Confusing record entries

[JohnnyO]

Just doing a bit on my side of the family tree rather than my wife's! I have an image which hopefully is loaded OK. On the bottom left it shows Sarah Orrett being born and baptised in October 1793, and on the right hand side, second down, is another Sarah being born and baptised in December 1793. Same church, same parent's names etc.



Slightly confused. Coincidental . Unusual name - if it were a Smith or Jones I could see the possibility, but an Orrett?

[MaryA]

I can only wonder if mother or father hadn't realised that the baptism had taken place earlier, alternatively perhaps there was an "emergency" baptism the first time, perhaps the child was ill and not expected to live, and then maybe they had a proper occasion when she was thriving. This sort of thing is often noted in later register entries, or perhaps it's just this particular vicar who didn't note it.

[BarbaraW]

It could be the two father John's were cousins and Jane is quite a common name for the wife. I've come across this quite a bit especially when it's a small village or town.

[Bertieone]

The birth date is not recorded, only the Christening date, it makes it possible that Jane may have been carrying a child when the first Sarah was christened. If the first Sarah passed before the child was born, the new born could have been given the same name.

[JohnnyO]

Thanks for the thoughts so far folks. It is conceivable that cousins might have married women of the same name and had a child with the same name within a short space of time.

I notice on the image that all of the children have no birth date. Was this not recorded I wonder, and only the Christening date recorded, or were they Christened on the day they were born?

If they were Christened on the day they were born, then for Bert's thoughts, there is only an eight week gap between Christenings, so it would not be possible for Jane to give birth again, unless the first birth was a good while ago and never registered.

If Bert's theory is correct, then there should be a corresponding death record for the first Sarah. Whether it was recorded before or after the second Sarah was born though....

As a footnote, I have just been looking through the Bishop's transcripts. One of John and Jane's other children, John, was born in May 1810 but not Christened until August. Actually, thinking about it, the first children were Christened, the later ones Baptised. Different families, Catholics and Protestants??

[MaryA]

Difference between Christening and Baptism - you need to check the churches rather than the descriptions.

There are many baptisms that didn't have the date of birth recorded I'm afraid, even in much later years too, it often depended on the minister whether he bothered to record it or not, if they did it was usually in the margin rather than a dedicated column.

[JohnnyO]

Thanks Mary,

I thought both children were christened/baptised at St. Helen's church (Sefton church).