Genealogy Chat

For ref

Looking at a Devon based family on fmp, I've noticed that the birth dates given on the transcription, are listed on the original as Baptism dates.

Or have I missed something??

This is very common and sometimes the baptism date is the only one you will find. Sometimes the priest or clerk filling in the record will write in the birth date as well but if he doesn't you can only use the baptism date as a guide to when the child was born.

Most children were baptised fairly young but sometimes families had their children all baptised together. I've just had a set where 5 children, aged between a couple of months and 10 years, were all baptised together. In that case I was lucky; the birth dates had been written in.

If you are looking at Devon records I have found their record office really helpful at responding to emails, looking things up for me and sending photocopies at a reasonable price. So they are probably worth contacting if you need information and don't live in the area yourself. You can find them at

www.devon.gov.uk/record_office.htm

In general, I have found that ages or birth dates are usually given when the baptism occurred a year or more after the birth.

Some family history programs allow you to put 'BEFORE' in front of a date. That is useful for birth or death dates when you only have a baptism or burial date.