Pauline: You are partially correct. Some churches baptize infants and call it baptism. Some churches have a sevice didicating the infant. Others have a service and call it christening. Without getting into a theological discussion but in an effort to assist those doing family research I believe it is helpful to understand some of the different beliefs concerning baptism. For example; The Methodist church baptizes infants, then have confirmation classes and then a confirmation service where the young person confirms that he, or she, is now a believer; but Baptist churches do not baptize infants because they believe one should be a believer before baptism. There are arguments based upon the Bible used by both sides. I say this as a retired Baptist pastor who has a daughter who is a Methodist pastor. A Methodist who had been baptized as an infant wishing to join a Baptist church would, in most Baptist churches, be required to make a profession of faith and be baptized [probably by immersion] before being accepted as a member. [Note: I have known of Baptist churches that would not accept a person transferring membership from another Baptist church without being baptized in their church.] So, in the instance of Sophia, if she was baptized as an infant in a Methodist or Episcopal church and later joined a Baptist church. She would have been required to be baptized before she could have become a member. Therefore, there could be two baptism records for her several years apart. Thurmon On Mon, 8 Mar 2004 19:06:20 -0700 "Pauline" <psp@xmission.com> writes: > Thank you Therman, you are right on that one. However if they were baptized > in a church that does do that it would be called a Christening in churches > that doesn't do it.

Thank you Therman. Some of this I did not understand but it raises a question in my mind. In some of the church membership records it says, "by letter". Is this what it is meaning? Pauline ----- Original Message ----- From: "Thurmon E King" <thurmonking@juno.com> To: <SACKETT-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 2004 12:32 AM Subject: Re: [SACKETT-L] Samuel & Jane Sacket, East Elba or Springvail Cemetery Genesee Co NY > Pauline: > > You are partially correct. Some churches baptize infants and call it > baptism. Some churches have a sevice didicating the infant. Others have > a service and call it christening. > > Without getting into a theological discussion but in an effort to assist > those doing family research I believe it is helpful to understand some of > the different beliefs concerning baptism. For example; The Methodist > church baptizes infants, then have confirmation classes and then a > confirmation service where the young person confirms that he, or she, is > now a believer; but Baptist churches do not baptize infants because they > believe one should be a believer before baptism. There are arguments > based upon the Bible used by both sides. I say this as a retired Baptist > pastor who has a daughter who is a Methodist pastor. > > A Methodist who had been baptized as an infant wishing to join a Baptist > church would, in most Baptist churches, be required to make a profession > of faith and be baptized [probably by immersion] before being accepted as > a member. [Note: I have known of Baptist churches that would not accept a > person transferring membership from another Baptist church without being > baptized in their church.] > > So, in the instance of Sophia, if she was baptized as an infant in a > Methodist or Episcopal church and later joined a Baptist church. She > would have been required to be baptized before she could have become a > member. Therefore, there could be two baptism records for her several > years apart. > > Thurmon > > On Mon, 8 Mar 2004 19:06:20 -0700 "Pauline" <psp@xmission.com> writes: > > Thank you Therman, you are right on that one. However if they were > baptized > > in a church that does do that it would be called a Christening in > churches > > that doesn't do it. > > > ==== SACKETT Mailing List ==== > RootsWeb blocks attachments. So sharing photos is not possible through > the list; send off-list individually. If you have a text file you wish to share, save it as text and insert the text into your message. > > ============================== > Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration > Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more. > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237 > >