"ANTINUPTUALl" daughter of ....

[Billiegirl]

Hello, just wondered if anyone else has come across a baptism in the OPR's with the term "Antinuptual" on it?

This was the case when my ggg grandfather baptised his daughter, who was 6 months old, and born two weeks after her parent's marriage! The minister wouldn't have known this, as they married in Edinburgh, and gave birth in a different parish, so the parents must have volunteered the information (nice to know they were honest!)

It seems a very odd thing to write down, when all the other children on the page are described as "lawful" son or daughter of....
Antinuptual makes it sound like the marriage was not legal or something.

Would love to hear any views on this.

[AndrewP]

Hi Billiegirl,

The term antenuptual appears quite frequently in the OPRs. One of my lot is described as "begotten by antenuptual fornication". In this case "antenuptual" seems to refer to the parents' status at the time of conception rather than the time of marriage.

Others are less harshly described as "natural child of...", as opposed to "lawful child of...".

All the best,

AndrewP

[Billiegirl]

Thanks AndrewP, that's very interesting that such emphasis was put on whether they were married when the baby was conceived, and not when the baby was born.

I'm surprised that because of the different forms of "marriage" - like announcing to all and sundry that they were married, without a church service, and the old thing about jumping over a broom together (was that Scottish?) - that the church would take such pains to ascertain marital status at conception in 1805!

I wonder what its purpose was, from a religious point of view?

[Currie]

Hello Billiegirl,

Here’s a case in the 1860s in Scotland of a schoolmaster of a parochial school who lost his job because of allegations by a minister and others of ante-nuptial fornication. It was considered to be immoral conduct unbecoming his situation. (Robert M'Kie v. White) http://books.google.com.au/books?id=LLB ... =RA1-PA151

The minister and others probably spent the rest of their spare time sulking about how they were no longer allowed to burn witches.

All the best,
Alan

[Billiegirl]

Thanks for that Alan, I had no idea it was such a serious "offence"! Sounds like the poor school teacher was set up, doesn't it? (Lower page 151 for those looking for it)

And the image you conjured up about the priests not being able to burn witches has given me my big laugh for the day!

No wonder I can't find any certificates for my ggg grandfather's other "non-antinuptual' children, he probably never went near a church again!