Child mortality in this time period was indeed very high. I don`t have numbers but a history Professor told us once that it was quiet something if a child survived the first year of life. Lots of reasons for this overcrowding, poverty, dirty water supply and poor knowledge of hygiene are amongst the many reasons. Two apparent birth dates close together might in fact be the birth and christening dates for a child. As for children with the same name I have found this in at least one of my families when an earlier child had died and the name was re-used for a later child. A combination of these explanations might apply to this family. Anne > > > My first thought was that the children had died young and the names were > re-used, but that suggests a mortality rate that is terribly high. > >>