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Hi all,
I have an entire family, between the ages of 3 and 43, being baptised on the day of the Spring Equinox, Sunday 20th March 1774, in the parish of Kingswinford, Staffordshire. I'm wondering whether people will be able to give me an idea as to the reasons for such baptisms en-mass. I'd also be pleased to hear from anyone related to those mentioned below.
I know at some time they owned a few small pieces of freehold property and land, so I doubt the reason for such late baptisms would've been because they were in poverty. I've also read somewhere that clergymen sometimes stipulated that you had to have been baptised in a CofE church before they would marry you in one. But three of the adults, had already been married before their collective baptism and the first child to marry, James, was only married in 1776.
Would being baptised on the day of the Vernal Equinox be a clue as to which non-conformist religion they previously belonged to?
Date of Birth
7.2.1743 John Holt An Adult Aged 31
6.1747 Jane Mason An Adult
12.1729 Mary Muchall An Adult Aged 43
children of Jno. & Mary Muchall
2.1748 Jonathan Aged 28 [illegitimate]
7.1753 James Aged 24 [md Joyce Male, 1776 Birmingham]
3.1755 Edward Aged 19 [md Mary Poulton, 1778 Halesowen]
4.1757 John Aged 17 [md Jane Mason, 1798 Birmingham]
2.1758 Robert Aged 15 [md Ann May (widow), 1796 Birmingham]
12.1760 Daniel Aged 14 [md Elizabeth Mes(t)on & Ann Swain (widow)]
9.1762 Sarah Aged 12 [md John Solomon, 1780 Old Swinford]
2.1764 William Aged 10 [md Ann Bastable (widow), 1788 Halesowen]
4.1766 Elizabeth Aged 8 [md Joseph Timmins, 1790 Birmingham]
7.1768 Thomas Aged 6 [md Elizabeth Gould, 1790 Kingswinford]
4.1770 Joseph Aged 4
4.1771 Mary Aged 3 [married Benjamin Leech, 1790 Kingswinford]
I don't whether they were friends, blood relations or unrelated but the following were also baptised on the same day
Joseph son of Jeremiah & Eleanor Westwood
Ezra son of Joseph & Mary Baker
Phoebe daughter of John & Hannah Pearson
The army service record for John (1757) gives his birthplace as Old Swinford and likewise for the third youngest Thomas his birthplace is given as Kingswinford. So it seems they had lived in the Black Country during that time.
John Muchall married Mary Holt 26.12.1752 Sedgley
John Holt married Mary Cooksey 25.12.1768 Kingswinford
Edward Holt 13.8.1769 Kingswinford
Benjamin Holt 4.12.1774 Kingswinford
Jane Holt married Joseph Mason 28.6.1768 Halesowen
Joseph, Elizabeth, John, Edward, Sarah at Old Swinford and Birmingham
Jonathan Holt married Mary Bate 6.8.1782 Kingswinford
Mary had an illegitimate son, Joseph Bate, at Bromsgrove in 1782.
Mary Muchall married Gabriel Littley (alias Parsons) 11.6.1769 Halesowen
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