Genealogy Chat

I have come across something very puzzling & would be very happy & grateful if someone could help me to solve a problem I have with my McWILLIAMS family.

The following information comes from the birth certificates & from the Cheshire records.

Patrick McWILLIAMS born 4th October 1881 in Birkenhead, Cheshire son of John & Catherine McWILLIAMS (from birth certificate);
Patricius born 12th August 1881, baptised 4th September 1881 son of Joannes & Catherinae McWILLIAMS (St. Laurence RC ERC 31/6674/1 page 143)

Ann Jane McWILLIAMS born 1st June 1885 in Birkenhead, Cheshire daughter of John & Catherine McWILLIAMS (from birth certificate);
Anna Joanna born 6th April 1885, baptised 18th April 1885 daughter of Joannes & Catherinae McWILLIAMS (St. Laurence RC ERC 31/6674/1 page 307)

Catherine McWILLIAMS born 30th June 1888 in Birkenhead, Cheshire daughter of John & Catherine McWILLIAMS (from birth certificate);
Catherinae born 9th May 1888, baptised 17th June 1888 daughter of Joannes & Catherinae McWILLIAMS (St. Laurence RC ERC 31/6674/1 page 431)

I have only found one McWILLIAMS family in Birkenhead where the parents were called John & Catherine so I am 99.999% certain that these are the right people. In the catholic church records the names are recorded in latin, so Patricius instead of Patrick, Joannes instead of John etc.

Why would the church records be around one month earlier than the actual birthdates in each case? This is very strange indeed. Did the catholic church use a different calendar?

Thanks for any help in advance,

Tony McWilliams

Birth Registrations are listed in Quarters therefore showing as eg. April, June, Sept, Dec for the year, some births will show in quarter after actual birth depending how quickly they were registered.

Presume you are looking at Registers and not actual Birth Certificates.

Hope this helps.

As posted above, I have the birth certificates, that's why I am so puzzled:-

Patrick McWILLIAMS born 4th October 1881 in Birkenhead, Cheshire son of John & Catherine McWILLIAMS formerly FITZSIMMONS registered October 1881 (I don't have the exact date to hand as I am not at home)

Ann Jane McWILLIAMS born 1st June 1885 in Birkenhead, Cheshire daughter of John & Catherine McWILLIAMS formerly FITZSIMMONS, registered 8th July 1885.

Catherine McWILLIAMS born 30th June 1888 in Birkenhead, Cheshire daughter of John & Catherine McWILLIAMS formerly FITZSIMMONS registered 13th July 1888.

The birth & baptism dates from the Cheshire records are all about one month earlier than the birthdates on the birth certificates.

So sorry - hope someone else can help.

They had six weeks to register a birth and after that had to pay a fine so the only thing I can think of is that they registered the birth late and 'adjusted' the birth date so as not to pay the fine......But why they would make the same 'mistake' more than once I cannot imagine!

Chris

Ask a nice helpful Roman Catholic.
I tried a google search, but not much use, as the discrepancies in dates are more than 50 days which does not fit with anything obvious. Suggest you also try a search on internet.

Thanks for the prompt replies everyone. That about the 6 weeks to register a birth is interesting, I didn't know about that.

I suppose that going to church on a Sunday was more or less compulsory for the family (especially being catholics) so the babies got baptised quite soon after birth. Maybe they just couldn't be bothered to register the babies & just did it when they had time &, as mentioned, adjusted the birthdate to avoid the fine. I don't suppose that proof of the date of birth was necessary in those days, & most babies were born at home.

This is something for me to think about. I have another birth certificate on the way so it will be interesting to see whether he was registered on time...

I have exactly the same thing happening in my family:

Sarah Ann O'Melia, daughter of Martin O'Melia & Mary O'Donnell born 12th February 1872 in Liverpool - according to birth certificate.

Sara O'Melia, daughter of Martini O'Melia & Maria O'Donnell born 13th November 1871, baptised 26th November 1871 in Liverpool according to baptism records.

Maria Christina O'Melia, daughter of Martin O'Melia & Mary O'Donnell born 10th January 1872 in Liverpool - according to birth certificate.

Maria Christina O'Melia, daughter of Martini O'Melia & Mariae O'Donnell born 24th December 1887, baptised 2nd January 1887 in Liverpool according to baptism records.

All of their other childrens' births were recorded late - after they were baptised. I think that they were just very religious people who placed much more importance on following the rules of their church than they did on following government registration rules. I don't think it was a mistake missing the deadlines - they did that everytime.

That's very interesting that this occurred in your family too. Thankyou for posting.

I think that I'll consider the birth dates from the baptism records as the true birth dates as that seems like the most logical thing to do in the circumstance.

Anthony....Baptism took precedence over everything so I would consider the dates in the Baptismal Reg.as being correct....
Baptism usually took place as soon as possible after the Birth and certainly within a couple of weeks.