Baptism Date Not A Guarantee Of Birth Year.

It was not uncommon for families in rural areas to have to delay having the children baptized and then doing it all at the same time, usually because the circuit preacher had not made it into their area for a while. My wife’s g-g-grandparents had 3 of their children baptized on the same day. They ranged in age from 3 to 7. Now they may have been baptized before but no other record has been found.

Also, when a family moved from one church (Christian Sect) to another it was not uncommon for all the members of the family to be rebaptized into the new group. A lot depended on how conscientious the ministers were in recording and preserving their records.

At one time the record book was the property of the minister/preacher and as he moved from congregation to congregation he took his record book with him. If he was asked to testify in court he had his book to verify that he married, baptized and buried, etc., John Smith or Mary Jones on such and such a date. This could be quite important when an estate was being settled.

Regards, Jack Novicki