SP Births & Baptisms

[brabason]

Sometimes on an OPR birth entry, there is a date born but no baptism recorded. Other entries on the image are similar, some have both birth and baptism dates and others do not have a baptism date.
So far I have assumed that these children are baptized on their day of birth. This much I expect: these are recorded in a church and baptism seems to be the purpose of the occasion.
Am I wrong in my assumptions or is there another explanation?

[AndrewP]

Hi Brabason,

In my experience, it is more common for the record to be of the baptism, and only sometimes giving the birth date.

All the best,

AndrewP

[Russell]

Hi Brabason

Sometimes when dealing with the OPR entries we have to make assumptions but the reality was that the minister/church officer/Session clerk who made the entries had no specific rules to follow and sometimes even their entries could vary in detail and form. Most recorded the actual baptismal date which could vary by days, months or even years from the date of the child's birth. At times when there was an associated cost for baptismal entries several children from the same family could be processed at the same time, the eldest was five years old.
Premature births and babies who only survived a few days might not be baptised at all. Stillbirths were generally not recorded at all although there are some exceptions to this. Where a birthdate is entered without further baptismal entry it could mean that the child died but equally could mean that the clerk or minister failed to up-date his records from his notes.
Looking at my own records in one family there were thirteen births; five did not survive their first year of life. Reasons for this loss of young lives are many including Rhesus incompatibility, respiratory diseases, measles, mumps, chicken pox, diphtheria (all mostly eliminated nowadays !) cholera, dysentery as the main ones with TB an everpresent cause. I'm so glad we live in a healthy age even if some do their best to make a mess of their lifestyles.
Russell

[Currie]

“Sketch of the History and Imperfect Condition of the Parochial Records of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, in Scotland, - In illustration of the important advantages which would be derived from the introduction of a system of compulsory registration”, by George Seton, published 1854, can sometimes be interesting reading.
http://archive.org/stream/sketchhistory ... 8/mode/2up

Alan