Genealogy Chat

'P' normally stands for pauper.

Between 1783 and 1794 the Stamp Duty Act levied a tax on baptims, mariages and burials, only paupers were let off. There was a great increase in the number of 'paupers' showing in the registers for that time period :)

The tax for a baptism was 3d.

Chris

It usually means the child was sickly when born and may not live so was baptised at home, you will sometimes, but not always, find a later entry saying 'Received into the Church'.

Jennifer

While were here,could somebody explain,what was a private baptism? Ive come accross this looking for my 4x gt grandfather 1800
Thanks Kay

Shelly a private baptism is usually marked PB, not just P, but could be, I have never seen just P.

I am sure I read somewhere that - if you were a woman of some standing in the community - the vicar might note down your illegitimate baby as being "the natural son of" whoever. In Emma, by Jane Austen, Harriet Smith is described to Emma as being "somebody's natural daughter" - Emma had a bit of standing in the village so perhaps the person talking to her thought they should phrase it in a polite way.

If you were just some random farmer's daughter etc your baby might be noted down as "illegitimate", "base child of" etc - I have a feeling social position counted with such things.

jim

could the 'p' mean private baptism?

shelly

Pocahontas thank you,


Jim thank you for all of that information, really appriciated.

Heidi x

And again:-

Here are a few terms used in Parish Registers-

bastard, base, baseborn, illegitimate, spurious, by-blow, natural, love-child, love-begotten, misbegotten, chance begot, chance child, merrily begotten, merrybegot, baseborn, begotten in fornication, a by-blow, child of shame, lovechild, misbegotten, a scape-begotten child, whoreson, child of a harlot.

In Latin there are filius nullius (son of none), filius populi (son of the people), filius meretricis (son of a prostitute).

From Googling:-

Base Child

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I started the initial thread asking if anyone knows the difference between a "base child of" and "illegitimte". I subscribe to Ancestry.co.uk and suddenly thought to ask their solutions people if they could help with this. They tell me that "base" is the child of a single woman and "illegitimate" is a child born to an unmarried couple. After one such entry I found the letter P and on the transcribed parish entry P is Vital. I have also sent a request asking Ancestry if they can explain this too. I will keep you posted.

Base child means illegitimate.

Im sorry to bother you, i have been researching my family tree for about 9 years nows and have traced my Mortimore family to Broadclyst Devon. I have paid for a copy of the Parish records to help me further in my search. It states that James Mortimore (my gtgtgtgt grandfather) Born 1800 was illigitamet child. There is no father listed and no Bastardry agreements filed. There also appears to be a brother Robert Mortimore 1791, there was 9 years between them, and the only Mary Mortimore born around the area that could be a possible mother is Mary Mortimore 1777, which would of made her 12 at the birth of her first son Robert.(Would this be common?) It states that Robert was the Base Child what does this mean? Does it mean first child?

Thanks for you time,
Heidi