Yes, the priest was ususally called to baptize the child the same day or one day after the birth. Some people may find birth records which are dated after the baptismal date of the child and think they have the wrong person. Parents were required to register the birth of their child within a month of the birth. Sometimes it took up to several months for the parents to go to town and register the birth of their child. If the birth was not registered within a month, the parents were fined. Originally baptisms were performed on the same day or day after the birth because as was stated they were fearful of the child dying. Sadly if the baby died before being baptized the child was not allowed to be buried in a church cemetery which was blessed ground. These babies were buried outside of the cemetery walls. Recently throughout Ireland many of these graves have been blessed and stones have been placed to recognize the burial places of these babies. It must have been heartbreaking for parents who not only had to deal with the loss of their new born baby but then to be told their child could not have a funeral or be buried in the church cemetery. Beannachtai, Margaret (Máiread) ----- Original Message ----- From: <Carolgriff@aol.com> To: <nir-down@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, January 04, 2008 4:17 AM Subject: [NIR-DOWN] baptsims and birth dates circa 1800 > Hi > > While looking at parish records (obtained from Ancestryireland.com) in > County Down Im finding that children seemed to be baptised the same day > they were > born. > > Was this usual practice as in my (English) experience the baptisms were > usually a couple of weeks later. > > Just wondering. > > Carol > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NIR-DOWN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >