Hello Mike Unfortunately parish registers were written up by human beings and we all make mistakes. Entries in the registers weren't made at the time of the event but created at a later time from notes made in a day book by the cleric who officiated. This could be days or weeks later, when the vicar got the registers out of the parish chest. Often this would be after taking a service and he might finish off the communion wine at the same time. Many entries would get forgotten about or distorted in the several transcriptions that form the process. Examples from my tree, all in Sussex, several for parishes not on the IGI though. One of my ancestors (Richard Kennard) doesn't appear to have a baptism in the parish where his siblings were done. However, his father left a will and named his sons in birth order, followed by the daughters in order. So I then knew he should have been baptised in a gap between two of his siblings. The register showed that at the expected time there was a Richard Pope baptised, this entry appears immediately after a John Pope done on the same day but there is no mention that they were twins - this was done for a pair a few years earlier. I have found no trace of the apparent Richard Pope, no burial, no marriage and no census entries but the John Pope does show up. I very strongly suspect that when the vicar recorded the second baptism he copied the names of the parents from the line above in the register rather than copying their names from the day book (or from memory). On my website I challenge anyone to produce the Richard Pope which would contradict my interpretation - no takers in the eight years it's been there. I have another ancestor (William Barnes) who also doesn't appear to have a baptism. However, there is one at the expected date for a John Barnes, son of John and Elizabeth. This would be the second son named John for this family but there is no sign of a burial for the first one. Census entries for John Barnes show his age matching the date of the first baptism so in this case I presume the vicar copied the first name of the father when baptising my ancestor instead of recording the child as William. Similarly, another ancestor, James Banks, doesn't seem to have a baptism in his expected parish. However, his probably father was a John and there is a baptism for a John at the right date and no trace of the claimed John. Yet another ancestor has no apparent baptism. This time I can't turn one of the other entries in the register into his. The family has a gap where a child would fit and this would match with his burial age. This ancestor gave his first two children the first names of the siblings either side of the gap, both are fairly uncommon first names so they provide very good circumstantial evidence so I reckon this baptism was just left out. Another error I found for some cousins was in a parish where there were lots of families with the same surname. The censuses clearly show there were two boys born at around the same time, each to different families. Their marriage entries for 'boys' both have their corresponding fathers name as expected. However, the baptism register only has one baptism at the expected time, this records the name of one boy and the parents of the other. Here the boys were probably baptised on the same day but the vicar concatenated the two entries into one record. There is so much scope for errors in parish register entries! If the gap in baptisms between the child you believe is your William's next oldest sibling and his next youngest one then he probably does fit there. I notice there was a William Ewens baptised at Harting in 1801, son of Thomas and Mary. Is there any trace of that William having died young? I can't see a probable marriage for him on the IGI. Look at the baptisms for the other children of Thomas and Mary to see if this William would logically fit into their family. If he could fit it and you find him in other records then his baptism can't be for your William. Otherwise, any of the many types of error could be affecting your ancestor's baptism. Julie ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Ewens" <michael.ewens@btinternet.com> To: "sfhg" <SFHG-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2008 11:39 AM Subject: [SFHG] "Confused newbie" > Hi, > > I am fairly new to this so despite my best efforts I have "hit a wall". I > am confused but have attempted to set the problem out as precisely as > possible. > > Background: From all the census returns for 1841 -to - 1881 I have > found my GGGrandfather William EWENS, was born [1799-1800-1801] in > Harting, West Sussex. He died in 1890. > > In the Parish Register Transcripts (PRT) for Harting there is reference > to William's marriage to Catherine LLOYD, with witnesses Mary and George > EWENS [I assume children of John EWENS and Elizabeth WHITE]. > > In the (PRT) for Funtington there is reference to William's second > marriage to Ellen KENCH [KINCH] with the information that the Groom's > Father was " John EWENS a Collar Maker". > > My problem: I cannot find any reference to the 'birth'/'christening' of > William in or around 1800 in Harting. Equally I can't find a connection > to a father called "John". > > The mystery: In the early 1800s Harting was not a large area and there > were several 'Ewens families' living there , all related. Many were > saddlers /harness and collar makers. > > Perhaps William was not born in Harting after all? > > If anyone could suggest a way forward I would be very grateful. > > Mike Ewens [12769]