71-5), the remainder consisting of dates of birth (not baptisms) arranged in family groups, obviously drawn up by someone at some later date from the original registers.

Sorry to hear about the Katrina problem, but how nice to hear from you. Ref 17 in this > article says that the St. Stephen's parish registers for 1694-1817 in LDS Film > No. 441,446 contain only a few baptisms for the period 1692-1702 (pp. 71-5), > the remainder consisting of dates of birth (not baptisms) arranged in family > groups, obviously drawn up by someone at some later date from the original > registers. Thank you. That is what it seemed to me after seeing references to the earliest baptisms which must have occurred in St Stephen's or North Sasssafras parish. These early records also contain collected memoranda of events, which would need checking some other way if that were possible. It would seem to me as if, had a baptism been known to have occurred on a certain date in a certain place, the transcription or new presentation of that data would have mentioned those dates and places specifically. I have run up against this sort of thing before. I remember a cousin once went to the big library in Salt Lake to look up films of records reputed to be "originals." But after he sent us copies of those filmed images, I noticed that the neat handwriting and the white paper looked remarkably non-old. Therefore, I asked around, and after some investigation, I learned that I was right: the films did not contain images of the original minister's records, but instead contained images of the handwriting of a twentieth-century transcriber who had collected various church records up to three hundred years old into a volume pertaining to a specific area. The only thing "original" about those records was the handwriting of the complier-transcriber. The sources of the records and the actual locations of the events described in those records was obscure. So I appreciate the commentary about these early records, that helps clear things up. Thank you for posting the observation. Liz J On 9/27/06, Arlen31P@aol.com <Arlen31P@aol.com> wrote: > It just kills me not to participate in the ongoing discussion on St. > Stephen's (C of E) parish in Earleville, Cecil Co., MD because all of my notes and > documents on this subject were taken by Katrina last year, but the Summer 2006 > issue of the Maryland Genealogical Society Bulletin, which arrived today, > contains an article by me and Susan E. Croyle entitled "The Craddocks of Old > Bohemia" that has the relevant information as I recall it. Ref 17 in this > article says that the St. Stephen's parish registers for 1694-1817 in LDS Film > No. 441,446 contain only a few baptisms for the period 1692-1702 (pp. 71-5), > the remainder consisting of dates of birth (not baptisms) arranged in family > groups, obviously drawn up by someone at some later date from the original > registers. >